by A. C. Arthur
The sheriff reached into his back pocket and pulled out some folded papers. He extended it to Del and said, “I’ve got a warrant to search your truck and your house.”
Mike had lowered his voice when he said that and Del appreciated the man’s tact in this still puzzling situation. As for Mal, well, Del would continue to bite down on the urge to kick his bony ass all around this bar.
“Hey, Mike. What’s up?” Lance asked as he came over to join them.
Del had taken the papers, unfolded them and was now reading over the warrant. They were looking for anything that connected him to Renaldo Wimbley and a 2016 red Lamborghini Aventador.
“Hey Lance. Ah, I’m just tying up some loose ends on an investigation,” Mike said.
“What investigation? I haven’t seen Wimbley in almost two years and I have no idea whose car this is,” Del said.
“Let me see that,” Lance said before taking the papers from Del’s hand.
“You’re going down now, Greer,” Mal taunted.
“I’m calling our attorney,” Lance said.
“I’m going to ask you to come with me, Del,” Mike said.
“Am I being arrested?” he asked.
Mike immediately shook his head. “No. Right now we just want to talk about your interactions with Wimbley. You can grab your jacket and ride with me over to your place. I’ll have one of my deputies pick up your truck, if you want to give me your keys so they won’t have to impound it.”
Because if people in town saw that his truck was being impounded, they would assume he was in trouble. Again.
“He’s not going anywhere with you,” Lance announced. “And you, you little prick, don’t you ever get tired of creating stories?”
Del moved to his right, blocking Lance from Mal. He dug into his pocket and pulled out his keys. After removing the key to the truck, he handed it over to Mike.
“Lance will drive me to my place,” Del stated evenly. “And you will get the hell out of my bar. Now,” he said to Mal. “And don’t come back.”
Mal laughed but he didn’t move. “Gladly,” he said. “But you don’t have to worry about me coming back because there’ll be nothing to come back to.”
Three hours later, Del stood in his living room amid the holiday decorations and Rylan’s burgundy sweater which she’d left hanging over the back of the couch. Lance stood with his arms folded near the fireplace while Noah, Jeret, Rock and Ethan were either sitting or standing somewhere in the room as well.
“What the hell do we have to do for people in this town to believe we’ve changed?” Rock asked. “I mean, damn. We graduate from high school without any of us serving jail time. We head off to college or the military and all of us went into damn good careers. Now we’re back running a great restaurant and giving back to the community and it’s still not enough. What the hell do they want from us? Blood?”
“They want us gone,” Ethan said solemnly. “Bastards.”
“Well that’s just too damn bad,” Noah stated evenly. “We belong here just as much as Mal Penning with his sniveling spoiled ass!”
Lance nodded. “We should’ve beat him into the concrete when we had the chance.”
Jeret sighed. “That was fifteen years ago.”
“And it wouldn’t have stopped him from becoming the bitch-ass monster he is now,” Del told them.
He ran a hand down the back of his head and sighed. Renaldo Wimbley was found in a motel in Denton, which was located just about an hour and a half west of Providence. He’d been holed up there since the end of October when he’d dropped his Lamborghini off at Kent Automotive to be serviced. Mike figured Wimbley knew Del was back in Providence and was planning to make a move on him using his car breaking down as a cover. But he never came back to get the car because someone had entered the motel room one night while Wimbley slept and shot him ten times in the face.
“Can’t believe Mr. Will pointed him in your direction,” Jeret said. “I’d think he knew you were a better man than that, especially since you’ve been dating Rylan.”
Del’s jaw clenched at those words because that’s precisely what he was trying to figure out. He wanted answers and he only knew one way to get them.
Rylan had just stepped out of her car and was heading back into the shop to finish up some paperwork she’d left when Camy called about them doing more shopping. She’d only meant to go to the one store that they’d forgotten to go to last night but ended up staying out for over three hours. Now, she was crossing the parking lot with quick steps as the Lamborghini was being towed by a truck with the sheriff’s department logo on the side.
“What’s going on?” she asked her father who was standing at the front door of the shop, a deep scowl on his face.
“Did you know that car belonged to a drug kingpin?” Will asked in return.
Stunned, Rylan stared at her father and then back to the car. “No. I mean, I don’t usually ask for occupation when they bring in their cars. He gave me a name, cell phone number and email address. That’s all we needed for our forms.”
Will was shaking his head. “Now we can kiss any money coming in from that direction good-bye. The car’s being impounded by the cops because the drug dealer turned up dead over in Denton.”
“What? Oh my goodness,” Rylan said.
She would’ve never imagined that this would be the result of her dealings with Lamborghini Guy. He’d seemed like a normal man when he’d come in and dropped the car off, even though Rylan had briefly wondered why he wasn’t taking a car like that to a specialty dealer. She wasn’t about to turn away the huge profit they’d expected to make from working on it, so she hadn’t asked him that question. But now it was gone.
Oh well, she thought and moved around her father to go inside. They wouldn’t have the shop much longer anyway, so she wasn’t going to stress over losing their fee. Besides, she’d just found the perfect gift for Del and she was like a kid filled with excitement as she waited for Christmas Day.
