by Cole Baxter
Amber stepped closer to him and Officer Ravensblood. She could smell the whiskey on the man from a foot away. She looked back at the senior officer who stood next to Matt. "Billings, did you give him a breathalyzer?"
"No, I mean, sure, he's been drinking, but—"
Amber raised a brow. "But?" Clearly, the man was drunk off his ass. It was pretty obvious.
"Well, he's not driving, so . . ." He trailed off at the look of disgust Amber was giving him and sighed. "I'll go get the test."
She gritted her teeth and turned to Matt who was standing quietly to her right. "So, what's the story, Matt? Why is this man accusing you of stealing from his boat?"
Matt sighed and sent a glare at the man. "Mr. Cantwell has had numerous complaints lodged against him for running his boat motor during quiet hours past Emerald Hills. I'm the one who's given him the fines from Parks and Recreation. He's blaming me. You know me, Amber. I'm not a thief."
Billings returned and held the tube up to Mr. Cantwell's mouth. "Sir, you need to blow into this."
"Get that fucking thing outta my face! Why aren't you arresting the fucker! He's a fucking gangbanger! He's probably got a record a mile long! All them black fuckers do!"
"Sir! That is enough!" Officer Ravensblood, who was of Native American descent and probably only about twenty-two, squeezed Mr. Cantwell's arm, finally speaking up.
Billings pushed the tube into Mr. Cantwell's gaping mouth, and he sputtered, trying to dislodge it, but he breathed enough into it for it to register that he was legally over the limit. "Sir, you're going to have to come with us."
"No! I'm making a citizen’s arrest! You can't do that! Let go!" Mr. Cantwell ranted as Billings and Ravensblood frog marched him toward their police vehicle.
"I'm sorry about that, Matt." Amber frowned, watching the two officers drag Mr. Cantwell toward the car and then shove him in the backseat. "I had no idea people still thought like that."
Matt shrugged, but a tick in his jaw told her that it bothered him more than he was letting on. "Yeah, well, they do. Not the first time I've heard opinions like that, and probably not the last, either."
Sighing, she nodded. "Well, for what it's worth, not everyone thinks that way. I know you're a good man, and I know you're innocent."
"Thanks, Amber. I appreciate it." He picked up the things he'd set down when Mr. Cantwell had 'arrested' him.
"How did the officers even get called?" Amber asked, curious.
"The Marina manager, Tammy Howlett. She heard Mr. Cantwell harassing me." He nodded toward the Marina offices.
"Well, I'm glad they were level-headed enough to call me before they did anything."
"You and me both. Can't tell you how quickly my life flashed before my eyes thinking this could have played out so differently."
Amber smiled. "You kept your cool and stayed calm, even in the face of his rants. Not sure I could have done that myself."
Matt laughed. "Naw, you were great," he said as they walked together back to the parking lot.
"Tell Vicki I said hi and give Lily a cuddle for me. Such a cutie pie, I swear she gets more adorable every time I see her."
"I will. Thanks again." Matt waved as he got into his truck and pulled out of the parking lot.
Amber slipped into the driver's seat of her car and headed back to the station. She wasn't on the schedule at the gas station for tonight and she’d planned an evening in. She had a date with her Netflix and a bottle of chardonnay.
When she was done at the station, after going over the background checks that Mahoney had compiled and making notes on Ellie's to check into the incident that caused her to lawyer up, she headed home. Once she'd changed into a pair of comfortable pjs, poured her first glass of chardonnay, and heated up her dinner, her phone rang.
The ringtone told her it was Leah, and she was hesitant to talk to her. Their last conversation had been the night after she'd gone to get Matt's alibi. Sighing, she answered. "Hello?"
"Girl, thank you."
"For?" Amber questioned, unsure why Leah was thanking her. The last thing she'd said to her was that she couldn't talk to her and she'd been beyond pissed off.
"For helping my little brother out today. Could have easily gone sideways and all."
"I know Matt's innocent, Leah. Of course I helped him out. And the two officers obviously weren't believing Cantwell because they called me in. You know I was just doing my job when I went to see him before, right?"
