Chapter Twenty: Crawl

On the drive home, Lark teases Lachlan into stopping for ice, escalating their mutual anticipation. Back at the loft, Lachlan exerts control as they consent to a rough, intimate encounter that affirms their trust and desire. Through the night, they repeatedly reconnect, then fall asleep together, an unspoken commitment taking root.

By morning, their rapport feels easy and domestic as Lark cooks and they banter—Lark even reveals the earlier apartment stench came from sanding a corpse hidden in her coffee table. They plan their day, agreeing to bring muffins to Leander and revisit the investigation, since earlier leads from Club Pacifico payments proved legitimate.

At Leander’s estate, Leander is cordial and fascinated by Lark, though Lachlan remains wary. In Leander’s office, Lachlan urges Lark to consider suspects from within her family’s circle. Lark identifies Stan Tremblay, her aunt’s longtime enforcer, as someone who might know more, even if he isn’t the killer.

They run Tremblay through Leander’s system. Warning flags and codes appear, culminating in Code 100. Lachlan explains that Code 100 denotes a homicide: Stan Tremblay is already dead, abruptly shifting their assumptions and the direction of the search.