Enigma

by Laramie Briscoe

  “I wish I was.”

  “This shit isn’t sitting well with me.” He runs a hand through his hair. “Birmingham seems to think it’s not as credible as I do, but I’ve got a really bad feeling about it.”

  “I do too,” I admit. “It’s almost like when you’re in a forest with no noise, you know more than anything there’s something there that can kill you, but you don’t know who or what it is until they show themselves.”

  “Exactly.” He shoves his hands in his jeans pockets. “I just need you all to be ready, it’s the only reason I called this meeting. There’s a bigger LSERT meeting happening tomorrow, which I don’t expect you all to attend. I wanted to be able to talk to y’all separately.”

  “I’m keeping Karsyn away from that meeting,” I warn him. “She’s already nervous enough about what’s happening. I don’t need her to be scared of this too.”

  “I think that’s a good idea,” they all agree with me.

  “Just stay alert,” Menace reminds us. “If we plan for the worst, and it doesn’t happen then we’re over-prepared and I’d rather be over-prepared than under. When you’re under, people get hurt and I refuse for that shit to happen on my watch.

  As we all get ready to leave, I’m doing my best to think about how I’m going to approach this situation with Karsyn. She needs to know, but she doesn’t need to find out in the middle of a LSERT meeting. As I’m rolling scenarios around in my mind, my phone buzzes, and I reach down, seeing her smiling face. There’s a text message, immediately I open it, and wonder just what in the fuck I got myself into.

  K: So how are you with kids?

  T: Ummm is there something you need to tell me?

  K: Just that we’re watching Kels and Nick’s kids for a few hours tonight. You’re off right?

  T: I am, but why are we watching their kids?

  K: So they can have uninterrupted sexy time.

  T: Oh really?

  This right here is going to make perfect ammunition to annoy the shit out of Nick, and even if she hadn’t already offered up my services, I would with a smile on my face.

  K: Be nice, Tucker.

  T: Babe…I’m always nice!

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Karsyn

  * * *

  “Thank you again!”

  “You don’t have to thank me,” I remind Kelsea one more time. “It’s really not that big of a deal. If you want to thank someone, thank Tucker for letting us use his house.” I look back at Tucker who has the biggest smile on his face.

  “Thank you, Tucker.” She hugs him. “I appreciate it, so much.”

  “No problem.” He smiles wider, and I just know he’s planning to do something.

  “Go, get home to your hubby.” I push her toward the door. “Ella’s asleep and D is playing with Major. Get out while you can.”

  “We’ll be back to pick them up.” She worries her lip in between her teeth.

  “I didn’t think you’d just leave them here,” Tucker deadpans. “I’m down to watch them for a few hours, but I’m too selfish to be a parent right now.”

  Kelsea’s smile disappears from her face. “Oh no, that’s not what I meant.”

  “He’s joking, Kels. Go!”

  This time I do push her out of the door, locking it when I finally get her past the threshold. “What are you doing?” I look at him closely.

  “Me?” He points to his chest. “What makes you think I’m doing something?”

  “I know you, and I just have a feeling.”

  He comes over to me, wrapping an arm around my neck, steering me to the kitchen where we’ve left Ella sleeping in her carrier. “I didn’t steal Nick’s phone and set an alarm to go off every hour for the next four hours. Not me.”

  “Tucker! He’s going to kill you.”

  “He can try, but I’m older and wiser.”

  “That’s so mean, who knows when the last time was they had sex with no interruptions.”

  “He’ll get pissed, throw the phone, and it won’t matter. Trust me.”

  We get to the kitchen and I go over to check on Ella. She’s still snoozing in her carrier, I don’t want to wake her up, so I sit her in the middle of the kitchen table so I can keep an eye on her.

  “What are you planning on feeding this kid for dinner?” Tucker asks as he looks out the window, watching Major and Darren playing.

  It strikes me in this instant that Tucker and I have never really sat down to a meal together that we cooked. There are so many things we’ve done, I sometimes forget about the things we haven’t done.

