by Andrew Grey
“What’s the deal you’re offering?” the attorney said.
James chuckled. “You know I don’t make any deals.” He stood. “I don’t even need her to make any sort of statement. I just wanted her to know that I hope she gets used to our accommodations. The DA is going to claim she’s a flight risk, and given the fact that she’s involved in human trafficking… she isn’t going to be going anywhere.” James tried to keep his head in the case and where it needed to be rather than on Mattias and where he might have gone. Every time he’d taken a break, he’d called, but Mattias hadn’t answered.
“You think this is over?” she said, and James turned around. The attorney was already shushing her, but it seemed she was having none of it.
“Actually, I do,” James said calmly.
She met James’s steely gaze with one of her own. “I have information you’d like to know. How is it going to look for you when the world finds out about your father?” She cocked an eyebrow as she tried her best to smile.
James snorted, pulled open the door to the interview room, and walked out to the officers who had been waiting on the other side. “Put her back in her cell.” He’d had plenty of dealings with the ramifications of his father, and frankly, at the moment there were more pressing issues on his mind.
He walked back down to the case room, where he found Clay and Pierre.
“We have the arrest reports done. Is there anything we need to type up from that last interview?”
James shook his head. “I think this ring of thieves is over.” He was about to turn to leave when Solly joined them, smiling. James explained what they’d found and who they had in custody. He also went through how they’d caught the people and how Mattias had been a huge help. He praised Clay and Pierre for their hard work, and when Solly returned to his office, James followed him inside and closed the door.
Chapter 13
MATTIAS IGNORED yet another call from James as he sat in the diner a few blocks from James’s house. The server refilled his cup of coffee while Mattias stared at nothing out the front window—until James hurried through the door.
“How long are you going to sit here?” James asked.
Mattias shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said softly. Then he put some money on the table that included a generous tip, stood, and walked past James to the door. He stepped outside and started walking down the sidewalk toward James’s house, with James coming up behind him. “I assume that now that you’re back, I can get my things and go.”
“We got the ringleader. The woman who was trying to sell the goods,” James said. Mattias didn’t slow down and didn’t answer. “The other four all fingered her, so the case is over.”
“Good. Now I can get my things and go home. I did what I was contracted to do, and now I won’t be darkening your doorstep again.” His anger swelled more quickly than he wanted. Mattias had spent plenty of time thinking about what he wanted to say when he saw James. He had the words all set in his head, but now that it was time to say them, the words were gone, and all that was left was anger masking hurt.
James took his arm, and Mattias wrenched it away. “Don’t be like that.”
Mattias stopped on the street corner, close enough to his destination that he could see James’s house. “Be like what? You dumbass. Hurt? Upset that you didn’t even give me a chance to talk?” His hands shook, but he wasn’t going to do this here. Anything he said wasn’t going to change a goddammed thing. Still, he couldn’t seem to stop himself once he got started. “I went there to warn your father off. But you barreled into that coffee shop and thought the worst of me. The entire time we’ve been working together, you never saw me as anything other than a thief… an extension of your father. And the first time that you seemed to get some sort of confirmation of that, you pounced.” Mattias made a grand motion with his arms. “Well, you were wrong, oh mighty detective. You got it wrong.” He stepped closer. “I was there because I cared enough to not want your father to make trouble for you. I know how it feels to have your loyalties split and to have them threaten to tear you apart.”
James gaped at him. “Yeah… I get that now. And I was wrong. Dead wrong.” He grabbed Mattias by the shoulders, but Mattias knew what was coming and pulled away. “I stood up to my father and told him to go home. Whatever he wanted here wasn’t going to happen. I was ready to call the FBI.” James swallowed. “I can’t live with this constant division of loyalties. Not anymore.” He placed his hands on Mattias’s shoulders once again. “I know you were there for me,” he added in a whisper. “I see now what I was doing. I know I was painting you with the same brush as my dad, and I kept doing it even after you proved to be a very different… a much better man.”
Mattias’s heart wanted to reach out to James, but he stopped it. That was what had gotten him into this mess in the first place. He’d let himself hope that James would see him as more than a thief, and James had proven on multiple occasions that he couldn’t do that. Mattias’s heart ached to believe James. Dammit, he wanted to, but he just couldn’t take the chance. Not again.
“Just unlock the house so I can get my stuff.”
James didn’t move. “Can’t we talk about this?”
Mattias didn’t dare answer. His resolution slipped each second James looked at him. How in the hell had he fallen this far this fast? Those intense eyes and the pain he saw in them tugged at him, but he had to be strong. There was no way that James was going to see Mattias as anything other than his past. Mattias might have been that man once, but that wasn’t who he was now.
Finally, James nodded and turned away. Even though Mattias had said that was what he wanted, the movement felt as sharp as a slap. Maybe he’d hoped James would put up a fight… or pull out some grand gesture to show how he really felt. Instead, he stomped over to the front door, inserted the key, and pushed it open before going inside.
Mattias bumped into James, standing just inside the door, when he stepped inside.
