Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
BANNER
“No, that’s fine. When is she due in court?” I ask Wade, who wants to know if anyone is free to guard a DV survivor who is due to face her piece-of-shit husband in a custody dispute.
“Day after next.”
“You expecting trouble?”
“Always. Saying that, I don’t think this guy will try anything publicly. He’s working the charming I’m a nice guy, and she’s a crazy angle, so threatening her publicly will ruin that for him. This is more a case of better safe than sorry.”
“Is it looking like this could go his way?” I question, hating when kids get caught up in this shit.
“There is enough evidence to show what a piece of shit this motherfucker is. But we both know the system is flawed and sometimes innocent people fall through the cracks.”
I stare at him. He hates this shit. As a cop, he believes wholeheartedly in what he does, but that doesn’t mean he’s oblivious to the corruption that is rife in certain areas.
There have even been whispers over the years that Tempest PD might not be as squeaky clean as it should be.
Nothing has ever been proven, so most assume it’s criminals lying about dirty cops.
We head out back, where Marcus and Arlo are talking. I walk over to the fridge to grab us both a drink when Wade’s cell phone rings. He pulls it out and frowns.
“Give me a sec, Banner.” He puts the phone to his ear and answers. “Hey, baby, what’s up?” It must be Olivia, his wife. I turn to give him some privacy when I hear him cursing. “What the fuck? You sure?”
He’s quiet for a minute before he growls. “I’m on my way. Do not get involved.” He hangs up as Arlo and Marcus move in closer, sensing something going on. “I’ve gotta go.”
“Everything okay?” Arlo asks him.
Wade looks between us before sighing. “Olivia just witnessed the rookie getting heavy-handed with a woman outside Andy’s hardware store. He’s taken her to the station. I’m going to head over and see what’s going on.”
“Need us to help with anything?”
“Can one of you monitor the scene? Olivia is there right now. She says the woman’s van has been tossed, the doors left open, and the cart full of her shopping tipped over on the ground.”
“I’ll go,” Marcus offers, grabbing his jacket and heading out.
“Who did he take in?” I frown.
“Don’t know. Oliva couldn’t tell from where she was. By the time she walked over to ask questions, she was basically told to fuck off.”
“Wow, the rookie’s really looking to get his head knocked off,” Arlo mutters. Wade is uber-protective of his wife.
“Where was Olivia?”
“Coming out of the Sip and Spoon.”
The coffee shop had been a staple in Tempest since I was a kid, but it had recently been bought out and rebranded. People hadn’t stopped raving about the coffee there, thanks to the new barista.
“That’s right opposite Andy’s. I’ll see if they have any camera footage of what happened. I’ll let you know,” I tell him, grabbing a can of Fanta to take with me.
“Thanks, I’ve got to go.”
We watch him leave before I turn to Arlo, who is scowling at the door. “Any of this sitting right with you?” I question.
“No, none of it. The rookie might be new, but he’s hardly green, so I’m not gonna pass judgment until we know what’s going on. For all we know, the suspect could be wanted for kidnapping or murder charges.”
“In Tempest?” I chuckle.
“Stranger things have happened. It might be home to us, but to others, it’s the perfect place to hide away.”
“Arlo, if you want to hide away, the last place you should be is Tempest, or any small town for that matter. Nobody is a stranger here for long,” I point out.
He grins. “Good point. Alright, you head to the coffee shop. I’m gonna give Blake a call and fill him in, just in case.”
I dip into my office, grab my keys and cell phone from my desk, shove them in my pocket, and head out to my truck. When I get to the coffee shop, I park in the empty spot on the street before climbing out. I spot Oliva talking animatedly across the street with Marcus.
I push the door open to Sip and Spoon and walk in. Half the tables are full, and people are rubbernecking to see what’s going on outside. I walk up to the counter and smile at the woman standing there. “Hey, Jenny. Any chance I can ask a favor?”
“Now that really depends on what that favor is, young man.”
Jenny moved to Tempest with her husband, Harvey, a few years ago.
Harvey was a local boy who was welcomed back into the fold along with his new glamorous wife, only to find himself dying of a heart attack six months later.
Jenny was a mess, but the town adopted her as one of our own and has been fussing over her ever since.
“You have cameras out front, right?”
“Yeah, we had some vandalism while we were doing the refurbishments.”
“Any chance I can review the footage from this morning?”
“This has something to do with what happened out there earlier with the new cop?”
“You see it go down?”
“Not from here, but a bunch of customers were getting worked up. Oliva flew out of here in a rage. I thought she was going to walk over and smack him one.”
“And we both know, given who she is married to, Olivia has a lot of love for the cops.”
“So for her to get pissed like that, something wasn’t right.” Jenny finishes. “Help yourself to the tape. I don’t know what’s going on, but if the cop has nothing to hide, what does it matter anyway?”
She pulls out her cell phone before looking back up at me. “If you give me your email, I’ll send you over a copy.”
“Ah, I love technology.” I grin.
“I’ll admit I was resistant. It’s not always easy to teach an old dog new tricks, but this makes things so much easier.”
“Thanks, Jen. I’ll see you around.”
“Drop by later, and I’ll get my girl to make you today’s special—a glazed donut latte.”
“You sure know a way to a man’s heart,” I tease as I walk backward to the door.
“Through the third and fourth rib, right?” she replies with a chuckle, waving me away. I open the door and head out to Marcus. Olivia is gone by the time I reach him, but I can see a few others have gathered around to see what’s going on.
I whistle when I get a look at the damage. “Jesus, the rookie wasn’t messing around. You thinking drugs?”
