Omerta

Chapter 30

         When Nick showed up he told Dominic and Benny they would be waiting in the car. It would only be the two of us going inside. I wasn't sure why. "Do you not trust Dominic or something?" I couldn't help but ask as we entered a side door that went up to the offices from the emergency staircase. He had a key for it and it meant saving time weaving in and out of the men who were at work right now moving things around. 

It was kind of smelly here, but I couldn't put my finger on what the hell that smell even was. 

"I don't trust anyone" was his bullshit answer. "No, I'm serious" I pulled his arm to stop him on the stairs. He turned to look at me and his eyes darted around my face before answering. 

"I trust him to an extent. That's how I am with everyone. It's nothing personal against him. I just think the less people know the details of information you and I've been gathering, the better it'll be. So that no information slips to any of the wrong people and we lose our lead," he answered without attitude or anger which surprised me.

I nodded because his points were valid and we continued up to the room we needed to be in. Another locked door. 

        When he opened it there was a musty frayed couch, a metal desk you'd see a school teacher have, and filing cabinets of course. Nick looked down the lettered drawers and stopped at a particular one. "Ah, this should be it" he pulled out a logbook and shook it in my face. We sat on the couch and opened the page in the Russian's book and then ours. One book was on my lap and the other on his.

We both leaned back and forth to the different pages to match up each individual line order. "Check a few of the days leading up to and after this estimated time frame," Nick suggested since so far everything looked to be matching up just fine. 

        We were muttering to ourselves reading line after line and leaning back and forth from my lap to his. Without paying attention we went in opposite directions at the same time and bumped foreheads. "Ow" I laughed, cupping my head. His face broke into a cute scowl which made me laugh again. "Sowwy" I smiled. "That hurt" he sassed me. 

I don't know what possessed me to do it, but I leaned forward and planted a small kiss on his forehead. We both stopped for a second and looked at each other before he cleared his throat and I shook my head. We quickly looked back down at the books and continued to read.

        "Fuck...everything matches up. I really thought we'd find something here" Nick tipped his head in contemplation. He pushed the book closed and stood up to put it back where it came from. All this didn't sit right with me. "Nick" I said, still working out the details in my head. He looked back at me and waited for me to continue. 

"It's just...I really felt like there would be a clue here too. And it took them some time to find these I just think...oh my god," I leapt up.

"Speak woman" Nick huffed at all my half sentences and unspoken ideas. "Open that back up" I ordered. He thumbs through the pages again and laid it on the open filing cabinet across the other files. I lifted the Russian's book and held them side by side again. "Yes, all the shipments line up," I said. "No shit" he furrowed his brow at me, not understanding. "But" I added.

        "Gia, if you don't spit it out I'm going to throw you off that balcony" he huffed. I rolled my eyes but continued. "It's too right. What I mean is...look at this page in the Russian's book. It doesn't look like it went through the hands of Boris and his dirty handed men. Even ours show's it's been sitting here for at least a month, but this one...I think it's a replacement," I tipped my head to have a closer look. 

Nick looked at me like I was crazy at first, but then I caught him looking closely too. "Bingo" I snapped back up. It took Nick off guard and he almost jumped out of his skin. The glare he gave me told me he was thinking about throwing me off the balcony again.