4. Luke
Luke
My thirty-one years of age were hitting me hard. I’d tossed and turned all night in a bed that wasn’t mine, and the kink in my neck was protesting.
I rubbed my hand along the back of my neck, digging my fingers into the trap muscles behind my shoulder blades, and turned the radio volume dial down.
The staticky squeal of police radios was grating on me.
Brimley was on dispatch, and his voice over the air waves sounded like sandpaper on Styrofoam.
Scarlett was due to start her shift just as I was getting off mine.
At least her voice was smooth and soothing, not overly high or shrill.
The lilting tones and raspy quality were much easier to listen to all day over the radios.
Patrol duty had been as uneventful as ever, giving me more time to think.
I didn’t need more time to think though.
I could have used a high-speed car chase or maybe a drug ring raid, but instead, I pulled over Joe Donnelly and Chelsea Evans for speeding, letting them both go with a warning, kicked some kids on dirt bikes out of the local rock quarry, and discouraged Tyler Cress and his buddy Owen from loitering outside of Ray Geller’s pharmacy.
Four run-ins in a ten-hour shift was par for the course in Calla Bay, but it wasn’t nearly as distracting as I would have hoped.
I pulled my cruiser into the department parking lot and headed inside to finish my paperwork.
Monroe was talking to Captain Langston about the Karrigan case when I strolled into the open office space.
Langston had borrowed my chair and rolled it up to Monroe’s desk, leaving me without a chair of my own.
“Hey,” Monroe greeted me. “I was just reviewing everything from the Karrigan case with Captain. The arraignment is tomorrow. Are you ready for it?”
“Of course I am. I know this case inside and out.” Or at least I thought I did.
Wes’s involvement was messing with my head. He wouldn’t have taken on a case like this if he didn’t fully believe the kid was innocent. But that didn’t make him right.
No, Ryan Redmond was guilty.
He’d stabbed that poor girl seven times, leaving cigarette burns on her skin, all because she turned him down. Wes was dead wrong to think we were willing to put an innocent man in jail just to close a case. “Did you see anything of interest in your review? Fresh eyes and all that?”
“No,” Monroe answered slowly. Confusion was painted across both his and Captain’s faces. “Were you expecting to find something?”
I almost told them about Wes’s opinions on the case.
But that’s all they were. Opinions. Captain, Monroe, and everyone else were going to find out that the Redmond family had hired a private investigator of their own soon enough.
“Of course not,” I said. “Just wanted to make sure we had our ducks in a row before tomorrow.”
I stole a chair from Lieutenant Polenski’s desk and busied myself with my end-of-shift tasks, purposely taking my time.
Officers came and went for the next twenty minutes as the next shift started.
Some of them were on their way home, while others were checking in before hitting their patrols.
Scarlett switched out dispatching with Brimley, her wild red curls tamed into submission in a tight bun on the back of her head.
One by one, the station cleared out, until only Lieutenant Rebello, Scarlett, and I remained.
Rebello’s station was on the other side of the floor, leaving a shred of privacy between me and Scarlett.
She draped one long, toned leg over the other and spun her chair around to greet me as I walked up to her.
“Hey, Luke. Are you still finishing up for the day?” Scarlett asked. Her headset sat askew, too large for her after fitting around Brimley’s big head. I reached out and took it off, tightening the headband until it was just her size.
“I was killing time,” I told her. My gaze did another sweep of the station, just to make sure. “I wanted to talk to you alone.”
Her lips parted slightly, her wide eyes filled with concern.
She peeked around me to the corner where Rebello sat. “Okay. We’re not totally alone, but I don’t think he can hear us from over there. What’s on your mind?”
“The Karrigan case.”
Scarlett blinked back a look of surprise.
I affixed the adjusted headset back on her head, positioning the speaker just behind her ear where she liked it if she wasn’t on a call.
My thumb brushed against the top of her ear, and I pulled my hand back at lightning speed.
I forgot sometimes that anytime I touched Scarlett, electricity coursed through my veins.
I didn’t make a habit of touching her, or any other woman, but the undeniable effect she had on my body never failed.
It had been that way since the moment I stood shoulder to shoulder with her on her very first day.
“Oh, yeah. Sure. That makes sense,” Scarlett said. Was it my imagination, or did she sound breathier than just a minute ago?
