Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
Logan
“ W hat have we got?” DB shouted as he jogged into the building, waving us all into the conference room. “Dad’s out with Kapono at the school. I’ll update him when we’re done.”
“Fingerprints haven’t come back with a hit so far, sorry,” Alejandro said, sounding pissed and tired. “They’re still running, but we don’t have any of the Kirkwoods prints to include them in the search.”
“No, I don’t imagine you do,” DB growled, standing with his hands on his hips. “Wouldn’t do to have the mayor and his sons' prints in the system if you’re a corrupt bastard.”
“Your call to Ramsey opened a door for us. We took everything over to him and explained it all, and he’s going to issue the warrant. There was an important call while we were there from the governor, so we had to leave,” everyone snickered now that we knew the connection to the Townsends when I paused. “But his secretary called to say it was ready to be collected five minutes ago.”
There was a gentle knock on the door before DB could reply to what I’d said, and when I moved to open it, Naomi was standing with her hand raised like she was about to knock again .
“Um, there’s been a call from the Kirkwood mansion. His wife said they need police assistance.”
Moving to stand next to me, DB looked at me and then back down at her. “Did she say why?”
“No, she just said she needs assistance and that she’ll be waiting for you.”
DB waited until the door was closed before barking out orders. “Make sure you have all of your gear on and stay vigilant. This could be real. It could also be something he’s set up and dragged her into.”
We’d soon find out which one it was.
And it definitely wasn’t either of those options.
Jumping out of the cruiser, I followed the direction that DB was looking in to see four dark Ford Explorers parked to the side of the house. That wasn’t exactly weird, but the men who looked like they were members of the Texas Capitol Police milling around were.
“Stay vigilant,” he reminded us, moving toward the front door.
I was right behind him, so when one of the men came up and held his hand out, I heard it all clearly.
“Chris Kelly, Texas Capitol Police. We were in the area, and Governor Dahl decided to pay a visit to Mayor Kirkwood after hearing about the shooting at the school.”
“David Bell, you can call me DB. We had a call from Mrs. Kirkwood requesting assistance at this address twenty minutes ago. She didn’t indicate that it was anything serious, just that she’d be grateful for us to ‘stop by.’”
The man’s face had been blank, but when he heard this, it cracked slightly like he was fighting a smile. “I’ll just bet she did. Go on in.”
Meeting DB’s confused look, I walked past him into the house and looked around slowly. The first thing I saw was Governor Dahl, sitting on the couch with a cup of coffee and talking to Mrs. Kirkwood. There was no missing her, she was stunning.
“Oh, good, you’re here,” she called, getting up and walking towards us in heels that looked like assault weapons.
Oh, Jesus, she hadn’t killed him with one, had she? Who was that woman who cut her husband’s dick off and threw it in a field?
Reaching out, I shook her hand and then leaned back as DB did the same.
“Would you mind telling us why you called us here, Mrs. Kirkwood?” he asked after the formalities were over.
“Yes, yes. You see, I hate my husband, and I heard him discussing the incident at the school today, saying it was a good thing, and I lost my temper.”
Oh, I was definitely going with the dick in the field now.
Then, she motioned at us to follow behind her. I was on the third step when Governor Dahl called out, “Once you’re done, come back down and say hi. We can compare notes.”
I started mentally going through all of the fields and grassy areas around the house where you could hide a penis, shooting DB a worried look at the same time.
“You lost your temper, Mrs. Kirkwood? What do you mean?” DB pressed as we got to the top of the stairs.
“Please, call me Kelly. I hate that last name and can’t wait to get rid of it. So, yes, I lost my temper and decided to restrain him so that you can arrest him. I filed for divorce three days ago, but I can’t wait for it to be completed after this. I was actually quite scared about him getting the papers, you know,” she told us, looking back at us as she opened a door and pointed inside the room. “Now, I don’t have to worry at all.”
“Jesus Christ,” DB barked, taking a step to the side at whatever he saw and leaving a gap for me to see what the problem was.
I needed eye bleach. I needed mental bleach. Fuck it, I’d take carving my eyes out if it was the only option available to me.
On the bed was Dirk Kirkwood, arms and legs tied to the posts coming out of the bed’s corners. That would be scarring enough, but he was naked, and his legs were tied higher up the posts, so we had an unimpeded view of everything I’d never wanted to see on him.