  “I went to the grocery on the way over here.” I point to the Kroger bag on the counter. “I got stuff to make pizza with, and some ice cream that I’ve already put in the freezer.”

  “Ice cream?” His interest is piqued. “I got a fuckin’ big sweet tooth. What kind did you get?”

  “How did I not know this about you?” I laugh as I go over to pull the cookies and cream out of the freezer.

  “There’s a lot we don’t know, that we need to get to know.” He looks in, grinning. “Not my favorite, but it’ll do.”

  “Let’s start with what is your favorite.”

  “I’m a simple man.” He rubs his hand over his stomach. “Chocolate with chocolate syrup.”

  “Chocolate on chocolate, I should have guessed when you told me you had a sweet tooth.”

  “What’s yours?” He turns the question around on me.

  “Chocolate and strawberry mixed together with strawberries and chocolate syrup. Put a little whipped cream on top of it, and that’s my jam.”

  “You like a whole-ass sundae.”

  “I mean, it is what it is.” I turn from him, closing the door to the freezer. “My tastes are extravagant sometimes.”

  “Oh really?” He turns me back around to face him.

  “Really.” I tilt my head up to him.

  He leans in, grabbing my lips with his. It’s tame compared to the way we’ve kissed in the past. When he pulls back, he licks those lips of his. “As extravagant as I figured.”

  Pinching his stomach, I giggle. “Don’t be a smartass.”

  “You know you love it.” He wraps me up in his arms.

  Tilting my head down so that I can tuck in under his chin, I wrap my arms around his waist. “I do,” I whisper.

  “I do too,” he whispers back, and this right here is one of the best moments I can remember us ever sharing.

  It’s broken apart as Darren and Major come barreling into the kitchen.

  “You hungry?” I ask him as he has a seat at the table, breathing heavily.

  “Starving! Major made me run all over the place. What are you feeding me?”

  “I have it on good authority you like pizza?”

  He makes a noise. “Pizza is my favorite!”

  Major barks loudly, causing everyone to shush him when Ella stirs.

  “I get it,” I laugh. “You’re hungry too.”

  He comes over to me, nudging me with his nose. I tap against my thighs and he quickly stands on his hind legs, I give him a scratch behind his ears. His tail wags wildly behind him. “Feels good doesn’t it.” I rub harder.

  “C’mon, bud, time to eat.” Tucker puts his food down, shaking it.

  It takes Major a few moments to hop down and go over to his food. “When you’re around and he’s not on duty, it’s like he listens to you better.”

  “He knows who lets him sleep in the bed when you’re not watching.”

  “You two team up on me and it’s not fair.”

  I give him a smile. “At least somebody’s on my side.”

  “Babe, everybody is on your side.”

  “What do you like on yours?” I ask Darren as the two of us stand in front of our two pans of pizza dough. “I have pepperoni, some veggies, pineapple, beef.” I rifle through the bag I brought over to Tucker’s.

  “Pepperoni and pineapple is my favorite.” He holds his hands out.

  “My man.” T
ucker reaches over, giving him a high five.

  I lift my nose up in disgust. “I only got the pineapple to make fun of it. Are the two of you both telling me you like pineapple on your pizza?”

  “How dare you get pineapple just to make fun of it?” Tucker grabs his chest. “You barbarian.”

  “It’s so good.” Darren nods. “Sweet and salty.”

  Tucker and I look at each other, both of our mouths tilting in secretive smiles. He’s too young to know just what’s sweet and salty yet. We’re in the middle of putting cheese on them when Ella lets out a strong wail.

  “She’s probably hungry.” I immediately turn to wash my hands.

  “I got this,” Tucker tells me as he gets into her diaper bag, grabbing the bottle out.

  There have been many things I’ve seen Tucker do. One thing I’ve never seen him do? Interact with a baby. I swear my stomach cramps together as I watch him pick her up gently, cooing to her as he snaps the seal on the bottle and mixes it together. He cradles her small body in his arms as he gently gets her to take the bottle. I’ve always known he’s a gentle man, but I’ve never seen it quite like this before.

