Flaw-Abiding Citizen (The Worst Detective Ever Book 6)

by Christy Barritt

  “Don’t forget the CD-ROM,” Kent said with a smirk.

  I gave him another dirty look.

  He shrugged, unaffected. “I saw it when I untied you.”

  “What CD-ROM?” Jackson turned back to me.

  “There was a CD-ROM in the box.” I scowled.

  “She used it to try and cut the rope that tied her to the tree,” Kent continued.

  “Kent!” He was seriously the most annoying person on the planet. Couldn’t he just keep his mouth shut?

  He shrugged and held up his camera. “Could I get a picture?”

  “No!” Jackson and I answered at the same time.

  Jackson turned back to me. “Where’s the CD-ROM, Joey?”

  I pressed my lips together and shrugged. I didn’t want to lie to him. I really didn’t. But I didn’t want to hand this over either. It was a lead. It was my lead.

  “Joey.” Warning stained Jackson’s voice again.

  I glanced around, looking for a way out. But even Zane had disappeared. He was now sitting in my car and staring at the flies as they hit the windshield.

  “Joey?” Jackson repeated.

  “It’s my CD-ROM.” It sounded lame, but I had no other arguments right now. I’d found this fair and square. Giving the information to someone else seemed so unjust.

  He cocked his head. “Don’t impede a police investigation.”

  “I’m not.”

  “You are.”

  I still said nothing, only swatted more flies.

  Jackson sighed. “Joey, I can arrest you, you know.”

  Fire lit inside me at his threat. “You wouldn’t do that.”

  “I don’t want to do that. But I will if I have to.” There wasn’t even a hint of teasing in his tone.

  “Jackson.” I couldn’t believe we were even having this conversation. It was as if none of our history mattered. Did our friendship mean nothing to him?

  He held out his hand. “I need to see it, Joey.”

  I sucked on my cheeks, trying to buy time. Could I get out of this? It was looking unlikely. So I needed to leverage it so I wasn’t totally in the dark. “If I give it to you, will you tell me what’s on it?”

  “I can’t promise you that.” He remained steady and unchanged, backing up that nonpromise.

  I crossed my arms, my stubborn streak growing stronger. Two could play at this nonpromising game. Wait . . . what? Never mind.

  “Then I can’t hand it over.” I raised my chin.

  “Then you’re under arrest.” He grabbed my arm.

  “You can’t do this! This isn’t even your jurisdiction.”

  “I can. And at least if you’re locked up, I’ll know you’re safe.”

  “Jackson . . .” Things were not supposed to go this way.

  “Zane will drive your car back home.” He led me toward his police cruiser. “Can I trust you to sit in the front, or do I need to handcuff you and put you in the back?”

  “You can trust me.” If I sat in the back, Kent would just take pictures. They’d end up being plastered online and humiliating me even more.

  “Do you want me to call my lawyer for you, Joey?” Zane called, barely cracking the car door open. He was still more concerned about flies than about me, wasn’t he?

  Either way, Zane’s lawyer had been a joke when Zane had been arrested. No way would I call him.

  “I’ve got this,” I said.

  But I didn’t have this.

  Not. At. All.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  I sat in the interrogation room. The interrogation room! I’d been on the other side of this table many times. But never here. Where the bad guy sat.

  Jackson had left me here by myself so he could go get something. With every minute that passed, my anger grew and grew.

  He had a lot of nerve bringing me here and demanding that I give him information. After everything Jackson had withheld from me? This was an abuse of power as far as I was concerned.

  Maybe I could sue. Write a scathing social media post. Produce a thought-provoking editorial. Create a parody of Jackson singing “Cold Shoulder” by Adele in an Elf Yourself manner with an oversized head plastered on a tiny dancing body.

  Yeah, that would really teach him.

  I crossed my arms and sulked more, knowing all those ideas were terrible. Just terrible.

