Three Lovers on the Grift - 27

Lyman stood there, smiling slightly. Beside him, Silas lounged against the doorframe.

"How did you get in here?"

Silas held up a set of lock picks. "You really should keep your alarm system on 24/7," he commented.

"How long have you been listening," Nigel asked as he stood, handing Brian to Page. "And more to the point, why were you listening? Why are you here?"

"Long enough to know what you three are planning. As I said, you might want to reconsider," Lyman replied, stepping into the office.

"Fuck," Nigel said quietly but passionately.

Vaughn stared at Lyman angrily. "Why would we want to do that?"

"Do you mind if we sit down? We need to talk."

"No shit," Page muttered. "Who the hell are you two? Obviously more than what you seem."

Silas shrugged as he dropped down on one of the office chairs. "You might call us concerned citizens."

"We might not. Now talk," Vaughn ordered.

Lyman moved to stand behind Silas, resting his hands on his husband's shoulders. "We are concerned, and we are citizens, not that one has to do with the other. I guess an explanation is in order."

"You could say that." Although he felt no real threat from the two men at the moment, given their attitudes, Vaughn still wished he was the kind of homeowner who kept a gun handy, as much as he hated them.

"To start with, I really am a reporter, and as all of you know well, Silas is a pediatrician. Those are our day jobs so to speak. In my case being a crime reporter serves me well as it gives me an inside edge with the police and keeps us off their radar."

"Which we really prefer to be," Silas added with a chuckle.

"All right, I think I'm beginning to get the picture here." Vaughn looked at Lyman and Silas, one eyebrow cocked. "Your day jobs, as you put it, are legit; it's what you do at night that isn't."

"Exactly," Lyman agreed. "Like you three, we're not exactly model citizens at times, although we don't count on what we do to be our sole support. It's more of a hobby."

"A night time 'hobby' suggests you're thieves of some sort, right?" Nigel said.

"Right, although since we consider you friends we've never taken advantage of your occasional absences to see what you might have that would interest us."

"Nice of you," Page said acerbically. "And yet you seem to know more about us than we're comfortable with."

"A great deal more," Lyman agreed. "The first time you invited us for supper, Silas took advantage of your hospitality to do a bit of snooping."

"I'm nosy," Silas said with a grin. "I could blame it on living with a reporter, but honestly, it comes naturally."

"There was something about the explanation you gave us regarding what the three of you did for a living that didn't ring quite true," Lyman told them. "I mean it all sounded good, but as if you were sliding around corners to keep us from knowing the whole story."