Chapter 28
TWENTY-EIGHT
LELAND
“Have a seat,” Patel says.
“Is this a trap? Jackson, this feels like a trap,” I comment, and because I wait too long, Cassel pops his ass down in my seat and Jackson takes the other. Now I’m left standing as the only person in the room without a seat.
We’d picked the location to talk to Patel, deciding that if we had control over it, she couldn’t bug it, record our confession, and then destroy our lives.
So we’d chosen Henry’s office. He’d been in it since we agreed to meet with Patel, so we know it’s safe.
We made her leave all electronics outside of the room and then Cassel ran something that would disrupt any that she tried to use in the room so we could talk freely.
“How are you?” Jackson asks, since she doesn’t look the best. Her eye is still bloodshot. The bruises on her face have turned a nasty yellow. Her hands are bandaged and she really looks like she should still be at home or in the hospital instead of facing off with us.
“He called you the Sandman. I looked into that name, you know,” she says.
“I had a lot of downtime in the hospital. I could turn you in… but I realized that I have no proof. All I have is what a ruthless killer said. I could possibly search your house. I could throw your name out there… but oddly enough, everyone in this department seems to like you. And every time I’ve tried looking into you, I’ve been hit with walls I can’t get past. It seems like they’re willing to look the other way or protect you, and I don’t know why.
Who exactly is going to believe me when even the chief of police seems to love you? ”
“That is quite the question,” I agree.
“I mean, you could sit here and deny everything that man said. And maybe it would be best if you did, but I don’t know if I can in good conscience let a man run free that I know kills people for a living.”
“Did you find any proof that I’d killed anyone recently?
” I ask. “Would you believe me if I said that I am working as a PI to help people? Sadly, the police aren’t always able to help save people.
It’d be nice if they could. But just like you looking into me, you were stopped by legalities every step of the way. ”
“It doesn’t make it right,” she says.
“We’re not here to decide whether my life was right or wrong. I can’t change what I did in the past, and you have absolutely no idea why I did what I did. Honestly, I have no desire to tell you anything else about myself. But I’m here to offer you something to keep you quiet.”
“You’re going to blackmail me?” she asks.
“No,” I say as Cassel slides a folder over.
Cassel taps the top of the folder. “Inside this is everything you need to destroy the Barlow family. We have rearranged it so it looks like you went through legal avenues to acquire all of the information needed. You would not only be stopping a crime family, you would be saving so many lives. The Barlows don’t merely have one or two people they’ve manipulated and drugged and sold.
They have control over, hell… a hundred or more.
Women forced into prostitution, as well as men and women who were manipulated into killing those who oppose them. ”
I ask, “What’s more important to you? Stopping one man who promises you that he only disposes of those who are the worst of the worst or saving the lives of innocents?”
Patel stares at the file, and it’s almost like I can see the weight of the decision pulling her down.
She sets her hand down on the folder. “Okay.”
“Yeah?” I ask.
“I never thought I would do something like this.”
“I never thought we’d become best buds,” I say.
Her face scrunches up. “Are we?” She’s quiet for a long moment before speaking again.
“You saved my life. The things he told me he was going to do to me…” She looks down at her hands.
“And I knew he’d do it. I knew he’d kill me.
I never understood exactly how that would feel until I was lying on that floor… Thank you for saving my life.”
“I’m glad I made it in time,” I say. “I’m hoping this means you’ll be a lot less nosy.”
Patel doesn’t answer this, which is not very encouraging. She just takes the file and nods at us before leaving. I know she holds my fate in her hands. She could use the Barlow case to gain prestige and then use it to tear me down. It’s a risk with such a stubborn woman.
The door opens and Henry walks in before sitting down in the chair that Patel just vacated. I quickly sit on his lap and hug him. “Daddy Henry, I barely lived.”
He pats my head. “How did it go?”
“It’s questionable,” Jackson replies. “It could go either way. She agreed to our compromise, but there’s no way to guarantee that she’ll stick with it.”
“There’s not,” Henry says. “I could try to get her transferred elsewhere.”
“Nah, we’re tight,” I assure him.
“I… I’m afraid that if you mess with her, she’ll retaliate,” Jackson says. “Let’s just… have some faith in her.”
“Okay,” Henry agrees as I try to put his hand back on my head for more pats. He pats my face, which is less comforting, but I’ll still take it.
After the vicious pats of affection, we head off on our way. When we reach our cars, I turn to Cassel.
“Thank you,” I tell him.
