On the Way Down

Chapter Eighteen

"A word in private?" Torin asks Phoenix. With the terse way he spits out his words, the request sounds more like a command.

"Torin." My voice carries a warning I doubt anyone misses.

"It's okay. I'll be back soon." Phoenix drops a kiss on my forehead and strokes my hair. Torin's mouth twists into a scowl before he stalks away.

"We're on in ten minutes," Nash calls after him.

He flashes the peace sign in response as he continues walking. Phoenix follows a few paces behind him to a dark corner of the bar.

Nash glances at Ava and me. "What was that about?"

"Phoenix is about to have his ass handed to him," Ava explains, as if this isn't obvious to all three of us. She looks and sounds much too gleeful for someone who claimed she didn't want to spoil my weekend by doing the same thing. "He and Del dated once before and--"

"It's a long story if you don't already know it," I say, interrupting Ava before she gets too animated with her account of things. "Practically a novel."

"I'll fill you in later," she assures him.

"Can't wait." He sounds amused, but the way his mouth quirks before he presses his lips together makes it seem like he's suppressing a grin for my sake. "Speaking of novels, Del, I overheard Ava say something about your latest book a few weeks ago. It sounded interesting."

"Shhh." Ava elbows him. "She just forgave me for vaguely spilling the beans. I wasn't supposed to talk about her book until it's announced."

"It's fine," I reply. If it gets us off the topic of Torin's beef with Phoenix and what I have to do with it, I might even be willing to get in front of one of the microphones on stage and announce my new novel to the entire bar.

"Maybe I shouldn't ask, but did Elenna Ilke's disappearance inspire any of it? The premise sounded like it might have to do with her."

Thanks to Phoenix also connecting the dots, this time the question doesn't seem out of left field. "It's loosely based on her case. You knew her, right?"

He doesn't seem surprised by my knowledge of this. "Incredibly well. We grew up next door to each other. Phoenix knew her, too."

"He told me, and I'm so sorry. I can't imagine the pain you've been through, especially with her case still unsolved."

His head bobs, acknowledging what I said. Ava's gaze darts from him to me. This is new information for her, since we haven't discussed the connection between Len, Phoenix, and Nash. She was already so suspicious of Phoenix, his intentions, and what kept him away and silent all this time. Once I settled into gratitude for Len's role in his return to my life as the guy I used to know, I didn't want to risk Ava reflecting my initial insecurities back to me about how or why his friendship with Len was enough for him to get his act together when his relationship with me wasn't.

"What do you think happened?"

Nash's question catches me off guard. "To Len?"

"Yeah. It might be a weird question, but I feel like the police fumbled everything from the start and gave up trying to find out. I've been over it a million times in my head, but I sometimes wonder if there are things I'm blind to because we were so close, that maybe you have theories about or pieced together while you were plotting your book." He shrugs, as if it's no big deal, but he absently twists the beaded mala bracelets on his left wrist, and speaks again. "I think I'm still just desperate for answers, you know?"

"I can't blame you. In truth, I've been working through a few plot points I'm stuck on and--"

"Are we playing a show tonight, or what? Where's Torin?" Jacob, the singer in Torin and Nash's band, cuts into our conversation. He taps his watch and scans the growing crowd, presumably looking for his missing drummer.