Chapter 25
After breakfast, I go upstairs and dressed for the meeting with Detective Tate. Turning the corner, I head for the living room, where everyone is hanging out.
“Ready to go, babe?” Jo asks as she stands up from the chair she was sitting on.
“Yup. All good.” I smile at her.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Cade asks, and I roll my eyes.
“I have a meeting with the detective in charge of my parent’s case.” I state.
“How did you get this meeting?” Atticus asks with creased eyebrows.
“I set it up. Why does that even matter to any of you?” Jo says, placing her hands on her hips.
“So we know the little harlot is safe.” Harlan says with a sinister smile, turning to wink at me.
“Let’s go.” I say, as I walk towards the front door.
“Wait. How are you getting there?” Cade asks, stopping me in my tracks.
“We are taking an Aviva rideshare.” Jo responds.
I see Cade look over at Stone and call his name, causing him to look up from his phone. The way they look at each other lets me know they are having a silent conversation. I learned they do that when we all attended Cherryville. As soon as Stone nods his head, I know the conversation is over.
“We will take you.” Cade says as he picks up his water and takes a drink.
“Yes, Daddy.” I say as sweet as I can, causing him to choke. Checkmate!
We all laugh as Stone walks over to smack him on his back.
“You good?” Stone asks a still coughing Cade.
Cade looks up at me, eyes filled with humor, and says, “Yeah.”
“Now that he isn’t dying. Can we go? My girl has an appointment to get to,” Jo quips, grabbing my hand, pulling me behind her towards the door.
I hear murmurs behind me, letting me know the guys are having a conversation I’m not privy too. We step outside and make it down the path when I hear footsteps behind us. I guess everyone is coming for the ride. Reaching Stone’s truck, I pull the handle, opening the door and we climb in.
Once we all get settled in, I ask, “Can I pick the music?”
“Yeah, babygirl.” Stone says, turning on the suv’s bluetooth.
Pulling up my playlist, I scroll through until Jo points at a song. I look up and nod. This will be great. I hit play as the lyrics of Ice Ice Baby play through the speakers.
“What the fuck, seriously?” Atticus says as he shakes his head, letting out a laugh.
As me and Jo sing out the lyrics, she taps me and nods her head at Harlan. He is lip-syncing the words next to me, so I lean over and encourage him to sing with us. He smiles and bumps my shoulder, then joins in. The guys let out groans as we bounce around.
“You better sit your asses still.” Cade growls.
“Or what?” Jo says, glaring at him.
Marzin leans forward from the back seat. “Find out.”
Jo just huffs and continues to sing. I lock eyes with Zin, and it’s almost like he has a promising look in them. Harlan bumps into me and I turn my attention back to singing. I swear I hear a growl come from Zin.
We pull up in front of the station, and park. As I open the door and climb out behind Jo, I feel a rush of panic set in. Walking through the doors, up to the officer sitting behind the desk, I freeze. This is it; the chance to learn more about what happened that night and why.
“Uh, hi. I’m here to meet with Detective Tate.” I say.
The officer looks up at me. “Name?”
“Aluxis Vega.” I say, as a wave of nausea hits me.
“Have a seat and I’ll call him.” She says, with a smile on her face.
We walk over and take a seat on the blue benches. I look back over towards the officer, seeing her talking on the phone. She glances my way and gives me a tight smile. Fuck. That doesn’t look good.
She hangs up the phone and motions for me to approach. Standing up, I walk over.
“I can take you back. Your friends will have to wait out here.” She says, looking behind me.
“I’m not leaving her side. You can call and relay that.” Jo says, with a pissed off look.
”Look, I don”t know who you think,” the officer starts saying, but her words get cut off.
“It’s alright, Johnson.” A man in a suit says to the officer.
He looks between us and holds out his hand. “You must be Aluxis.”
Taking his hand and giving it a small shake, “Uh, yes.” I stammer out. He releases my hand and turns.We follow him through the glass door, heading to his office. Walking in, I take a seat in the chair across from him.
“So, what can I do for you?” He asks, folding his arms over his chest.
“I wanted to see if there was an update on my parent’s case. If someone has found their killers,” I say, taking a deep breath.
He types on his computer. “Huh,” he says.
“Something wrong?” I ask, as Jo reaches over to hold my hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.
“I’m sorry to tell you this,” He says. “It looks like we have no new updates on the case.”
“What do you mean? It”s been months.” Tears begin to fall down my face.
“That’s what I want to know, too. How hasn’t there been any updates? Do you even care?” Jo shouts.
“So I still have to watch my back. Great.” Wiping my tears away. “Please help me.” I plead.
“I assure you, I am doing my best.” Detective Tate states. Jo interjects yelling, “ Do your fucking job!” Detective Tate ignores her yelling and continues.” That’s not the only problem.”
“What do you mean?” Now I’m getting pissed. Why isn’t he just spitting it out?
“Some of the evidence has gone missing.” He deadpans.
“WHAT!” Jo and I scream in unison.