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Grabbing my cell, my finger hovers over her number, but I drop it into the cup holder instead. The conversation I need to have with her is one that should happen when we are face-to-face and not while Carrie is in the car with her.
When I get to the station, Miles is already at his desk, and the second he sees me, he pushes back his chair and walks toward me.
“You’re not going to believe what I’m about to say,” he begins quietly, and given that it’s obvious he doesn’t want anyone to overhear it, we head out the back door where I used to smoke. Jesus when was the last time I even thought about having a cigarette?
“What’s up?” I ask after glancing around to make sure no one else is outside with us.
“Jay is Officer Thompson’s son.” I raise a brow, having no idea who Jay is. “The kid from last night, the one who sat alone the whole time.”
“Shit.”
“And about seven of the other kids who were there are kids of police officers.”
My head jerks back. “How did you find that out?”
“Jay’s profile picture is his dad and him, and it made me curious about the other kids.” He shakes his head. “Shit just got a whole lot more complicated for us, brother.”
“Regardless of who their parents are, we’ve got a job to do.”
“I’m not disagreeing with you on that, but you know going to Jay without talking to his dad first could lead to issues for us down the road.”
“And if he says he doesn’t want us talking to his son?” I prompt, and his jaw gets tight. Like me, he knows that is a possibility, and if that happens, whatever ‘in’ we thought we had is going to be dead in the water. “I say we pretend we have no idea Jay is Thompson’s kid and move forward like we normally would with questioning a potential lead in a murder investigation.”
“And when he goes to his dad?”
“If he goes to his dad, we deal with the fallout then. I’d rather have the lead and apologize after, then be cut off before we even get the chance to ask Jay some questions.”
He eyes me for a minute before pushing his fingers through his hair. “Yeah. Okay, fuck it. Let’s talk to him today. I’ll call and find out what time he has lunch.”
“Does he go to the same high school as Carrie?”
“They all go to the same high school.”
“That’s convenient.” We head back into the building, and I take a seat at my desk as he does the same. Taking out my cell, I check my messages and see one from Miranda with Kingston’s daycare address. I look over at Miles. “Do you still have Winter’s twin bed in storage?”
“Yeah, you want it?”
“I’m gonna put it in my guest room for Kingston.”
“I’ll pull it out this evening. Winter’s been asking when she’ll see him again.”
“Kingston was asking the same thing this morning. Maybe they can hang this weekend.”
“Hazel is flying in Friday to spend a few days.” Hazel is Winter’s mom and the big sister none of us asked for. Which is probably why shit did not work out between Miles and her. No man wants to date a woman who is more like a sibling than a lover.
“I thought she wasn’t coming for another couple of weeks.”
“She wasn’t, but she heard about Miranda and wants to come check her out,” he explains, and I press my lips together. “You had to know it was coming.”
“I do not need Hazel to approve Miranda.”
“If you had listened to her about Naomie, you might not be where you are right now.”
“I also might not have met Miranda.”
“True,” he mutters, shaking his head before turning on his computer.
Standing in the office at the high school, I wait next to Miles with my arms crossed over my chest, ignoring the hoard of women behind the counter who keep shooting looks in our direction. What had originally been just two women turned into a group of seven within five minutes of our arrival, and all of them have done a shit job of pretending to work as they check us out.
When the principal walks in with Jay at his side, my eyes scan over the kid. Last night, between the distance and the darkness, I missed the acne on his face and just how lanky he is compared to the other kids who were there last night, if their stature next to Steven was anything to go by. And if things haven’t changed since I was a kid, I’m sure he feels like an outcast amongst his peers.
“Jay, this is Detective Thatcher and Detective Beckett, who I told you about.” Principal Dr. Marvin Harvey clasps Jay’s shoulder.
“Jay.” I reach for his hand, and he nervously takes mine before shaking Miles’s. “We just have a few questions for you. We know it’s your lunch break, so we won’t take up much of your time,” my brother says in a friendly tone, and Jay nods, looking between Miles and me and seeming unsure.
