Homeless

Chapter 30

Nathaniel came back from his office, his face full of hopeful determination.

"I didn't know you contacted the Attorney General," Chris asked.

"I did," Nathaniel said, coming to a stand beside me. "He owes my father a favor. I don't like asking my father for help, but it's for a good cause, so it was easier to swallow my pride."

"Are you sure he's not involved in this?"

"Daphne didn't recognize him," Nathaniel said. "And I had him followed for a couple of months now. He's a pretty straight forward guy."

Chris choked on air. "You had the Attorney General followed? Are you insane?!"

Nathaniel shrugged. A couple of months ago? That meant... "You had him followed before we even planned this," I said.

Nathaniel grinned. "I had a gut feeling we might need him."

"A gut feeling," Chris grumbled, shaking his head. "You and your gut feelings, man. I swear. So, what now? Is he going to do something about this?"

"I didn't tell him the details," Nathaniel said. "I just told him that for the next few days, there's going to be a big mess, and that he better be on the right side of things."

"You used those exact words?" Chris raised his brows. "I don't think the AG will take well to being basically threatened."

Nathaniel rolled his eyes. "I'm more diplomatic than you give me credit for, Chris. Besides, I have a close eye on the AG's financial interests and he knows it."

"I don't even want to know." Chris shook his head. He glanced at the clock. "I better get going. Tonight is the night. We have a lot of work to do."

"Can we help?" I asked. I felt bad about dumping all of it on Chris.

He patted my shoulder. "You already did your part, Daphne, and Nathaniel is bankrolling the whole thing. The rest is just technical stuff. I have people who are experts in this. Let's leave it to them. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

Chris left. Nathaniel pulled his laptop and we sat down on the couch.

I looked at the clock. Twenty past seven. This would be the longest forty minutes of my life.

Nathaniel put his hand on my knee. It was bouncing. I stilled and took a deep breath.

"It's going to take a few hours for the post to explode," Nathaniel said. "You've already seen it. Why don't you just rest tonight? Tomorrow is the day we'll truly see the results."

"How do you know it'll explode?"

He smiled. "There are all sorts of talented people in the world. With enough money, you can buy their services."

"Money," I breathed out.

He nodded. "As much as people don't like to hear it, money does make a lot of things easier."

Nathaniel picked up the remote from the coffee table and turned on the TV.

"What are you doing?" I asked, making my knee stop when I realized it was bouncing again.

"Losing time."

He put on a show. It was a serial killer documentary.

"I heard that women love this," he said with a teasing smile.

I gave him a dubious look and focused on the TV show.

Nathaniel was right, though. The documentary had my attention from the first couple of minutes. I leaned back on the couch and tucked my legs under me, too engrossed in the show to take my eyes off the screen.