Rylan was inside the waiting area of the shop by the time she heard the tow truck pull off. Her father had stepped inside and walked on back to his office without saying another word to her. Rylan was still standing at the front desk going through their mail when Del came in.
“Hey, you!” she said when she looked up and quickly moved around the desk intending to give him a hug.
But she stopped just a few steps away from him when she noted the angry glare in his eyes.
“What’s going on?” she asked when dread circled in the pit of her stomach.
“You kept my truck here longer than you first said you needed to,” he said through clenched teeth.
It was Rylan’s turn to frown. “I told you, our supplier couldn’t get the part on time.”
“And when I told you about Shannen, you never once thought it might be nice to tell me you had Renaldo Wimbley’s car here? That the bastard that killed Shannen and cost me my job had been here in town? In this shop?”
Rylan took a step back. Not out of fear, but because her mind was reeling now as she tried to figure out what Del was saying.
“You told me about Shannen just last week. And you didn’t mention anything about anyone named Renaldo Wimbley. I don’t even know who that is,” she said slowly. “Del, tell me what’s happened? First, I get here and one of our biggest accounts receivable is being hauled off by the cops. My father’s pissed because that’s money lost and now, you’re in here looking like you’re about to explode. I’m just trying to catch up here.”
“So, they took the car. What the hell did you think was going to happen? I’m lucky I wasn’t arrested after your father told them that I had Wimbley’s car as well as my truck here to hide them from the cops. Oh, and that’s exactly why they thought I killed Wimbley, because obviously we’d been working together all along. How else could I have walked away from the DEA and come here to open a restaurant?”
Now, she was confused and getting angry. “Wait, my father did what?”
“He told the cops that I was working with a drug kingpin! The sheriff came into the bar to serve me with a search warrant. They went through my truck and my house but found nothing because I’m not a criminal. But obviously your father feels differently.”
He’d started pacing at that point and Rylan could only stare at him. Was she hearing all this correctly? Had her father done this to him and if so, why?
“I should’ve known better!” he yelled. “I knew it was a mistake. I should’ve stayed the hell away from you on a personal level. If Will didn’t want me with his darling daughter, all he had to do was say so!”
His words were harsh and slapped at her as if they were a physical attack. Whatever confusion or anger she’d begun to feel about this situation was now replaced by fury. Knowing it was best to put some distance between her and Del at this point, she moved back again, until she was once again behind the desk.
“Del, I really don’t know what’s happening right now. But it might be a good idea if you go home and cool down. I’ll talk to my dad to get a clearer story.”
“I just gave you the story!” Del yelled.
He crossed the room until he stood directly in front of her.
“I was almost arrested; do you understand what that means? Pencil-neck Mal was all but running to the city council to tell them that I was up to my old tricks again and use that as a reason to shut the restaurant down. I could’ve lost everything because of you and your father!” he shouted.
Rylan blinked and prayed that the tears stinging the backs of her eyes didn’t fall. Was he serious? Did he really think her father had intentionally tried to sabotage him and his friends?
“First, you need to step back outta my face and then you should really lower your tone. I’m not one of your suspects that you can berate and scream at to get the answers you want.” Her body was shaking with rage at this point, and another emotion she didn’t want to deal with right now. “Better yet, you should definitely leave before this situation gets any worse.” She didn’t even know how that was possible, but what she did know was that she wasn’t about to stand here and take this crap from him, especially since she still didn’t know what the hell he was talking about.
Now it was his turn to take a step back as if he’d been slapped. He took a deep breath and she could see him struggling to release it slowly, to calm down perhaps. But really, it was probably too late for that.
“Look,” he started, his voice at a lower and more even tone now. “I’m sorry for yelling, but I need answers. Why would you and your father set me up like that? You had to know what the consequences would be.”
Rylan could only stare at him as her heart thumped in her chest. She was glad it was thumping instead of actually breaking which was what she knew would happen the moment he walked out.
“What you’re not going to do is stand here and blame me for something I know nothing about. Whatever you’ve gotten yourself into in the past that’s now come back to haunt you, is your thing, Del. Not mine or my father’s and I’m beyond offended that you would even come in here spouting that type of nonsense.”
“This is my life, Rylan. My business, my brothers’ business, all that we’ve worked for is the most important thing to me.”
And she was nothing. She was the woman who he’d been sleeping with for the past few weeks, but who ultimately meant nothing to him.
“I don’t have what you need, Del,” she said and felt a sort of finality to those words. “I obviously never did.”
Del ran his hands down the back of his head and sighed again.
“Rylan, listen,” he started to say.
She was already shaking her head. “No. I’m not going to do that,” she told him. “I want you out of my shop. Now.”
She had no idea how she managed to keep her tone so calm and serious when inside she was raging, but it had Del blinking twice before dropping his hands to his side. He opened his mouth to say something else, but she went to the door and held it open, waiting for him to walk out of it. And out of her life.
