Page 31 of Rogue Wave

Thirty minutes later, I made my way back to the porch and told Hazel that my deputies were done.

“Am I free to go home now?” she asked, sounding exhausted.

“Yeah. You okay?” I asked, unsure if her frustration was with me or the attempted break-in itself.

“Just peachy.” Her tight smile combined with the clip in her voice proved otherwise.

However, I knew when to leave well enough alone. Her house was secure, and no one had actually made it inside, so that made me feel okay about letting her go back home.

That and the fact that I would have a patrol car stationed at the front of our street for the next few days until I could have a chat with Mr. Rourke Wesson.

“I looked into that dickwad,” Dougie said to me as I walked up to his porch. “He’s an even bigger piece of shit than I realized.”

I had just gotten off my shift and desperately needed a beer. I took a seat next to him, and Shadow placed herself conveniently next to his hand so he could pet her.

“Who are we talking about?” I asked because I dealt with a lot of people in that category, so there was no telling who he was referring to.

“Hazel’s ex-douchebag. Rourke.” That last word came out as though he had a bitter taste in his mouth.

That was not news to me, as I had spent most of my free time today looking into that prick.

“I know he was arrested three times in as many states, all small crimes like stolen credit cards and marijuana possession,” I told him before turning my head in his direction and pausing. “Most intriguing was his B and E charge.”

“Interesting,” Dougie replied. “Well, I’m not sure he’s really improved his life all that much since moving here. He’s definitely into some shady shit.”

“What kind?”

“Not sure, but he’s got no problem paying his rent and other bills, even though he’s been out of work now for a solid four months, and his job before that was barely enough to cover said rent and bills.”

That was definitely interesting.

“Any of that info something I could obtain legally?” I asked.

“For me…yes, but for you…you’re gonna need a warrant for some of this shit,” he replied.

I nodded, knowing it would likely be worth it so I could add those details to the case file I was building on Rourke.

“Where was he when someone tried to break into Hazel’s place?”

“Supposedly he has an alibi,” I told him. “Some woman who claims they slept together.”

He looked at me, tilting his head. “You don’t buy it.”

I shook my head. If Rourke was violent like Hazel had mentioned, he could easily have threatened that woman into lying for him, so no, I wasn’t convinced.

“Did you also know her dad was in prison?” Dougie asked.

I thought back to our conversation at the beach about her adoptive family but couldn’t recall her mentioning her dad.

“I knew she was adopted,” I replied.

Dougie nodded. “Yeah, she and her sister were put into a foster home not far from here after their mom walked out and left them, and then their father was arrested less than a year later. He was released from prison about ten years ago, which was about eight years early from what I gathered.”

That alone didn’t mean much because prisons were overcrowded. So, if you were a model prisoner and had a good attorney, you could get out earlier than your sentence required.

“Where is he now?” I asked, knowing full well Dougie wouldn’t bring it up if he hadn’t thoroughly researched Carson.

“San Francisco is his last known address.” Dougie had no notes in front of him or a cell phone, just reciting this all from memory. He didn’t have an eidetic memory or anything crazy. He was just outrageously smart. “He moved around from job to job for the first year or so, but he’s worked at one of the big dockyards there and has had steady employment there ever since.”