Page 5 of Full Contact

Eventually Russ got his phone back. We settled what we could about the visit, and I added a reminder to confirm the flights.

“I’ll pick you up,” he said.

“At arrivals this time.”

“You found me, didn’t you?”

I was still smiling when we hung up. Christmas would involve too much food, Kelsey shouting at a television, and Josh waking me earlier than necessary to show me something he’d already described in detail the night before.

I chose blue to wear to the cookout.

Peaches climbed into my chair before I reached the door. I went back to move the corner of the throw out from under her.

“I’ll be home around ten.”

She tucked her nose against her paw.

***

Varga opened the door with his phone in his hand.

“Eleven million.”

“Hello, Lucas. Lovely to see you.”

“Eleven million, Trier.” He held up the screen. “Cross’s house video got four hundred thousand, and there was a helicopter.”

“Did he try putting a cat in it?”

Varga stepped aside, laughing, and let me in.

The smell of the smoker reached me before I got to the backyard. Rook stood beside it with a pair of tongs, talking to Cross. A few younger players had gathered near the drinks. Pratt was there, and Rafe and Niko sat on the porch steps sharing a plate. Niko passed him the fork between bites.

Rook nodded toward the food when he saw me.

“Brisket’s ready.”

“That’s why I came.”

I found a plate and joined him. The brisket was good enough to interrupt a conversation, and I told Rook so. He gave a small nod and cut me another slice.

For the next hour I caught up with people I hadn’t seen in a few weeks and listened to people I’d seen yesterday explain what had changed since then. Someone’s golf game had improved beyond belief. Someone else’s trainer was trying to kill him. Varga had honeymoon photographs from Heath and Kieran, who were still in the Caribbean, and insisted on showing us a beach that looked very much like yesterday’s beach.

“They look happy,” Cross’s wife said.

“They should. They’ve been there for two weeks,” Varga said.

“You complained when we went away for ten days,” Rook reminded him.

“Because you made us visit a boat museum.”

“You liked it.”

“I liked the café.”

By my second plate, the wedding video had come up again.

Larsson, who was in his second Chicago summer, nodded at my phone on the table. “Was the matching tie planned?”