31

Finally, we were home. We’d had a late breakfast with the Evans family, and it was so celebratory—so filled with love and hope and laughter—it had been kind of hard to tear myself away from it. In the end, the need to get home had set in, and we’d parted ways there.

Then I’d had to go rescue Grant and Alan, as Atlanta’s Missing Persons department had not wanted to let go of him. Man had sadly worked most of the night, and the second he got into the car, he zonked. Slept all four hours of the drive. Alan did not look happy, so I had a feeling boundaries were going to be set. Really, I understood both sides. Grant had a hard time saying no when he knew it was a life-or-death situation. Alan’s focus was on Grant’s health. I wished them luck finding that balance.

We got home that evening after dropping Grant and Alan off. I wanted out of this car so badly. Words couldn’t express how badly.

I pulled into my parking lot and whined to Donovan, “We have no food in this house.”

“How about I run out and pick up something?” he offered. “I’m craving fries right now.”

Fries meant Five Guys in our language. “Oooh, yes. Sold. Go. I’ll feed cats and face their wrath for leaving them alone.”

“Fair trade.”

I handed him keys, kissed him, then bounced inside. Freedom!

The second I had my back door open, I heard light, feminine voices from inside. Eh? Who’d invaded my place? Then I recognized a laugh and went duuuuh . Skylar and Abby. I had asked them to look in on the cats while I was gone. They were likely over here doing just that. I forgot to remind Donovan to text them. Oh well.

“Hey, girls, we’re back!” I called.

Skylar’s head popped around into the hallway. “Hey, you sure are. Uncle Donovan said you found Tye, so we called Dwayne this morning and got the full story. You guys had a crazy time.”

“‘Crazy’ about covers it. How goes it here?”

“Well, we think we’ve figured stuff out. And the cats are fine, we’ve been playing laser pointer.”

“A favorite game.” One I sadly could not participate in, but I had feather wands, and the cats loved those equally as well.

I came in closer to have a proper conversation. Abby was still playing, casting the laser pointer all over the living room floor, sometimes the couches, and the cats were chasing it for all they were worth. They would definitely not hold a grudge against Donovan and me, as they’d be fast asleep after this. Bless my girls for wearing them out. Bless.

Deeming it not safe to sit on the couch, I took up a barstool instead and prodded Skylar, “What did you figure out?”

“How to handle the upcoming school year.”

Ah right, that had been a question. It wouldn’t be comfortable for either of them to be apart for long, and a full school day for a newly bonded pair? Not in the cards. But there was such a driving distance—and Nashville traffic was so insane—that one of them commuting to the other’s school was not the optimum option.

“So what did you guys decide to do?”

“Basically, we’re going to act like we’re shared custody kids.” Skylar laughed while saying this. “We’ll stay with my parents during the school week, then stay with Abby’s dad during the weekend.”

“My dad works crazy hours sometimes on cases anyway,” Abby explained to me, still zooming the laser pointer everywhere. “So it’s hit or miss whether he’s home during the work week. This just made the most sense to us. Plus, Skylar’s school is better than mine, so it’s a leg up for me.”

True, Skylar went to a magnet school. “And you’re a shoo-in into the school with you two bonded, so no worries getting in.”

“Yup. We filled out the paperwork already, so we’re just waiting for the official okay.”

“Also means we can spend after-school hours training with you,” Skylar reminded me. “Which was the other reason why we chose to do it this way.”

“Makes sense to me. I think it’s smart, really, and the only long-term solution. When does this living arrangement start?”

“Start of school year. We’re just going day by day at the moment.” Skylar shrugged. “Not like we’re on a set schedule right now.”

“Also true.”

Skylar leaned in, wicked mirth on her face. “Did Uncle Donovan really go into a haunted building to find Tylesia?”

“He really did. I might have to put the man in therapy at this rate. He’s truly terrified of ghosts. I think, once we found Chad, he was so angry at the guy, he forgot the place was haunted for a few minutes. Did you hear that Tylesia punched Chad?”