  The door opened, and Jackson came back inside with something in his hands. I bristled when he sat beside me, not saying anything. He opened his hands and revealed some gauze and other medical supplies.

  What?

  He squirted some ointment on a cotton ball and reached over to take my arm. His touch burned against my skin, but I ignored it. This was no time to indulge in Jackson’s unwanted effect on me.

  Parody . . . it was safer thinking of parodies and inappropriate NHPD Blues tweets.

  “I know this might sting a little,” he murmured.

  He gently wiped away the blood at my wrists. The ointment stung, but I tried to remain placid. My skin burned all the way up to my neck.

  Not a medical kind of burn, but an emotional kind that came with Jackson’s attention.

  His tenderness was too much for me to deal with right now.

  It would be so much easier to be mad at him if he was acting like a jerk. Why couldn’t he act like a jerk?

  Finally, he put bandages over my cuts, threw away his trash, and then silently sat beside me. He didn’t say anything for a while until he finally cleared his throat.

  “You really did a number on your wrists,” he said.

  “What can I say? Desperate times call for desperate measures.”

  “Is that what this is? Desperation?”

  I shrugged. “Maybe.”

  He pressed his lips together and studied me a minute before asking, “Are you ready to give me whatever you found?”

  I shook my head. “I’m not.”

  Jackson scrubbed his hand over his face before letting out a long, frustrated breath. “Joey, why are you being so stubborn?”

  “Because I don’t want to be left in the dark.” I let out a sigh. “Look, I know you’re just doing your job. I really do. And I wish I could just get over this. But I feel so foolish.”

  He touched my arm with the tips of his fingers. Barely touched it, but it was enough to send a shock of electricity through me. “That was never my intention.”

  “Did you just befriend me to get information?” The words caused my throat to ache.

  His eyes widened. “No. Never. I wouldn’t do that, Joey.”

  “I don’t know anything anymore. I wish I did. I really do.” My ache moved from my throat to my heart.

  “Is there anything I can say that will help you understand my position better, Joey?”

  “At this point? Probably not.”

  Before we could say anything else, someone knocked at the door, and it opened the next instant. Mayor Allen stepped through.

  I squinted, totally and absolutely confused. Yet. Again. “Mayor?”

  “I heard about what happened.” He set his briefcase on the table. “I’m here to help.”

  It would have sounded more hardcore if he didn’t have a lisp.

  “To help? Help me how?” Did being a future honorary citizen give me some kind of diplomatic immunity? A girl could only hope.

  “I’m a lawyer, of course. Yes, still board certified. I’m here to represent you.”

  I glanced at Jackson. He looked just as confused as I was.

  “I need to be represented?” I finally said.

  Mayor Allen shot Jackson a dirty look. “I just apologize that you—our star citizen who’s about to be given a key to the city—are being treated like this.”

  I raised my chin, realizing I needed to be wiser in how I played my cards. If he was going to offer help and partiality, I should totally be on board.

  “I’m rather dismayed at it also,” I said.

  Jackson shot me a look of exasperation, and I couldn’t help but f
lash a little smile. Maybe something was finally working in my favor.

  “As your lawyer, I should tell you that you need to hand over whatever evidence you have,” the mayor said. “It’s in your best interest.”

  My smile disappeared faster than a rabbit during a magic show. “But . . .”

  “Joey, I’ve been briefed. You don’t want to get into the middle of this. Trust me.”

  I stared at the mayor. He’d been a big supporter of mine since I came here. If he was saying that, then there was probably something to his words. There was no way I’d get out of this with that CD-ROM in my possession.

  I let out my breath, reached in my pocket, and pulled out my broken disc. With the flourish of an actress, I slammed it on the table. “Here.”

  “A broken CD-ROM?” the mayor asked.

  I shrugged. “My dad’s always been about ten years behind the times with stuff like this. I’m surprised he knew how to do this at all.”

  “What happened to it?” Jackson asked.

  “I had to break it and use the sharp edge to try and cut through the rope.”

