by Dobbs, L. A.
Chase led her toward the back of the house and through a pair of sliding glass doors out onto a deserted patio in the back. “This work?”
“This is fine.” She hunkered down inside her hoodie, more for security than protection against the elements. Even this late in October and overcast, the temperature during the height of the day was still close to seventy. “So.”
“So.” He crossed his arms and leaned a shoulder against the stucco wall. “Hey, uh, before we get started, I wanted you to know I’m sorry about leaving the station without you. Blake showed up and whisked me out of there before I even knew what the hell was going on. I tried to text you afterward to make sure you were okay, but I guess they didn’t go through. Sorry.”
She crossed her arms too, more to keep from reaching out to him and hugging away his forlorn look than anything else. Time for the truth. “They went through. I just needed some time before I was ready to face you again.”
“Is this because of what happened in the closet at Katherine’s?”
“No.” Shelby sighed. Sure, the kiss played a part, but that wasn’t why they needed to talk. Courage, girl. You can do this. “Why didn’t you tell me about what really happened between you and my dad?”
“What do you mean?” Chase frowned, his gray eyes wary. “I never met your father.”
Her shoulders slumped. He was still going to deny it, even after what the police had told her. Frustrated, Shelby jabbed a finger into his chest. She wanted him to look at her, wanted him to explain himself, wanted to get some kind of goddamned reaction out of him other than cold indifference. “You might not have met him, but you knew of him. What about all that ‘trusting each other’ bullshit back at the casino, huh? That we’re partners?” She laughed, the sound unpleasant even to her own ears. “Except you forgot to tell me one gigantic thing—that you did have real motive to kill my dad. I mean, who wouldn’t want revenge on someone for taking away five years of their life, huh?”
“What?” Chase looked genuinely surprised. "What are you talking about?"
Was it possible Chase really didn't know that drug bust had stemmed from her father? Or was he playing her for a fool? She had to find out. “My father tipped off the cops that all those drugs were stashed at your house. Are you trying to tell me you have no idea who blew the whistle on you back then? Seems far-fetched to me.”
Crimson dotted his cheeks. "So that's it? You think I'm lying? How the hell would I know who blew the whistle? The police usually don't name their informants or those informants don't live long. In the trial the police just said they got intel from someone high up in the organization. I assumed it was an undercover cop or something. You mean it was your dad?"
Shelby's anger deflated. It made perfect sense, they would have had to keep her Dad's name secret otherwise those drug dealers would have taken revenge. Here she was thinking he had lied and kept things from her. She'd blasted in here so sure he was being an asshole and it turned out that she was the asshole for doubting him.
"The cops said you knew. That it gave you motive to take revenge on my dad. That you might have killed him because he was the reason you went to prison," she said weakly jabbing her finger at his chest again to punctuate the word 'you'.
Chase grabbed her hand. His voice softened. “The cops told you that on purpose, to try to get us to turn on each other. But Shelby, whether or not it was your dad who tipped off the cops, it wasn't his fault I went to prison, okay? It was…” He took a deep breath. “It was my brother’s, all right?”
“Your brother’s?” Stunned, she didn’t even try to pull her hand away. “I didn’t know you had a brother.”
“Yeah, I do.” He laced his fingers with hers and led her over to a large rattan chaise lounge set off to the side of the patio, away from the view of the people inside. They took a seat and he kept her hand in his, holding it loosely between his open knees. “I’ll tell you the truth, if you want. But you can’t tell a soul. Especially not Blake or the police. Understand?”
She nodded, afraid to say anything lest she scare him away.
“Okay.” He scowled down at their joined hands, tracing his thumb over her knuckles absently as he spoke. “The heroin at the apartment most likely did come from the Lucky Ace. That’s probably how your father knew where to find it. But like I said, it wasn’t mine.” He scooted closer to her on the seat. “Hell, I’ve never done drugs in my life, other than a bit of pot back in high school, but who doesn’t right?”
Shelby squeezed his hand. “You went to prison and—”
“I don’t expect you to understand, Shelby, but my brother, Shane, had a hard life. It’s my fault.” He shook his head. “He was only twelve when Mom kicked us out, and I had to work a couple of jobs just to keep a roof over our heads. I wasn’t there for him like he needed, and he fell in with a bad crowd. Stupid me thought it was something he’d grow out of, but…”
His voice trailed off and it took all of Shelby’s willpower not to pull him into her arms and tell him everything would be okay, even if it wasn’t true. She held her breath and waited for him to continue.
“Shane was barely eighteen the day the cops raided our apartment. I was in law school at the time. I knew with the amount of heroin they confiscated, he’d be looking at ten years hard time, maybe more. They would’ve tried him as an adult too. I couldn’t let that happen.”
Her heart stuttered, stopped. Restarted again. “Are you telling me you confessed to keep your brother from going to jail?”
Chase gave a silent nod, and she couldn’t resist snuggling closer into his side. That was the bravest, most selfless, most reckless thing she’d ever heard. Still, a man would be bitter about going to prison, no matter the circumstances. “I’m so sorry that happened to you, Chase, I really am. You didn’t deserve that, but it still doesn’t erase the fact that if my dad hadn’t pointed them to your address, none of this would’ve happened.”