"Yeah, I know. I shouldn't have gotten so pissed off, but it's hard, you know? Even though we grew up here, we're outsiders. Not wealthy enough to stand above the fray and not white enough to fit in with the middle-class."
Amber leaned back into the couch and sipped her chardonnay. "I'm middle-class and you fit in just fine with me." She smiled. "There are always going to be assholes, Leah, and they come in all shapes, colors, and sizes. But I've always got your back, you know? I didn't want to ask Matt those questions. I knew it wasn't him. I just needed to rule him out so I could back up my gut instincts with proof to those assholes."
"Yeah. Sorry I got so upset over it." Leah sighed. "So, how's the case going? Know who did it?"
"Not yet. I'm working on it. Pretty sure it was an inside job, though."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I'm working undercover over at Kelley's on night shift to prove it."
Leah chuckled. "So, are you there now?"
"Hell no, I wouldn't have answered the phone if I were." Amber laughed. "I'm off tonight, so it's Netflix and chill with a glass of chardonnay for me."
"Want some company?"
"Sure. Come on over." Amber was so glad to have her best friend back in her life. She hated it when they were mad at each other. Not that she had been mad at Leah, but it still sucked when Leah was mad at her.
"On my way."
Chapter Ten
Amber spent the next day at the PD going over the background checks, looking over every minute detail on each one. Mahoney had called in. He was still over in Seattle verifying some of the information he'd found on Vince before returning, but he planned to be back that afternoon. Amber hoped that he'd found out something helpful.
After lunch, Mahoney finally showed up. "You took your time," she murmured as he joined her at her desk.
"Sorry. This guy is a piece of work. A number of his past employers were fake, so it took me some time to figure out what he'd been doing."
"The employers were fake?" She frowned. "How does that work?"
"They were actually just friends of his listed as 'bosses' of fake companies that Vince claimed to have worked for. That was the reason for the falling out with his father—who has disowned him, by the way."
"What?"
"Yeah. Vince's dad is this highly sought after petroleum engineer, apparently. He could own one of those houses in Emerald Hills if he wanted. The man has brains and is apparently frugal with his money. The son, Vince, not so much. He was a poor student in high school, dropped out of college, scammed his father on several occasions, believed he deserved everything he wanted without working for it. His dad, who apparently has a pretty strong work ethic, cut him off and completely disowned him."
"Wow," Amber said, blinking at the information. "Anything else?"
"So, after scamming his dad, his friends, and everyone else in his life, he turned to his Uncle Ray, who took pity on him and gave him the night manager job at his gas station. He's currently living in a studio apartment at" —Mahoney looked down at his notes— "the Village Apartments, which I had to look up, but they're out toward Lyre's Memorial. Didn't even know they were there."
Amber nodded. "Yeah, there's only like two buildings. Pretty cheap rent, actually."
"Yeah, his financials say he's only paying $725 in rent. And I didn't see any kind of windfall deposits into his account, but that doesn't mean anything."
"Right, he might be just holding on to the cash." Amber pursed her lips. "So, anything that says he did this?"
&nb
sp; Mahoney shook his head. "Not really. No smoking gun or anything."
She sighed. "Okay. Well, I'm on duty again at Kelley's tonight. Maybe I'll learn something. Oh, did you get anything on Ray?"
"Not yet. I'll get on his today, and I saw you stuck Ellie's background check back on my desk. Was there something I need to look at?"
"Oh, yeah. She mentioned having to hire a lawyer to get her out of some trouble but didn't tell me what trouble. I was hoping you could find something out about it."
"Sure, I'll see what I can find out." He stood.
Amber smiled. "Thanks. I'm going to head out. I've got an errand to run and then I need a nap before I go into the station tonight. This working late into the night is killing me." She laughed.
"Better you than me." Mahoney grinned at her.
Turning off her computer, Amber headed out of the police department and went out to her car. She put the car in drive and headed for the Forsythes' place. She had promised William that she would come and keep an eye on Annabelle while he took care of some personal things this afternoon.
