Page 7 of Full of Wrath

The chief turns to Wallen, and the look would freeze a smart man. Too bad Wallen was never burdened with intelligence. “Your fucking job, Wallen. Do your job.”

“Alright, but he better not get in my way.”

He slides his eyes over to Waverly, and my hackles go up again. I don’t want him anywhere near her, and I damned sure don’t like the way he’s looking at her.

“Alright. We’re done for now, kid.”

“She has a name,” Wallen calls everyone younger than him kid, and it’s fucking annoying. I let him call me kid because it irritates him when I don’t rise to his bait, but he’s going to offer more respect to Waverly, or he’s going to answer to me. Wallen has been overdue an ass beating for a couple of years now, and I don’t mind being the man to dole it out.

Wallen rolls his eyes but doesn’t call her kid again. “Waverly, can I call you Waverly?”

For a split second, I think she’s going to tell him no, but she ends up giving him a sharp nod. Wallen picks up on it too because he narrows his eyes at her.

“Tell me why you were the only one outside when a boy got kidnapped, Waverly?”

The way he says it makes her name sound more like an insult than anything else. I step forward, but the chief stops me.

“I don’t like parties. I needed a minute to… breathe without the smell of beer and bodies being all up in my nose. And I doubt I was the only one outside. I was just the only one paying attention.”

“Hmm, so you were drinking at this party?”

“No. I don’t like the taste of beer or alcohol.”

“Then why go?” Her eyes travel to mine, and her little tongue comes out to lick her lips.

“I was with a friend who wanted to go.”

It doesn’t escape my attention that she doesn’t mention Sadie by name.

“So, you want me to believe that you went to a party with drinking and drugs, but you didn’t partake of either.”

“There were no drugs.” She draws her brows down and narrows her eyes on him this time.

“Really. How can you be sure there were no drugs? Did you go room to room to find out? Why would someone go to a party and not be inside? Why be exactly where you were at exactly the right time?”

Didn’t she already answer this damned question? Why ask it again? Why throw assumptions around? What is Wallen up to? Whatever it is, I don't like it.

“What are you trying to get out, Wallen?” Chief says it before I can.

“How can we be certain she isn’t involved with the kidnapping? Maybe she was their lookout, and the kid lashed out at her, hit her across her head, and sent her running in fear that she’d be caught?”

“Why you…” I start forward, but the chief stops me.

“That’s the dumbest thing I have ever heard in my life, Wallen.”

“How did you make detective?” The question comes from the tiny woman in a cast, and the atmosphere in the room changes. “How long have you been doing your job?”

“You don’t ask questions of me, missy. I ask the questions.”

“And if you don’t like them, you what? Just make the answers up. Do you write? Only a writer would come up with something made up out of thin air and exaggerate small details to the point of importance. I'm not judging. I love writers. Your story just sucks.”

Wallen’s face turns molten. I make my way around the bed and take her by the hand to offer support. If that asshole even tries to lay his hands on her, I’ll end him.

“Did you see the kidnapping, Waverly?”

The room goes quiet, and at first, she doesn’t answer. Her hand squeezes mine like she’s reaching out for a lifeline. When she does answer, it’s a low whisper. “Yes.”

“So, tell me what they looked like. What did the kidnappers look like?”