13. Finn
Finn
As expected, Hilary was out of jail by Tuesday.
But very few people remained welcoming to her.
She’d slowly been alienating herself from the community for years.
Most people had only tolerated her because of Miss Hester, and now that she was gone, they couldn’t be bothered to put up with her bullshit.
Even the DA, Hilary’s cousin, who was a shady motherfucker to begin with, was fed up with her.
For more than half a century, Trinity County had been dealing with corrupt prosecutors, primarily because, like my position, it was an elected one, and no one actually wanted the job.
Whether people voted or not, the DAs still got elected simply because no other name was on the ballot.
Some might say I was corrupt too. I guess it depended on which side of the line people looked at me from.
Persuading a resident of my county to leave wasn’t something I’d ever had to do. Typically, if someone needed to be relocated, they met the angel of death. I was well aware that Angel was often my uncle.
This, however much I might have wanted it to be as simple as Max disposing of the situation, required a different approach.
One that took longer than I would have liked.
But time was a weird and precious commodity when a man was trying to fix something that was particularly delicate for the woman he loved.
Max could have handled the issue in a single visit, with cleanup taking a few hours at most. This took days.
Each morning, I woke up with Grier snuggled into my side and then had to leave for work, knowing Hilary was walking around town.
It wasn’t Grier’s physical safety I was concerned about, but her heart and the heaviness it felt being aware of what Hilary was capable of.
Other than Monday, when Remi and Grier had gone to Aggie’s, my woman hadn’t left the farm.
Not once. There were no trips to the rec center for a few hours of rock-climbing.
No stopping to chat with the kids who were now out of school and enjoying their summer break.
Not a single side quest to check in with a few of the elderly residents she visited with because they had no family and they got lonely.
And the town felt the loss of her presence as much as I did.
As soon as Hilary was out, Grier locked herself and her animals away on the farm, feeling safer in her domain.
By Friday afternoon, I’d had no fewer than twenty people stop me to ask how Waffles was doing and, more specifically, to inquire if Grier was okay. I made it as far as my desk before Mom walked into my office without knocking.
“Got it sorted,” she announced, dropping onto the corner of my desk after setting a file beside my computer. “It only took a billion years.”
“Tali’s overdramatization of everything is rubbing off on you,” I commented, although I had to admit it had felt like everything was taking too long. Minutes seemed like hours, days stretching into months. It hadn’t even been a full week since the incident between Hilary and Grier.
“I’ve gotten spoiled by getting immediate action on troublesome issues. Actually following the letter of the law is an incredibly annoying and slow process that I do not appreciate. Like, at all.” She rubbed the center of her forehead. “It’s so much better when things can be fixed with a bullet.”
“If Grier ever found out I did that for her, it might break her heart. And I don’t ever want to risk that, Mom. It’s too valuable to me.” I shut my eyes, attempting to block that image from my head before it could form. “She’s too precious.”
I could survive a lot, but not that. Not hurting Grier.
“Not many people have a heart the size of Grier’s. You got lucky that she is your one.” Mom touched my arm, and I opened my eyes. “I think she’s pretty damn lucky too. Just saying.”
“Do not get sappy with me, lady,” I grumbled.
She sniffled, pretending to dash away a tear that hadn’t fallen, even though her eyes were overbright with them. “I’ll get sappy if I wanna. You aren’t the boss of me. I run this town, not you.”
“Technicalities. You rule. I protect and serve. Two sides to the same coin, really.” Picking up the folder she’d dropped on my desk before parking her ass on it, I stood. “And now I get to go play cop for a little while. Wanna come watch?”
An evil smile spread over her lovely face. “Absolutely. I actually called Mom. She’s going to meet us there. She’s bringing the popcorn.”
“Very professional of you, Madam Mayor.” Walking past the deputies’ desks, I stopped between the two belonging to Otis and Carlos. “Otis, you’re fired.”
He stood so quickly, his chair rolled back, colliding with the wall. “Wh-what? Why?”
“Failure to protect evidence. Your body cam footage from last Sunday mysteriously got erased. Lucky for you, we have superior IT tech on staff.” Mom’s brows lifted.
Vaughn wasn’t technically on the payroll.
We traded favors. It was a very uneven scale, though.
We owed him more than we could ever repay.
“Also, poor field response and lack of protocol knowledge. I’m sure there are more reasons. ”
Mom nodded. “It was an extensive list. Very in-depth and very…technical. HR was involved. We had a meeting and everything. It was a difficult decision, but it was a unanimous vote. You are too much of a liability to risk continuing to employ. Our constituents simply wouldn’t approve.”
“Badge and firearm,” I commanded, keeping my face stoic.
Otis looked like he was going to puke. “But…I don’t understand. Isn’t there a system? An investigation?”
“Absolutely. We simply don’t have the staff hours to conduct it at present. Apologies. Deep, sympathetic condolences. Truly.” Mom’s ability to deadpan without breaking was a gift. She gave him a little finger wave, without even a ghost of a smile.
