My baby sister couldn’t care less about my brother or me, hence why she was able to up and leave us years ago and we’ve barely heard from her since. I used to respect and admire my brother until he fucked up and that changed. After what happened, I could never forgive him. So, to see Missy treating her brothers like they’re heroes and to not have condemned their actions is odd to me. Then again, maybe it hasn’t sunk in yet.
My phone rings again, and when I see Tyson’s name again, I reject the call, which brings to mind the other calls I’ve been rejecting.
My brother has been calling me for a couple weeks now, and I haven’t taken a single call, haven’t listened to any of his messages. It’s something I will have to deal with eventually, however. Just not now. Not tonight.
I walk into my house and, after putting my weapon away, the first thing I see are Love and Conner both sitting at the dining room table, their screeches of surprise and shock tempting my curiosity, but I bypass them as I walk over to River, who is sitting in the corner of the couch, reading one of her books.
“Hey, sweetheart.” I sit down next to her and pull her into a hug.
“Dad! You’re going to make me lose my page,” she whines, trying to pull away from me.
“I don’t care. Give me a kiss or I don’t move,” I threaten.
And then, acting like it’s the biggest inconvenience in the world, she gives me a quick kiss on my cheek.
I reward her by leaning back, but then I mess up her hair just to bug her.
“Dad!” she screeches, slapping at me to get me to leave her alone.
“Have you been reading all day?” Often, her and Mia will just sit together, reading for hours.
“No, someone came over to annoy me and interrupted my reading.”
“Couldn’t you at least read outside and get some fresh air into your lungs?”
She rolls her eyes, but she does stand and make her way past Conner and Love, through the kitchen, and outside onto the porch. She plonks herself down on a seat, and I assume sticks her nose back into her book.
I shake my head at her as I make my way over to Conner and Love.
“Hey,” I greet them both, leaning down to give Conner a kiss, though he doesn’t reciprocate at all, clearly distracted.
“Rocky, I think I might have figured out a motive for those guys to harass me.”
My eyebrows hit my hairline. “Seriously?”
“Yeah, come have a look at this.” He pats the empty seat next to him while Love paces along the side of the table. This is the most animated I’ve seen her since the fire. She’s been subdued since that entire encounter. Even the carnival didn’t raise her spirits.
“I made a video for the Sunshine Carnival and posted it, but I felt bad that I didn’t get any footage of that art show thing, so I included a link for the article that Love wrote on it for the online Midsummer Chronicle. She managed to stay for the entire thing and even took photos.”
“Okay …?” I murmur, still not understanding where he’s going with this.
“So, I have some followers who are really into art. They looked at Love’s article and noticed something.”
“Noticed what?”
Love stops pacing and faces me, bursting with her next words. “That bitch, Missy Evans, copied artwork from a popular indie artist named Anton!”
“Copied?”
“Yeah, like she clearly found the artist online and copied every piece she could find to create her own portfolio,” Conner clarifies.
“Okay, so she’s a plagiarist,” I continue, still not getting what this has to do with Conner.
“She knew if I posted her artwork in one of my videos, then there was a pretty good chance someone would make the connection and notice she stole that work. I think this was about taking me out so I couldn’t post anything online. I think her brothers were smug because they thought that would happen since I left with you before the art show could start.”
“So, all of this was to make sure you weren’t there for the art show? Those idiots are going to prison for life just so she could get some scholarship?”
“They were already screwed after the holdup that they were involved in,” Love reminds me. “This was just something else to add to their already fucked-up future. Maybe they thought they could do this one last thing for their sister.” Love shrugs.
“But they could have stayed under the radar. Surely it isn’t that big a deal to get this scholarship?”
Conner clicks on the mouse and brings up a new page on his laptop. “Just one year at the Art Institute of Chicago is about forty-five grand. That doesn’t include the fact that the scholarship includes housing and an allowance. She gets a full ride. That’s a lot of money.”
I shake my head, not sure if I can believe this. And yet, it makes a sick sort of sense. “All of this because you post videos online?”
“If this had been any previous year, she would have gotten away with it easily. But this year, I was here, and I come with an extra million eyeballs. She probably saw how popular my videos are and couldn’t take the chance that someone would know this artist.”
“So, she got her brothers to send you hate mail and vandalize your car?”
“Sure, or she did that stuff herself,” Love suggests. “I mean, that was kind of tame, all things considered. Maybe when Conner wouldn’t leave, she called her brothers for help. They came in with guns a-blazing and decided my house, along with me and Conner, had to go.”
“And then, after that, I stayed close to you. I think they probably just had to act rashly at the carnival because: what else could they do? They just needed me to not be there for the art show.”
I shake my head as it somewhat falls into place. “Shit, are you guys after my job or something?”
Love laughs while Conner taps my face gently.
“Nah, I don’t think we’d make the uniform look as good as you.”
“Damn right,” I grumble, my mind already elsewhere.
