Chapter 26: The Job

"So, Nancy Drew, have you got another lead on the case?" Caspian caused me to drop all the clothes I was packing into my cupboard.

"How did you get in?" I asked, looking towards the guarded windows in my room.

"The front door," Caspian replied. "Your parents were preoccupied." He helped me pick up the clothes splayed all over my feet. He picked up all my T-shirts and placed them in a neat pile on the edge of my bed.

"So, any new leads?" He repeated his question.

I didn't get a chance to answer before a shrill cry drifted through the walls and made our ears ring.

Caspian swore under his breath. My parents had agreed to babysit the neighbour's babies, two sets of twins that were two years apart. On the plus side, they had their hands full with four babies so they had no time to check on me. On the other hand, my eardrums were about to burst; when the new-borns started crying the toddlers started soon after. I felt sorry for their parents. I don't think they had expected twins, well at least not twice.

"Maybe we should go somewhere else," Caspian suggested, smoothing my hair out of my face.

"I don't think that's a good idea." I placed my hands on my ears, to muffle the continuing screams. "We should stay here in case my parents look for me."

"Ok," he agreed, pressing his lips to my temple. "I'm just happy to have you in my arms again. The perfect way to spend my Sunday afternoon."

I giggled and buried my red face in his pastel blue shirt.

"By the way, I spoke to Lewis about how he knew your brother. He said he did a job with your brother, lifting car parts."

"What?" If someone had that told me that a couple of months ago, I would have never believed them. But now that I knew Asher was a murderer, who was to say he wasn't a thief as well? Well, at least theft is a petty crime compared to murder.

"I'm starting to rethink my thoughts about your brother not being a Stinger." Caspian's forehead creased as he said that.

"So, is that what Stingers do? Lift car parts?" I enquired. Maybe mom was right: the Stingers were bad news. Not that I would dump Caspian if I found out he was a thief, I would try to reform him as best as I could. I had dumped him once, and that was not something I would like to experience again.

Caspian grimaced giving me the only answer I needed. He nodded his head. "But if it was up to me, I wouldn't do it. It wasn't my choice to become a Stinger."

"What do you mean?"

Caspian took a deep breath and started telling me about his past. "My parents owed Victoria money. Money that they didn't have." He closed his eyes, afraid to meet mine. "I offered my services to the Stingers to repay my parents' debt."

A hand flew to my mouth. I had always known Caspian had a dark and mysterious past, but this was completely terrible. "I'm so sorry." I could feel his pain. He sacrificed himself for his parents. He gave his life to the Stingers, because there was nothing else he could do. "We're going to get you out of the Stingers gang," I promised, although I had no clue how to keep that promise. Was it even possible?

Caspian picked up my hand and brushed his lips against my knuckles. "You still have that Stinger hoodie I gave you?"

I nodded. He couldn't possibly have thought I'd thrown it out.

"Wear it," he ordered. "Victoria can't send someone to hurt you if you're one of us."

"Why would she do that?" I asked, a cold shiver making its way up my spine.

"She likes to tie up all loose ends. I'm starting to wonder if she killed Asher, because of that job he did. Maybe he screwed up or had a guilty conscience and was going to turn himself in. By doing that he would involve all the Stingers," Caspian explained.

"And wearing the hoodie would make me a Stinger?" I asked, remembering what he had said about the three-year training program.

"No." It seemed like he was trying to hold back a laugh. "But no Stinger will touch you if you have that hoodie on. Although it might be a problem if she hires a personal hitman to do the job."

I gulped nervously and focused my eyes just above Caspian's head, so he couldn't see how scared I was. Caspian placed his hands on either side of my face and made me look at him.

"I've got your back, and after what I saw today it looks like Lewis does as well," he assured me as best he could.

"Victoria is the next suspect," I voiced.

"A suspect that you cannot interrogate." He uttered each syllable separately, trying to imbed his words deeply into my mind.

"Ok," I agreed. "For now," I added silently in my head. "But I can speak to Lewis, right?" I enquired.

"Yeah, but I've already told you everything he told me," Caspian said.

"Maybe he knows something about Newton Wes," I said. With everything else going on I had forgotten to look into Newton's disappearance. I needed to know what Asher wanted with Newton. Lewis was the only other Stinger I knew. Well I knew most of them, but he was the only one I could talk to. The others would refuse to talk to me or they would feed me false information, just for fun. I could just imagine Amber sticking a knife in my shoulder blade and Gregory squeezing the life out of me with his big hands. 

Please don't forget to vote and comment.