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“Sure I can, darling, but you should be at home.”
“Just get someone here, Lucille, please.” I head down the corridor to my office.
I take a seat in my chair and think about that day when Squealer came here and threatened me to stay away from his club. I should have listened. Maybe if I had, none of this would have happened. Maybe, I should have let Abby be, the club was doing a good job of taking care of her. She was staying clean, and they had her safe. I exposed her to this. I was so hell-bent on my brother's death not being in vain.
“Agent Davies will be here in about an hour,” Lucille tells me, placing a mug of steaming coffee on the desk in front of me. I stare at it long after it's gone cold, and it isn’t until my office door bursts open that I shake myself out of the vision of Abby beneath me, her body not responding, no matter how hard I pumped at her chest.
The man that steps inside isn’t the agent I was expecting. He’s middle-aged and looks tired and broken.
“I’m sorry, Alex, I tried to stop him.” Lucille chases after him.
“I’m Abby’s father.” He looks at me painfully, and the weight of guilt crashes into me with full force. “I just want to know what’s happening. No one’s talking to us. You and her were friends. She spoke about you last time she met us. Please tell us what happened?”
“I tried to save her, but I got there too late.” I hold back the tears.
“This isn’t your fault. This was their fault. I told her how dangerous they were,” he rants. I understand the man’s frustration, he’s just lost a daughter. But from what I’ve heard, he’s not innocent in the tragedy of Abby’s short life.
“You’ve got it wrong. You’ve got them wrong.” I sit up straighter in my chair. “Abby may not have fitted in with the Souls, but they found her a place when she needed help. They treated her like family, they got her clean, and when my brother had to trust someone to take care of her, it was them he called over you,” I point out. My words might hurt him, but I’ll be damned if I’ll let him speak ill of the people who gave his daughter a chance.
“Your brother.” The sadness instantly drops off his face, and his whole demeanor changes. The man who burst into the room has vanished. This is the real Mr. Barnes.
“You mean the Dirty Dan.” He huffs a laugh at me.
“What did you just say?” I shift in my seat. Wondering what the hell’s happening here.
“I’ll let you into a little secret, Deputy, that brother of yours who everyone thought was a hero, was corrupt.”
“You don’t know anything about my brother. You never even met him.” I shake my head, that nasty zinc taste building in my mouth again.
“As soon as your brother called us and told us what was going on, I hired someone to investigate.”
“She had a drug problem. You shouldn’t have hired someone, you should have come home and been there for her,” I snap, furious at the man. It’s been hours since I was fighting to save his daughter's life, and he’s sitting opposite me now, being smug.
“My wife and I never wanted children, but Abby happened, and we gave it our best shot.” Is that really his comeback…? Because if it is, I beg to differ. “When she got to eighteen, we figured she was mature enough to take care of herself.” I shake my head in disbelief.
“You knew what was happening, and you hired someone to check in with your daughter,” I summarize his actions, hoping he’ll realize how awful they are.
“I had to look into how I would handle damage control when we returned. My wife and I always agreed I would run for senator. It felt like now was my time, and I couldn’t let Abby's situation put the brakes on that. I hired a man to look into your brother after he called me. And what I found out was colorful.” He stares back at me like he’s just thrown a full house on the table.
“Who?” I’m suddenly intrigued to who this person is. Was it Hawker?
“A guy who was recommended to me by Judge Jackson.”
“I need a name.” I can hear the anger in my voice. Whoever this man is must be lying to con people out of their money.
“His name’s Seb Wheeler, and I don’t know what else he found out during his investigation, but I never did get all that I paid for.”
“What do you mean by that?” I rush him, fully aware that I don’t have much time, Agent Davies will be here soon.
“He’d keep in touch regularly, update me on the situation. I found it interesting that your brother would show such commitment to my daughter. Seb was following him around. He knew he was getting sucked into the little deal the Sheriff here has with the Souls. But then he discovered something else, something bigger.”
“What?” I slam my palm on the desk.
“I never got to find out. Seb told me he was looking into something big, something that might help me have sway with my campaign. I wired him his advance across, and I never heard back from him.”
“So, how did you know where to find Abby when you came back to town?” I question.
“Joanne Jackson called my wife to give her some peace of mind that she was safe… pfffft… safe with those animals.”
