33. His Only Source

33

HIS ONLY SOURCE

" A ndi told me you're going away for the weekend," Jack said to Jarrett when he answered the phone a week later.

When he noticed the call coming in, his heart all but stopped and dropped into his gut that he was going to receive bad news.

"We are," he said. He got up and shut the door to his office. "I didn't know she had to check in with you on those things."

"She doesn't," Jack said. "I think it came up innocently enough. I was complaining about it being sixty here today. That is hotter than normal."

"It's about two degrees here," he said.

"She told me," Jack said. "I don't miss that either. Guess I'll have to get used to it though."

"Used to the heat," he said.

"The cold again," Jack said. "I wanted to let you know before I told Andi. I'd put in for a transfer to Boston. I hadn't thought it would happen this soon, but they had a position open and needed it filled immediately."

Jarrett wasn't so sure how he felt about this.

He liked that Andi didn't have someone from her past around her all the time. Maybe he liked that she came to him and he was the only one in her life.

It was selfish on his part, but he was going to push the guilt away.

"Does Andi know you put in for the transfer?" he asked.

"No. I didn't tell her," Jack said. "I thought I'd have time, but I don't. I'll be flying in this weekend to look for an apartment. I've got a few places lined up and just need to sign a lease. Then I'll pack up and have everything driven there."

"And you want me to tell her?" he asked.

"If you do, then she'll be pissed at us both," Jack said. "She isn't going to like the fact that I'm telling you first."

"Why are you?" he asked.

"I'm not sure. I guess I didn't want you to think there was trouble coming her way. It's exactly as I told you before. She isn't leaving that area. I can tell. I saw it a few months ago when I was there. Every time I talk to her, I hear it more in her voice."

Things he was happy to hear.

Though he believed Andi when she said those words to him, it was nice to have it verified by someone else in Andi's life.

And since the only person in her life was Jack, that was his only source.

"I'm glad to know I'm making her happy. I'll try to ease things as best as I can with her, but I'm not going to have it cause issues with us either."

"It won't," Jack said. "I'll still be an hour away or more most likely when you factor in ferry rides. It's not like you'll see me much. I know better than to just drop in unexpectedly too."

"I'll make sure she's aware of that. I never asked before, not you or her—Andi's mother thinks she's dead, right?"

"Yes," Jack said. "Corie left when Andi was young and they had no contact. I don't even know if Corie sent Christmas gifts or came to Andi's high school graduation. She made her own life."

He couldn't imagine any mother doing that. "Who notified her that Colleen had passed?" he asked.

"A US Marshal from the Denver office. I'd already relocated with Andi, so it wouldn't have looked related. Not that Corie had any idea of who I was. Corie was told Luke had passed months prior and then what you know of the story with Andi."

"Did her mother have any reaction?"

Jack laughed. "Yeah. She asked if there were any life insurance policies and who was going to get them."

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Nope," Jack said. "Andi knows nothing about that. She only knows her mother was notified. When we told her she could have no contact with Corie again, she shrugged and said that it was the one thing in her life not changing. I think it's easier for her to say she doesn't talk to her mother so she's not tripped up."

"It's hard to keep lies straight," he said.

"That's what Andi hates the most," Jack said.

"I know," he said.

"We told Corie that there was no money. That Colleen had blown through Luke's policies traveling and that she had debt.That sinceColleen wasn't working at the time she had no life insurance policy herself. Corie seemed to believe it."

"I'll never understand people," he said.

"You know as well as I do that you come across plenty of people like that in our line of work."

"Unfortunately. When are you telling Andi?"

"I was going to call her tonight. Are you going to be with her?"

"It wasn't planned," he said. "But she might want me to be afterward."

At least he hoped so.

"Then I know she'll be fine. I'm not sure if she'll be upset. I don't think so."

"You're not worried enough to not do it though," he said.

Jack sighed. "I can't walk away from her just because you're in her life, Jarrett. That means nothing to me and I'm sure you don't want to hear it, but it's the truth. I'm going out on a limb with you and I'm doing it because my gut says I can trust you."

"You can," he said.

"Andi says it all the time. That you're so much like her father. That might be part of the reason I'm doing things the way that I am."

It was hard to say anything negative to that statement.

"I appreciate it," he said.

"Maybe you can return the favor," Jack said. "If I text you a few places I'm looking at in Boston, can you give me an idea of what it's like there? Neighborhood, commute getting in and out of the city. Things like that?"

"Sure," he said. "If you don't like any of them I can reach out to a family member who owns rental properties there. Homes and apartment complexes and see if they've got anything."

"That'd be better, if you don't mind. I'm flying by the seat of my pants lining things up and going on recommendations from people. I lucked out here that I got a good recommendation, but when I moved to Denver I ended up in a shitty place. The location was good, but the landlords were horrible."

"You send me what you've got and I'll let you know if I can come up with anything."

"Thanks," Jack said and then hung up.

