by Carol Ross
Her conversation with Laney played through her mind. Teenage girl scenarios followed. “Did she confirm that she’s pregnant?”
“Pretty much. She didn’t deny it.”
“Pretty much? So you accused her—you didn’t ask her?” Mia was getting irritated now by his inability to stay focused on the bigger picture. “But she didn’t confirm it?”
Jay’s phone began ringing. He pulled it out of his pocket. “It’s Josie. I have to answer it in case Laney called her.
“Hi, Josie.”
As he listened, his already drawn and stressed expression morphed into one of shock. His eyes widened and his face went white. “What do you know?” He listened for a few minutes. Finally, his gaze found hers, full of pain and confusion. “Yes. I’m on my way.” He clicked his phone off and said to her, “We have to go.”
“Jay, are you all right?”
“No. I’m not.”
Mia assumed that somehow Josie had heard the news about Laney. So his next words came as a total shock.
“Levi has been arrested.”
“Arrested? For what?”
“I’m not sure. Josie is in town. She said to meet her at the police station.”
“Okay, well, let me know if there’s anything I can do—”
“Both of us. It has something to do with you, too. With the vet clinic.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
MIA RAN INTO the house and told her mom that she needed to take care of an errand. Nora readily agreed to be there for Laney when she came downstairs. Mia grabbed her purse and keys. Jay was waiting by her car. They climbed in and Mia drove the few short miles to the police station in silence.
“There she is.” Jay pointed across the parking lot toward the steps that led into Pacific Cove’s small police station. A woman was standing beside one of the two benches there.
Mia parked and they got out. As they neared her, Mia could see that Jay’s sister was also tall. She had long, dark brownish-red hair and eyes so strikingly green she had to make an effort not to stare. Her smile revealed the same dimple on the left side of her mouth that Jay had. The resemblance between her and her older brother was startling.
She reached out a hand for Mia to shake. “Mia, hi. It’s nice to finally meet you. Levi and Laney talk about you all the time. Thank you so much for everything you’ve done for them. I wish we could have met under different and better circumstances.”
“I’ve heard a lot of wonderful things about you as well.”
“Josie, what’s going on?” Jay interjected, putting an understandable end to the small talk.
Josie turned toward her brother. “The police are saying that Levi has been illegally selling cats.”
“Selling cats?” Jay shook his head. “What the...? To who?”
Mia felt light-headed. The ground seemed to turn to liquid and roll beneath her. Gulping a breath, she reached for the back of the bench.
“To a company that is allegedly using them for medical research. There’s apparently nothing illegal about selling cats for that purpose, except that the company buying them isn’t properly licensed. And maybe doing some kind of shady research. I don’t know all the details but the investigation revealed that some of the cats were coming from a vet clinic here in Pacific Cove. There’s ethical violations or some such thing...”
Mia whispered, “He’s been selling my cats?” Her eyes found Jay’s and her heart seemed to break a little bit more. He looked like he was in pain, muscles tense, his face pale and drawn. She wasn’t sure how much more bad news he could take or if he’d already reached this conclusion himself. “That’s why I can’t find Duke.”
* * *
SHORT OF A tragedy involving dismemberment or death at his hands, Jay didn’t see how he could have possibly screwed this up any worse. He turned and paced down the sidewalk, muttered a curse of desperation and came back again.
“This is a mess. My mess. I can’t believe I didn’t see... How could I have let this happen? I shouldn’t have...” He stopped himself as he caught sight of Mia’s glare.
“Jay,” Mia said firmly. “You need to snap out of it. Just like with Laney, this isn’t about you. Despite the way he acts, Levi is only a kid. Whatever happened or whatever he did, he needs you right now. He needs to know that you love him no matter what.” She pointed toward the doors. “Go in there and be what he needs.”
“You don’t understand. This never would have happened if it wasn’t for—”
“But it did happen,” she shot back. “And you have to deal with it.”