  He shrugged, and I thought I saw a touch of admiration in his eyes. “I see.”

  “Do you think you can piece it back together?” I held my breath as I waited for Jackson’s answer.

  I desperately wanted the answer to be yes. I wanted all of this to pay off—answers were the payoff. I just didn’t want another dead end.

  “I have no idea. But I’ll see what my guys can do.”

  I would have to accept that as my answer because there was nothing else he could promise me. There. I cooperated. “Can I go home now? I really need to take a shower.”

  “Yes, you can. In fact, I’ll drive you myself.”

  Jackson was mostly quiet on the road home, and I got that. Though I normally liked to talk, I welcomed the silence.

  And, against my every hurt feeling, all I really wanted was to fall into Jackson’s arms. I wanted him to tell me everything would be okay. I wanted a bonfire on the beach, where we could talk about our future. I wanted a lazy evening with Ripley on the boat, watching Jackson fish.

  But in an instant, everything had changed.

  Phoebe’s words circled in my head, and I knew there could be a lot of truth in them. But I needed to deal with one problem at a time, and right now that problem was finding my dad.

  My phone rang, and I saw it was Thomas Billings.

  I glanced at Jackson. I didn’t want to take this call in front of Jackson, but I didn’t want to miss it either. I mumbled “Excuse me” before turning away from him and talking softly.

  “Hi, Thomas,” I said.

  “Am I catching you at a bad time?”

  I edged my shoulder up even higher. “Maybe a little. What’s going on?”

  “I heard something funny, and I wanted to share it with you,” he said. “Not funny funny, but funny because we were just talking about the Barracudas.”

  My pulse spiked. “Is that right?”

  “I heard a rumor that another group known as Earth Mother is actually a front organization for the Barracudas.”

  His words echoed in my head, and everything raced through my mind. So if the Barracudas were connected with Earth Mother and Earth Mother had allegedly blown up Ted Montel’s house, then that meant that the Barracudas were the real suspects behind the explosion at Ted’s house.

  How confusing.

  “Why would they do that?” I finally asked.

  “You could call it a sleight-of-hand trick. Look this way so you don’t see what we’re doing over here.”

  “Clever,” I said.

  “I’d say so. Since it sounded like you were in the middle of something concerning them, I wanted to pass that along,” he said. “Keep in mind, it’s a rumor.”

  “Thanks, Thomas.”

  I hung up and turned back in my seat stiffly.

  “Everything okay?” Jackson said.

  “Everything’s fine. Just an old . . . friend.”

  He let out a grunt, and I could tell he didn’t believe me.

  But that was okay. I had no intention of sharing what Thomas had said with him. Not after everything else that had transpired today. Besides, he probably already knew.

  Jackson stopped in front of my condo. Without missing a beat, he parked, opened his door, and stepped out. He was walking me to the door, whether I liked it or not.

  “So I feel like we’ve had this conversation before,” Jackson started, slowing his steps as we neared my front door. “But I really think you should stay put until this blows over.”

  “What if it takes months for it to blow over?”

  He didn’t say anything.

  “You know I can’t stay put for that long.”

  He stared at me, that intense look in his eyes that said so much. That he cared. That he was worried. That he wished he could get through to me.

  “I’m trying to find your dad, Joey,” he finally said.

  “I know.” And deep inside, I did know that. Admitting it made my throat burn though.

  He stepped back, and disappointment ricocheted through me. Which made no sense. Of course he’d stepped back instead of forward. He was respecting the boundaries I’d set.

  “There’s an officer stationed outside the house. Or if you need anything, please call.”

  I nodded, but the action took much more effort than it should have. “Okay.”

  “Good night, Joey.”

  There was absolutely nothing good about it.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Once I was back inside my condo, I grabbed my computer from the table beside me. I wanted to check out my social media pages and maybe unwind a bit. I needed to somehow deal with my irritation at Zane for leaving me to deal with Jackson while he’d escaped to my car.

