Once we heard a knock on the door, I knew that whatever alibi we came up with worked. Simon looked at me confused and I got the door. But the way he watched me was like I was walking into hell fire. Hector was right at the door, with Mason right behind him, carrying a platter and wine bottle. “Mason, Hector,” I greeted while taking the platter, “how are you two doing?”

Hector set the bottle on the counter. “Doing okay. Hector and I just picked up the Moscato, when we ran into someone he works with.”

Mason left the platter right next to the wine. Simon grabbed a couple more glasses and I picked up the bottle and platter. "It would be easier if we had this by the coffee table." We relocated; I sat in the armchair, while Simon sat next to me on the sofa, Hector was next to him. But Mason was standing in hallway opening and turned to be.

"Hey Deb," he started, "you're bathroom's down here, right?" He reached for the knob to the bathroom and I almost dashed over to stop him.

"Wait!" I reached my arm out as he looked at me. "Simon and I are renovating the bathroom."

Simon grabbed some cheese and sausage from the platter. "You can use the bathroom in our room."

Son of a bitch. There was crank and cash still in there. I picked up my wine glass and walked over to the stove. Halfway there, I staged a slip. My glass of Moscato stained my clothes. "Fuck," I whispered under my breath and slipped past Mason. "Excuse me for a moment.

I locked the door after closing it. Thank God I did that. The boxes of cash and crank were in plain sight on my side of the bed. I slid the boxes under my bed and grabbed a blouse from my closet. Before running back out, I noticed my friend in the bathroom's gun in the middle of the floor. I picked it up and slipped it in a drawer. "There you go," I told Mason while walking back to the living room.

I sat back in my seat and Simon got up. "Want another drink, Deb?"

"I'm all set for now." He went over to check on the dinner, and I turned over to Hector. "So Hector, how was your meeting last week?"

"It went better than I imagined. With time, I'll be able to take trips to Denver and Seattle. Heck, me and Mason have talked about probably moving in one of those areas."

"Awesome. But why the move?"

Mason walked out of our room and sat right next to his husband. "What'd I miss?"

Hector turned to him. I was telling Deborah that I had access to perks in Oak Branch Management's facilities in the West."

I jumped in. "And I asked about why the move."

"Oh, I was thinking that it would be more easier for us. Especially when he had to leave for a business trip." He kissed Hector.

"Okay guys, dinner's just about done. Hey Deborah, can you help me with this?"

I got up and helped to set the table. Hector got up and asked, "Can we do anything to help?" We told the two of them to sit down and that we had it taken care of. He walked back to the door and looked at the ground. "Hey. What's this stain?"