The Hero Next Time: A Novel of the Terribly Acronymed Detective Club (Book 4)

Chapter Thirty-Four: Lauren, Wednesday

"So, what do you think happened?" Rachel asked as Lauren drove them both in the Versa. She wished she'd brought the Highlander now, but she'd left it at home in case there was an emergency and Al had to drive the kids somewhere, and she'd never predicted she would need to drive Joe anywhere; he'd met them at Century House and driven his Dodge Ram, so if they were able to bail him out tonight, it would be a tight drive back to Century House to pick up his truck.

Lauren shook her head in befuddlement. "Some random loony decides to hijack the debate for her own purposes? Or maybe she was there for the debate but something about the May Day portion triggered her to impotent rage?"

"No, I mean, why didn't Naira show?"

Lauren shrugged. "Like Sunny said, we don't know for sure it was Naira."

"Oh, come on. We both saw that text exchange. It has to be her."

"Maybe she was there but got spooked by the fight?"

"But why be in the audience at all?" Rachel asked. "Why would she expose herself like that if she's been in hiding up to now?"

"True. Or maybe she checked out the room from outside, saw a few people in the audience she didn't like, namely Joe, decided he looked like a goon, and hightailed it out of there."

Rachel burst out laughing. "He lived up to that image tonight, didn't he."

"He was just trying to calm things down!" Lauren protested. "If that guy didn't take a swing at him--"

"I know, I know. But now he's in trouble with the cops again, first after punching your guy in the night club, and then, well, killing McTeague, for lack of a better word."

It was something Lauren tried not to think about. Joe had killed a woman. It hadn't been intentional. He'd tackled her from behind while she'd held a gun on Rachel, but he'd been going so fast, and he was so large, that the impact had been catastrophic. It had been the right thing to do, obviously; Lauren would rather Joe save Rachel's life than watch her get shot, and the police had cleared him. Still, it was something that would hang over the whole group forever, this cloud of guilt and trauma, and indicative of how destructive Joe could be if he wasn't careful, and any time he found himself in a violent situation, Lauren and the others would have to be there to mitigate the damage.

"Can you try calling Mandeep Randhawa again?" Lauren asked. Rachel had tried calling once already using Lauren's phone. 

"Voicemail again," she said this time, and this time she left a message, who they were, how they knew Sunny, and why they needed him. When she hung up, she said, "At least Al's not the one who needs to be bailed out this time. Poor guy, he missed all the fun."

"Fun it was not. If we didn't come to see Naira, I wouldn't have minded missing it. That was some pretty hateful shit."

"Still, Sunny held his own, and he didn't cuss back at her."

Lauren glanced sideways at her. "You didn't grow a conscience and tell Al what we did, did you?"

"No. He never came clean to me about the last time you two did it, did he? Anyway, he didn't have to, since the pregnancy counts as his confession." She chuckled. "I'm actually surprised you confessed first."

"Why, because I'm the deceptive one?"

"Yup."

"Bitch."

"Slut. Luring your own husband away from his lover."

Lauren burst out laughing. "I kind of did, didn't I. With your help. So, you never called Al out about what he did?"