“You don’t know that. No one does. Hell, given the assholes Shane was hanging with and my fault for putting him there, your father is so far down on the list of people to blame he doesn’t even register. No motive here, not from me. Besides, I had no idea it was your dad that tipped them off. He was a highly-regarded businessman, an honest guy.”
Confession time. She straightened, withdrawing from the heat and strength of him to say what she had to say. “Maybe not so honest.”
“Huh?” His confusion was written all over his face.
“My dad knew about the drugs running in and out of his casino. Had watched it go on for years. He even took a cut of the profits.” She pushed a stray blond curl behind her ear with her free hand. “I’m guessing he told the cops about your brother to deflect heat away from him. Your brother was probably a small-time dealer, and Dad had way bigger investments to protect.”
“Damn.” This time, Chase leaned into her. “Well, it doesn’t matter now.”
She shrugged. “I feel bad for whoever takes over the Lucky Ace now that Dad’s gone. They’ll have a hell of a mess to clean up.”
“Still, somebody will buy it. That’s prime real estate right there.”
“Maybe.”
Chase smiled and bumped her shoulder with his, turning her tactics back on her. “Maybe. Is that all you have to say?”
“I guess.” She smiled back. “How old were you when your mom kicked you out?”
“Nineteen. That’s the only reason they let Shane stay with me instead of shipping him off to foster care. Legal age in Nevada is eighteen.”
“Wow.” She squeezed his hand again, feeling closer to him than anyone else in her life at the moment. “So, you’ve been alone since you were nineteen?”
“I’ve been alone since I could walk.”
The rough edge to his voice broke her heart. “Not even a pet? Nothing?”
“Not even a pet.” He flashed a rueful grin. “No time.”
“Maybe you should get a pet of your own, since Henry’s with Blake now. Animals like y
ou. They know good people when they see them.”
Chase laughed.
“I’m not kidding. A pet would help make your life less lonely. Believe me, I know.”
He slipped a finger beneath her lowered chin and forced her to meet his gaze. “I know another way to be less lonely.”
Her eyes slipped closed as his soft lips brushed over hers.
14
After leaving Blake’s home later that afternoon, Shelby stopped by Paws and Play to check on the residents and let them out for a potty break and some play time. On her way toward the back area, she snagged a week’s worth of accumulated mail off the receptionist’s desk then set about opening cages and ushering several dogs out into the small fenced in area in the back of the building. She felt more buoyant and cheerful than she had in weeks.
An hour later, with all the food and water bowls refilled and everyone secured back in their pens, she sat at her work station in one corner and sorted through the assorted junk and bills. Most of it went in the trash or in her To-Be-Paid stack, but one letter had her halting. The federal seal of the United States covered one corner and beneath was a familiar address.
The grant application decision.
Nerves and adrenaline made her fingers shake as she ripped the top of the envelope open. These funds were a mainstay of her budget. Without a regular supply of grant money, non-profits like her shelter were dead in the water. They’d never denied her before, but considering all the other crazy events happening in her life right now, she wasn’t certain of anything anymore.…
Shelby closed her eyes and pulled out the letter, then squinted one eye open to read the first line. “Dear Ms. Bryant, we regret to inform you that your grant application for the next fiscal quarter has been denied…”
Her heart sank. No. They couldn’t deny her application. She’d done everything right, filled out all the forms, written all the essays, dotted every I and crossed every T. Same as every other time when she’d been approved, no questions asked.
It made no sense. None whatsoever. Except…
Katherine. Has to be. But why would she sabotage my shelter?
The money. It was all about the money with her step-monster. Katherine would know that losing the grant money would make Shelby even more reliant on her dad’s fortune to make ends meet and give her even more motive to kill her father..
Defeated, Shelby covered her face with her hands. Much as she hated to admit it, this time Katherine Bryant was right. If she wanted to save her shelter, she needed her dad’s money after all.
15
Nine a.m. Monday morning found Chase back in the police interrogation room. Again. The only thing that had changed around this sorry place in the nearly forty-eight hours since he’d been there last was his attitude.
The black cloud of uncertainty that had hovered over him since he’d walked out of the prison dissipated, leaving in its wake a new determination, a new optimism. He could handle this, no matter what absurd accusation the cops came up with against him next. There was no way they could prove he had killed Warren Bryant no matter how many trumped up pieces of evidence Katherine gave them.
Calm and less stressed, he leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands atop his taut stomach, waiting for his favorite pain-in-the-butt detective to walk through the door.
He didn’t have to wait long.
Detective Moore stalked in, her high-heeled pump clacking against the tiled floor and her expression impassive, as always.
Chase smiled. Good old Moore. Predictable to a fault. “We have to stop meeting like this.”
She slid into the metal chair across the table from him, her cool half-grin not reaching her dark eyes. “Or you could just confess and make my life a lot easier.”
“Sorry. No can do.” He shrugged. “So, what do you think I did this time?”
“Kill Warren Bryant.”
“Been there, didn’t do it. Already told you that. Next.”
“Right.” Moore slid several photos across the table. “What about this heroin we found yesterday in a gym locker registered under your name?”
