Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
LEO
The shrill ringing of my phone pulled me out of a restless sleep.
Even though we’d only slept in the same bed a handful of times, I’d grown so accustomed to feeling Danika against me at night that I hadn’t slept for shit for the past month.
I also hadn’t been able to bring myself to wash her sweet scent off my sheets, so night after night I could smell her, which was a form of self-torture I couldn’t seem to stop.
A quick glance at the clock showed it was barely after two in the morning, so my whole body was instantly on alert. I was glad my kids were back with their mom, because late night calls like this never meant good things.
“Drake,” I answered, kicking off the covers. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and hit the lamp on the nightstand, bathing the room with light.
“Got a call out, brother,” Micah said through the line. “Need you at Slicks.”
Slicks was a pool hall just inside the town limits.
It had been around for a long time and catered to basically anyone who decided to walk in, which, most of the time, wasn’t the nicest of clientele.
It was off the beaten path, then farther down another rarely-used road, tucked back in the woods.
In other words, people with a penchant for robbery saw it for the easy target it was, which was why the owner had started hiring off-duty officers as security a few years back.
“All right, gimme twenty,” I said, balancing the phone between my ear and shoulder as I nabbed the jeans I’d discarded hours earlier off the floor and started pulling them back on. “What do we have? Another armed robbery?”
“Homicide,” Micah answered in a low, agitated voice.
“Ah, hell,” I mumbled, picking up the pace to my closet and ripping a shirt from one of the hangers.
“And you need to brace yourself, Leo.”
“Brace for what?”
“It’s one of ours.”
Fucking shit
Darrin Callo was twenty-six years old. He had a wife and two little girls, the oldest was three years old and the youngest only six months.
They were just babies, and they were never going to see their dad again. He and his wife had just celebrated their fourth wedding anniversary two months earlier, and now her husband was never coming home.
Gone when he still had so much of his goddamn life left to live.
He’d been with HVPD for two years, coming to us straight out of the Academy.
He was a good cop. He did his job right and fair, and had aspirations of moving up the ladder.
He wanted to be a detective, his wife had told us, and planned to take the exam as soon as he was eligible.
But he was happy where he was for the time being, doing what he loved, raising two little girls he adored and married to a woman he cherished.
Wanting to take care of his family, he worked two side jobs, one as a carpenter for his father-in-law’s company, and the second working security two nights a week at Slicks to earn extra money.
I couldn’t get Sidney Callo’s face out of my head.
The hardest part of any officer’s job was having to tell the victim’s family that their loved one was gone.
I’d had to do it more times than I cared to think about back in Philly, but this was different.
Stuff like this didn’t happen in Hope Valley.
And, Christ, Darrin was almost a goddamn kid himself.
Holding it together as his wife crumbled in front of me took an act of strength I didn’t know I was capable of.
I still felt that burn in my chest hours later, and I knew Micah was feeling it just the same. He was the type to chat with whoever, always quick with a joke, but like me, he hadn’t said a word since we left the Callo residence, and he’d been quiet and somber before that.
It was only a little after six in the morning, and already the bullpen was full. Word had gotten out and every cop in the department was there because of their fallen brother.
“All right. Shit. I can’t fuckin’ believe this . . .”
Micah and I had been in our captain’s office for the past fifteen minutes, watching as he paced, clenching and unclenching his fists.
It wasn’t a secret that Cap wasn’t very well liked within the department. His was an elected position and to ensure he kept it, he had a tendency to play politics more than a lot of us cared for. But it wasn’t hard to see that he was rattled at the loss of one of his own.
“Tell me what you got so far,” he said, finally stopping his pacing to face us, hands planted on his hips.
Micah started talking, and I turned to look back at where he was standing, shoulders against the wall of glass that faced out into the bullpen, arms crossed over his chest. “Surveillance video shows a dark-colored sedan driving slowly into the parking lot and pulling up in front of the entrance. No one got in or out. The shots were fired from inside the car, then it took off.”
“Anything else?”
“The video was poor quality,” I answered.
“We’ve got someone workin’ to clean it up.
