Ex's and O'S (25 page)

Granted, Officer Pettigrass could have been full of shit, but he’d sounded so smug when he informed Les that none of the other officers would have any dirt on Rollins.

Pettigrass said Rollins was one of the big donors, always happy to give to the Widows and Orphans fund, establishing scholarships in slain officer’s names, supplying the baseball uniforms, the hockey uniforms—

Les snorted. Rollins probably paid someone to wipe the damn cop’s asses, too. What he needed to do was find someone who could check into the man in a less legal manner.

Chase Murphy was the obvious option, but the guy was still in the hospital and far from healed.

So, maybe not the obvious option. But Chase was familiar with Rollins’ methods—too familiar—and had to have a burning need to see the man put away. Or dead; after having interviewed Chase twice, Les had to agree with Adam. The PI wasn’t exactly stable, and even someone who was would probably relish the idea of getting their own back against someone who’d tried to kill them.

It didn’t matter. Chase was too hot-headed and too vulnerable right now. If Rollins found out the man was digging around into his life… No, it was better to leave Chase out of this. He’d do this on his own—and he actually had an idea where to start.

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Adam paced the living room. It irritated him to no end that he couldn’t even go out by himself without worrying about being jumped. And he absolutely did not feel comfortable leaving his mom here alone despite the fancy security system.

Taking Charlene with him wasn’t an option, either. He hadn’t been able to stop the thugs in Billings from beating his ass. Adam had no illusions that it’d be any different if Rollins’ thugs found him now. They wouldn’t care that Charlene was a woman, either. In fact… Adam’s blood iced in his veins. He wouldn’t put his mother at risk, ever.

Which was why, in a fit of desperation, he’d called Josh. It had been awkward, and Adam would have rather called Nick but he didn’t want to send Josh back into suspicious mode. Adam hadn’t meant to explain exactly why Charlene needed the mp3, but he should have known Josh would figure it out, at least the basic reason for it.

Josh had giggled and then laughed until Adam thought the guy was going to bust a

gut. Nick had come on the line, apparently having taken the phone from Josh, and proceeded to ask Adam just why Charlene needed the stupid thing.

“Why do you think?” Adam had snapped. “And don’t even suggest turning on the

stereo. It’d have to be really loud!”

That had sent Nick into a laughing fit as well. Adam had been tempted to hang up, and had even gone so far as to put his finger on the ‘end’ button when Nick had said he and Josh would be by this afternoon with an mp3 player so Charlene wouldn’t end up scarred for life.

Now Adam was waiting, something he wasn’t particularly good at, and hoping Nick

and Josh would show up before Les got home.

He was also dreading them showing up, because he knew he was in for tag-team

teasing.

Adam stopped pacing, a smirk tipping his lips. Let ‘em tease. If they aren’t just as loud then someone’s not doing it right. Feeling a lot better, Adam headed to the kitchen where Charlene was taking another sheet of cookies from the oven. She’d been baking them all day just about, filling the whole house with wonderful scents. Adam eyed the cookies stacked neatly on plates and platters.

“Is Les going to have any dishes left?”

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Charlene set the sheet on the stove top and waved a hand at him. “He has plenty, and the ones that I send out will be back by tomorrow, you wait and see. I’ll make sure Nick and Josh tell the rest there’ll be no more cookies if they aren’t returned tomorrow.”

That reassured Adam more than anything else would have. He knew the power of his

mom’s cookies. He edged over to the counter and plucked one off a plate, careful to pull from the top so as not to screw up the neat stack. Adam bit into the cookie and moaned, his eyelids fluttering shut. God, every time he had these cookies, that first bite was always a surprise to his taste buds. Sweet, gooey, with a hint of cinnamon and the stronger flavour of brown sugar, a tad of vanilla—Adam moaned again and swallowed the part he’d nipped off.

“Good, huh?”

He opened his eyes to find his mom standing in front of him holding a glass of milk.

“Thanks,” he said, taking the glass and chugging half the liquid.

“Maybe I should just hand you the whole milk carton,” Charlene teased before going back to remove the cookies from the baking sheet.

“You always smacked the back of my head when you caught me drinking from the

carton,” Adam reminded her. “And you made me clean up the spittage when it flew out my nose and mouth.”

