Home: An Arrow Fanfic

Chapter 4

"Tommy's dad? You think the man responsible for killing Jeremy Croft is my best friend's father?" Oliver sounded angry, his voice tinged with disbelief.

Diggle held up a hand. "I'm not accusing him of anything. But the Russians were clear about their intel."

"So was my search," added Felicity. "It was thorough. His name was the only one that's connected to Croft and the cartel."

Oliver ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "How? Why? He's a local businessman for God's sake!"

Diggle's voice remained calm. "Oliver, every man on your father's list runs charitable organisations in this city and yet all of them are guilty of something."

Oliver shook his head. "Not Tommy's dad. I've known him all my life."

"You've also been gone for five years," Felicity reminded him gently. "A lot can happen. People change. Or maybe there is some mistake and we're grasping the wrong end of the stick."

"Felicity is right. There are a dozen different ways this can play out. But we can't ignore the facts. You know that."

Oliver nodded. "Fine. We track him. Day and night. I want to know where he's going, when he's going, what for and who he's meeting. Also, run checks on his companies looking for shell corporations and anything else that looks suspicious."

"Done." Felicity walked back to her workstation.

Diggle moved closer to Oliver. "Are you going to tell Tommy?"

"No. We don't know if Malcolm really is involved. Until we do, there's no point in causing an even greater rift between us."

With a nod, Diggle patted him on the back and walked away.

Oliver walked into the mansion shortly after midnight. He'd missed dinner and he knew his mother felt let down. He'd heard it in her voice when he'd called to cancel. There'd just been too much to do. Digging into Tommy's father's entire background felt like a betrayal. He hated the feeling.

"Ollie?" Thea peeked round the corner.

Oliver closed the door behind him. "Yeah. Why aren't you in bed?"

Thea looked at him accusingly. "You forgot, didn't you?"

Oliver closed his eyes. Dammit. The laptop.

"I didn't forget. It's with Felicity. I just-"

"Forgot."

He cringed. "-didn't take it back afterward."

Thea groaned. "I need that paper! It's due tomorrow. What am I going to hand in? Mr. Know-It-All-Albert already expects me to flunk it."

Putting an arm around his sister, Oliver replied, "You're not going to flunk it. I'll have your paper by morning." At Thea's hopeful look he added, "I promise."

Felicity was a mess. Oliver had called to ask if he could collect his sister's laptop and although she wasn't done retrieving the information, he'd said it was important. Also, thathe didn't mind waiting. Knowing that the drive from the Queen mansion to her apartment wouldn't take long at this time of night, Felicity had freaked out, indecisive about whether she should get dressed again or stay in her comfortable tank and pajama bottoms. She changed her mind a few times before she chose to stay as she was, only adding a cardi to cover her bare arms.

She felt nervous about having Oliver inside her personal sanctum. It was one thing to be inside his world, surrounded by everything that was familiar to him. She could deal with that. That was safe. It somehow felt different having him come into her world – where everything was a lot less glamorous, a lot less intriguing and definitely a lot less exciting.