“I’m thinking Andy Dennis told me the rookie came in to tell the owner her taillight was out.”
I look at the taillight and nod. Then I look down and see all the glass on the ground. “Looks like someone must have clipped the van or something while she was parked here.”
Marcus takes a few shots of the scene with his phone while I lean against his car and pull up the video in my email. At first, I’m not sure what to expect. When the van pulls in and the passenger hops out, I know exactly who the van belongs to.
“Motherfucker,” I curse under my breath as Sorrow disappears inside the store.
She’s inside for maybe ten minutes before a squad car pulls up and parks next to the van, and the rookie climbs out.
I frown and pause the video when he walks inside.
“I thought you said the rookie went in to tell her she had a taillight out?”
Marcus looks over at me and nods. “That’s what Andy said. Why?”
I wave him over before starting the clip up again.
“Taillight’s intact when he heads in,” he mutters.
“Exactly.”
We watch without comment until Sorrow and the rookie leave the store, walking over to the van.
Sorrow steps around the back, leaving her cart between her van and the squad car.
I see her frowning and zoom in just as the rookie walks around and looks at the light.
He says something before pulling out his nightstick and smashing the light.
“That motherfucker,” Marcus hisses.
I growl when the footage shows the rookie grabbing Sorrow’s wrist. He leans in and whispers something to her before pulling out what looks to be a breathalyzer.
She blows into it without a fuss before he yanks it free from her mouth and shoves it into his pocket without looking at it.
The next thing we see is him spinning her around and pinning her to the van before he cuffs her.
“What is this asshole’s problem? He never even looked at the test. I’d love to know exactly what charges he’s hauling her in on,” Marcus snaps as we watch her being shoved into the back of the squad car.
I keep staring, unable to see her anymore.
The rookie trashes her van and kicks over her cart, before climbing into the front seat of the squad car and drinking off.
“I’m taking this to the police station for Wade to see. I’ve also emailed a copy to Blake.”
Marcus looks at me, his eyes roving over me. Something in my voice gave me away. “You know this girl?”
“I used to. It’s Sorrow.”
“Sorrow? Wait, your brother’s—” He snaps his mouth closed.
“I need to go down there.”
I move to stand, but Marcus holds me back. “Whoa, you can’t just waltz into a police station demanding answers.”
“Oh yeah? Watch me.”
He stares at me before shaking his head. “Even if it were one of the other guys, I’d tell them the same, but it’s worse with you. This is a conflict of interest, and you know it.”
“I’m not a fucking lawyer, Marcus. What fucking conflict?”
“You haven’t figured it out yet?” He sighs, running his hand through his hair.
“Figured what out?” I bite out, wishing he’d get to the point.
“You saw the same feed I did. For all intents and purposes, she did nothing wrong. That cop smashed out her taillight, and he did it with the intent of pulling the rest of the shit he did afterward.”
“And? You’re not telling me anything I don’t already know.”
“Yeah? Tell me why? Why would the rookie do that? As far as I know, he’s not cornered anyone else here in Tempest. Word gets around, so we’d know if he had. All I’ve heard is that he’s a brown-nosing simp.”
“You’re saying this is personal?” My mind wizzes over how these two might know each other because he moved to Tempest long after Sorrow left.
“I’m saying it’s personal.” He nods. “But not personal to him. Someone put him up to this. Maybe not this specific incident, but along these lines.”
It takes me a second to get what he’s talking about. “You think this has something to do with Alec?”
He stands up and walks over to Sorrow’s van, pointing at the damage. “Alec is dead.” I flinch at his words, not needing a fucking reminder. “For all his faults, he had nothing to do with this. This is on someone else.”
I start pacing, agitated now. “You can’t expect people not to be angry over what she did.”
“I don’t care how people feel, Banner. I care about how they act.
We have a cop acting like he’s above the law.
What’s next? What happens if someone thinks Sorrow needs an even rougher lesson about where she went wrong?
Do you think she doesn’t know what she did?
Doesn’t live with what happened day in and day out?
She was seventeen years old. Alec wasn’t the only life ruined.
But she served her time. The last thing we want or need is the locals lining up to dish out their version of vigilante justice. ”
“You feel sorry for her?” I ask incredulously.
“You don’t?”
“No, I’m pissed this happened to her. That was some fucking bullshit, and I’ll make sure people know exactly where I stand on it. But feel sorry for her? How can you even ask me that? If it weren’t for Sorrow, Alec would still be here.”
“She made a mistake—”
“She made a choice,” I snarl. “One that, like you said, ruined more than just Alec’s life. My parents, Katy, and I all have to live in the aftermath of her decisions. We never asked for any of this, so why shouldn’t she have to deal with the consequences?”
I storm away, ignoring Marcus’ cursing until he calls my name.
“What?” I whirl around.
“If it were Katy?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Katy is the same age Sorrow was when this all went down. What if you go home later, and the police turn up at your door because of an accident, and Katy was driving? What would you do if the passenger died, if they were a beloved citizen like Wade or Old Man Jenkins? You gonna shrug your shoulders and tell her that’s the consequence? ”
When I say nothing, trying to figure out how to answer that, he laughs. “Yeah, I’d avoid throwing stones for a little while, Banner, at least until you have your own glasshouse in order.”
“What are you implying?”
“Funny how this happens the same day you tell your parents Sorrow is back in town.”
He turns his back on me as I stand there, stunned at his accusations. The problem is, I can’t brush them off as unfounded. Maybe it’s a gut instinct, maybe it’s something else. But something is telling me to be wary of tugging this string because once I unravel it, nothing will be quite the same.