Later that night, Amber found herself working with Bob, Nick, and Vince, who thankfully was in the back room taking his break. She was sweeping and moved closer to the counter as she did so. She'd noticed a few days ago that Bob seemed to blush when he looked at her, so she'd worn a tight fitting, low-cut shirt with a push-up bra today to keep him distracted.
"Hey, Bob, I've been meaning to ask . . ." She trailed off as he looked up, his gaze settling on her cleavage as she'd hoped it would.
"Yeah?" he murmured, a slight smile on his lips.
"Was it scary? The night you all were robbed? I mean, I really hope they don't, like, come back, you know?"
"I didn't even notice it was happening, dude. I was stuck up here on the counter most of the night 'cause Vince left and Nick was out in the lot. Ellie was sweepin'. Guess she coulda seen it happenin', but I didn't hear nothin' out of the ordinary." He shrugged.
Amber blinked. Vince left? "What do you mean, Vince left? He was the manager on duty. How could he leave?"
Bob looked up at her, and Amber realized she might have sounded a bit harsh, so she tucked her arms close to her body and pushed them toward her boobs, drawing his eye back to them.
"He does that sometimes. Leaves to go be with his girlfriend for a couple of hours. No biggie."
"Vince has a girlfriend?" she said, acting sad and disappointed to hear that news. "Who is she?"
"No clue, but yeah. Vince says she's hot as fuck."
"Huh." Amber returned to sweeping and moved to push the debris into the dustpan. "Guess I'll do the sidewalk since I've got this out."
She headed for the door and started sweeping as she watched for Nick, who was once again out in the parking lot, supposedly cleaning, but she figured it was just an excuse to waste time. She found him around the side of the building tossing a bottle into a trashcan like it was a basketball.
"Hey, Nick."
"Hey."
"So, I was just talking to Bob about the theft. Kind of scary to think it happened while you all were here! But he said Vince was actually gone during it, left you and Bob alone! I can't even imagine how scary that would be."
Nick scoffed. "Didn't even know it was happening, to be honest. I was out here most of the night, but yeah, Vince leaves a lot, not that Ray believes it when I tell him. Dumbass. Thinks Vince is perfect and can do nothin' wrong." He shook his head and grabbed the bottle from the trashcan and backed up to toss it again.
As he moved, Amber noticed the back parking lot was short one Beamer. Interesting, she thought but filed it away as she continued her conversation with Nick. "You've told Ray? Wow, I would think Ray would have blown his top if he knew that."
"You'd think so, and he would if one of us did that shit, but no, not Vince." His tone was completely bitter.
"So, where does he go?"
"Who the fuck knows? Claims he's visiting his girlfriend." He shot the bottle again like it was a basketball, and it bounced off the rim of the can before falling to the ground.
"Claims?" Amber picked up on the disbelief in his voice.
"Selma said his girlfriend came in about three weeks ago and ripped Vince to pieces right here in the station. I wish I'd been here to see it, would have been awesome. Anyway, Selma says the girl broke up with him in a big way."
"Wow. So then where could he have been the night of the robbery if he wasn't here and wasn't with her?" Amber murmured, mostly to herself, but Nick overheard her.
"As I said, who the fuck knows? Probably with some skeevy skank. Seems to be his type."
Amber snickered. She made a show of dumping her dustbin in the garbage and then said, "Guess I’d better go back in. I've still got to straighten the shelves."
Nick nodded. "If anyone asks, I'm still out here cleaning up trash."
"Sure." She picked up the broom and dustbin and carried them back into the building. Both of the boys had given her some things to think about. Vince had definitely moved into suspect number one position. She would have to find out if he actually was with some girlfriend or if he'd been here sneaking in and out of the back, stealing stuff.
She wanted to talk to Selma too about that breakup of his as well. If it had been as harsh as Nick seemed to think, she figured the girl probably hadn't taken him back. And if she hadn't, had Vince found a new girlfriend or was he the perpetrator?
Or had Bob and Nick taken advantage of Vince being gone and done the theft themselves?