Jarrett grabbed his jacket and left the office. He needed to talk to someone and the only one who knew everything was Mac.

He texted his brother when he got in his SUV and then showed up at the police station and walked into Mac's office without stopping at the desk.

They knew him and never would block him unless Mac was talking with someone else.

"What's going on?" Mac asked when he shut the door and sat down in the chair across from Mac.

"This feels creepy," he said. "I used to sit here when Dad was in your seat."

Mac laughed. "I know. Pretty great now, isn't it?"

His older brother would think that. "Only because it's your chair now."

Mac tilted his head. "Did you think you would have wanted to sit here? I never got that impression."

"No," he said quickly. "I knew it'd always be you. We all did. I thought I'd like it in Boston and working bigger crimes than on the island."

"But you soon realized it wasn't all it's cracked up to be," Mac said. "I knew when I left the island, I'd come back. Alex the same."

"We can't get it out of our blood," he said. Alex had lived in Plymouth for some time as a volunteer fireman working in a garage and bartending. Alex had only been biding his time before he could get to the island too.

Then he and Alex shared an apartment until he got his house and Alex bought his.

"What's going on?" Mac asked. "Everything okay with Andi?"

"Yes," he said. "Jack just called to say he's transferring to Boston in a few weeks. He'll be here next week looking at places to stay."

"How do you feel about that?" Mac asked. "Or it's more like I can see you're pissed."

He sighed. "I'm not pissed. I'm annoyed."

"Because you want her all to yourself?" Mac asked.

He knew his brother would understand this. "Is that a horrible thing?"

"It could be," Mac said. "I don't picture Andi the type that wants to be with someone like that."

"I love her. She loves me. She has friends on the island."

"She is friends with my wife and Amanda and Jennie. That's not the same thing and you know it."

His brother had a point. "She is getting a life here again. She told me that. She's happy and wants to stay."

"WhichI'm assuming Jack has realized and that is why he's pushing the transfer now and not waiting a year like Andi told him to do? What did she say about this?"

"She doesn't know. Jack is going to call her tonight. He reached out to me first."

"Which is conflicting for you because there is part of you deep down that appreciates that move out of respect."

"Yeah," he said. "He says that if he didn't take this transfer now he didn't know when he could again. Things don't open quickly and I know that."

"Seems as if it was working out perfectly for him but not you and Andi. Though if he's still a ferry ride away and can't just drive over in thirty minutes when he wants, what is the big deal?"

"I don't know," he said. "Jack pointed that out and asked me to make sure Andi realized it too. But the dude still showed up on New Year's Day without anyone knowing."

"I'm sure he won't make that mistake again. You said Andi was livid and it seems they are just getting things back on track."

"They are," he said. "I don't want her to worry that having him close by is because he's keeping something from her about her past."

"Do you think that is happening?" Mac asked.

"No. I don't know. I think Jack is telling me the truth."

"Then make sure Andi is aware of that also," Mac said. "I'm willing to bet Jack was banking on your support."

"He is," he said. "I've looked into the Dustin Family."

Mac lifted his eyebrow. "Officially or unofficially?"

"Unofficially. Just a general internet search. No more than you've done."

Mac smirked at him. "I don't like going into anything blind."

He snorted. "Did you do any more? Talk to Griffin about it?"

"No," Mac said. "I won't. And if I did, I'd tell you first. Just like I'd hope you'd let me know if you were going to talk to Griffin too."

"I would," he said. "Jack thinks there might have been a mole. Because of that, I wouldn't risk anything. I didn't like what I read and I know it's not even a fraction of what there is on this family."

"Agreed," Mac said. "But if we believe Jack, there wasn't much of a threat against Andi anyway. What there was was someone going rogue. Andi was already an adult and didn't live with her father. Luke was working on something no one knew about. There was nothing in Andi's life to show she knew a thing about the Dustin Family."

"I know," he said. "I ask myself how she can live with this hanging over her head because I'm struggling to."

"So you don't believe what Jack has told you about everything?"

"I want to," he said. "It's just hard to let go completely. I'll never let my guard down any more than you. But I also know that you're in it with me. No one else can know right now."

"I'll always have your back," Mac said. "Hopefully you'll never need it. But you've got Griffin too. If he needs to, he'll be discreet."

"I'm running things through my head," he said.

"You want some of the facial recognition at the docks, right?" Mac asked.

"No one would know," he said. "It's an internal security the Bond family has. Griffin puts lots of people's pictures in there for notification. For law enforcement and business or personal reasons."

"True," Mac said.

"But to do it, I'd have to explain why," he said. "Or give some answer as to why. That is what I'm weighing."

"Give it a few weeks, but let me know if you do it. Griffin can be trusted."

"Not a concern," Jarrett said. "It's more living with the secret of doing it and not letting Andi know."

"Sometimes you have to have secrets for someone'sowngood," Mac said. "Don't let this mess with your head. Separate your head and your heart no matter how hard it is."

"Good advice," he said. "Thanks."