Still sputtering and trying to argue his way out of it, Otis reluctantly handed over his weapon and badge.
Almost as reluctant as he’d been to lower that same gun when he’d had it pointed at Grier.
I had to remind myself again why it would be wrong to use a bullet to take care of this particular situation.
Grier’s face flashed through my memory, and I steeled my spine.
Once he was gone, I walked Mom outside and opened the door to her car for her. “I’ll meet you there in five.”
“Be safe, honey. Love you.”
When I pulled up outside the florist’s shop, Mom’s car was already parked in front of it.
Where Miss Hester’s beloved rosebush had once grown was now an ugly hole in the ground.
Weeds had begun to sprout from the dirt, a few wayward roots broken off and exposed.
Right as I opened my door, a truck hauling an excavator on the long bed stopped a few yards away.
Reid unfolded himself from the cab of the truck. “Am I late?”
“Perfect timing. Give me a minute, and then we can get started.”
He grinned. “I’ve got nothing but time, kid.”
Inside, Mom stood at the counter, her professional smile in place as she watched Hilary wrap a bouquet of pink roses for her. The ones from the farmers market that I’d bought for Grier the previous Saturday had been much prettier. They were still going strong in a vase on her kitchen counter.
Hilary barely spared me a glance before returning to the bouquet. It looked more like something from a gas station than a true florist, but that wasn’t anything new.
“I saw them and immediately thought of Grier. She’s going to absolutely love them, don’t you think?
” Mom pretended not to hear the annoyed sound the florist made.
As I got closer, I saw a muscle twitch beside Hilary’s eye.
“She loves the color pink more than any other person I’ve ever met.
I’m going to give them to her as soon as I leave here. Oh, I think I should include a card!”
Picking up one of the white stock cards, she started writing. “Happy Demolition Day. Love, your future MIL. Wait, should I go with the MIL, or would it be better if I wrote it out fully? I really do like the sound of mother-in-law.”
A stem snapped in Hilary’s hands.
“Will this be all for you, Mrs. Davis?” she asked with a tight smile.
“Yes, I think that will be plenty. One final bouquet to say farewell to Miss Hester’s legacy.” There was a note of sadness in Mom’s voice, a lingering nostalgia for the woman who was now gone.
“Finn, look at these gorgeous roses,” Mom gushed, turning to look at me for the first time. “I couldn’t let them go to waste sitting there when I knew our girl would adore them.”
“She does love pink,” I commented dryly.
“And look at this little note. Do you think she will have a giggle? We should have something to commemorate this day. But am I being too forward with the way I signed it? Or is MIL too impersonal? I’ve never had a daughter-in-law before.”
“You don’t technically have one now,” I reminded her, jaw clenching. “Not yet.”
I needed to rectify that soon.
“Nope, it’s decided. I’m the MIL. You can’t take that away from me. I own it now.”
“Here are those flowers, Mrs. Davis,” Hilary gritted out, forcing another tight smile as she practically shoved the bouquet in my mother’s face.
“Oh my, what a lovely…arrangement. Broken, wilted stems and all.” She gave a resigned sigh. Gas-station flowers were more desirable. “Well, the roses are still very pretty. Grier will enjoy them.”
“I’m sure.” Hilary looked like she’d just sucked on a lemon.
Fighting back a laugh, I pulled the folded document from my back pocket and placed it carefully in front of Hilary on the counter. Not quick and abrupt, I was meticulously slow and moved with care. Calm even though that was the last thing I felt.
“What’s this?” She picked it up, her brow furrowing as she read.
“Eviction notice from the new owner of this building. Effective immediately,” I summarized for her. “I’m going to need you to grab all your personal items and get out.”
“What?” She laughed weakly. “Very funny.”
“No one is joking, especially not the new owners. They want you out. Not tomorrow. Or next week. Not in an hour. Now. This very moment. Get your shit and step out of the building.”
Her eyes widened. “No, no, this isn’t possible. This building is mine! My grandmother left it to me. I own it. Not…not whatever this LLC is.”
“Miss Hester was generous enough to leave you this building, along with the business and all the things her name once touched. Sadly, that poor woman had very questionable judgment during her later years.” Mom shook her head in regret.
“I wasn’t surprised when you used this building as collateral, Hilary.
Quite frankly, I anticipated it and even looked forward to it.
Because that meant eventually I could snatch it up and do something more useful with this prime location. ”
All the blood drained from Hilary’s face. “I don’t understand.”
“Of course you don’t. Again, not surprised.
Oh, I’m not saying that florists aren’t useful, by the way.
They’re a dying art form, if you ask me.
This place was so full of happiness when Miss Hester ran it.
” Mom glanced down at the bouquet, her lips pressing into a hard line.
“Obviously, you lack creativity. I don’t know how you were able to sustain a livable wage. ”
She hadn’t made a livable wage, and that was why she was three months behind on her loan.
Which had been good news for me. It had made purchasing the loan from the lender marginally easier.
Getting the paperwork pushed through quickly had required a little more patience. And a little elbow grease, via Max.
At least it hadn’t been a bullet.