AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I don’t know. Normal things.
Charity rolls her eyes and lays her head on my lap. “You’ve got daddy issues. You’re supposed to be perfect, Allie. What am I supposed to do now? I’m the one with issues while you’re the sweet angel. Now I have to clean up my act to balance us out again.”
She’s doing a fine job of distracting me from worrying.
There’s a shadow in the doorway, and Joel appears. I assumed Lucas’s best friend would be close by since Lucas was talking about working with Joel to investigate Mark and the accident.
Joel manages half of a smile with what looks like coffee or something in his hand. “Hey, Allie.”
Charity jerks her head around and Joel nods his head at her with a subtle wink. “Cherry.”
Charity snarls. “Don’t you dare call me that, asshole. What the hell are you doing here?”
Joel ignores her and looks back at me. “Glad to see you’re awake.”
He’ll be able to tell me whatever I need to know. I know he will. “How’s Lucas?”
“He’s out. No news yet.” Joel clicks his tongue. “Mark is out right now, but he’s under police watch at his house. There are news vans and reporters camped outside his house, so they’ll find out all his secrets soon enough.”
Me. He means they’ll find out about me.
Joel takes a drink of his coffee and points to the box beside Charity. “What’s that?”
Charity shoves it toward him without a glance. Joel removes the lid and looks through the papers. “Ah, good. This will help.” Joel shoves the box on the floor and takes the seat beside Charity.
She scoots away from him, only for Joel to scoot closer to her. Charity scoots her chair one more inch and Joel takes two inches. I wonder if she has her gun with her. She’s crazy enough she might point it at him if he hits the right nerve.
“Joel, is he going to be charged with assault or something?”
With a blank face, he says, “Who, Ted?”
“Lucas.”
“Why would he be charged with assault? He tried to help Ted out of the car and Ted attacked him. Lucas was defending himself while trying to save all three of you.”
Joel and I stare at one another until I have to blink before my eyes burn. My headache is gone, so that’s a positive note.
“I saw—”
“Lucas trying to help Ted. I know. I saw the whole thing myself, Allie, while you were barely conscious and unable to witness the event in full. I was driving up just as it happened. I saw the entire scene.”
Did I miss something? He has to be joking. There’s no reason to lie here. Yeah, he must be kidding. It’s hard not to take him seriously with all that stuff on his belt and that official uniform that’s otherwise serious.
Joel relaxes and crosses his ankle over his leg, bumping it against Charity. “They found some fake passports and tickets in Ted’s car. Some zip ties and duct tape in the trunk. A little computer work and I found the tickets were purchased on the credit card of one M. Vandenburg.”
There’s no way this is happening and falling into place like this. Not a chance.
“When Ted can provide some answers, and after I’ve looked through the paperwork here, he and I are going to have a little chat about his boyfriend, Mark. I foresee Mark missing his next vacation while he’s in a cell making new friends. Vivian will not receive special treatment after the next four hours. Their lawyers are annoying little fucks, but we have a good chief with a backbone. As for Ted, I wouldn’t be surprised if he takes a plea deal, Allie. He might be the answer to all of this, so he may get a shorter sentence.”
Kidnapping. That’s all I can really think of with Ted. Maybe there’s more to it than I realize at the moment.
“We’ll take your statement in the morning, okay?”
“Okay.” I don’t feel so defeated, but all I want to know is that Lucas is going to wake up and that Jadon will have his dad. “How was my dad when you were in there?”
“Your dad is fine. His girlfriend snuck in a cheeseburger after the doctors told him his cholesterol was too high again.”
Sounds about right. “Thanks, Joel.”