Josie stepped forward and took him by the elbow. “Jay, she’s right. She’s absolutely right. Right now, we need to go in there and get our little brother and be there for him in whatever way we can.”
They all headed inside and were met by two police officers who explained what Josie had already relayed. He added that Levi had requested an attorney. Smart kid, Mia thought, a wave of relief washing through her. Even from the sketchy details she had, she knew he was going to need a good one.
“I’ll call Craig,” Josie said, already dialing her phone.
A man in blue jeans and a plaid button-down shirt joined them. He looked at Mia. “Dr. Frasier?”
“Yes.”
“Hi, I’m Detective Barnes.” They shook hands. “You’re a veterinarian at Pacific Cove Vet Clinic and the person in charge of this Lucky Cats organization, is that correct?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Good. I’m glad you’re here. We’re going to need to ask you a few questions as well. Can you follow me please?”
* * *
PART OF MIA wanted to run away. She wanted to go home and hug her mom and check on Laney and pretend this wasn’t happening. But she couldn’t. Not yet. Levi needed her. Jay needed her. Even though he’d done his best to keep her away, she realized now that this was his defense mechanism. But this time, she was going to help whether he wanted her to or not. And her first order of business would be to find out exactly what, if anything, Levi had done. In her heart, she knew he would never do anything to harm an animal. Not knowingly, anyway.
The detective gave her a few minutes. She called her attorney and quickly outlined the situation. As she anticipated, Mia was instructed not to say anything until she arrived.
Next, she called her mom. “Hey, Mom. How’s it going?”
“Good! I love this kid. We’re watching Goonies. Remember that movie? So cute. Laney’s never seen it. She’s loving that it was filmed right here in our stomping grounds. I told her I’d take her to Astoria to look at the old houses.”
“Great. Thanks, Mom. I’ll be home as soon as I can, but it might be a little while.”
“Everything okay, sweetheart?”
“Not really. Levi has gotten himself into a bit of trouble. I’m afraid it’s kind of my fault.” But not in the sense Jay was clearly intimating. “I’ll explain later.”
“Okay,” her mom said tentatively. “I don’t like the way you sound right now.”
Mia let out a sigh. “I don’t either, Mom. I don’t like the way I feel.”
She was hanging up the phone as Detective Barnes stepped back into the room.
* * *
CRAIG HAD CALLED their attorney in Portland, who had gotten them in touch with the best criminal defense attorney he knew in the area. After an hour waiting for her to arrive, and another three hours of questioning, the police finally allowed them to take Levi home.
Josie made them grilled cheese sandwiches, which sat untouched as they gathered around the table.
Jay wasn’t sure where to start. “Does this have anything to do with the envelope in your dresser?”
“What envelope?”
“The one that fell out of your sock drawer from the state of Oregon, ju
venile court.”
Levi stared down at his plate. “No.”
“An envelope from the juvenile court?” Josie looked from him to Levi and back again.
“Family court,” Levi clarified.
She asked, “What’s going on, Levi? Does this have to do with the custody hearing? Did you send in a statement like we talked about?”
“What statement?” Jay asked. “I don’t know anything about this.”
“Levi did some research,” she explained. “In lieu of testifying, often the court will accept a written statement from a witness. He wants to testify, he and Laney both do. I told him he could send in a statement.”
Jay glared at them both. “Without talking to me? Levi, I told you I wanted to keep you out of it. I don’t want you and Laney to have to go to court.”
“That’s the problem, Jay!” Levi shouted, throwing his napkin down on the table. “You want to do everything! You don’t want Laney and me to do anything. You want to do it all yourself. We can do stuff, too, you know? Maybe not as good as you. But we can.”
“Okay,” Josie said in a gentle tone. “Let’s talk about this calmly and from the beginning. What is the letter about, Levi?”
