15. Sutton
Sutton
A call from a number I didn’t recognize rang my cell while I was on my office phone. I had to let it go to voicemail, and seconds later, a text came through.
Unknown: Gram’s son is drunk off his ass and just took off in his truck.
Jimmy—it had to be.
“Mayor, there’s an emergency, and I have to go.” I interrupted the voice droning in my ear, hanging up before he could say goodbye. Grabbing my keys, I sped from my office and rushed past Babs’s desk.
“Everything okay?” she called after me.
“I’ll let you know!” I hollered while shoving the rear door open and sprinting across the parking lot for my cruiser.
A second later, I turned onto Main Street, and Kurt Wallace’s truck roared past me, heading east for Route 16. Radioing Jamie, who was out patrolling, I flicked on my lights and made a U-turn, adrenaline racing but my hands steady on the wheel.
Kurt swerved into The Outdoor Store’s parking lot and managed to get his stumbling ass inside before I pulled in behind his truck, angling my car so he wouldn’t be able to drive off.
I hopped out and headed toward the entrance, giving Jamie another quick update through the two-way.
“Be there in a few,” my son replied.
Raised voices reached me before I stepped into the building, and I braced myself for whatever drama was about to unfold. The sound of flesh hitting flesh promised a drunken brawl and the need to get physical before I even saw the situation.
Kurt grappled with Stefen Kaufman, the shop’s owner, fists swinging, contact being made on both bodies.
Sarah, Stefen’s wife, cowered behind the counter, eyes wide and hands over her mouth.
“Hey!” I hollered, rushing forward to grab Kurt’s shoulder so he couldn’t throw another punch. “Enough!” I wrenched him back, and he stumbled, falling to the floor, which allowed me to easily slap handcuffs on his wrists to keep him somewhat under control.
“You have no fucking right!” Kurt slurred, but at least he didn’t attempt to resist my hold.
I stood, yanking him to his feet. He smelled like a brewery and could barely stay upright. “The hell is going on?” My tone was set low and with authority.
“Found out he’s been texting my wife, sending her dick pics and shit.” Stefen spat, rage mottling his face red. “Told him if he didn’t stop sniffing around her skirt I was going to skin him alive!”
“I saw what you did to her!” Kurt yelled, trying to pull free from me. “You fucking hurt her!”
“Liar!” Stefen bellowed, hands fisted at his sides and rage distorting his features.
The two tossed profanities back a few times while I quickly checked out Sarah.
She huddled in on herself, arms wrapped tightly around her core, but there was no visible evidence of bruising from what I could see. But she also wore a long-sleeved shirt as Jimmy had often done.
It was no secret around town that Stefen and Sarah’s marriage had been on the rocks since the beginning of the summer, but this was the first I’d heard anyone mention an affair or physical abuse.
“Enough!” I barked out again, and both men went silent.
Jamie walked in behind me, shoulders back and gaze assessing, but kept quiet, seeing as I had things under control.
I handed Kurt over to his care before approaching Sarah.
“Chief—”
I raised a hand, cutting off Stefen, who shifted nervously on his feet as I examined his wife. No hint of marks marred her pale face, but clothing covered her from the neck to her ankles. “Is Kurt speaking the truth? Has your husband hurt you?” I asked quietly.
Twin tears slid down her cheeks, and she glanced at Stefen before dropping her gaze to the floor. The silence was heavy and telling as hell, rousing my protective instincts to take care of my people—especially the vulnerable and more easily intimidated.
“Sarah,” I pushed with a gentle voice, but she shook her head.
Fucking hell.
Heart heavy and lips in a grim line, I eyed the two men who continued to glare at each other. “Do I need to arrest you both and drag your asses to the station?”
“He started it,” Stefen muttered like a middle school brat. “Came tearing in here with accusations and hit me first. I was just trying to defend myself.” He pointed at his cheek, and sure enough, a bruise had begun to discolor his skin.
“You going to press charges, Stefen?” I asked, and it took him a few seconds of glowering at Kurt before shaking his head.
“Get Kurt out of here,” I told Jamie, who’d watched on in silence. “He can sleep it off at the station.”
Wouldn’t be the first time Kurt Wallace crashed on the cot, and I doubted it would be the last.
My thoughts went to Jimmy’s dad, then the boy himself who’d always managed to get into trouble.
He’d been behaving since coming back, and I hadn’t heard a single complaint from anyone about public drunkenness or disorderly conduct on his part.
Frenchie said he visited the bar to chat with her occasionally but rarely had more than two glasses of pinot noir.
Perhaps he’d learned his lesson of what too much alcohol did to a man and possessed the self-control his father never had.
I slipped Sarah one of my cards without Stefen being aware and left a few minutes later, my questions over their marriage unanswered and concern for the woman heavier on my mind.
Checking in on Kurt via radio with Jamie, I headed toward Mary’s for a little chat.
Jimmy’s red BMW sat in her driveway, and I pulled in alongside, my pulse kicking up even though I had expected him to be there.