  “Do we put them in the oven now?” Darren asks me, breaking the stare.

  “Yeah.” I clear my throat and my head. “They’ll go in for about twenty minutes.”

  “She’s out,” I whisper later on as Tucker and I sit on the couch.

  We’re watching a movie Darren picked out. Major is curled up at my feet, and I’ve been quietly bouncing Ella for the past twenty minutes.

  “Looks like perfect timing.” He moves the curtain behind the couch back. “They just rolled up.”

  Before we can get up, Nick comes through the door. “I could kill you, you bastard.” He points to Tucker. “But you watched my kids, so I’ll deal. You just wait though.”

  “What did he do?” Darren asks, looking between the two men.

  “Nothing,” Kels says as she comes in. “Nothing you need to worry about.” She hits Nick on the shoulder. “You said you weren’t going to say anything on the way over here.”

  “I changed my mind.”

  “Such a womanly thing for you to do.” Tucker needles at him again.

  “Next time we have to run the gauntlet,” he refers to their obstacle course. “I’m gonna make sure you’re behind me and eating my mud.”

  “Promises, promises big guy.”

  “Oh my God.” Kels rolls her eyes. “Don’t pay attention to him. We thank you so much for watching the kids.” She comes over, taking Ella out of my arms.

  “It was my pleasure. Helped me not think about all the stuff that’s coming up.”

  I’ve told a few people about what’s going on with my kidnapper, but I just don’t like to talk about it.

  “If you ever need to take your mind off of it again, you know where I am.” She gives me a one-armed hug. “C’mon, D-man. It’s almost time to get you into bed.”

  “Okay, but can I come over again sometime? I had fun with them, we made pizza and I got to play with Major.”

  I look at Tucker. This is his house, which means it’s his decision. Neither one of us have ever talked about long-term. That’s what got us so fucked up last time, and I refuse to be the one to make this decision.

  “I’d love that.” He grins at Darren. “Pineapple partners have to stick together.”

  “He finally found one, huh?” Nick shakes his head in disgust. “You two deserve each other.”

  As they drive off, Tucker and I watch them on his front porch, and when we turn in together, to go in. I wonder just how much longer this can last.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Tucker

  “Come out with your hands up.” I hold Major tightly in my grip. “If you don’t, I’m sending in the dog and you will get bit.”

  Caleb stands beside me, his gun trained on the car we’ve chased through half of Laurel County. They wrecked out, and none of us can see in the car, all we can see is a little movement, and it doesn’t sit well with any of us. There could be a gun in there, and we can’t see it. “Do it one more time,” he advises me.

  “Driver! Come out with your hands up. If you don’t I’m sending in the dog and you will get bit.”

  Major barks loudly, sounding ferocious even to me. That turns out to be the thing that makes the driver speak up.

  “I’m coming out!” he yells.

  We all watch on high alert as he shimmies his way out of the wreckage.

  “Can you stand up?” Caleb questions.

  “Yes, give me just a minute.”

  Once the driver stands up, Caleb calls out directions to him.

  “Face away from us with your hands up. Take three steps back and go down to your knees.”

  I almost want to groan as I see the driver doing it. He has to be hurting. This crash is one of the worst I’ve ever seen.

  “Cross your ankles.”

  “I’ll get him.” I walk forward with Major at my side. We cuff him, taking him into custody. “Is there anyone else in the car?” I ask as I help him up.

  “No, it was just me.”

  “Well at least you didn’t take someone else’s life in your hands with this dumbass decision.”

  He doesn’t say anything as I hand him off to Caleb. I listen as he’s read his Miranda Rights, kicking at the glass scattered all over the road.

  “This is gonna take a long fuckin’ time to clean up.” Ryan shakes his head as he comes over to stand next to me. “Such a damn waste.”

  I agree with him as we hear the wail of an ambulance. They park and I wave at Cutter. “What’s up?”

  “Working, like always.” He rolls his eyes. “Where’s my patient?”