Levi inhaled a breath and slowly blew it out. With a determined set to his jaw, he scowled at Jay. “I applied to be emancipated. If I get emancipated it basically means that I’m legally an adult and I can make my own decisions. I can go to court and testify for Laney, Dean and Delilah and you can’t stop me. I can go to school online and work and send money to Josie, too. Like you do.”
Jay buried his head in his hands as the implication of Levi’s actions seeped into him. Jay realized Levi was right. Laney was right, too. He’d been completely obtuse, stubborn and overbearing. As difficult as it was, they should have a say in their futures. Jay was all about taking control of life. He’d always had to. Even though he’d only been trying to take care of them all, he’d gone overboard. In trying to shelter them from the difficulty that he knew a trial would bring, he’d taken away their control. As a result, they’d both found ways to get some semblance of that control back. He couldn’t blame them; he would have done the same thing. If he hadn’t been so intent on doing things his way, maybe Laney wouldn’t have acted out by drinking alcohol and getting pregnant. Levi certainly wouldn’t have been forced to these lengths of desperation.
“Is this why you were selling cats? So you could send money to Josie?”
Levi shook his head. “No. I didn’t even know I was selling them. The cops told me that part. I thought I was delivering them.”
“Delivering them where?”
Levi shrugged. “To an animal shelter place. That’s what Dr. Anthony told me.”
“Where was Dr. Anthony when you got arrested?”
“I don’t know. He wasn’t there. He would give me the cats and tell me where to go. This guy in a white van would meet me somewhere and we’d transfer the cats from one van to another. He totally set me up. I can see that now.”
“Where’s the money?”
“It was probably all in cash. Each time, the guy would give me an envelope. I would take it to Dr. Anthony. I didn’t even know there was money in the envelopes. I thought it was cat inventory or whatever.” Levi scoffed and Jay knew he was embarrassed at not having figured this out. The kid was always so hard on himself. No mystery where that trait came from.
Jay felt his stomach sink. No way to trace cash. The word of a poor sixteen-year-old kid from a troubled background against that of a highly educated, esteemed and respected doctor. And a medical research facility. Everyone in Pacific Cove knew and loved Dr. Anthony. The entire community was rooting for McKenzie. Levi didn’t stand a chance. No one would ever believe him.
“I need to talk to Mia,” Levi said. “The cops said the clinic might be in trouble if this is true, like their reputation and maybe some legal stuff. I need to explain.”
This was so incredibly difficult. And Jay had been through plenty of “difficult” in his life. Levi could explain all day long, but Jay knew how much Dr. Anthony meant to Mia. He was like a father to her. He also knew the man was brilliant. If he’d set Levi up, Jay knew he’d done a good job of it. No one would ever believe that he’d done this. Not to mention that the man was a very successful veterinarian. Jay had seen the mansion he lived in and the fancy cars he and his wife drove. He made plenty of money and had no reason to sell cats. Those were the actions of a desperate person. It wouldn’t be difficult to make Levi appear to be that.
Levi put his head down on his arms. “I only wanted to help.”
Josie reached out and laid a hand on his back. “We know that, Levi.”
Jay reached over from the other side. “We’re here for you, buddy. Always.” He let out a sigh. “I need to go pick up Laney.”
“Let’s all go,” Josie said. “A family is a family even when it’s in crisis mode.” She shot a pointed look at Jay. “It’s not the first time we’ve been in crisis mode and it undoubtedly will not be the last.”
Jay thought about Laney and his stomach dropped. “That’s true. In fact, we’re about to face another.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
WHEN MIA ARRIVED HOME, Laney and her mom were practicing yoga poses in the living room.
“Mia, hey, look at Laney’s downward dog. What a natural.”
Mia smiled. “Seriously, Laney, that is amazing. My mom does not pull punches when it comes to yoga skills. Did she tell you how bad I am at it?”
“It may have been mentioned,” Laney said with a giggle, and then added a sincere, “But only in the sense that she’s concerned.” They settled on the floor into matching double pigeons that had Mia shaking her head with wonder.