“I’m nervous I’m missing something. The Redmonds are convinced Ryan’s innocent,” I said.
“Of course they are. He’s their son. That doesn’t mean you missed something. You have more than enough evidence to get a conviction. You’re thorough and smart. Are you nervous about tomorrow?”
“They hired a private investigator to look into police corruption. Intentionally hiding evidence that could have exonerated him.”
“Oh, no. Don’t tell me…” Her eyes rounded.
“Yup.” I nodded, my lips in a flat line as I clenched my jaw. My brother’s best friend—one of my good friends growing up—intentionally and actively working against me. “Wes took the case. He was asking me about Monroe last night.”
“No way. There isn’t anyone on the force that would do that. Why would anyone do that? It doesn’t even make sense.”
“That’s what I said too. We don’t have any dirty cops here. Certainly not Monroe.”
“And you told him that?”
“Of course I did.” I scratched at the five-o’clock shadow that coated my jaw. “But I can’t stop thinking about it. He can’t be onto something, right?”
“Absolutely not.” Scarlett started to shake her head vigorously, the movement lessening gradually as the seconds ticked by. Her eyes cast a faraway look as she thought it through. “No way,” she said again, but with a lot less vigor.
I had the exact same reaction. Absolute denial changed to disbelief before morphing to contemplation. I still didn’t believe it. But was it possible?
“Have you told anyone?” she asked.
“No. I almost said something to Captain and Monroe earlier, but… I don’t know.
I’d like a second to look into it first. Just in case.
” It wasn’t that I didn’t trust them. Of course I did.
I trusted each and every one of these officers with my life.
But something held me back from throwing it all on the line.
At least with them. With Scarlett, it was different. I couldn’t explain why; it just was.
“It’s just me and Lieutenant Rebello here tonight. I can look into it with no one around. You know he’s just going to sleep at his desk all night.”
“No, I don’t want you getting involved in it. Not if something shady is going on. Not that I think that’s the case, because it’s not. But…” I trailed off.
“I can help, Luke. Let me help you.” Her eyes pleaded with me.
“I don’t even know what we’re looking for. Find what’s not in the case file? Wes just said that someone is covering something up. Evidence we should have had isn’t being accounted for. What are you going to do?”
“It can’t hurt to let me look through it,” she said, her delicate shoulder rising, a slight tilt to her head, those sapphire-blue eyes destroying any argument I had.
“That’s true,” I grumbled.
She pulled her bottom lip into her mouth, trying to suppress a smile. “Get me that case file. It’s my turn to play detective. Then you need to get out of here before Juliet gets mad at you.”
I huffed, “That’s the last thing I’m worried about.” The case file was still on Monroe’s desk from when he and Captain were going over it earlier. I handed it to Scarlett with a warning not to say anything to anyone else, not yet.
“I promise, Luke. We’re not going to find anything, regardless, though. This is just a precaution.”
“Exactly,” I agreed.
Leaving Scarlett at the station made my skin crawl. But I knew I was just being ridiculous. She was fine. Wes had gotten into my head and was making me paranoid.
The sound of silence greeted me when I walked in the door.
Wyatt’s house was both familiar and unfamiliar.
I had spent plenty of time here over the years, even crashing on his couch on the rare occasion I had too much to drink at Harpoon’s—Wyatt’s place being in walking distance and all.
But sleeping in his room was still strange.
It had only been two nights away from my wife, and I already didn’t like her having that title. We would need to talk at some point. Draw up papers, split assets. I guess I needed to find a lawyer.
Did she have him in our bed?
Wait… had she fucked another man in my bed already?
I tossed and turned all night. My mind would wander down the path of my failed marriage and affairs before making a sharp left into police corruption and justice for Alana. Back and forth. For hours.
My phone lit up with a message. It was 2:00 a.m., but it wasn’t like I was getting any sleep anyway .
My heart rate quickened at the sight of Scarlett’s name. Her message was what I expected.
Letty: You were right. I have no idea how to find something that isn’t in the file. This feels like when a package doesn’t arrive and the company tells you to take a picture of you NOT having the package.
Me: Hahaha. Exactly. How am I supposed to find what’s not there?
Letty: Shoot. I thought you wouldn’t see this until the morning. I hope I didn’t wake you or Juliet.
Me: Don’t worry about it, I was already up. Stay safe tonight.