Chapter 19
Cal raised his phone to his ear. “Wyatt?”
Jules studied Cal’s face, trying to guess what his brother was telling him. Cal’s end of the conversation gave few clues, consisting largely of “really?” and “I see” and “okay.”
“What did he say?” she asked as he disconnected.
“We’re to stand down.”
“Stand down? Meaning what exactly?” She narrowed a suspicious glare on him. Echoes of past conversations with law enforcement were whispering in her head.
“Meaning Wyatt and the drug task force are quite familiar with that SUV and plate number.” He nodded his head across the street to the vehicle Chase still stood beside.
“The SUV’s owner has been on the task force radar for weeks and is at the center of a sting operation to find the men higher up the chain in the drug trafficking in the region. ”
Jules’s temper swelled. Her gut knotted, and her jaw tightened, knowing where Cal was going.
She’d heard similar bull from law enforcement in other states.
“So by ‘stand down,’ what you mean is we’re supposed to let Chase go free?
He’s likely buying illegal drugs over there, and we can’t do anything about it? ”
Chagrin darkened Cal’s face. “Jules—”
She didn’t wait to hear him out. Rage boiled over, and she loosed a frustrated scream.
Slapping the flat of her hand against the wall, over and again, she ground out a litany of unladylike curses against both Chase and the police.
Soon, to her dismay, she realized hot tears were streaming down her face.
Callum noticed, too, and moved up behind her to wrap his arms around her.
“I know,” he crooned. “I know.”
“You don’t know! Don’t patronize me!”
“Never. I wouldn’t. I honestly do understand.”
She struggled to free herself from his grip, but he held tight. “You don’t understand! How could you? You’re—you’re one of them! I was stupid to have trusted you. Why did I think you were any different?”
“You can trust me. I want to help—”
“By letting Chase go again? How is that anything but more of the same crap that made Abby feel unsafe, that drove her to an emotional breakdown? Everyone says they understand, but no one does anything! Over and over, Chase just walks away scot-free!” She knew she was shouting, but she didn’t care.
She was so sick of the double talk and empty promises. Abby deserved better.
She tried again to wrench free of Cal’s strong embrace. “Let go of me! I want to leave!”
To his credit, he did release her and said, “Jules, listen to me. There could still be a way we could reel him in.”
Her chest was still heaving with fury and sobs, but she quieted, scowling darkly at him. “I’ve heard that before.”
An hour later, she and Cal were sitting across from Wyatt in his office at the Red Grove Police Department. Jules folded her arms over her chest as Wyatt laid down the law.
“We’ve been looking for a low-level guy with connections to the local dealers who we could persuade to give up information in exchange for reduced or dropped charges. We think this Chase Hamilton guy you’ve been tailing could be our man.”
Jules’s jaw was so tight, she thought she might break a molar clenching her teeth.
“In other words, you’re going to let him get away again.
This guy is like a cat with nine legal lives.
He breaks one law after another and because the police ‘don’t have sufficient evidence,’” she said in a mocking tone, “or because his lawyer pulls some magic juju to get him off, Chase never serves a day’s time behind bars! ”
“I understand your frustration,” Wyatt said, twisting his mouth with regret, “but in law enforcement, sometimes you have to sacrifice a little fish to catch a bigger, more dangerous one.”
“He’s dangerous to my sister’s mental health! He’s literally the wolf at her door. He tried to get to her in the hospital!” She fisted her hands. “And what about the other girl he’s been following here? What if he escalates and hurts Zoey?”
“Then we’ll arrest him and follow due process.
” Wyatt exchanged a look with Cal. “I know this isn’t what you wanted to hear, but we—the drug task force team—need you to back off of Chase Hamilton.
Once we’ve gotten some actionable information from him, he’ll be fair game again.
But we have a chance to make a significant break in the flow of drugs coming into our community both from Canada and other states.
This is big, Jules. It’s a priority not just for our department, but Cal’s as well. ”
She glanced at Cal, saw him raise his chin a notch.
“You ran on a platform of stopping the drug trade in the county, remember?” Wyatt asked.
“Of course I remember. And I will leave Chase Hamilton to you and your team.” Cal paused, then added, “Until you’re done with him. Then I promised Jules we’d get him off the street, so he couldn’t stalk her sister or any other women.”
Jules huffed her irritation and stood. “This is bull. I’m so tired of being brushed aside as if my concern for Abby and Zoey’s lives doesn’t matter.”