Before DB could say it, I stuttered, “Not it,” and took a step back, then pushed blindly through the other guys to get to the back.
One by one, they all saw it and reacted in their own way, but my favorite was Alex, who moaned, “I’ve literally stared into the ass hole of the Devil, there’s no coming back from this.”
Knowing that we would have to start processing him, I jogged downstairs and introduced myself to Governor Dahl.
“Call me Ned,” he said smoothly, pointing at one of the chairs. “Going to take some therapy to get rid of that mental image, right?”
“A little warning would’ve been great,” I replied dryly.
“Now, where’s the fun in that?”
Fun? No, but wasn’t it human decency?
Both of us shuddered, recalling what we’d seen upstairs. Some therapy wouldn’t cover it—a fuck ton of it might.
“What brings you to Piersville, Governor— I mean, Aust—” I stuttered, trying hard to remember what he’d asked me to call him. My brain had just been abused in the worst way, throw me a freaking bone.
“Ned, just Ned. And to answer your question, I was concerned about the school shooting, and because I was in the area, I dropped by to discuss the matter with the mayor to see if I could lend some assistance.”
Bullshit.
“And you found him like that?” I waved at the ceiling, unable to stop the cringe.
“Oh yeah. Kelly thought I was the Police, so she happily took me upstairs to arrest him. I thought maybe she’d locked him in the room, so I wasn’t expecting it.”
“I was expecting a Lorena Bobbitt situation and having to go penis hunting in the fields. ”
Ned nodded slowly, looking pained at the thought. “I can see that possibility. We just have to be grateful that it’s not how your night panned out. She seems genuinely disgusted with what she heard, so I think she wanted the law to deal with him, not a pair of scissors.”
I could hear her talking and getting closer to us and looked behind me at where she was gesturing to DB as she explained something. “You see, it was instant love for us, so when I found him in the basement—”
“Him being Cullan?” DB clarified, mentioning Jordy Watts’s brother.
“That’s right, and I found him in the basement, chained to the chair. I’d already asked my lawyer to file divorce papers because I was leaving Dirk for him. I pretended that I didn’t know Cullan was downstairs, but I was going to leave with him tonight. I was already packed.”
DB looked shocked by what he was hearing, and to be honest, so was I. Cullan Watts was a small guy and looked like he’d lived in his mom’s basement since birth. On the other hand, Kelly Kirkwood wasn’t much shorter than me in her heels and was a stunningly beautiful woman.
“So he came home and was discussing the shooting?”
“Yes,” she shouted, shaking her arms in the air. “Who does that? Those poor children. He was so excited that it’d happened and wanted to congratulate whoever it was. I couldn’t stand for it, so I told him to get naked and meet me in the bedroom.”
“Who tied him to the bed?” DB asked, rubbing the back of his neck.
Yeah, today was definitely one of the weirdest days of my life, too.
“I did. I went in and blindfolded him, and then I tied him to the bed because he was kinky like that.” Someone gagged behind me, and seeing as how Ned Dahl was the only one sitting there, I didn’t have to guess who. “Then, right in front of him, I rang the Police and asked for you to come. Two minutes later, this gentleman showed up.”
“And where’s Cullan?” I asked, searching as much as I could see of the property from my chair.
“Oh, he’s waiting for me in the basement still. I unlocked him as soon as I hung up to your dispatcher, but we decided to keep him there in case Lord or King come over. Such stupid names, you know,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Who calls their kids that?”
Standing up, I moved next to DB. “Where are Lord and King?”
“Um,” she frowned, thinking hard. “Well, King will be at his property, or maybe even at his other property? It’s hard to tell these days because they’re always talking about going to the blue house instead of his nice pretty one. Lord might be there, too, but they said he’d gone missing.”
There was nothing in her expression or body language to say that she knew otherwise, so I was starting to think that the shooting at the school really had tipped her over the edge with her already-in-the-process-of-becoming-her-ex-husband.
After we got the location of the second property from her, we walked outside to regroup. While we’d been getting the details from her, Palmerstown P.D. had turned up, so we walked out to see Judd, Kapono, and another deputy called Kai Wright standing talking about something in a small huddle.
“What are we going to do about Cullan Watts?” Garrett asked as we joined them.
