Chapter 12 #2
“No. She hasn’t mentioned anything like that. The thing that seems to hit her the hardest is that he killed her little brother, Danny. She misses him.”
“Yeah. Seems like the not-so-secret secret was that Mr. Sinclair liked to get rough with his family.”
“Mostly Lucky, from what I’ve learned. And it isn’t much of a secret when you look at the scars marring half her body.”
“I asked her about them every time something happened to her. She shut me down each and every time, saying that it was the past.”
“Tell me about these other incidents. What happened to her?”
“The day after Neil was sentenced, someone egged her car and spray painted die bitch on her front door.”
“I assume Neil’s family and friends who still supported him might have taken out their anger on her. He did swear he didn’t do it, right?”
“Yes. His alibi was that he was home sleeping after drinking some beer and smoking some pot.”
Hawk rolled his eyes. “Alone. I presume.”
“His parents were home. They swore he hadn’t left the house.”
“As far as they knew. He could have snuck out a window.”
“I assume he did, or the parents were so distracted they didn’t notice him sneak out a door. Police found a backpack in his closet with the bloody knife in it, along with a stash of ketamine. He says he can’t remember some of that night.”
“Convenient.”
“Ketamine can cause amnesia with a high enough dose.”
“So, what? He was high, decided Lucky’s family had to die to keep her safe, including a kid who’d never done anything to anyone, someone she loved so much she put herself in a monster’s path time and time again?”
“Killing the kid doesn’t make sense.”
“Unless he didn’t want to have to raise the kid with Lucky.” Hawk hated the idea.
“In Neil’s mind, he was saving her. He probably thought she’d be so grateful they’d live happily ever after on whatever her parents left behind.”
“Except the family was in debt and Lucky had to use whatever money there was to pay off bills. She couldn’t even keep the house.”
“So you two have talked about the past.” Jase gave him a knowing grin. “You are getting close.”
“Yes. She’s staying at my place. If I have my way, she’ll never leave.”
Jase settled back in his chair, a knowing grin on his smug face. “So it’s like that.”
“I want it to be. I’m trying not to rush her, but it’s hard not to want everything all at once with her.”
“Word is going to spread that she’s with you. That could put a target on your back.”
“Whoever is doing this seems hell bent on making her life miserable.”
“Yeah. After the egg and graffiti incident there were a few other things.”
“Like what?”
“Someone pushed her down a flight of stairs at a house she was cleaning. No one else was home at the time.”
“So someone knew she was there, broke in, and tried to kill her?”
“That’s what she claims. She had bruises and a busted lip from where she hit the hardwood stair treads, but there was no evidence anyone had been in the house, except her word.”
“She wouldn’t throw herself down the stairs for attention.”
“I never said she did.”
Hawk fumed. “It was implied.”
Jase gave him an evil look. “That’s what she accused me of, too, and I’ll tell you what I told her. I believed her, I just couldn’t prove it.”
Hawk relaxed a bit. “Okay. What else?”
“Stupid shit. Leaving the gas stove on but unlit, filling the cabin up with gas. Breaking into her house and moving shit around, so she knows someone’s been there, but not who. The first year that her family was gone, someone left her notes on the tenth of the month, every month.”
“What did it say?”
“You’re the reason they’re dead.”
“Fuck.” He ran his hand through his hair. “That’s fucking harsh.”
“Someone started a rumor that Lucky was offering more than housecleaning services to her clients. Her business got dozens and dozens of calls from men wanting to hire her. She got propositioned just about everywhere she went. Some guy even pushed her up against the glass ice cream case in the supermarket, stuffed a fifty in her pocket, along with his phone number, and kissed her. She kneed him in the nuts and clocked him with a bottle of juice. Dude was covered in mango peach.”
He'd have to remember that she liked that and pick some up on his next grocery run.
“Those last few things were more nuisance than harmful. Though the guys going after her could have turned out a lot worse.”
“And she thinks these things were set in motion by her ex?”
“That’s her theory. And I agree that it could have been someone in his family, friends of his, or even some cellmates who owed him a favor.
The thing is, there’s no proof.” Jase smacked his hand on the thick folder in front of him.
“Complaint after complaint and I have nothing. She asks for my help and I can’t find anything that will make this stop.
” Jase hung his head. “Even worse. She’s been drugged two other times.
Once at a different bar. She woke up in her car in her driveway with no clue how she got there.
Receipts from the bar showed she’d had a single drink, so she wasn’t drunk. ”
“Was she there with Desiree that time, too?”
“Technically. She’d taken her whole crew out for drinks after work.
Desiree was there on a date. A couple of the ladies said that Desiree and her date had an argument and he left.
Lucky went over to console her friend, then the ladies all left and Desiree said she left before Lucky, who stayed behind to pay the tab. ”
“So someone still in the bar could have connected with Lucky and drugged her.”