Charlene cocked her head to the side and looked at him from the corner of one eye.

“Well, yeah. You were the one who made the mess, you were the one who cleaned it.”

Adam knew better than to get into a discussion over the fact that he wouldn’t have showered the inside the fridge with milk if she hadn’t have smacked him. She’d just point out he wasn’t supposed to be drinking from the carton…apparently unless she handed him the carton for that sole purpose.

“Hand me that bowl from the fridge,” Charlene said.

Adam stuffed the rest of the cookie in his mouth then chased it with the milk as he walked over to the refrigerator. Inside he found a huge metal bowl covered in plastic wrap.

He pulled it out and lifted the wrap off enough to steal a fingerful of cookie dough. Adam set the bowl down on the counter beside the stove then sucked the dough off his finger.

“I can never decide which is better. Warm cookies or cold cookie dough.”

Charlene nodded as she began spooning out dough. “Cookies are good in any form.”

She had him there. “Right as always,” he said before pressing a kiss to her temple.

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Charlene laughed and pointed the spoon at him. “And you’d do well to remember

that!”

“Yes ma’am.”

A knock on the door had him sprinting into the living room. He peeked through the peephole and blinked. His hand had been on the lowest deadbolt. Adam lowered his hand and pressed it to the door as he stared at the stranger outside.

The man was wearing a uniform exactly like Les’, but Adam didn’t know him. This

could be a trick, Rollins might have sent this guy to… Adam was certain that was a big gun on the guy’s belt. He wasn’t going to open the door, no way.

But what if something had happened to Les? Fear unfurled in Adam’s belly and filled him until his skin felt tight with it. The man raised a fist and pounded hard enough to wake the dead.

“You going to answer that?” Charlene called from the kitchen.

The stranger outside tipped his head, frowned, and did his damndest to knock the

door off its hinges. This time he shouted as well.

“This is Officer Lukowski! Open this door!”

Adam heard Charlene’s soft footsteps behind him. He craned his neck around and

held his finger to his lips. Charlene nodded, a worried look pinching her face.

The banging on the door started up again. Adam’s hand was vibrating with the force of the blows. He pulled his hand from the surface of the door. What should he do?

“Ask to see his badge,” Charlene suggested.

Adam was fairly sure the possibly-real cop knew they were in the house.

“Open the damn door before I kick it open!”

The guy sounded really pissed. Adam wasn’t eager to do as he said, but he was

worried about Les. And the racket was getting on his last nerve.

“Stop hitting the freaking door!” Adam snapped. “I am not opening it for some lunatic who’s making threats!”

Adam’s brows arched at the growl he could hear through the door. The man’s face

was twisted in fury. At him? Or was something wrong with Les?

“Hold up your badge to the peephole.”

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Curses filtered through the door. The man on the other side held up a badge that

looked a lot like Les’, as far as Adam could tell. He stepped away from the door and whispered to his mom, “Go lock yourself in the bedroom. If you hear anything that sounds…bad, go out the window. Take this.” Adam took his phone from his pocket and handed it to her. The sound of an engine rumbling up the drive had him racing back to the door.

The man on the porch had turned to watch the new arrivals. Adam moved quietly to

the window and moved the curtain just enough to see Nick’s truck pull to a stop. He rushed back to the door. “Those are my friends. You better leave them alone!” He should have had Charlene call Nick and Josh, warn them—

Josh got out and waved at the guy. Nick waved as well.

“Looks like they know him.”

Adam glanced over to find Charlene looking out the window. “Mom! Get back from

there!”

Charlene waved him off. The phone in her hand rang. Charlene glanced at the screen and held it out to him. “It’s Nick.”

Adam took the phone then pressed the call button. “Nick? Who is that guy?” He could hear the man’s voice as he angrily demanded to speak to Adam.

“He works with Les.”

Adam felt a wave of relief that was short lived as Nick added, “And he says Les is missing.”

Adam had no memory of unlocking the deadbolts or even opening the door. Suddenly

there were three more people in the house. “What happened?” he asked through numb lips.