How much of this did Missy have a say in? Could she have been responsible for the first threats sent to Conner?
“I see your brain is ticking away.”
“I need to make some phone calls,” I mumble, grabbing my phone out of my pocket and bringing up Abby’s name.
“Go for it. River, Love, and I have a masterpiece to cook.”
I chuckle at this, but after an arm squeeze, I leave Conner and the others and head into my office.
When Abby picks up, I inform her of Love and Conner’s idea. Then we talk for a while, deciding on the best course of action to take with Missy and how we can figure out if she was involved.
When we have an idea of where to go next, I wish her goodnight and reemerge to find my kitchen is a mess, River and Conner are covered in flour, while Love laughs hysterically with her phone out, documenting this disaster. The only food in sight is all over the floor.
“Shall I order takeout?”
“Yes!” Conner and River shout together.
Chapter Fourteen
It only takes speaking to three of Missy’s friends before we find one who cracks. Missy might be willing to be on the wrong side of the law to get what she wants, but my presence is still enough to scare most kids into talking. Once one spills, the picture of what really happened comes together quickly. Add in some photos she took and sent to her friends, and there isn’t much of a defense left for Missy.
When we arrived at her house, she actually looked surprised to see Abby and me. I don’t think she ever thought she had to worry about being found out. After a few minutes, though, she realizes she is not going to get the future she had envisioned for herself, and she loses it.
“You can’t arrest me! I need that scholarship!” Missy screeches at the top of her lungs.
Her parents hug each other behind her as they watch us, but there is a sense of inevitability about them. They’re not protesting this, not pitching even a single word in her defense. How two, quiet, kind people could raise thre
e delinquents is beyond me.
I firmly move her into the back seat. Abby is already sitting in the passenger seat. Missy is in cuffs, which I took pleasure placing her in. Generally, I don’t take a lot of pleasure in arresting people, especially when they’re young and have fucked up enough to derail the rest of their lives. But, for Missy Evans, I’m happy to do the honors.
Once I’m in the front, I turn to look at her, staring at the young woman who is full of bluster and fading fast. “Why do you need that scholarship so badly? What was so important that you’ve thrown every chance you would have had away for this?”
She scoffs, throwing her cuffed hands in the air. “Because, without it, I’m stuck in this shitty town! My parents can’t afford to send me to college! Have you seen them? They’re as simple as two hicks can get!”
“Then get a student loan,” Abby snaps, losing her cool, which is incredibly unlike her.
Missy’s incredulous stare turns on Abby. “And spend the rest of my life in debt?”
“Welcome to the majority of America,” Abby grumbles.
“I deserved that scholarship! It was mine!” She’s crying now.
A cynical part of me believes this to just be a ploy to attempt to gather sympathy. Perhaps this is the tactic that she used on her brothers.
“There’s no way you’re going to convince me that scaring Conner, attacking him, and almost killing him and Love was the right thing to do.”
“He’s just a traveler, just someone passing through town. All he had to do was keep moving.” Her crocodile tears are no longer, as anger takes front place again.
“And that gave you the right to terrorize him and almost kill him?” My own anger is just as potent, still bubbling under my calm façade.
“You don’t understand. You actually like this hellhole.”
“And I think you have no idea what kind of hellhole you’re about to go to. But you’ll get your wish. You’ll be leaving Midsummer.”
We drive in silence for a moment, the quiet roads still having me on edge. Even though this case is over and all the perpetrators are behind bars, I’m still worried. And I think part of that worry is because: just how much will Conner put up with here? An almost car mugging, finding a dead body, becoming a suspect in a murder investigation, then getting threating letters, threats spray-painted on his car, almost killed by an arson attack, and almost kidnapped. That is a lot for anyone to take on, especially for a man who never intended to stay.
By the time we’re back at the station, Missy Evans is back to being chatty. Like the fact that she was the one who wrote and delivered the original threats then escalated to the spray paint. When it became clear that things needed to move up, she then enlisted the help of her brothers.
“How did you get them to agree to help you?”
“Easy. I cried.”
I lift an eyebrow. “That’s it?”
“My brothers love me, and they wanted me out of this town as much as I did. The fact that I could do it with a full scholarship was perfect for all of us.”
“And it never occurred to you to try to win that scholarship on your own merit?”
She scoffs. “And risk losing it to one of those other losers? No way. I knew Anton’s work would be a guarantee win, and I knew no small town, still-lives-in-the-dark-ages art gallery judge was going to know his work.”
“But you knew Conner’s fans would likely know his work.”
Missy narrows her eyes. “Seriously, what the fuck are the chances that, the year I’m able to compete, there is also some social influencer douchebag to shine a fucking camera with a million other losers to look at my work?”
“If it had been your own work, that would have been a pretty amazing thing to happen.”
She looks to the side, crossing her now uncuffed arms over her chest as she looks to be deflating.
“So, back to the fire, did you know both Conner and Love were inside?”
“We’d been watching it for a couple hours. We didn’t see anything, but I knew it was possible.”