  Of course, what else was he supposed to do? Or maybe I was just making excuses for him?

  As I logged on to my computer, one of the first things I saw was an advertisement about Ted Montel running for office. I blinked as I read it.

  “Zane, isn’t Ted the one whose house blew up?” I called across the room.

  He stuck his head in from the kitchen. “Yeah, he is. Why?”

  “He’s running for senate.”

  “Not surprising. He’s a pretty big political figure around here.”

  I shrugged. I supposed it didn’t matter. But I did wonder how the mayor would feel about this. Ted had beaten him to announcing his candidacy.

  I skipped over that post and went to my social media profile. I really needed to hire someone to help me keep up with all my posts and messages. It seriously felt like a full-time job.

  My fingers hovered above the keyboard as my heavy thoughts returned.

  What would have happened if I’d left that post up about my dad?

  It didn’t matter. It was gone.

  I glanced at my message folder and saw that I already had more than a thousand. It wasn’t all that unusual. The fan mail that had been coming in lately was all consuming.

  Out of curiosity, I clicked through a few. Most were kind (I love you. You’re my favorite actress. My daughter wants to be like you when she grows up). A few were scathing (You’re the worst actress I’ve ever seen, and I hope every movie you do in the future fails so all the world can see it).

  A few people had messaged me about my previous post. They must have seen it before I took it down. Most were useless but considerate. Hope you find him. So sorry to hear this. May the power of Raven be with you.

  A few were rude. Maybe he ran away from your horrible movie. Family Secrets was so bad he’d rather hide than pretend to know you.

  A couple made me roll my eyes. If I tell you an address, will you meet me—I mean, him—there? For only twenty thousand, I’ll find him for you.

  Honestly, social media could bring out the worst in people and make me lose my faith in the community. Some people had nothing better to do with their time than try to make others feel like less than ideal
.

  Finally, one of the messages caught my eye.

  “I saw someone who looked like your father last week while vacationing in North Carolina,” the sender said. “I snapped a photo, and he just happened to be in the background.”

  My pulse spiked as I examined the photo. I blew it up on my screen, trying to get a better look.

  “Oh my goodness,” I muttered.

  “What is it?” Zane joined me.

  “That’s him, Zane. That’s my dad.” I stared at the photo. It showed my father in a grocery store grabbing a box of oyster crackers from the shelf. He wasn’t even supposed to be in the photo, but the two people in the foreground had decided to show off their dabbing skills. My dad was an innocent dabbing selfie bystander in the background.

  “Where was it taken?” he asked.

  “Lantern Beach. Do you know where that is?” I asked. It sounded familiar, but I couldn’t remember.

  “As a matter of fact, I do. It’s an island past Ocracoke that’s only accessible by boat or ferry. You think Hatteras is secluded? You should see this place.”

  “I’ve got to go there, Zane.”

  Zane glanced at his watch. “We’re going to have to wait until tomorrow. The last ferry’s probably already gone.”

  Getting out of the house the next morning wasn’t easy, especially since Jackson had put one of his guys outside my door. And though it might seem desperate, I didn’t want to be followed. For that reason, Zane and I climbed out of my bedroom window, which was out of sight and around the corner from the front door. Then we took a back stairway down to my car and took off. Since the parking area was beneath the condos and my front door was on the side facing the water, the cop hadn’t even seen us leave.

  Getting to the island of Lantern Beach was no small task. We had to drive through Hatteras, then catch a ferry to Ocracoke. Then we had to drive through Ocracoke and catch another ferry to Lantern Beach.

  It was even more secluded than Hatteras, and I’d thought Hatteras was pretty secluded.

  In fact, according to my GPS, we wouldn’t be there until close to dinnertime, thanks to a wonky ferry schedule.

  As I waited on the ferry, I glanced at my phone and saw I’d missed four calls from Jackson. I didn’t bother to check my voicemail, but I did check my texts.