(no subject)

Without the money from Todd Chad, the work is certainly different.

It's more violent, for one, with Philip taking whatever he can get. It's usually something as simple as delivering a warning, roughing someone up, making sure to leave behind a few good bruises before he walks off into the night, and it's not as if he isn't used to it, he's done far worse things for money, but he'd had things so easy for a time.

Still, he has plenty of money at the moment and so he's not particularly concerned about his financial state. The work is harder and he'd quite enjoyed coasting, but there's a fair bit of enjoyment to be had in all this as well. To be had in wrapping his arm around someone's throat from behind and pulling them into the shadows where he can deliver a few well placed blows in near silence.

That isn't what he's doing tonight, though he supposes the job is just as illegal. There are four different men who owe money to a certain loan shark in the city and in this case, Philip's job hasn't been to rough them up or break their fingers or anything violent at all, although he's delivering a message all the same. Over the course of the night, he's broken into three different homes and left a framed family portrait in the middle of the kitchen or dining room table. On each photograph, a red line had been drawn across the throat of the man's wife and any children he has.

It's a little dramatic and silly, but Philip is being paid to deliver the portraits and so he does.

He's just finished the last and is easing his way out of the house when he realizes he's not entirely alone. There's someone on the street and although he can't be entirely certain, he thinks he may have been seen.

(no subject)

In a rather odd way, Philip has noticed that he hasn't seen much of Agent Reid lately. He's noted the absence and slowly come to the conclusion that it doesn't bother him exactly, but that he does want to do something to remedy it. It's not that he misses the man, not by any means, but his presence in Philip's life gives him a little bit of excitement it's difficult to find elsewhere and perhaps it's stupidly playing with fire, but after losing his job with Todd Chad, he's of the mind he needs a little bit of that.

It becomes clear with a little bit of investigation that Agent Reid has been injured in a car accident and instead of showing up with flowers or some other gift to indicate he hopes he gets well soon, he bides his time. Right now, Reid's husband will inevitably be hovering over him, getting him water or tea or something to eat, making sure his pillows are fluffed properly, making sure he has something to read or a television show to watch. Whatever he's doing, he'll be there far too much and Philip doesn't want to have to deal with that.

So he gives it a few weeks, then a little longer, then finds himself across the street from the bookstore one day. Reid isn't back to work yet, he'd made sure of that, but he seems to be in better shape than he had been those first few weeks. He's healthy enough that Philip's bearded doppelganger is comfortable kissing him goodbye and leaving the store in his capable hands.

Philip waits until he gets into his truck and drives away and once he's out of sight, he saunters across the street and opens the door to the very charming Graymark Books, a little bell tinkling overhead to let Agent Reid know someone has come inside.