Of course, it still could have been Ellie and Selma. Knowing Vince's habit of sneaking off to his girlfriend's when he was supposed to be working would give them the perfect opportunity to sneak in and steal the electronics and liquor.
Damn.
She still had too many suspects. She needed more definitive evidence.
Chapter Eleven
Amber headed into the back room to grab some boxes for the liquor section but ran into Vince, who was coming in the delivery door. She widened her eyes and acted startled. "Oh! I didn't even know you were gone!"
Vince smirked and tossed his keys up in the air. "No biggie, just had to run an errand. Nothing to be concerned with."
"But what if those robbers had come back? You left the door unlocked and the alarm off, didn't you?"
"Trust me, you were perfectly fine. They aren't coming back. Why would they?"
Amber frowned. She wanted to arrest him right there, but she still didn't have any proof it was him. "I was talking to Bob earlier, and he said you were gone that night too. What if . . . what if they knew you were gone and that's why they came that night?"
Vince shook his head. "It was just a bunch of kids, don't know why you're getting so worked up. Yeah, I wasn't here. I was with my woman, Tara." His eyes roved over her, settling on her cleavage. "You know, we've got an open relationship . . . and you're pretty hot. You keep this little errand of mine to yourself and I might just let you stick around, maybe upgrade you to my woman . . ." He let the rest of the sentence hang as he leered at her for a moment before adding, "you'd like that, wouldn't you?"
Amber swallowed her disgust and smiled back at him. "Um, I just came back here to get these cases to restock . . . I'm not, um, looking to get with anyone right now, you know?"
He chuckled. "Whatever. Don't go blabbing to my Uncle Ray that I left, okay?"
Amber nodded. "Sure." But she was pretty sure that he was the thief, and he hadn't been with his woman, Tara . . . who, as Amber thought over everything, sounded familiar, or at least the name was familiar . . . where had she heard it before? she wondered.
As she stocked the liquor, it came to her. Tara had been her waitress at Fired Up when she'd been there with Leah. It wasn't a common name, so surely, she was the Tara that Vince was talking about, right? She'd have to get Mahoney to go interview her. She seriously doubted that Tara would give Vince an alibi, but she couldn't rule it out.
As she was bringing the empty boxes to the back, she notice
d Vince again coming back from the front counter. He had a handful of twenties and was headed back into the office. She moved to an angle where she could watch him as she broke down the boxes. He was counting the money, but every now and then, he'd palm a twenty and stuff it in his jeans pocket, then continue on as if that were normal. She didn't think he knew she was watching him, as she was bent over using a box cutter and her hair was blocking her view, or at least that was how she wanted it to seem. He wrote something down in the ledger and then put the stack of twenties in the cashbox. He stood up and moved to the door, his eyes on her ass and a smirk on his lips.
Amber dropped the flattened box and stood up, glancing over at him. "Oh, gosh, didn't even hear you back here," she said, giggling.
"You've got a great ass. Anyone ever tell you that?"
Amber blinked at him. "Uh . . . no?"
Vince moved toward her, and she stood still, her eyes wide as he grabbed her ass. "Yeah, firm as fuck."
"Uh, thanks?" She was so creeped out and wanted to grip his forearm, twist it behind his back, and tell him he was under arrest, but she stilled her tongue.
"Anytime you wanna fuck, let me know. I'm available."
"What about Tara?"
"I told ya already, Tara and I are in an open relationship. She wouldn't care."
Amber frowned. "I'm not really into that sort of thing. My last boyfriend cheated on me with my best friend. I don't think I could do that to someone else."
"Huh. Your loss." He shrugged. "Better get back out there, shelves to straighten."
Amber nodded and went back to the sales floor quickly. She straightened the makeup aisle and then headed toward the next aisle where she could once again keep an eye on Vince without his knowledge, but this time, he was cutting up with Bob. They were messing with the radio station and joking around.
"Hey, they played this concert the night of the robbery. I remember 'cause I had it turned up and was rockin' out, dude. Probably why I didn't hear nothin'!" Bob laughed.
"I wondered how you all missed it. I mean, all of you managed to miss someone sneakin' in and stealing shit?"