“He’s coming in tomorrow to answer some questions for us,” I told him distractedly after noticing Kapono’s body language change as soon as he saw Governor Dahl.
“Governor, Sheriff Judd Bailey, from Palmerstown Police Department,” DB introduced, pointing at each man as he got to them. “That’s Detective Kapono Ortiz and Sheriff’s Deputy Kai Wright.”
I’d always wondered how a politician acted when cameras weren’t on them, so I watched his response closely .
And he proved any doubts I still had wrong by shaking each man’s hand and smiling at them like he genuinely meant it. “Nice to meet y’all, but call me Ned.”
“Another one of our deputies is talking to your men at the moment, but I’m sure Keir will join us soon,” Judd replied, jerking his chin in Keir’s direction.
Kapono seemed to find the ground interesting, and it got me wondering. Where was the confident, relaxed guy I’d been dealing with over the last couple of days?
“So you came all this way to talk to the mayor, Governor?” Kai asked. “Just to let you know, I haven’t been inside the house to see the nightmare that met y’all, but I’ve heard about it and don’t feel jealous I missed out.”
I think we all would’ve laughed, but it wasn’t a mental image any of us would be getting rid of anytime soon.
“My motto is: if I’ve got time to shit and eat, I’ve got time to drop by a corrupt mayor, especially after a bastard fires his gun near a school,” Ned replied, his voice hardening on the last part. “When I took the job, I did it to help the whole state, not just the areas that’d benefit me politically, and that includes small towns like yours.”
Judd’s eyes opened wide at how frank and open Ned was.
“Appreciate it, Governor—” Judd started, but Ned cut him off.
“Name’s Ned, son. If you see me anywhere, you greet me by that name.”
I felt my lips twitching at the thought of bumping into him at a gas station and just shouting his name. But he wanted what he wanted, and that was to stress he was one of the people.
“Okay, thank you, Ned. We appreciate your help with this. This case has been nuts for all of us in both towns, and what happened today never should have even been contemplated by whoever did it. Shooting at a school is one of the most disgusting things someone can do, so it’s safe to say we’re all pissed. We want the person or persons responsible locked away so that our towns and children are safe. ”
“I can understand that and wholeheartedly agree. Whatever we can do to help you, consider it done.” Then, almost like he had lasers in his eyes, he focused on Kap. “My baby girl’s been spending a lot of time in your area recently, so I’ll be coming around a lot if she decides to settle here permanently.”
I met DB’s eyes and smirked until a small detail that could cause big problems occurred to me.
“Um, isn’t your daughter married to Hurst Townsend’s grandson?”
Dragging his eyes away from Kap, who was now staring at the property behind us, Ned raised an eyebrow. “Got two daughters and a son. Sadie’s married to Elijah Townsend-Rossi and about to have his baby. My son, Craig, is an officer in the Royal Navy, so we only get to see him when he has enough time to fly over, or if we get lucky and his ship comes into dock here. My other daughter, Cynthia, is a free spirit and is what I call a beautiful nightmare. She has a little boy named Wickham who takes after her, but my grandson’s still one of the best kids I’ve ever met.”
I was trying to remember if I’d ever seen or heard of her, but nothing was coming to mind.
“Hey, didn’t she come—” Kai said, stopping when Kap elbowed him in the gut. “Wow, look at the detail on that door.”
Both Judd and Ned looked at where the door was, but DB was done talking and made it known.
“Okay, we have a possible second location for King Kirkwood. I think we need to split up. Palmerstown can go to his main residence, and we’ll head to the second place. I’ll text the map to Judd to pass out to the Palmerstown officers so you can come help us if nothing turns up at his house.” DB stopped and looked around all of us.
“While you’re there, you’re not just looking for him and Lord. You’re looking for anywhere that you think Jordy Watts’s murder could have happened. The crime scene techs have gone over where Ashesh’s body was buried, but the wet mud is causing problems, so they’re free to assist if you can pinpoint a location.”
Then, looking at Judd, he held out his hand. “I want to thank you for what you’re doing for us. This has moved much quicker with your assistance, and today was a day I never thought I’d see in our town, but it helped to have your team working with us.”
Shaking it, Judd looked as pissed as we were about everything that’d happened. “Them putting the guy’s body on the boundary line between the towns opened a door for us, but there’s an agreement that dates back to the founders that joins the departments. I’d like to keep that agreement going for as long as I’m Sheriff, so we’re here if you need us.”
