Green Tea by Sheila Horgan Page B

her?”
    “Sure, I’ll do that while you call Mom and tell her what’s going on, and then the two of you can decide if we should call anyone else.”
    “Okay.”
    “Are you sure you want to stay at your apartment? You guys could stay at my place, I’m over at Jessie’s.”
    “AJ heard about the arrests and he brought us to a hotel.”
    “Good. I won’t worry as much. Call Mom, I’ll get back to you as soon as I have anything from Steph.”
    “Thanks.”
    I dialed Mom and got her on the line just as AJ got back to the car. He showed me the room key, and we headed toward the back of the place.
    AJ listened while I told Mom everything I knew. She was very reassuring, but said she would call and tell everybody, just in case. Better safe than sorry. She seemed to calm down a bunch when I told her that AJ and I were not going home, but staying in a random hotel.
    When we got to the back of the building, I was done with my conversation, wished my mom a good night, and disconnected just as AJ opened my door.
    “We’re in room 1212. I know that’s your lucky number.”
    “We could use a little luck.”
    “As soon as we go up and check the room, I’m going to come back and move the car.”
    “Don’t you want to be able to see it from our window?”
    “If he’s going to find my car, I’d rather it be far away from our room, and if someone else is going to mess with my car, it’s insured. Besides, if anyone sets off the alarm, the alarm will call me on my cell phone.”
    “You’re kidding. I didn’t know that. How come I never knew that?”
    “I never use that setting, but I will tonight.”
    Teagan called back and said she couldn’t get ahold of Steph. She did get to talk to her soon-to-be-husband, who said she was off with some law enforcement and that she’d told him if she didn’t come home tonight, not to worry. She said if she heard anything, she’d call, but she really didn’t expect to hear anything tonight.
    I texted Carmine to let him know that I was not going home tonight, just in case he stopped by there.
    AJ and I were exhausted.
    Sleeping naked is almost as good as other stuff you do naked.
    Morning came early. I’d remembered to set the alarm on my phone, a small miracle, and it was just loud enough to annoy me. Perfect.
    AJ took his shower first, then went off in search of the appropriate junk food breakfast while I took mine.
    It’s weird to take a shower and put the same clothes back on.
    I’m just sayin’.
    Teagan called before AJ got back.
    “It doesn’t seem right that we were in on all of this from the very beginning, and then when they decide they’re going to arrest the guy, you go and hide in a hotel. We should have been there.”
    “I have no desire to be there. Besides, they should have him in custody by now. Did Steph ever call you back?”
    “Nope, which is pretty rude, considering.”
    “She probably had better things on her mind, Teagan.”
    “If it weren’t for us, she’d have never had anything to do with all this in the first place.”
    “Yeah, cause I’m sure for her, doing all this pro bono work is just what she dreams about. She’s babysitting our interests and helping us in ways we don’t even know about, when she could be working on real cases and making money.”
    “Well, obviously this is a real case if they’re arresting people.”
    “True. Teagan, tell you what, when I hear anything I’ll call you. If you hear anything call me. Until then, not a lot we can do.”
    “Fine, but you know what, if Steph doesn’t call pretty soon, I think you should call Rory and see if he’s heard anything. He’s down at the station all the time, he’s a cop, and he’s our brother. He’ll be able to sniff out the poop.”
    “What a great turn of phrase for my morning. I’m not going to call Rory and neither are you. The last thing he needs is getting involved in whatever this is. This isn’t going to turn out well for Rory no matter what.”
    “This