“What the hell are you doing in my house?” James asked, and Mattias leaned to the side as James’s father approached both of them, a gun cradled in his hand. “And what the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
“Come inside. Both of you,” he said, waving the gun, and James stepped forward.
Mattias swallowed, wishing he could say he was particularly surprised.
“What do you think you’re doing, Dad?” James asked, the anger washing off him palpably. “Put the gun away.” It was pretty clear that James wasn’t taking this seriously.
“I can’t do that,” Elias said, motioning to James. “Take out your gun and set it on the floor. Then sit down on the sofa.” His tone was as serious as a heart attack, and James complied, clearly stunned. Mattias sat stiffly in the chair Elias motioned him into. “Now isn’t this warm and cozy.”
“What the hell are you up to, Dad?” James asked. “How dare you pull some stunt like this.” He began to get up, but Elias walked over to James and placed the gun to the side of his head.
“This isn’t a joke, and you need to sit still. It would be a shame if I had to tell your mother that you had been killed.” Elias cocked the hammer, and James stilled completely, paling by the second. “Now that I have your attention….” He stepped back. “I have a few things to do, and because of your little stunt this afternoon, I can’t trust that you’ll leave me alone, so….” He pulled zip ties out of his back pocket and secured James’s hands. Then he did the same thing around his ankles.
“Fuck, Dad, is whatever you’re after worth all this?” James asked.
“It doesn’t matter,” Mattias said, turning to James. “This isn’t something your dad can stop. I know he told you that he stole to support you and your mother, but a long time ago that became total bullshit. He loved it. There’s a rush—isn’t there, Elias?” Mattias asked. “You may as well tell him.” He could read the signs on Elias’s face just as easily as on a junkie’s in need of a fix.
Elias kept quiet, tightening
the tie around James’s ankles.
“You were the one behind all this, weren’t you?” Mattias asked. “You brought those people up from the south to steal for you, and let me guess… you figured if things went wrong, James would get you off the hook.” He watched Elias closely as he reached for another tie.
“That’s enough out of you.” Elias waved the gun in front of him, and Mattias quieted. He snatched Mattias’s hands, tied them together, and then did his ankles. “You talk way too damned much.”
“Why are you doing this?” James demanded. “You really think you can get away with this?” He struggled against the bonds for a second and then gave up.
“Of course I can.” Elias set the gun on a table, out of reach. “I need this last score, and I’m this close. So all I have to do is get you out of commission for a few hours, and then I’ll be out of here and across state lines.” He seemed pleased.
“And in the meantime, you’ve decided to hold your own son hostage,” Mattias snapped. “What the hell kind of father are you?” He got angrier the more he watched the light dim in James’s eyes. James had protected his father for years, and caused himself a great deal of conflict in the process. He’d even put his own career in jeopardy in order to protect him, and now… this? “He’s a shit father. Look what he’s done. He went to prison, and then got out and started stealing again. Both your mother and you have paid for his decisions your entire lives.” Mattias didn’t back away from Elias’s gaze even after he backhanded him across the cheek. “See, the truth hurts. He doesn’t give a damn about you or anyone else. He can say what he wants to justify it, but he gets off on the adrenaline.”
“I did the best I could for James and his mother.”
“Yeah. You subjected them to lives of insecurity and having a jailbird for a father and husband. And now rather than walking away, you hold your own son hostage… but with good reason.” Mattias braced for another slap, but it didn’t come. Instead, Elias grabbed the gun and brought it closer, pointing it right at Mattias’s nose.
“That’s more than enough out of you. Does he know the kind of man you are?” Elias sneered.
“Of course I do,” James answered. “I’m not stupid. I know all about Mattias’s past. He was strong enough to give up what you can’t seem to—not for me, not for Mom.” He kicked out, catching his father in the leg.
“Dammit!” His father backed away, swearing under his breath. His hand went back, presumably to slap James, but he lowered his arm, eyes still blazing.
“I used to believe all the crap you peddled, but not anymore. And I know Mom isn’t going to either.”
“Your mother will believe me,” Elias spat. “She and I have been through too much together, and she deserves a quiet retirement.”
“The only place Mom is going to be spending her retirement is in divorce court, or in prison on visiting days unless she decides she doesn’t want to see you.” James struggled with his bonds, but they were too tight, and Mattias was well aware they weren’t going to break them. “Mattias is worth a dozen of you. He at least realized what he was doing was wrong and decided to change his life. That takes more courage and guts than you’ll ever have.” James held his chin firm and turned away from his father toward Mattias.
Elias’s phone rang, and he glanced at the screen and then went farther into the house.
“What do we do?” Mattias whispered.
James shrugged. “He’s my father. What is he really going to do to me?” He clearly didn’t see the severity of the situation.
“And he’s going to let you go and just go home and tell your mother that he held you hostage so he could get the remaining goods from the theft ring he organized?” Mattias raised his eyebrows. “Your dad has gone too far, and I think he knows it.” Mattias wished he could reach out and touch him, hold his hand to comfort James… as well as himself. But that wasn’t possible, and Mattias pushed the notion out of his head. He needed to keep his wits about him.