“So jealous. I tip over backward when I do that pose.” Perching on the edge of the sofa, she clasped her hands together and asked Laney, “Have you heard from Jay or Josie, by any chance?”
“My phone is off. It’s been upstairs this whole time.” Her eyes widened. “Does Josie know about this, about me and us... Jay and I having a fight?”
Mia could only assume that she did at this point. “Probably. Your sister is in town.”
“She is? Oh, my phone...”
“Well, she’s here because of Levi.”
“Levi?”
Mia wasn’t sure how much to say but felt confident Jay and Josie would tell her the basics. She went with, “Your brother was arrested earlier today.”
“Arrested?” A shocked Nora sank onto the sofa next to her.
“Arrested? Levi?” Laney repeated the words as if she couldn’t quite believe them. “He would never...do anything wrong. You know him, he’s like sixteen going on thirty. This has to be a mistake.”
A knock on the door saved her from having to explain further. Jay, Josie and Levi were standing on the porch. Mia invited them in and they’d barely made it inside before Laney was throwing her arms around Levi.
“I take it you told her?” Jay asked Mia. She couldn’t read anything in his expression.
“Only the bare minimum. I was afraid she’d hear it from someone else.”
Josie nodded. “Thank you, Mia. That was actually really thoughtful in these days of social media oversharing.”
“What’s going on? What happened?” Laney demanded. “Levi, are you going to jail?”
“I hope not, Lanes,” Levi said. His gaze found Mia’s and she wished she could throw her arms around him, too, like Laney had. These circumstances already hurt and they’d only just begun.
Jay said to Laney, “Why don’t you get your stuff and we’ll go home and talk about it. All of this.” His expression seemed to beg her not to argue.
“No.” Laney stepped back and crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not going with you.”
“Laney, stop being unre
asonable. We’ve got a lot going on. Please, get your stuff. We’re not talking about this here.”
“Why not? Why can’t I talk about stuff, Jay?”
“You know very well that we don’t air our private business in this family.”
“Air our private business?” Laney repeated with an eye roll. “And yet people still seem to find things out, don’t they?” She turned to Josie. “He’s the one who is unreasonable, Josie. Even though he says he wants Levi and me to stay with him, he doesn’t act like he does. He says Levi and I can’t testify at the hearing when we all know it will increase our chances of winning by about a million percent. He won’t let me get a cat, he won’t commit to keeping Coastie, who is the most amazing dog that has ever lived. He loves her, but he won’t keep her. You see where I’m going with this? He won’t even commit to Mia. He claims he wants to be a family, but he isn’t acting like it.”
Testify? The light went on in Mia’s brain. The night Laney had too much to drink she’d mentioned that Jay wouldn’t allow her to “test and fry.” She’d had no idea what that had meant. A simple interpretation of that drunk rambling could easily be “testify.” Couple that with Elise’s statement about Laney possibly not getting to stay, and it all made sense. She was scared that she’d have to leave. Mia couldn’t blame her. Could Jay really not see that this is why her behavior had been so erratic?
If Mia thought Jay looked devastated before, now he appeared completely ruined. “Laney... You know what? It’s not as easy as it looks. Maybe you’ll do everything right where your child is concerned but for now, I have to—”
Laney let out a groan of frustration and stomped a foot. “I’m not pregnant, Jay! I was trying to tell you that, but you wouldn’t let me. You wouldn’t even listen—”
“Pregnant?” Josie broke in. “Was that a possibility?”
“Yes,” Jay said.
“No!” Laney cried at the same time. She looked at Josie. “My friend asked me to buy her a pregnancy test because her aunt works at the drugstore. No one knows me here yet. So I did it. George,” she said, pointing at the dog who was quietly watching the drama from his spot near the sofa, “got the test out of the garbage. Mia and Jay found it and our genius brother here automatically assumed it was mine.”