“What! No, Dwayne didn’t tell me that part.” Skylar nodded in approval. “Good for her. I would have punched him too. Did you learn why he did all this? Was he in love with her or something?”

I shook my head. “Obsession. No gold in the man’s lines. He was convinced he needed Tye as his anchor more than Dwayne did. He was also convinced that if he just gave it more time, she’d forgive him. Even being punched didn’t deter his obsession.”

“Wooooow. Piece of work.” Skylar made a face. “If anyone ever does that with me, I’ll punch ’em first. Abs, you hear that? You spot any creeps, tell me. We’ll knock ’em out flat before they can get obsessed.”

Abby saluted with her right hand. “Roger that. Oh, Jon. Did you hear how much Dwayne got in the settlement?”

“Uh…no, I didn’t think it was right to ask.”

“A cool four million. He told me.”

I whistled long and low. Damn. I wasn’t saying it was a good idea to spend a year in prison for a payout, but for that kind of money? Tempting. Very tempting.

“He’s already been house shopping, since he lost his. He’s going for something with very tight security after all that happened. Said he’s going to pay for it outright, along with new vehicles for both him and Tylesia.”

“Awesome. I hope it’s a good fresh start for both of them.”

“I think it will be. They’re really excited about it all. Oh, and did you hear? Court date against Solomon has been set.”

An evil smile slipped out before I could stop it. “Nooo, I did not hear that. Wow, that’s quick. When is it set for?”

“Middle of this month. I think it’s August 18 th ?” Abby did a little booty dance. “About time someone takes him down a peg. I’m still really mad about what he did to Dwayne.”

“We’re all mad at him for different reasons, trust me.”

“I literally cannot wait—” Abby abruptly stopped, her lines blaring with fear and alarm as she stared right past me.

I whipped around, a knee-jerk reaction to see what had scared her so badly.

And came face-to-face with Solomon.

The man looked wild. His black hair was oily and slick, body odor horrible like he hadn’t bathed in days. His brown eyes were normally cold, but right now they looked bloodshot. Crazy. His lines flexed like a mad tapeworm on drugs, all fuchsia with loathing, scarlet with rage, but where his moral compass line should be, it sparked grey, as if it was no longer functioning. All those things were scary enough and would make me run for the hills. But to make it all worse, he had a gun up and trained on me.

“You fucking cunt.” His breathing was more of a pant, indicating how hot his rage ran. “You ruin my life and you’re in here laughing it up?”

I had to get the girls out. That was my only thought. I had to get the girls out before he turned on them, too. Rushing him wouldn’t do a lot of good in this sense, and the risk of him hitting someone else was too high. Shit, Donovan wouldn’t be back for another fifteen minutes at least. I had to get the girls out, give them a chance to run; otherwise, we were all dead.

Fear beat in me like a heartbeat, but I stayed calm on the outside.

“Send the girls out,” I told him. “They had no part in this.”

“I send them out, they’ll call the police. I’m going to take my fucking time with you. Make you feel every bit of pain that you’ve put me through.”

Loved how the man was pinning the blame for his screwups all on me. Then again, he wasn’t able to self-analyze or admit to his own faults, so I wasn’t surprised. I just wished he hadn’t come down to this level. Threatening me was bad enough, but two teenage girls?

I had to keep him talking. I had to buy time until Donovan got here. It was the only way I saw out of this mess with none of us dying.

I could read this man like an open book, and I knew what buttons to push.

“So. You think I’m the cause of all this? What did I do, huh?”

Hatred flared in him, hot and fast, and he nearly trembled with it as he spat out, “Don’t you fucking play this game with me! You’ve always been holier than thou. Acting like I’m an idiot!”

Uh. You are? Currently an armed idiot, which was not in my favor.

“The very first day you met me, you almost immediately dismissed me. Just looked me over, head to toe, and I could tell you thought I was an idiot even then!”