“And likewise. Now, let’s go and find him.”
Holding his hand up, Ned motioned over some of his men to wait a minute. “I’m headed to see Hurst and his family, but if you need anything, just shout.”
And that was it.
I didn’t want to let down my defenses and assume that finding Lord and King would be as easy as finding their father, especially after what had happened today, so I cracked my neck and starting walking toward my vehicle.
My phone had buzzed not long ago, so I took it out as I got into the cruiser and waited for Alex to get behind the wheel, seeing a text from Bex waiting for me.
Bex: Hey, so Ava and me have a ho-mance and wine. Get it? A ho-mance, like hoes and romance. Mace looks sad, though. I said he could join us and make it a ho-bro-mance, but he didn’t want to. Sad times!
Jesus, during all of this and what she’d gone through today, she was still able to make me smile and give me a boost. And just by a drunken text.
Texting her back to say I’d be a bit longer and that I hoped she was having fun, I texted Mace to say thank you for watching her for me .
Me: I’m not sure how the ho-mance came around, but thank you for keeping my girl safe. I hope you survive it.
Mace: Ava wanted to make sure she was okay and decided wine was the way to do it. I’m doing my best to listen out for anything, but that shit isn’t easy. They’re singing.
I was typing out a reply when Alex got into the car and started the engine.
“This is going to suck. I’ve got a feeling it’s not going to be as easy as their dad,” he muttered, falling into line behind the other cruisers as we drove out of the property.
“Garrett’s taking Dirk back to the station to process him, then he’s going to join us. I’ve got a feeling he’ll be doing some talking on the way there.”
“He sure as shit wasn’t saying anything except for throwing threats at us when we cuffed him.” Alex pointed out, then added, “Sorry, re -cuffed him.”
Looking back down at my phone, I hit send on the message.
Me: I hate to admit there’s a bit of jealousy in me that wishes I was there instead.
Mace: They’re discussing bananas now. I feel for you, man.
Me: Fuck’s sake.
Mace: She can’t even chew bubble gum and blow bubbles, it’s that bad. That’s gotta suck.
I groaned out loud, reading the message. Bex had an inability to put embarrassing things behind her, and I couldn’t even count the number of times I’d woken up to her moaning and pulling the cover over her head because she’d remembered one in her sleep.
The woman remembered embarrassing things she’d done while she was sleeping! That’s how big a problem it was.
Me: Christ, tell her to stop oversharing with everyone. She’s only going to regret it tomorrow and hide every time she thinks about it now.
Mace: Just be grateful I’m not recording them trying different things in her mouth to see what happens. She has a pickle .
It buzzed again almost immediately after I received his text.
Mace: No, wait, she had a pickle.
Me: Hide the wine.
Mace: They finished it all. By the way, your kittens are cute.
Me: You’re not having any.
Mace: I’ll take the tiny gray one if you don’t hurry the fuck up and save me.
Me: Noted.
“That’s some conversation you’re having there,” Alex mused as we pulled to a stop. Looking around us, I saw we were parked at the side of the road behind the other vehicles. “We need to go on foot from here.”
Patting down my vest and feeling along my belt, I made sure I had everything I was going to need. Maybe it was superstition, perhaps it was just to prepare me mentally, I didn’t know, but it felt like I had to do it tonight.
I was good, I hadn’t forgotten anything.
“Ava decided Bexley needed wine, so she took some over, and they’re having a ho-mance,” I told him as we waited for our instructions from DB.
“Poor bastard,” Alex chuckled. “What the hell’s a ho-mance?”
“It’s like a bromance, except with hoes. They invited Mace to join in, but apparently, he’s a party pooper.”
He wasn’t, but it wasn’t my story to tell. Mace was going through a lot, what with his dad in prison after being convicted of murder and all of the other shit going on in his life. I think at this point, the only things keeping him sane were Ava, his sister, his business, and his friends. Aside from them, he didn’t have a lot going on to make him laugh, and my heart broke for the guy.
Just then, DB sent a text out to us. We were going in.
And that’s when I made a mistake: I put my phone on silent and switched off the vibration notifications.
I just didn’t realize it was a mistake until I took it out of my pocket later.