  “In the back of Caleb’s car. He doesn’t appear to be too hurt, especially for the mess he’s caused, but that’s your job, not mine.”

  Major and I watch the cleanup of the scene, leaning against our SUV. The night’s been pretty quiet, except for this. At some point, Nick arrived and walks over to where I’m standing.

  “Still waiting on you to kill me,” I tease him, nudging his shoulder.

  “Dude, you’re so lucky I like you.”

  I laugh loudly. “When did the first alarm go off?”

  It’s sick, but I really want to know. It’s the best part of playing a prank.

  “You fucker, it went off right as I slid inside.”

  “Damn.” I raise my eyebrow. “You took some time with that foreplay.”

  He growls, his mouth set in a firm line. “Sometimes you have to, especially when you don’t ever get a lot of time for it. To add onto all that shit, you fucker, it was my work phone. So I was freaking out when I couldn’t find the damn thing. Almost lost my erection.”

  “Shit.” I’m chuckling now, bent over at the waist.

  “Kels was up, naked as hell, looking for it. I was trying to stay focused on finding the phone, but all I could watch were her swinging tits. I mean talk about being confused. I was torn by the two main parts of my life. You’re an asshole, if I haven’t already told you that. I’m telling you, I’m gonna get you back.”

  “I’m waiting on it.” I cross my arms over my chest.

  We’re quiet for a few minutes and that’s when I decide to delve into something a little more serious. “You heard any more about this possible escape at the prison?”

  “No.” He shakes his head. “Do you know how hard it was to keep her away from the LSERT meeting? Especially since you were working? Shopping with her is insane.” He gives me a look. I’m not sorry I made him ask her for help in shopping for a gift for Kels. I just had to keep her away so she wouldn’t know what could possibly be happening.

  “Anyway, Caleb said they just don’t have a good lead on it. There’s so many people it could be and there’s not enough manpower to watch everyone closely. That’s our biggest weakness right now, and I think everybody knows it.”

  “It is our biggest weakness, and you’re right, I think everybody does
know it. Sucks.”

  “You still worried about Karsyn?” He leans more against the SUV, his weight moving it back slightly so that I have to adjust my stance.

  “I mean, wouldn’t you be?”

  “When does she go for the parole hearing?”

  “Two days. Ryan’s going to work for me. Ransom’s gonna be on stand-by in case someone needs a K-9,” I explain. “I’m not sure when we’ll be back.”

  “If they need someone else, I’ll put my name in the hat. This is important, you need to be there. I’ll let Menace know at the end of my shift.”

  “Thanks, man.” I reach out, shaking his hand. “I know I give you shit, but this is the best group of guys I’ve ever worked with.”

  “I don’t know anything different.” He shrugs. “Kinda makes me glad I don’t.”

  “Trust me, Laurel Springs is special. Not a lot of departments run as well as this one does.”

  After our shift, Major and I pull into my driveway, and like I’ve been doing lately, I smile as I see Karsyn’s car sitting right next to where I pull my SUV in. She’s made it a habit of staying here, and as we get closer to the parole hearing, I can’t help but be glad she’s made it a habit. I like having her in my arms every night, like knowing she’s safe and not going anywhere.

  “C’mon.” I pull Major out of the back.

  Quietly, we let ourselves in, turning the alarm off. He whines as he walks back to the bedroom. “Be quiet,” I whisper to him, and it’s just like he knows. “You sure you don’t want to eat first?”

  He makes a beeline for his food dish. Leaning down, I grab his food, pouring a generous amount into his bowl. I wait as he eats quicker than he probably should, and when he’s done, we walk over to the back door, me letting him out. I leave the door slightly ajar, knowing he can shut it when he gets done and comes back in.

  For a few minutes, I stand there watching him, making sure everything is okay, before I head back to take a shower. On nights like this, when I know Karsyn’s in my bed, showers are short. I want to be with her more than I want to be clean. My arms ache to be wrapped around her, because I’m scared it’s all going to come to an abrupt end.