Wife's Bitter Revenge Against Neglectful CEO Husband-Chapter 72: Sleepless at the Church

Stiff and I were still deeply immersed in the new evidence when Bea and Jake entered the dining room. Both looked as if they were weighed down with boulders the size of a compact car.

Davon had attached himself almost immediately to Father DiMarco as soon as we arrived. Who could blame him? The rest of us were adults and had done the same thing when we first met him. Father DiMarco was just that kind of person.

Father had put Davon to bed, but shortly after, I looked up from my computer to find him sleeping on the floor, half in and half out of the dining room. The watch was still draped over his wrist. Poor kid didn’t want to be alone.

We moved a spare mattress to the corner of the room and made it up for the child. Stiff brought a stuffed bear from Davon’s room to keep him company. In his sleep, the child clutched the bear to his chest.

CK, Stiff, and I worked diligently until the early morning hours, when a nightmare interrupted Davon’s sleep. CK took a turn napping with the child, but Stiff and I continued to work, desperate to find answers as quickly as possible.

So, that was why Bea’s first impression of CK might have been less than stellar. CK was flopped on his back, snoring off-key with his hair spread out around him and Davon’s foot buried in his side. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

Bea said, "Is that who I think it is?"

"It is."

"Aw, cute."

"How goes the investigation?" Jake asked.

"It’s going," Stiff said. "There’s coffee in the kitchen."

"Blah," Bea said. "They fed us so much coffee at the police station."

"How did that go?" I asked.

Jake shrugged. "They let us go. That’s a good sign."

Stiff said, "Let me know when I need to call in the legal team."

Bea yawned. "I’m going to bed. Don’t let CK leave."

"You got it," I said.

Jake stared at CK. "Do I carry the boy back to our room or kick CK out of bed and collapse here? Damn, I’m too tired to think."

Stiff settled the issue by going over to give CK a nudge with his foot. "Hey, get up. Let Jake sleep with his boy."

It took two more nudges and a quarter cup of water directed at CK’s open mouth before our visitor woke up enough to stumble into the common area to crash on the couch. I grabbed the quilt off my bed to cover him, since I wouldn’t be using it any time soon.

When I returned to the dining room, Jake was sitting on the edge of the mattress removing his combat boots.

"Stiff and I can work from my room. Give us a minute to relocate," I offered.

"Not necessary. The minute my head hits the pillow, I’ll be out."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, Teela, I’m sure. If I can sleep during a barrage of missiles firing at a village a mile away, I can sleep during your barrage of keystrokes."

"Fair enough."

And then Stiff and I were back at it. There was so much footage, but a lot of it included no activity or the same kids over and over again.

We copied what was useful for a case, and then we’d move on to the next drive. I’d coded a hack that helped us skin through the dead footage, or we would be sitting there for days. CK was able to reduce the workload even more by eliminating the footage he’d stolen before and already reviewed.

My eyes were crossing by the time Bea woke up and brought her laptop. Father DiMarco was right behind her.

Father DiMarco said, "I’m not a techie, but I do have eyes. Let me help."

Stiff said, "Absolutely. I’ll get you started."

By the time they grabbed coffee and a leftover breakfast burrito from McDonalds, CK was back to work.

I introduced him to Bea and watched them silently flirt for a while before Stiff decided he and I needed a nap to remain productive.

"I’m fine," I protested.

After everything the guys had done, I felt like a slacker. I needed to pull my weight.

"No, you’re not," Stiff said as he led me away from my computer. "But even if you were, I need you to put me to bed. I’ve not slept for like thirty hours, and before that I’d only slept three or four hours. I’m a growing boy. I need my sleep."

"You’re a grown man. You can put yourself to bed."

"Humor me. I’ve been good. I deserve a reward."

Stiff walked me down the hall past my bedroom to his bedroom. It was the first time I’d been in his room since he moved in.

I wasn’t surprised that his room resembled King’s condo more than Father DiMarco’s homespun comfort vibe.

Stiff collapsed on his bed and patted an empty spot beside him. "Come, sleep."

"I don’t think so."

"I’m too tired to try anything. I want to cuddle. That’s all. Those scared faces. They keep flashing through my mind as well as those fucking pictures."

Stiff rubbed at his eyes. I wasn’t sure if he was rubbing them because they were tired or to wipe away the memories and tears.

I didn’t blame him. It had taken my utmost focus to watch some of those vids without thinking about the living, breathing victims behind the images. I had to maintain that distance, and I wasn’t the one to view the download from the photography room. Stiff had taken that on himself.

He was right. As a friend, he deserved whatever support he needed to get through this time. And to be honest, I didn’t want to sleep alone either.

"Clothes on," I said.

"Too tired to change. Come to bed."

The second my back touched the bed, Stiff curled around me and rested his head on my shoulder, and that was it. I relaxed as his breathing evened out.

I don’t remember falling asleep, but I’m sure I slept because I do remember startling awake to a knock at the door. Stiff was still dead to the world.

"One minute," I called out as I struggled to extract myself from Stiff’s embrace without waking him.

I let myself out of the room.

Bea said, "You left your phone next to your laptop. King has been calling and texting for the last hour. I wasn’t sure what to tell him, so I didn’t pick up."

She handed me the phone as it rang again. I noted the time as I picked up. I’d slept less than three hours.

I didn’t have the energy for tact. I was barely awake enough to remember how to answer the phone.

"Yeah?" My voice was hoarse.

"Teela?"

"Yes."

"You sound off."

"I worked all night."

"You? On what?"

I held the phone from my ear so I could stare at it as if I were staring directly at King. Was he serious? And then it hit me. He still thinks of me as useless. He has not idea I’ve spent the night working with Stiff on the school footage.

I put the phone back to my ear. "Why did you call, King?"

"We need to talk."

"Then talk."

"I wanted to do this in person," King said.

"Whatever you have to say, just say it. I’m busy. And when the project is done, I’m sleeping for twelve hours."

"I think we should divorce."

I rolled my eyes. If I wasn’t so tired, I might care more.

"Sounds good." I hung up.

Tomorrow, I might care why he changed his mind. Today, I wanted to get back to work.

The phone rang again. I powered off the unit and went to brush the fuzz off my teeth.

By late afternoon, we had compiled everything useful from the drives. They included nothing about Drake or CK’s brother. We had plenty of evidence against Daniel but not one image of Lettie.

We would have to go a different direction to tie Lettie in. I was too tired to determine what that direction should be.

Cometkazee did the honor of forwarding the borrowed hard drives to the police along with a compilation of other documents we had secured to prove Daniel was the power behind the operation. Bea stood at CK’s back, gently massaging his shoulders.

I didn’t need to be a fortune teller to know CK and Bea would be exploring their newly found comradery more thoroughly in the days to come. Good. I looked forward to CK turning his bad pickup lines on someone other than me.

As the group broke up, I debated turning my phone back on or sleeping first. My gut instinct was the sleep would make whatever was on my phone more palatable, but I grew up in an age when no one ever turned off their phone, so I powered on my phone.

I should have followed my first instinct as the screen lit up with missed calls and messages.