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Hawk shook his head, unable to see her angle. “It was raining outside,” he told Rawlins. “We hung out in my truck, waiting for it to stop.” There was no point in lying to the man. If he was so hell bent on investigating this, then he’d ask around at Maria’s and someone probably saw them together in the parking lot. It wasn’t worth it to get caught in a lie over something stupid. Which begged the question, why was Tildy doing it?
Rawlins’ interest was piqued by this admission, and he leaned forward in his chair. Hawk hoped that chair was at least as uncomfortable as his own. “Did you now?” he asked. “She didn’t mention it.”
“Don’t see why she’d leave it out. It was no big deal. It was pouring, and my truck was closer than her car.”
That itself was a bit of a lie. They’d gone to his truck because Hawk hadn’t been ready to send her home. He’d wanted to spend more time with her, but Rawlins didn’t need to know that.
Rawlins grinned at him. It was disconcerting to say the least. “What’d you do in your truck?”
Hawk sighed. “Talked about the weather,” he snapped.
“Really? Is that what she’s going to say when I ask her?”
Hawk sighed again. There wasn’t a good strategy here, not without knowing what the hell was going on with Tildy. Rawlins wasn’t going to let it go, not when he thought he smelled blood. Well, it didn’t matter, because whatever happened to Tildy, and Hawk was for damn sure going to find out what that was, it had happened after she’d left Maria’s. Hawk had a bar full of people who could attest that he stayed for the rest of the night until close. Rawlins couldn’t do shit to him.
“I don’t know what she’ll say, Rawlins. I don’t even know what happened to her. We danced a little. We went to my truck. We kissed a little, and I sent her home.”
“You sent her home, or she asked to go home?”
“What’s the difference?”
“A lot,” Rawlins declared. “Seems to me like you’re a guy who isn’t used to being told no.”
Hawk bristled. Rawlins might have a pretty low opinion of him, but no one had ever accused Hawk of anything so heinous before. It definitely didn’t sit well with him at all.
“Screw. You.”
Rawlins was undeterred. “Screw me or screw her?” he asked. “Maybe you decided she was going to give it up one way or the other. So, you followed her, but you didn’t count on the witness.”
“What witness?”
Caleb said Tildy wasn’t talking, but if someone else saw what happened, then Hawk could get the whole story from them, or at least a better picture of what happened.
“Oh, does that make you nervous?” Rawlins asked.
“Rawlins, an entire bar full of people can tell you I stayed until close. Unless you think every single one of them is lying, then you’re shit out of luck on that score. I want to know what happened to her. What did the witness say?”
Rawlins smirked, if only to hide the fact that he was disappointed he couldn’t pin this on Hawk. “Sorry,” he said smugly. “Police investigation and all.”
Hawk stood up, shoving the chair backwards. He leaned over the table toward Rawlins. “Then you’d better investigate,” he growled. “And you better find out who did this her and do something about it. I’m giving you a week.”
Rawlins paled. “Before what?” he snapped.
“Before I find him myself.”
Rawlins spluttered. “You can’t do that!”
“Fuck you, I can’t. You fucked up with Sarah Sullivan. The whole town knows it. How she got brutalized by that psycho for hours because you wouldn’t look for her. How Caleb had to go over your head to the Chief to report her missing.”
Rawlins’ face turned red.
“That isn’t going to happen again,” Hawk warned the older man. “No other girl is going to get hurt because you’re a complete failure.”
He stormed toward the door, threw it open, and walked out. He hated Rawlins; that was the truth. Rawlins was a failure of a cop; that was also another bit of truth. The truth Hawk didn’t want to admit, the piece that hurt the most, was that he’d let Tildy down by not protecting her.
Caleb was waiting for him outside the station. Hawk strode up to him. “What the fuck is going on?”
“She’s alright,” Caleb replied. “I mean, she’s not horrifically injured at any rate. Other than that I can’t be sure.” Just then the front doors opened, and Rawlins stepped out. He loosened his tie and glared at the two men.
“Let’s go,” Caleb prompted. “Everyone’s at Shooter and Slick’s place. We’ll talk there. I’ll tell you everything I know.”
Chapter 24
At the Sullivan’s log cabin home, Sarah was waiting and opened the door for them. She slid her arms around Hawk’s waist and hugged him tightly. He wrapped his arms around the petite brunette, returning her hug. Looking over the top of her head, he saw his former squadmates and Abby gathered together in the living room. Caleb shut the door behind him and stood next to the chair where Easy was sitting.