We’re hoping we’ll have a plate, or at the very least a make and model.
Still waiting for the coroner’s report before we can do anything on that, but it looks like he was shot with a .
45. We’re gonna wait to talk to the wife again.
She wasn’t in a good way when we left, understandably, so we want to give her some time before we interview her. ”
“All right.” Cap nodded his head, staring off into nothing before finally coming back to himself.
“Whatever resources you need, whatever manpower, consider it approved. If anyone on city council gets a hair up their ass at the overtime, I’ll handle it myself.
You two just do what you need to do to catch this guy.
Callo was a good man. This department’s gonna do right by him. ”
“Got it, Cap,” Micah muttered, pushing off the wall.
“Yes, sir,” I replied, rising to my feet.
Danika
The death of Officer Darrin Callo was all anyone in town had been able to talk about for days.
The whole town was shell-shocked that something like this had happened.
With the exception of a psychopath who had been stalking Tempie a while back and had killed a few residents in her name, there hadn’t been a murder in Hope Valley in decades.
People came to our town because it was peaceful.
I knew the Callos. Darrin and his family came in to Muffin Top all the time, particularly for sweets for the girls and coffee for Sidney, his wife, who spent all her time running around after two little ones and needed the pick-me-up more than most.
Sid and I chatted regularly whenever she came in, and if I saw them around town, which wasn’t uncommon, we’d always visit for a while before going our separate ways. I’d even watched their daughters a few times so they could go out for a date night.
They were just the most beautiful family, and it was clear how much Darrin adored the females in his life.
The whole town had turned out for the funeral, and that wasn’t an exaggeration. I wasn’t sure there was a single person who lived in or around Hope Valley who wasn’t there.
One by one, his friends and family went up to tell moving stories, funny stories, stories that brought everyone to tears.
As the minister spoke, the crowd remained silent. All that could be heard over his voice were sniffles and faint crying. My gaze stayed pinned to Sidney the whole time, my heart breaking over and over as I witnessed her absolute anguish as she clung to her girls.
My own tears fell, slipping past the lenses of my black sunglasses and sliding down my cheeks.
From where I stood between my mom and dad, I could see every member of the police force, all standing in uniform near the side closest to the casket and to Darrin’s family.
Front and center was Leo, right in the middle of all his brothers and sisters in blue, but I couldn’t look at him.
I just couldn’t. I couldn’t see how handsome he looked.
I couldn’t think about how badly I missed him or how my heart hurt every time I thought about him.
I knew if I saw him, even a tiny glance, all the sadness I was already feeling because of the day and everything that was happening around me would be compounded with the ache I’d been experiencing since we ended, and I’d start crying so hard I wouldn’t be able to stop.
The minister finally finished his benediction and shortly after, the service came to a close.
The large crowd began to disperse, some people returning to their cars, others breaking off into smaller groups.
Turning to my parents, I said, “I’m gonna go talk to Sid really quick, then I’m heading over to open the shop. ”
“Okay, sweetie,” Mom said, leaning in to press her cheek against mine. “Talk to you soon. Love you.”
My dad lowered his head to place a kiss on my forehead. “Take care, Button. Love you.”
“Love you both,” I returned. “I’ll call you later.
” They turned to head to their car, and I moved to Sidney.
She shifted her gaze when I was halfway to her and quickly ended the conversation she was having.
The moment I reached her I lifted my arms and pulled her into an embrace, standing there silently as she cried on my shoulder.
“I’m so sorry, sweetie,” I whispered, running my palm down her hair. “Anything you need from me, any time, day or night, you don’t hesitate to call, okay?”
She pulled back, offering a watery smile that didn’t come anywhere near her eyes as she batted at her cheeks.
“Thank you, Dani.” I quickly leaned down to kiss her girls before placing my hand on Sid’s arm and giving it a squeeze.
There were people gathered, all waiting to speak with her, so with one last smile, I left her and her family to do what they needed to do.
I started for my car, my head a fog of sadness, when I heard someone call my name. Looking over, I spotted Sage standing a few yards away with some of our friends.