“If you were only going after Conner, why also attack Love? Was it because you wanted to stop her posting anything online?”
Missy snorts, which soon turns into a manic laugh. “No. I didn’t care about Love. Do you know how many people read the Midsummer Chronicle?” She doesn’t wait for an answer. “The only people who would bother with it are people who live here, and even then it’s probably barely a few dozen. Nothing ever happens here. Most people are old fossils, who wait for the paper to be delivered.” Missy shakes her head like it’s completely unbelievable.
I nod at Abby to put her in the cell then walk into my office.
Having properly closed the case, I sit back in my chair and let out a heavy breath. I’m back to having my town in order, or at least as much order as it’s ever in. Things can finally go back to normal, hopefully.
I glance at my emails and see one from Karina Shaw, my newest deputy hire. She confirms she can begin work next week, Another weight lifts off me.
***
“Where are we going?” River asks for the fifth time since I picked both her and Conner up from home.
“I thought it only fair that after how crazy the past few weeks have been that we celebrate the end to another school year.”
River cheers from the back seat, while Conner turns his head to smile at me. He knows I also want to celebrate the end to all the bullshit surrounding Conner. While River was aware of something going on, she doesn’t know the exact details.
When I’m at the end of our street, River stretches out her seatbelt and leans forward to the front, whispering something to Conner, who suddenly has a wide grin at whatever she’s said, which I figure isn’t good for me.
“Hey, sit in your seat properly,” I chide.
“Sorry, Daddy,” she mumbles, sitting back in her seat with a smug smile.
I turn to look at Conner and gulp when I see he’s pulled out his phone and is facing it at me.
“Dad, how do tampons work?”
“What?” I half-gasp, half-shout.
“Mia was telling me about this girl, who is two years above us at school. She got her period during the last week of school, and she overheard one of the teachers asking another for a pad, but they replied that they only had a tampon,” River explains, while I’m desperately panicking inside.
“She asked me about it, but I told her it would be better if she asked you,” Conner explains.
“Why ask me?” I screech.
“You were married to a woman,” he answers like that explains everything.
“So? I never had to … River, you ask those kinds of questions to Auntie Bell,” I gently admonish.
“But I want to know now.” There is a whiny quality to her words. I have no doubt she’s putting this on for the damn camera.
“Stop filming me!” I bark at Conner, giving him my best authoritative sheriff’s voice, but he only smiles broader.
I look at River through the rearview mirror. “It isn’t something you’re going to have to worry about anytime soon.”
“But, what if it happens now, and none of us know what to do?”
I almost want to just shrug this off, but I hear something in her voice. A genuine fear. She might be doing this for a laugh, but there is a part of her that is scared about this.
“It’s not going to happen now.”
“But, what if it does?”
Hearing a snickering, I round on Conner. “Are you seriously laughing right now?”
“What? It’s funny!”
“It isn’t funny!”
“Of course it is. You’re always so composed and put together that it’s these moments when I remember you’re human.”
“You think Daddy is an alien?”
Conner turns to look at her, keeping his stupid phone focused on me. “Sometimes, but then you ask him something that freaks him the hell out, and he suddenly becomes as human as the rest of us.”
; I narrow my eyes at Conner. “I won’t forget this.”
“Of course you won’t. Aliens never forget anything.”
“I thought you just said Daddy is human.”
“I think he has some human in him.”
I look into the mirror again and notice River tapping her chin, looking thoughtful.
“Does that mean I’m not all human?”
“I don’t know.” Conner sounds contemplative, while I finally keep driving, having stalled at the end of our street when this started. “How many books have you read since school ended?”
“Well, it’s only been a week,” she points out. “And I am doing a reread of my favorites since Daddy won’t change his only two new books a week rule.”
“Harsh,” Conner grumbles.
I quickly turn back to see her nodding in agreement.
“So, I’m a bit behind my usual, so I’ve only read six books, and now I’m into this one.” She holds up her book to show Conner.
I want to roll my eyes, because of course she snuck a book into the car. “You’re not reading at dinner, River Sophie Green!”
“Why not?”
“It’s rude, and at dinnertime, we don’t allow any interruptions.”
“Does that mean you’re turning your phone off?”
“You know that doesn’t count. My job never shuts off. But your reading time does.”
“Back to my point,” Conner interrupts, “reading that much is definitely a superpower. That clearly means you’re not entirely human.”
“Will you stop telling my daughter that she and I are not human!” I gasp in exasperation.
“She’s a super reader. You’re a super grump,” Conner says matter-of-factly.
“And you’re being super annoying.”
“We’re all a little alien!” Conner cheers, getting a happy response from River, while I just shake my head at them.
Dinner, which is at Rock My Taste Buds, is an exercise in restraint as River takes over the conversation and never lets it go. Thankfully, Conner seems to find this amusing. We then head to the Midsummer Movie theatre, one that is grand enough to bring others from neighboring towns to us.
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