If he wasn’t at his dad’s place or The Moose, this was where he could be found every damned day, and I would know, because I couldn’t help but keep tabs on his daily whereabouts.
I no longer questioned why . The interest every part of me took in him was clear as a summer sky and just as alluring no matter the instinct to flee far, far away from the pain that boy would bring me.
Sure, he’d gifted me with a bit of truth that had spun my head, but he still hid himself and lied about his emotional well-being. Attempted to manipulate me into bed.
Darla fucking incarnate.
Mary answered my knock on her front door, her eyes harder than I’d expected while glancing behind me at the empty cruiser. “Kurt?” She snipped his name like anger more than worry filled her mind.
“Sleeping off the booze on the comfy cot in our holding cell,” I stated sternly, happy to have something other than Jimmy to focus on.
Lips pressing tight, she nodded and stepped back, allowing me inside. “I’m sorry.”
“Not your fault, Mary.” I peered down the hallway but didn’t see or hear Jimmy.
“Coffee?” She headed for the kitchen before I could reply, but this wasn’t the first time I’d shown up at her house to discuss her son’s issues.
“How much trouble is he in?” she asked while retrieving a mug from the cabinet atop the coffee pot.
“No jail, but it’s not good.”
She muttered a curse and handed me the coffee but still didn’t seem all that concerned for her son.
I sipped, eyeing the window overlooking her backyard. “What do you know about Kurt’s affair with Sarah Kaufman?”
“Sarah?” Gram echoed, her tone high with surprise. “She’s a married woman—Kurt would never…” Her voice trailed off, and she sank into one of the kitchen chairs as though exhaustion liquified her bones. “What has that boy gotten himself into?” she muttered to herself, disgust leaking into her voice.
I stepped past her, lightly grasping her shoulder briefly before moving closer to the window.
Jimmy was shooting hoops with DJ. Both were laughing, and Jimmy ruffled the boy’s hair with fondness.
He seemed…real in the moment. Pink flushing his face, eyes bright with happiness I longed to see on a daily basis.
An ache spread over my chest, longing to linger in watching this alluring version of my obsession, but I turned away and sat across from Mary, determined to give her my undivided attention. I explained the altercation her son had gotten into and how I had more questions than answers.
Mary studied her arthritic hands, rubbing gently at swelled joints. “Not that it’s an excuse for his drinking, but Kurt’s got some personal issues going on.”
“Can you share specifics so I can figure out how to help?”
“He and Carrie are constantly arguing these days. DJ told me he screams at her over the phone, calls her names.” Mary pursed her lips and sighed heavily. “It’s not healthy for any of them, and here I am selfishly dreaming about moving to Florida because of my aching bones.”
As far as I was aware, Carrie was a good mom and had a steady job in Berlin.
“Maybe she ought to take Kurt back to court for full custody until he gets himself straightened out,” I suggested what Mary had told me Carrie had been threatening Kurt with lately. “DJ seems like a pretty stable kid, so perhaps some time apart from the toxicity would be best for now.”
Mary nodded even though her eyes remained haunted. “I can’t help but believe Kurt’s headed down a dark path. I’ve heard him be unkind with his words, but the thought he might get physical with DJ like Jimmy’s dad…”
Something inside me crumbled, causing my eyes to sting.
“And that boy.” Mary glanced toward the window through where occasional laughter reached us.
“Jimmy has seen the world, knows he’s not alone, but he still can’t accept that he’s worth loving.
I want better than that for my grandson’s future, Chief.
” Her voice broke, and I swallowed hard as guilt for possibly contributing to Jimmy’s words flooded through me.
“You’re the reason I can’t sleep at night. This feeling of unrest…I hate that you’re the only one I trust to fill up the emptiness inside me. The power you hold over me ? —”
His honesty from that night in Frenchie’s bathroom replayed through my mind as it had been doing on repeat, hitting so goddamned close to home it made my eyes sting.
Jimmy was the reason I didn’t sleep at night, the burr in the back of my mind that didn’t allow me rest. Regardless of my fear, I wanted him broken down to his baser self. Raw in his emotion and real .
He was a goddamned gift in need of unwrapping so he could see the beauty beneath the facade.
But if I found the balls to be vulnerable, would he even offer me the chance to peel away his layers?
Would the possibility of fulfillment in giving that boy what he needed and watching him make gains toward healing be worth the sure heartache when he had enough of this small town and took off again?
“So what happens now, Chief?” Mary asked, pulling me away from my heavy musings I couldn’t escape.
My chest ached, and I cleared my throat, having to be the bearer of even more bad news.
“I’ll have another little chat with Kurt once he’s sobered up.
This will be his first DWI, but he’ll have to pay a hefty fine and lose his license for a while.
I can’t shelter him from the consequences for his actions this time. ”
“I wouldn’t expect you to, Chief. My son needs to learn a lesson before he makes a choice that has even worse consequences.” She spoke as though a premonition hovered over her mind, and I shivered on instinct.
My attempted smile hurt as our gazes met atop the table. “You’re a good mother, Mary, and I can’t thank you enough for being a safe place for DJ—and Jimmy—when they need you most.”