“You don’t need to thank me. I wanted to fuck over the Barlow family as much as anyone else. And while we could have done it ourselves, I honestly think this is for the best. This way all of the victims will get the help they need… hopefully,” Cassel says.
We part ways and head for home. We’d returned to our house after dealing with Colby, but our home is just a husk of its former self without all of my beautiful guns on display.
Because we didn’t know if Patel was going to drop by with the FBI, we tore apart the house and Wellstone and pulled out anything that was even slightly illegal.
But it seems like maybe we didn’t have to do it, assuming Patel keeps her promise.
Jackson made me agree that I wouldn’t move everything back in until some time had passed without Patel knocking on my door.
Thankfully, anything that happens like that should go through Henry, so we’d get a heads-up.
“I don’t love this risk,” Jackson comments as we walk into our home.
“Yeah? I’m not the fondest of it either… but it is what it is. I… I think it’ll be okay. You know… Waylon won’t be home until tonight,” I say as I eye the door to the sex dungeon.
“Oh?” Jackson asks.
“Ohhhhh.”
“Oh…”
“Ohhhhhhh.”
Jackson pulls the door open and I glance down into the depths. The magical depths.
I head down the stairs and look at all of the things I’ve bought for this wonderland. “Jackson, I have failed you.”
“How is that?” he asks as he watches me walk over to the couch, the only average piece of equipment down here, and flop down face-first on it.
Since I haven’t responded, Jackson asks, “Can you explain how you’ve failed me?”
“I haven’t bought anything new to torture you with. No new toys. No new outfits. Nothing. I have failed you.”
He stares down at me. “Oh noooooo, I’m so sad that you didn’t grab anything else to torture me with. Sooooo sad. I’m just… devastated… yes, that’s the word.”
This couch… strangely feels so comforting while my husband is being vicious to me.
“Jackson…”
“Yeah?”
“Am I… Am I too tired to engage in wild sex? Is this because of our new child? Is it because we’re new fathers? I have heard that parenthood is the most exhausting experience one can have.”
“I… I think that only works when the child is like… a newborn,” Jackson says as he swings his leg over my ass and sits down on it. “I think that maybe you’re tired after chasing bad guys around and all of that jazz. Kind of was a bit much.”
“Hmm.”
He smacks on my back a little bit.
“Is this sex?” I ask.
“Yes, this is sex,” Jackson says with much sarcasm. He flips the back of my shirt up and proceeds to smack Blow-Up Randy’s head against it. It’s weirdly comforting.
“You like that?” Jackson asks, like he’s inflicting some wild sex move on me.
“Oh yesssss,” I moan.
He leans over and I assume he’s going to kiss me or maybe nibble on me, but instead he blows a raspberry on me. It makes me laugh and squirm under him.
“What are you doing?” I ask, trying to roll over.
“I am doing The Sex,” Jackson informs me.
“Yeah?” I ask as he grabs my ankles and pulls them up. “Are you making origami out of me?”
“It’s a new sex position,” he assures me.
“Oh yesss, I see it now. Thank you for opening me up to such otherworldly positions.”
He yanks my socks off and tosses one on my head.
“Ew, noooo.”
“You expect me to love these feet and you can’t even suffer through snuffing your own sock?” he asks as he grabs one of my feet and pushes it into Blow-Up Rhonda’s open mouth. “You like that?”
“No! I’m not sure I do,” I respond through my laughter. I try to twist over so I can face Jackson while my foot is stuck in some kind of romantic rendezvous with Rhonda.
“She says she likes that,” Jackson tells me.
I kick Rhonda away from my foot, hook my husband, and pull him just enough that I can roll onto my back.
“Well, hello, handsome,” I say as I look up at him.
“How do you rate The Sex so far?” he asks.
“Just… breathtaking. My balls are close to bursting.”
Jackson smiles at me. “Perfect.”
“Why am I still clothed?” I ask.
“Are… we supposed to take our clothes off for this?”
“Preferably,” I say as Jackson pulls my shirt up enough to blind me with it. He loops it over my head so I can’t see anything, and then I believe he’s leaning down to kiss me until I feel Blow-Up Somebody’s face smash against mine… at least I assume it’s their face.
“I’m scared of what you’re going to do to me,” I say before I pop my head out and see that it was Blow-Up Randy’s tush meeting my face.
Jackson’s eyes get wide. “Excuse me, you’re scared of what I’ll do to you? How do you think I feel every day of the week? Every moment of the day. Every time my eyes touch yours?”