“You tell me,” the cop snapped, levelling a glare on Adam. “You’re the one who has some rich fucker trying to get him. Maybe you should have kept right on driving through—”

Adam swayed and would have crumpled to the floor if Josh hadn’t caught him. There was a loud buzzing in his ears. He could see Nick’s, Josh’s and Charlene’s mouths moving, knew they were yelling at the cop.

The man blanched when Charlene stepped up and slapped a hand to his chest,

pushing him back several feet. Visions of his mom shot by a crazy police officer flitted before EX’S AND O’S

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Adam’s eyes. He lunged forward, dragging Josh with him as he tried to get between Charlene and the guy who was still trying to keep from landing on his ass.

Nick was faster, unburdened by Josh unlike Adam. He stepped in front of Charlene

and nudged her back while pointing one thick finger in the cop’s face. Voices exploded in Adam’s ears. Nick was cussing, Josh was cussing, Charlene was threatening to use a spoon to remove a certain few parts of the cop’s anatomy.

“Shut up!” Adam yelled, drowning all of them out. “Les is missing and you all are fighting about something stupid!”

Everyone stopped shouting at once, making the silence seem louder than the noise

ever had. Charlene finally muttered, “No one gets away with being a jerk to my son.”

“I don’t care about that!” Adam slapped at Josh’s hands where they still gripped his shirt. “Let go!” He took a deep breath and tried to get himself under control. It wasn’t possible, not when his entire world had just been kicked out of orbit. Adam looked at the police officer. The guy could glare all he wanted, it wouldn’t hurt Adam any. “How long has Les been missing?”

“I don’t know for sure,” the man admitted. He seemed to sag, shrink under the weight of his worry.

Nick sighed and gestured at the couch. “Have a seat before you fall over, Bart. You too, Adam.”

Adam stumbled and Josh grabbed him again. “Do not smack my hands again or I’ll

dump you on your ass.”

“Sorry,” Adam mumbled, unable to look into those green eyes.

“I’m just trying to help you focus,” Josh said. “Stupid, since I know you are focused on Les.”

Adam hurt, a physical pain from his stomach to his collar bone. His mind kept

conjuring up scenarios of Les beaten, brutalised—it shied away from anything worse. He couldn’t think of Les being taken from him permanently. Adam didn’t think he could survive it.

Nick and Josh stayed at his sides and sat on the couch, sandwiching him between

them. Adam watched the cop drop into the chair across from them. The guy was big, about Nick’s size, smaller than Les. Younger, too, and bland—light brown hair, pale-ish EX’S AND O’S

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complexion, plain brown eyes. He reminded Adam of oatmeal. Even his voice when he spoke was even, not low or high, not accented like a Texas native. It just…was.

“He was in the office this morning. I left for about an hour, got back at nine-thirty, and Les wasn’t there. I was surprised because his patrol car and personal vehicle were in the lots.” The cop shrugged. “I thought maybe he was in the bathroom. I started working on reports. Forty-five minutes later I realised he still wasn’t there. I checked the bathrooms then.”

Adam wanted to tell him to get to the part where he knew Les was gone. Maybe he

was wrong, missed something—which was why Adam needed to listen.

“He wasn’t anywhere in the building. I…I don’t know, something just felt wrong. It was like an itch on my back I couldn’t reach to scratch. Then I asked dispatch if Les had been sent out. I thought maybe he took someone else’s cruiser. But no calls from dispatch, and all the cruisers were accounted for.”

“Did you ask the Chief if he knew where Les was?” Nick asked.

“No. Chief’s out of the office the rest of the week, at some big conference in Dallas.

And…” he looked at Adam. “I didn’t know if maybe he was with you. I didn’t want to get Les in trouble if he’d decided to take a few hours off.”

Adam licked his dry lips and tried to think past his fear for Les. Obviously this cop had figured out there was something going on between Adam and Les. If he hadn’t thought so before, Adam’s behaviour minutes ago had to have been a neon-bright give away.

“Well, obviously he isn’t here,” Charlene pointed out when Adam remained quiet. “I haven’t seen him since he left for work this morning.” She pursed her lips then shook her head. “Do you really believe Les is the kind of man who’d run off for a…a…” Charlene’s cheeks flamed pink as she trailed off.