Dude. Anyone looking at you could tell you were a moron. Didn’t take a Reader. Man, it was really hard to bite my tongue. I wanted to tell him off, but I also was desperate to get my girls out of harm’s way.

“Then there was that first case you took away from me, where you turned it all up on its head. I swear you manufactured evidence just to make someone else the bad guy. Just to make sure I looked like an idiot.”

I sincerely didn’t remember which one he was referring to. “Which case?”

“Don’t fucking toy with me!” he screamed.

“I honestly can’t remember, Solomon. I’ve slept since then, so remind me. Which case?”

Solomon had always loved the sound of his own voice, so he was eager to tell me. It was one of those easy-to-push buttons.

“The one with the fraud at the city office! The ninety-thousand-dollar check that was given to the wrong woman.”

It took a second for his words to click. I wasn’t kidding when I said I didn’t remember which case he was referring to. Then it did and I rolled my eyes before I could catch myself.

“Even now you’re rolling your eyes!”

“Solomon. Everyone could see that the woman you pinned the blame on wasn’t at fault—”

“She was the one who issued the check to the person!”

“She was also the one who reported the case to begin with. And gave evidence she thought it was a fraud case. With signatures from both of her bosses highlighting every single issue with the original filing for the check. It was obvious no one except her bosses—who didn’t want to accept the blame—thought she was the problem. You were buddy-buddy with one of her bosses, and that’s the only reason why you leapt on her as a suspect.”

“So, what? I’m just supposed to believe someone else over my friend?”

“When the evidence is right in front of you that he screwed up? Uh, yeah? I mean, seriously, you’re a detective. Aren’t you supposed to be able to discern truth from lies?”

Solomon laughed. It was a very ugly sound. “You always make me out to be the fuckup. You’ve turned the entire department against me! Captain Olivia’s suspended me, pending an investigation. A fucking investigation! Like I haven’t been on the force for over twenty goddamn years . Like I haven’t trained detectives through the years! Those same guys won’t even return a phone call now.”

I was pretty sure I knew who he was talking about. And they wouldn’t return a phone call from Solomon even before this all went down. They’d learned quickly his methods weren’t legit or even smart. In fact, one of them had gone to Borrowman and asked to be retrained, which said a lot.

The gun started shaking in Solomon’s hand. He was immensely upset, almost hurt. All that to say, his ego was very hurt.

The girls were behind one of the couches—they’d taken advantage of his preoccupation with me to hide. Hopefully one of them texted Donovan. Called 911. Something. This moment sadly illustrated just how sloppy Solomon was. Who threatened someone at gunpoint but failed to get anyone’s cellphones? Lock down witnesses? Here he was reaming me out because he’d been painted as an imbecile, while simultaneously acting like one. I’d laugh if I didn’t have a gun in my face.

“Every single time you come into one of my cases, you showed me up. And I’m not! A! Fucking! Idiot! I’m going to jail.” He sobbed, tears and snot making a mess. “I’m probably going to jail. And it’s all because of you! My dad’s washed his hands of me, said this is too big, he’s not going to get involved in it.”

Ohhhh. Now this made more sense. The hurt was because of being abandoned by his father. Not anything to do with me directly. I was just the easier target.

“No one’s on my side right now! No one’s willing to help me! They all say I deserve this after all I’ve done. What have I done, huh? What have I done?! I put bad guys behind bars—”

More often than not, you put innocent people behind bars. Hence the problem.

“—and for that I’m ridiculed? I’m shunned?”

His hand holding the gun abruptly firmed. “You. You entering the scene is what caused it all. The second you came, people saw me as a screwup past saving. I kept getting called into the captain’s office. I kept getting docked pay, reprimands, and now…now I’ve lost everything. BECAUSE OF YOU!”

Shit. He was on the verge of exploding. I might have to rush that gun after all.

Sorry, Donovan. I know you don’t want me to do that. But in a second, I might not have a choice.