24. TWENTY FOUR
TWENTY FOUR
GARRETT
I didn’t sleep. I watched Cory as she twitched and moved restlessly in her sleep, and hated that someone did this to her. That someone made her this unhappy, this paranoid, this unsettled.
The numbers on the clock continued to change, but my mind grew more and more alert, racing back through everything we saw at her shop, trying to find something that would indicate the who, or what, or why of it all.
I finally gave up on sleeping around eight-thirty and went downstairs to make coffee. Cory would hopefully sleep for another couple of hours, and I didn’t want to disturb her. Siren stayed behind, curled up in the space behind Cory’s knees, but she watched me as I left.
Downstairs, I started the coffee pot, the hot, brown liquid slowly filling the carafe, as my thoughts ran rampant.
Alex could’ve done it. Cory had pissed him off on her opening day, and then I’d had Detective Levine look into him as a possible connection with the Simmons’ report. But something about that didn’t sit right with me. A noise complaint? Sure. Trying to peg her with tattooing a minor? Maybe. But vandalizing, destroying, and stealing from her shop? No. Levine would stick him with at least three felonies, if not more. Sexism and hatred went hand in hand, but not to this extent. This kind of retaliation didn’t make any sense.
I pulled out my phone and texted Levine.
Me: Levine, it’s Adler. Can you send me a picture of the guys at DelINKquent Tattoos?
I poured myself a cup of coffee and waited, drumming my fingers against the side of my mug.
It was dark, and the footage was grainy at best, but something about the guys in the video seemed familiar. Or maybe I just wanted them to be, but either way, there was no resting until I confirmed one way or the other.
My phone pinged with an incoming text, and as much as I’d like to say that I casually reached for it, I all but dropped my mug getting to it.
Levine: Attachment: 1 image
I opened the photo and stared at the image of the two men until my vision went blurry. Then I blinked a few times and continued staring, squinting down at the screen in an effort to make their faces sharper.
The men definitely looked familiar, the one in the foreground more so, and I racked my brain trying to place them. They weren’t people I knew through family, friends, or work. I didn’t think they were people from my college days, so what else was there?
And that was when it hit me.
I had met them briefly. Talked to them, even.
At Cory’s mom’s party.
They were the sons of two of the guys Robert had in his circle when Annette dragged Cory and I over to introduce us. Once the women had left, Robert had talked to me about his golf dates with the Chief of Police while the other men in the group made comments on their own connections to people of power within City Hall. Cory’s father had only just introduced them to me as Mr. Anderson and Mr. Parsons, when their sons joined the circle. I couldn’t remember their names—I wasn’t even sure if they were ever introduced—but I remembered their fathers. One owned a financial office, and the other was an investment broker, but both seemed too old to still be playing the “whose dick is bigger” game.
My memory about their sons might’ve been hazy, but one thing was crystal clear. The young men in the surveillance footage, and Mr. Anderson and Mr. Parson’s sons, were the same.
All of the pieces fell into place, the realization hitting me like a semi-truck. How had I not figured it out sooner? The more I thought about it, the more it all made sense. There was only one person that wanted to see Cory fail badly enough to ruin everything she’d worked for.
And that was Annette Eastwood.
Cory and her mother were far from good on the best of days, and they were even worse off since the night of the party almost a month ago, but it was still her mom. This news was going to devastate her.
I wasn’t sure how long had passed between my discovery and the sound of Cory’s bare feet padding down the hall, but my untouched coffee was no longer hot.
She looked like she’d gone to war. Her hair was in a messy bun that had slipped off the top of her head to hang loosely behind her ear, and she had dark circles under her bloodshot eyes.
I thought she was headed for the coffee pot when she walked directly up to me, resting her head against my chest. For a moment, I was so wrapped up with the fact that she willingly sought me out for comfort that I forgot I was about to sever whatever threads remained of her relationship with her mother.
“How are you feeling?” I brushed a kiss on the top of her head, squeezing her to me tightly before easing up so she could look at me.
She shook her head and took a step back. “Terrible.”
I nodded, sensing there was more coming and wanting to let her get whatever she needed to say out.
“I’m devastated and I don’t think I’ve fully processed it all yet, which sucks because it means I’m only going to feel worse once I do. I just don’t understand. Why me?”
I poured her a cup of coffee and put my own in the microwave as I stalled. It felt like kicking her while she was down, but it couldn’t wait. If I didn’t tell her right then, it would only make things worse, and Levine needed to know as soon as possible so he could get things in motion.
“Cory?”
“Yeah?” She already sounded so broken, as if all the joy had been sucked out of her soul.
Better to just rip the bandaid off.
Right?
“I think your mom is behind everything that has been happening with your shop.”
For a moment, all she did was stare at me, her mouth slightly open. The coffee I held out to her was left hanging in the air between us. When I realized she wasn’t going to take it, I set it down on the countertop next to her.
“Cory?”
She blinked a few times as she came back from wherever she went mentally. “No. She wouldn’t.”
“I’m telling you, I think she did. I had Levine send me a picture of the guys from the surveillance footage and I recognized them from your parents ‘ party. They’re sons of your dad’s friends.”
Shaking her head, her eyebrows knit together. “And I’m telling you that you’re wrong. My mother is too obsessed with appearances to pay someone to file a false police report, or hire people to destroy my shop. She wouldn’t do this, Garrett. It’s not her.”
