Sean looked back up and sniffed. “I will catch the motherfucker that did this to her… I will find him and I will snip his balls and you better darn well not try to stop me!”
Holding his hands up, Jake promised, “You can do whatever you want with the person and I will support you”.
He figured if Sean found Susan’s killer, then it would be a big win for him and should the vengeful man go a step further in killing the person, even better, since dead men can’t talk and such a person might be responsible for breaking into his place and taking his trophy box.
“I wasn’t really sure about you at first but Luke spoke fondly of you, which is why I came to you for help”, Sean returned the pat and hammered his hand into Jake’s back.
They will share the next few hours drinking, in hopes that the decryption would be finished by the time they got back. Jake felt anxious for some reason and hoped he could take a shot at whoever was messing with him and who most definitely had killed Susan Stein.
Chapter Twelve
Y
awning aloud with the feeling of having a heavy object on his chest, Jake slowly opened his eyes and felt them widen to the sight of Sean snoring heavily while he smacked his lips intermittently. Staring at the wall clock and noting it was just a few minutes past six in the morning, Jake slowly relieved himself of the man’s weight-- and snuck out of the couch to the bathroom.
Still feeling weak and drained with bags underneath his eyes, he stood before the mirror and yawned again.
“Crazy night”, he thought.
The memory of Sean dancing wildly to a sing along act with topless women in his arms made him scoff some bit before turning on the tap and scooping some water to his face. The usually tough man had become jelly and barely grumbled about anything until they left the watering hole. Jake sniffed and mopped his face gently with a towel while Sean groaned and fell to the ground in a loud thud.
“That ought to wake him up”, he thought with a smile before exiting the bathroom.
He walked over to the computer, which worryingly was still decrypting but was almost done.
“All night long and you’re still on ninety five percent?” Jake shook his head.
Sean rolled to a sitting position and rubbed his eyes fervently with both hands. “Trust me when I tell you this is faster than some”.
Jake sighed and walked to the kitchen to get himself some water before returning with a bottle for Sean.
“I don’t want this shit! I need some coffee”, Sean demanded.
That was a tall order no doubt and Jake simply gulped down his water before dragging over a stool from the kitchen and helping himself into it. They sat in silence and continued to stare at one another with the occasional breaks when either of them chose to.
“I didn’t mention this yesterday, but I’m truly sorry for your loss… for Susan”, Jake mentioned.
Sean waved it away and simply nodded before stretching and dragging the laptop closer to himself.
“I will have my justice soon enough”, he promised.
Jake loved the sound of that and walked to the window to part aside the blinds to have a look outside.
“Are you checking for the van that kept following us last night?” Sean asked without turning around.
Shocked and too stricken by the man’s insight to say anything, Jake looked out once again and tried to gain some proper demeanor.
“When would that be?’ he asked, trying to sound ignorant.
Sean shot him a drowning look. “Don’t act like I’m a fool… I might have been drunk when we were coming home but it still wouldn’t stop me from noticing us being tailed to and fro last night”.
Gasping gently and feeling himself suck in ample amount of air in shock, Jake shifted in his seat, looked around the room momentarily while he sought answers in his head. He had only noticed them following him on their way back. It felt crazy that he had not noticed earlier while Sean had, but the man didn’t say anything the entire time.
“If you noticed, then why didn’t you say anything?” Jake asked. “You could easily have pointed out saying, oh, look, someone has been tailing you the entire night”.
Silent and disinterested in whatever the young man was saying, Sean returned his gaze to the computer.
“I’m no stranger to being tailed so I simply assumed you had your shit covered and I didn’t need to interfere”, Sean finally spoke. “More so, I will be out of your airs soon and I don’t have to deal with whatever crap you got yourself involved with”.
Feeling the obnoxious and self-preservative as well as annoying personality he had noticed in Sean crawl back into existence, Jake frowned and slammed the window curtains back into place to get a seat opposite Sean in the smaller couch.
“Yes!” Sean cried out loud and rubbed his palms together.
Jake remained seated, still stewing but definitely curious as to what answers the decryption might have brought them.
“Is it ready?” Jake asked.
Sean nodded and began punching some keys into the computer. “All I need now is the password to unlock it and we are good”.
Jake upped himself from his seat and approached to lend a viewing eye. The first three password trials yielded no positive response, prompting Sean to curse and swear aloud.
“Isn’t there a hint?” Jake asked, pointing at the lower section of the password bar.
Sean clicked on it and the hint sprung forth; “SILAS”
“SILAS!” Sean muttered with a grin but slowly wiped the expression off of his face.
Jake waited for some kind of explanation. “What on earth is that?”
Sean punched in some more keys but each trial came with failure until the password bot indicated he had one last chance.
“What happens if you put in the wrong password again?” Jake asked, while he had a good sense of what just might