He stared at her for another few seconds before shaking his head and leaving. Rylan inhaled deeply as he passed, getting a whiff of his cologne and resisting the urge to cry out.
What had happened?
Why had it happened?
And what the hell was she supposed to do with all the feelings that had been building inside her these past few weeks? How was she supposed to deal with the fact that the man she was in love with had just accused her of setting him up?
14
“What did you tell the sheriff about Del?” Rylan asked her father twenty minutes after Del had walked out.
It had taken her that amount of time to get herself together before initiating this confrontation. While she’d been boiling with anger about the entire situation, the sting of Del’s cruel accusations had gripped her heart in a vice that she hadn’t immediately been able to break free of. She wasn’t feeling totally better at this moment but the questions surrounding this circumstance needed answers. Whether or not those answers would assuage any of the hurt and disappointment she was feeling right now, she wasn’t sure.
Her father had been sitting behind the old scuffed up desk he’d insisted on keeping in his small office toward the back of the body shop. He looked older and a bit thinner in the seconds it took for him to fold his hands on top of the desk and lift his rheumy eyes to her. “I didn’t tell the sheriff anything about your boyfriend. Even though you neglected to tell me you were sleeping with one of those Greer boys you used to like hanging around so much.”
She shook her head. “I hung around with Camy, not her brothers. And that doesn’t matter. What matters right now is that Del thinks you told the sheriff that he was keeping that car here. He thinks we set him up!” Her chest heaved with those last words, fury and pain wrestling for dominance in her mind.
Her father stood and pushed his chair back. “Now wait a minute. Just calm down and tell me exactly what you’re talking about.”
“No, Daddy, you tell me what’s going on here. Tell me why the man I’ve been involved with just accused me of doing something I’d never think of doing to him, or to anyone for that matter. Tell me what you told the sheriff about him.”
“First of all, the sheriff came to see me about half an hour after I opened the shop this morning. I didn’t know what the hell was going on, not until he mentioned he’d gotten a tip about that car being here,” Will told her.
“I don’t understand,” she said still trying to make sense of this crazy situation that was ripping her heart in pieces. “Who’d tell the sheriff about a car being serviced in our shop and why? Were they looking for the car?” If it belonged to a well-known drug dealer that was definitely a possibility. Maybe she would start asking the occupation of their customers now, or at least requesting a work number under the pretense of needing an alternative way of contacting customers about their vehicles.
“I thought it was odd too because it was the second time in two days somebody’d been in here asking about the car. Somebody other than the owner who still owed us a ton of money for fixing that fancy thing.”
“The second time?” she asked. “Who else had come in asking about the car?”
He shrugged. “Mal Penning came in last night just before closing. You’d already left and I was just about to lock up when he pulled into the parking lot. I thought something might’ve been wrong with his car again. You know he doesn’t know how to drive a stick.”
Rylan suddenly had a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. “What did Mal want?”
“Just small talk. Said he was thinking about trading his car in for a newer model or possibly an SUV.” Will stopped then. He dragged a hand down the back of his head, a similar motion to what Del had done in her office a while ago. “Shit. Mal said he was thinking about getting an SUV like Del’s.”
Realization settled over her slowly. “Del hadn’t picked up his truck yet, but we’d moved it outside
to the parking lot so we could pull that Acura in to be worked on today and because Del was coming to get his truck this morning.” She’d been with Del last night after work and she’d told him the truck was ready. Since she’d been spending more nights at his place than her own, they’d decided that instead of coming to pick up the truck last night, they’d just ride to the shop together this morning and he’d get it then. Which he had, and then they’d kissed longingly, neither of them wanting to part but knowing they’d had to get started with their workday and had reluctantly done so. If she weren’t so pissed off right now, she’d cry with the bittersweet sentiment that memory brought to mind.
“I still had the bay doors open when he was here and he walked over and started asking about the car. Price, how it ran, and stuff like that. I didn’t think anything of it,” Will said.
Rylan could only shake her head as the pieces to this puzzle began to slowly fall into place. “Mal still hates Del. He hates that Del broke his nose and made a fool of him fifteen years ago and hates that Mel and his brothers are back now making something out of the bar.” But she’d never thought that hate would go this far. And besides that, she had no clue how Mal knew who that Lamborghini belonged to and how it connected to Del’s case.
“I thought that was kid stuff and they’d both grown out of it.” Will came around the desk to stand in front of her. “They’ve both got good jobs now and really have no need to butt heads. At least not that I know of. I mean, sure, Mal and his daddy can be assholes. Everybody in town knows they’re racist bastards.” But they’d had no choice but to bring their cars into Kent Automotive for service or take them into the next town more than fifty miles away, so they’d each been in here on numerous occasions, giving fake smiles but signing checks that cleared.
“Mal’s father is the district attorney,” she said, wondering if that meant anything in this situation. Of course, it did and her fists clenched with the knowledge. “I bet that’s how he knew the authorities were looking for that car and once he saw it here, he went running to the sheriff to tell. Mal would do anything to get back at Del.” And he’d done it, finally. Only Del thought it had been her and her father.