“I get that, but why else would those two men ruin your shop?”
“I don’t know. Maybe you don’t have the right guys. That footage is shit.” She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at my phone.
I sighed. “It was them, Cory. I’m sure of it. ”
“Well, you’re not the detective, are you? So maybe we should just let Levine do his job.”
She was lashing out because she was angry. She was hurt, scared, and sleep deprived. Her life’s work had just been destroyed, and her boyfriend was now telling her that he thought her mom was behind it all. The situation was crap, but it didn’t make the bite of her words sting any less. Still, I shook it off. I may be a detective, but I was fairly certain I was right.
“Listen, you said it yourself. Your mom cares too much about appearances. Well, you told her off in front of a house full of her so-called friends. I think that gives her pretty solid cause to want to retaliate.”
“I’m not asking you what you think! God, can we just drop it?” she snapped, turning to grab her coffee and head into the living room.
I followed and sat down beside her on the couch, turning my body to face hers.
“I have to tell Levine.”
Her eyes whipped to mine. “I’m telling you, it’s not my mom.”
“I at least have to tell him about the guys, Cory. I’ve identified them.”
The walls she put around her heart, that I had spent the last few months carefully deconstructing, went back up. I saw it in her eyes.
I went to put a hand on her leg, but she stood up abruptly. Her voice was steely as she said, “It’s none of your business, Garrett. ”
And just like that, the moment in the kitchen where I was a chosen part of her world, felt like years ago instead of minutes. Her demeanor had completely changed, as if she didn’t just disagree with me, but like I was no longer someone she could trust.
Getting tased was less painful.
I would know.
“It’s my job. I can’t not tell him if I think I know who the suspects are.”
Hurt and shock morphed her features into a pained grimace. “You’re really going to put your job over me? I thought you were on my team. I need you on my team.”
“I am on your team. I’m trying to help you—”
“No, you’re not! What you’re doing is making decisions about my life for me! You’re not even giving me a chance to make a choice about this!” She paused, looking at me as if only seeing me for the first time and then added quietly, “You’re acting just like my mother.”
And that gutted me.
I shook my head. “That’s not fair and you know it. Don’t you want them caught?”
She looked away for a moment, then looked back at me, tears brimming in her eyes. “What I want is for you to get out of my house.”
I stood. “You don’t mean that.” I stepped toward her, needing to hold her. To touch her. To somehow physically get through to her that I was on her team. I would always be on her team. “I’m just trying to help— ”
“I don’t want your help!” she screamed it loud enough that Siren came running down the stairs and into the living room, looking between the two of us and trying to assess the situation.
“I don’t need anyone to take care of me, Garrett.”
“Maybe not, but you’ve also never let anyone try. I’m telling you that I’m here, I’m trying . You don’t have to be alone in this. Let me care for you.” I reached a hand out to touch her arm, but she stepped away again, her eyes on the floor.
Now I was the one raising my voice, hurt and sadness strangling it to a hoarse shout. “What happened to wanting to stay? To not running? You said you wanted me! Wanted this !”
When she lifted her eyes to meet mine, they were dark pools of emotion.
“I’m not running. I’m staying. You’re just leaving.”
My heart plummeted, but I backed away, putting more space between us even as my body screamed at me to close it. To hold her, and kiss her, and be there for her. Because what hurt more than Cory shutting me out, was knowing that she was once again alone.
I headed to the door and opened it, lingering only for a moment as I looked back at where she still stood, motionless in the living room. “I’m sorry, Cory. I’m so sorry.”
I switched the lock and then walked out onto her porch, pulling the door shut behind me.
Every step toward my truck felt wrong, like I was walking against the tide, or against a magnetic field.
It didn’t matter that Cory hadn’t told me her name at Kinsley and Hayes’s wedding, or that she explicitly told me not to, but my infatuation with her had since turned to something more. Turned into love, and I wished that’s all it was now too, because if I had only loved her, maybe it wouldn’t feel like my heart was back in that living room, in hands that claimed they didn’t want it.
Before I left the driveway I sent two texts. The first was to Levine, letting him know I’d be stopping by the station with the information I thought I had. I hated that my thumb hesitated over the send button. There was nothing to debate. I couldn’t pick and choose when to do my job. These men committed felonies. Her mom could be charged with a felony conspiracy. It wasn’t something I could ignore because Cory didn’t want to think her mom was capable of it.
I didn’t want to send the next text even more than I didn’t want to send the first, but only because I wished I could do what I was going to ask myself.
Me: Hey, Kinsley. I need you to do me a favor.
Her response came back fast, and it felt like salt in an already aching wound.
Kinsley: You need me to help propose?! I KNEW IT! I told Hayes you seemed proposal-y at dinner last night!
Me: No, it’s not that. I need you to go be with Cory. She’ll fill you in I’m sure.
Kinsley: What did you do? Am I going to hate you?
I didn’t respond to that. There was a chance, albeit a small one, that she’d take my side. She was married to Hayes, after all. She’d know firsthand everything that came with our job and all the demands. But she was also Cory’s best friend, and as much as I’d love for someone in Cory’s inner circle to help her see where I was coming from, I’d rather Kinsley be the person she could lean on right now. I could be the person she hated if that was what she needed.
I just wish that wasn’t the case.