“Of course they matter,” Cal countered, even as she walked out of Wyatt’s office. She’d heard enough.
“Take me back to the shop, please,” she said over her shoulder as she strode out of the police station. “I need to relieve Bonnie. She’s been at work alone too much lately.”
Jules was sullen on the drive back to the gift shop, and she said little to Cal despite his efforts to mollify her.
But when they reached the back lot of the gift shop, she spotted something that lifted her spirits.
The humane trap that she’d borrowed from the sheriff’s department had snagged the black kitten.
“It caught her!” she gasped, hurrying out of his Jeep the moment he stopped. Jules rushed over to the cage and squatted to coo at the frightened kitten. Joy hissed and spit and cowered in the farthest corner of the cage from her.
“So now what are you going to do with her?” Cal asked as he strolled over to have a look. “She doesn’t seem too happy about being caught.”
“Of course she’s not. Would you be?” Jules stood and lifted the cage by the handle on top. “I’ll take her back to my motel room until I figure out a plan or find a home for her.” She started across the lot toward her car, and Cal fell in step behind her.
“I’ll drive you.” He tried to take the cage from her, and she pulled it away from his grasp.
“No need.”
“I don’t mind. And once you let the hellion out in your room, I’ll take the trap back to the department.”
“Stop calling her a hellion. She’s just scared. Her name is Joy.”
He laughed. “Still the most contradictory name in history.”
She glared at him. “Maybe I’m manifesting that she’ll grow into her name.”
“And that is the most optimistic thing I’ve ever heard you say.”
This time when he reached for the cage, she let him take it from her and load it in the back of his Jeep. She climbed back in the passenger seat and twisted to talk calmly to Joy as Cal drove them back to her motel.
Once in her room, she set the cage on the floor and opened the trap door. “It’s okay, baby. You’re safe. I won’t hurt you.”
She reached in to get the kitten, and Joy swatted at her, tiny claws unsheathed. When she picked up Joy and eased her out, the cat continued hissing, wiggling and spitting, a pitiful sound from such a small feline. She cooed some more and stroked Joy’s tiny head with two fingers.
“She’ll need a bath. Living outside, she probably has fleas and ticks,” Cal said.
Jules twisted her mouth, contemplating the task of bathing a wild cat. She angled a glance at Cal. “Will you help?”
“Two against one? Hardly fair odds.”
“But the one has claws,” she said.
“I meant we might need more than two. Have you ever bathed a cat?”
She arched an eyebrow. “No.”
“Brace yourself.”
Thirty minutes and several scratches later, Joy had been cleaned and rid of pests, and she was bundled in one of the motel towels…and was purring.
“Do you hear that?” Jules asked, beaming at Cal.
He studied her smile, one of the few she’d ever given him, and he savored it.
Her face transformed when she smiled from lovely to simply stunning.
Heat flashed through his veins, and his breath stuck in his lungs.
He nodded. “If I were wrapped up and cuddled against you like that, I’d be purring, too. ”
When she lifted her gaze to him, he curled his mouth in a lopsided grin that said, Yes, I meant that just the way it sounded.
Warmth filled her green eyes, and he slid a hand along her cheek to cup her face. “Can I kiss you?”
She swallowed hard, and her smoky gaze invited him in. But after a crackling moment, she blinked, scowled and said, “No. I’m mad at you.”
“Oh?”
“Don’t think I’ve forgotten how you caved to your brother’s demand that we not pursue Chase Hamilton.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, oh.” She used a corner of the towel to continue drying Joy’s head. When the towel loosened, the kitten wiggled out and scrambled to the far edge of the bed. Before Jules could catch her, the cat jumped to the floor and crawled under the bed.
“Want me to try to get her out?” Cal offered.
Jules considered her answer before she responded, “No. Let her calm down. She’ll come out when she’s hungry.”
She settled back against the stack of pillows and closed her eyes. “Why am I so exhausted all the time lately?” she said, likely more to herself than to him, but Cal answered.
“Stress. Poor diet. Overwork.”
She angled her head to look at him. “I used to pull all-nighters with no problem in college. Does this mean I’m old?”
He barked a laugh. “You’re what twenty-six? Twenty-seven?”
Her jaw dropped, and her look of horror told him he’d overestimated, even before she said, “Twenty-five! So I look older than my age? Is that what you’re saying?”
He chuckled as he shook his head. “No. Not at all.”
She grunted and started scooting toward the foot of the bed in a huff.