“Maybe. There were no cameras in the bar, so all I could go on was what people reported to me.”
“And of course, no one copped to drugging her or seeing anything.”
“People were there to have a good time. They were drinking themselves.” Jase shrugged.
“Fuck. I’m as frustrated as you now.” It made no sense. Why do all these things to her and not confront her head on? Just to torment and torture her?
“Here’s what’s even weirder. The last time she was drugged—before you found her in the ravine—she hadn’t been drinking. She’d cooked some beef stroganoff with some dehydrated mushrooms she’d bought at the store. It was a large bag and she’d used half in another meal.”
“So the bag was previously open.”
“You got it. And about ten minutes after she ate, she started tripping and called 911.”
Hawk’s anger skyrocketed. “Someone dosed her with magic mushrooms.”
“Yep. Because I doubt the manufacturer made that kind of mistake. Not where there are so many kinds of mushrooms that are poisonous.”
“Lucky is nice. Kind. Caring. Quiet. She’d never hurt someone on purpose.
So why is someone fucking with her like this?
It doesn’t feel like the work of an ex who loved her so much he killed for her.
After doing something like that out of misguided love, why start actively making her life a living hell?
Because he got caught? Because she was angry that he killed her little brother?
It seems like he’d understand why that would upset her.
Hell, he’d know before he did it that she’d be furious and hurt. It makes no sense.”
“Exactly. I spoke to Neil. He knows what happened to her. Want to know what he said to me?”
“What?”
“He said, ‘You need to stop the person doing this to her.’ ”
Hawk leaned forward, his forearms on his knees. “Did he sound sincere?”
“Very.”
“Was he talking about you stopping him, or someone else?”
“He didn’t say and I couldn’t tell. The guy spent years in prison and he’s not the same kid who went in. He’s hardened. Careful. He doesn’t want to go back, but he’s also not willing to jeopardize his freedom either.”
“I get that. But we need answers. Because Lucky believes he was there the night she was drugged.”
“Maybe he was. Maybe he wasn’t. She could just be putting this all on the guy who wrecked her world.”
Hawk shook his head. “I don’t think so. She talks in her sleep. Over and over again she wants to know why he’s there. And she doesn’t see him as he was years ago. She says he’s older now. Different.”
“I can’t arrest the guy because of a dream.”
“I know. But we can’t rule him out either. And if he was there, but isn’t the one who hurt her, then maybe he knows something he’s not telling you.”
“I’ve spoken to him twice now. His story is the same every time I ask about that night. He sticks to the same details.”
“There’s got to be a way to figure this out.”
“At this time, I’m looking more toward Desiree than Neil.”
Hawk thought about everything he knew and what he didn’t understand. “How did Lucky’s car end up at her house?”
Jase sat up straighter. “Desiree said she took Lucky home that night.”
“Right. So Lucky’s car should have still been in the Gunn Brothers parking lot.”
Jase turned pensive for a moment. “The video we have shows them going into the back room where there are no cameras. When the video didn’t show them leaving through the main entrance, I called Lincoln to ask about the banquet room.
He said there’s a side exit in there that leads to the parking lot. ”
“There is. But there are no cameras out there.” Hawk’s frustration rose.
Initially, they wanted the cameras to watch over the registers and customers in the bar.
He needed to talk to Lincoln about putting some cameras outside, too.
Hawk tried to piece things together. “So Desiree would have had to take Lucky home, drive back to the bar, driven Lucky’s car to her place, then gotten a rideshare back to the bar, then gone home herself?
” It seemed a lot to do in one night when Lucky could have simply gotten a ride to the bar the next day.
Jase shrugged. “It’s definitely something I need to investigate further.”
“But will it really get us closer to figuring out who is behind all this?”
“I’m doing the best I can with the evidence I have, and it’s not a lot to go on.” Jase’s frustration showed in the lines on his forehead.
“I know. I’m frustrated, too. I hate what’s happening to her.”
“Me, too. Like I told her, it’s not that I don’t believe her, it’s that I can’t prove anything.”
“I need to change the locks on her place. I don’t like that someone keeps getting in so easily.” Hawk would make it a priority.
“I did follow up with the busted window lock after the fire department flagged it. I had it dusted for prints. Nothing. It was clean—like, no prints at all. Someone covered their tracks.”
“Of course they did.”
Jase tapped the thick file folder. “I’ll call Desiree and ask about the car.”
“I’m headed home. Let me know if you get an answer that points to whoever is doing this.”
“I want to end this for her just as much as you do.”
Hawk hoped he did it soon. “I appreciate it.” Hawk headed out, anxious to check on Lucky, especially since she hadn’t answered his earlier text.
He needed to talk to Lucky and figure out a plan to keep her safe. No one was above his suspicion now. Not even her best friend. Because sometimes the people closest to you knew how to hurt you the most.
He hoped for her sake there was some other explanation.
She’d been betrayed enough.