Chapter 13 #2
“Tony,” Bradley explained, taking some of the edge off of her frustrations, “is our cousin.”
“Our stupid ass cousin.” Donal amended. “He’s a damn bastard.”
“What my brother is trying to explain in language that our sainted mother would find… offensive,” Bradley winked, “is that he’s only our cousin in blood, but most of the family doesn’t recognize him. He certainly didn’t get any shares in the markets we ran.”
Donal scoffed. “He wasn’t all that sharp either. He stacked boxes when he did work. The rest of the time he was out back on the loading dock smoking.”
“Pa would have called him a… a ‘layabout.’”
Donal nodded at his brother before turning to look at Hayden. “That means he didn’t do much of anything, he just…”
Bradley slugged his brother on the shoulder. “Damn it, Don. I know they’re only women, but they can guess the meaning.”
Jack heard Hayden make a kind of strangled sound from her throat.
She covered it like a champ, turning it into a cough.
“Tony,” Jack murmured under her breath. “Is that the only name he goes by?”
Donal turned to look at her, raising a wolfish brow. “You can call my name any time you like, gorgeous.”
Jack knew she’d end the night going one-on-one with the heavy bag at the gym.
“His full name is Anthony,” Bradley added in.
Donal followed it up with a snort. “I doubt he could spell it without checking the label on his underwear. He was always duller than vanilla ice cream.”
The phone on the table in front of Donal rang and he picked it up.
Smiling, he showed the screen to his brother. With a nod, he stood up and walked away from the table.
Bradley leaned in and looked at Jack and Hayden in turn. “That’s our family lawyer. I bet he’s about to read Don the riot act for us agreeing to talk to y’all.”
It took everything Jack had not to smile at the man’s words.
“But while Don and I did some… risky stuff with the women who worked for us,” he chuckled, “we didn’t do anything to that woman.”
He sighed and pushed his chair back, standing up as Donal ended his call.
“The other stuff? We know that the statute of limitations is long past. You couldn’t drag us in on that stuff now, no matter how much you want to.”
Donal came back to stand beside his brother and clapped a hand down on his shoulder. “Besides that, we got to stare at the two of you for a good long time.”
Bradley’s shoulder shook with laughter. “I know I’m going to sleep good tonight after I imagine what it’s like to be frisked and handcuffed by the two of you.”
The two men walked off together, laughing like two hyenas.
Jack got up and Hayden stepped up beside her.
The deputy lifted a hand and balled her fingers into a fist. “What I wouldn’t give for a few minutes alone with the two of them.”
Jack nodded. “I’d pay to handcuff the two of them to my bumper and go for a nice long drive.”
Hayden shook her head, but Jack could tell by the smile on her face that she could imagine just how much fun that could be.
“If wishes were horses, but the two of them are right. We can’t do anything about what they did before.
We don’t even have any plausible evidence to bring them in for what happened to Aracely. ”
“Isn’t that the damn truth.”
Jack’s phone rang and she answered the call, putting it on speaker.
“Jack? This is West.”
“Howdy, boss.”
Jack heard West sigh. He really didn’t like being called ‘boss.’ “We looked up Anthony Coolidge. The last thing we had about him is about ten years in the past.”
Jack looked at Hayden, the muscles in her jaw tensing up.
“The last activity we had on him is from the unemployment office. There’s an address and information that he ran out of benefits.Likely making his way with small jobs.”
“Or some handouts from the Coolidge family,” Hayden added in.
“Probably,” West agreed.
“While they call him a bastard,” Jack noted, “they probably didn’t want him making waves and news about the family. He’s not officially a family member, but there are enough ties to make things difficult for them.”
“It’s amazing what people will do to ‘save face.’”
Jack agreed with West. “My parents are a prime example of that.”
“Why don’t the two of you come back to the office, unless… Hayden?”
Hayden leaned in toward the phone. “Yeah?”
“Do you need to head back to the Sheriff’s office or can you come back with Jack?”
“I… I don’t need to go back to the office, but unless you need me to come over, I’d like to head home. Those two…” She shook her head and shivered. “They make my skin crawl. I need a bath.” She sighed. “A half a dozen baths.”
“I don’t blame you,” West sighed. “Go home. Let Boone spoil you. I’ll send you a message if we need your input.”
Jack saw the smile Hayden turned in her direction.
“Jack’s got this, West. I’m glad you let me come along for the ride even though neither of us got to slap either of them across the face.”
Jack smiled at her words. “Or nailed them in the nuts. I would have gladly paid to do that.”
“I would pay to see that.”
Jack smiled. Duval had finally spoken.
Well he didn’t really speak.
He growled.
Or maybe snarled was a better descriptive word.
“I’ve got a picture of Anthony Coolidge.” Duval sighed. “It’s grainy as fuck. Black and white to boot. I don’t know how we’re going to get a decent identification out of this.”
“What about-”
“The asshole doesn’t have any kind of current identification with a photo we can use.” Duval was working up a full head of steam.
“Well, I know who you can see about that,” Jack smiled even though she knew that Duval couldn’t see her.
“Who? The Easer Bunny? Santa Clause?”
Jack saw Hayden’s knowing glance.
They might be ‘just women’ but apparently they were ahead of Duval in this sense.
“You should see a certain person who could help with images of people… a certain artistic person?”
West sighed. “Go see Noelle.”
Jack heard a soft smack of flesh against flesh and smiled.
Hayden’s smile twisted at the corners. “Don’t hurt yourself too much, Duval. Sometimes we all miss the obvious.”
They heard the distinct click of a door closing before West chuckled. “Okay, ladies. I’m going to sign off and write up my report.”
The phone call ended and Jack sighed. “Poor guy… he’s still coming to grips with it.”
“With…”
Jack saw Hayden’s curious look and smiled even more.
“Falling for someone.”