James sighed. “Yeah.” He sniffed slightly. “We need to get out of these or get some help here, and fast. My dad took my phone.”
Mattias nodded. “He didn’t get mine.” He winked. “I was a thief, remember?”
“Then where…,” James started to ask, and Mattias shifted his gaze to his crotch. “You put it there?”
“Sleight of hand,” Mattias said, shifting on the sofa, hoping he didn’t break the dang thing as he tried to work it out of his underwear and into his pant leg. At least then it might be accessible. He managed to get it out from under his ass and down to the base of his calf, keeping it under his leg so no bulges would show. It was the best he could do as Elias returned, fuming under his breath.
“Where is all of it?” Elias asked, leaning over James. “What have you done with it?”
“All the goods? They’re at the sheriff’s station in evidence,” James said levelly. “You’ll never see any of it, and the rightful owners will get it back.”
Elias must have gripped James’s legs hard, because he winced but said nothing.
“What did you do, dig up the backyard?” Elias asked.
James just smiled. “I know you, remember?” James said, but Mattias got the idea he was running a bluff. Clay and Pierre hadn’t said anything about finding the stolen property. So this had to be a way of getting the location from his father.
“I helped the guys log it all into evidence,” Mattias offered to add weight to whatever story James was weaving. When Elias turned his visual wrath on him, James nodded and flashed a quick smile.
“Do you remember how I used to punish you?” Elias asked. “I can do that now.”
James kept his cool and shrugged again. “There’s nothing any of us can do.” He held his gaze level even as a flash of fear crossed his eyes. Mattias hated that fear, and he hated Elias even more for putting it there. “I suggest you let us go and leave before it’s too late.”
Elias’s phone rang again, and he groaned before leaving the room once more.
Mattias managed to get the phone out of his pants leg, then bent forward to get it between his hands and onto the sofa. He managed to get his finger on the button to unlock the phone and pressed the emergency button. “We need the police now,” he said as soon as he heard an answer. Mattias gave James’s address as Elias came back.
Elias snatched the phone away, throwing it across the room. The phone smashed on the fireplace hearth. “You son of a bitch!” Elias yelled and lunged for him.
James jumped off the sofa, barreling into his father, sending both of them sprawling onto the floor, knocking over the center table. Mattias leaped forward as well, adding his own weight as Elias sprawled under both of them. Mattias lay across Elias’s legs and James did his best to pin his shoulders while Elias tried to reach for the gun, which had been knocked onto the floor. Mattias lunged upward, his body pinning Elias’s arm and hand to the carpet just out of reach of the gun.
“What do we do now?” Mattias asked as he did his best to keep James’s father from moving.
“It shouldn’t be long now. As soon as the call was placed, the address of a police officer will show on their screens and….”
James grinned as sirens sounded, getting louder and louder, until they stopped right in front of the house. Lights flashed in the front windows, and soon police burst into the house, dozens of them. At least it seemed that way to Mattias. They took charge of Elias, with the sheriff following inside as soon as the scene was secure. He and James were cut out of their bindings, and Mattias rubbed his wrists, grateful for the freedom of movement once again. The officers helped them to chairs and fanned out throughout the first floor of the house. Elias sat with officers surrounding him as Mattias and James answered all their questions. As they were winding up, Sheriff Briggs approached where they sat.
“Sheriff Briggs,” James said formally as he rose to his feet. “I’d like you to meet my father.” He stood tall as he shocked everyone in the room… well, everyone except Mattias.
“He’s the one who brought our other five suspects to this area, and it seems he’s the one who directed their actions through the woman we have in custody.”
“Your father?” Pierre asked, sharing a glance with Clay.
“Yeah. And apparently the property they haven’t tried to sell is in the backyard of the house we raided this morning.” James turned to his father.
“You tricked me, you little—” Elias said as he was led out of the house.
“It wasn’t hard,” James called back, and turned to Briggs. “I think we’re pretty much done here.”
Mattias gently touched his hand to let him know he was there for him, and James lightly squeezed his fingers in return.
“All right,” Briggs said, bringing all attention back to him. “I want both of you to come see me tomorrow.” The best way Mattias could describe his expression was understanding tinged with discomfort. “In the meantime, you’re going to have to answer plenty of questions. Some I’m sure you’d rather not.”
Mattias had no trouble believing that.
HE AND James bade the last of the police officers goodbye a couple hours later. A few times, Mattias did wonder how many of their questions were necessary and how much was their curiosity and disbelief that they had just arrested the father of one of their colleagues. It seemed to Mattias that James had been honest and forthright about his relationship with his dad. Even Mattias had squirmed a few times at the questions, especially about what James knew of his father’s activities, which seemed to be very little. Finally, Clay and Pierre, along with the local police, had gotten the information they needed, and James saw them to the door and closed it behind them.
“What a day.” He went through to the kitchen and slumped into one of the chairs.
Mattias stood behind him, and James reached up to take his hand, squeezing his fingers.
“I’m sorry for being such a complete jerk.” He turned, looking up at Mattias with warm eyes. “I should have asked you why you were there. Dad told me you ordered him to get out of town.”