“Huh, really?” Chase glanced at the pictures. “Never seen those lockers before. And the only place I work out is the employee gym at Rockford Security. Sorry. Find my prints on the dope?”
“No, but we found your note to a rival dealer, telling them they’d better close up shop on your turf or else you’d give them the same treatment you gave Bryant.”
“Dealer, eh?” Chase shook his head. The only dealer he knew these days was Shane—not that he’d tell that to the cops. “No dealers in my address book, Detective.”
“Well, it’s not like you’d flaunt that association all over town, would you, Mr. Evans?” Moore sat forward and flashed a full, smug grin at him now. From the confident set of her shoulders and the way she practically reeked of power, he guessed she had something more on him—or at least thought she did. “But…”
“But what?”
“We’ve got a guy in lock-up who says otherwise.”
Disbelief made him chuckle. “What? Wait a second. You’re telling me a drug dealer conveniently pointed the finger at me? I suppose you offered him a deal, right? Maybe even dropped my name?”
When Moore didn’t respond, Chase sat forward. “I thought so. And you don’t find that the teeniest bit suspicious?”
Moore sat back, eyes narrowed, silent.
“Mind telling me the name of this kingpin genius?”
“You know I can’t divulge that information.”
“Sure, okay.” Certainty bubbled hot in Chase’s gut. “I’d say that’s because you don’t know. You guys got nothing on me. Nothing.” He took a deep breath and forced a small smile. “And you know why, Detective? Because you’re looking at the wrong person.”
“Really?” Moore crossed her arms. “And where should we be looking, Mr. Evans? At your pretty little girlfriend?”
Definitely not the direction he’d meant to guide them. His sunny mood darkened. Trouble was, his current case against Katherine was just as circumstantial as theirs against him and Shelby. The whole thing was a catch twenty-two, a no-win scenario. He needed to find something substantial tying Katherine to her husband’s murder, something more than tacky burner phones and missing envelopes of cash. Something real and true and irrefutable.
As Moore exited, leaving him alone again, his next move became clear.
He needed to sneak back into the Lucky Ace.
And this time he couldn’t afford to get caught because he had the sickening feeling that the next time he set foot in this police station Moore and her minions would nail his ass to the wall for his supposed crimes and even Blake Rockford, with all impressive influence and favors, wouldn’t save him from his fate.
* * *
That night, Chase stood outside Shelby’s apartment door for the second time in a week and fidgeted while the sounds of Snickerdoodle’s barking and Shelby’s admonishments drifted to a halt. Shelby had mentioned over the phone that the big furry guy had finally gotten his cone removed, so he’d brought along a special surprise for the dog to celebrate.
Shelby opened the door and looked adorable as always in her baggy T-shirt and jeans. Her expression, however, appeared tragic and his heart ached at the sight. He stepped inside, closed the door behind him and offered Snickerdoodle one of the special hand-baked treats before shrugging out of his denim jacket. Concerned, he moved closer to Shelby and placed a hand on her shoulder. “What’s wrong?”
“Katherine.” Her voice quavered, but her tone spit venom. “Guess what I got in the mail yesterday? A great big denial on my latest non-profit grant.”
“Shit. I’m sorry.”
Shelby shook her head, her blond curls jiggling. “Not only that, but when I tried to order more food for the animals earlier, they declined my credit card. I called the company and found out my account’s been cancelled. All my bank accounts are frozen, Chase. And no one will even tell me why.”
Chase fisted his free hand, imagining it squeezing Katherine’s neck instead. That woman was a goddamned menace to society. It was one thing for her to go after him, quite another for her to attack Shelby—the sweetest, kindest, most beautiful person he’d ever met.
“I-I’m going to lose the shelter, C-chase.” Shelby hiccupped on her sobs. “Where will all my animals go? I’d keep them here, but I’m not sure I’ll even have a home after all this is over.”
“C’mere.” Chase pulled her into his arms, holding her tight against his chest, offering her what comfort he could. He’d never really had a chance to be there for someone like this. Shane had always been closed off, even as a kid, refusing to confide in Chase about anything in his life after their mom had deserted them. It felt good and he wanted to be there for Shelby, wanted to honor the trust she’d put in him by making everything better for her.
Except he didn’t know how. Not yet anyway.
They needed a plan—a worst case scenario modus operandi.
“Listen.” He cupped her cheeks and forced her to meet his gaze. Tears streamed down her flushed cheeks and her pretty blue eyes looked huge. He wanted nothing more than to kiss her and stroke her back and comfort her until she smiled again, but right now she needed more from him than physical caresses. She needed his emotional strength and support. “It’ll be okay. I promise. If you have to close the shelter, we’ll find homes for all the animals. They won’t go back out on the streets. We’ll keep them safe and protected, okay?”
She sniffled. “How? I have a lot of animals.”
“And I know a lot of Rockfords.”
Shelby snorted and swiped the back of her trembling hand beneath her eyes. “Katherine’s behind this. I know it. We have to make her pay, Chase. She can’t get away with this.”
“We will.” He leaned down, unable to resist giving her a quick kiss. “I promise.”