Chapter 67 Parker
PARKER
“Do you think there’s a possibility this is all four families?” Hadrian asks me as we leave Bellthorn behind. I know he doesn’t just mean the stuff with Sable’s mom, but her dad and the pedophile ring supposedly behind him.
After yesterday, it became clear we need more information, and standing still at the castle won’t do anyone any good.
That’s the one thing I thought I had about Sable and her family—information.
But all the revelations of the past few days are proving me a terribly juvenile stalker.
There seems to be only two people worth asking what’s going on, and considering the guilty party is unlikely to fess up, we should go after their pets.
The police.
Their visit left me thinking too much. I know the four families aren’t sharing secrets with Detective Askey—he’s not important enough—but he had his nose all over the Briarwick investigation. I know his face well enough to know that much.
“Yeah, it’s possible,” I finally answer him. It would be really nice if I could claim that level of evil was beyond our families, but I know they’re bad people.
Hadrian nods, his eyes on the window, watching the bunch of nothing around Bellthorn pass by.
“You think they would spend their time watching us now when they never did before?” he asks.
“Not really and my father would have used a few things against me had he known about them.” I’m sure of that much. “I know Orion is screaming that it’s them watching us and shit like that, but it doesn’t make sense. There’s something else at play. I don’t know if Sable’s dad is innocent or not.”
“Did you ever suspect him before the police said so?” he asks.
It’s a fair point and one I hadn’t considered. I did spend a lot of time watching them. “No, I did not.”
“The truth doesn’t really matter, though, does it?” he says.
“How do you figure?”
“They are still the main players,” Hadrian reminds me. “We have to destroy them to keep going. That’s the only thing we can’t change.”
The comment is nefarious enough to raise the hairs on the back of my neck.
I hum at him because I don’t think Hadrian fully understands what that means.
There’s no getting rid of the four families, not with the money and power they wield.
As we know, they have the police on their side.
They covered all their bases. Nothing short of death will stop them.
I don’t say my thoughts out loud and just press down the highway until we arrive at the precinct. I have enough money to buy some words with them, and I’m hoping they’re not stupid enough to also be loyal. Our fathers would never offer the same to them.
“Detective Askey around?” I ask the receptionist at the front. I have a bone to pick with him after coming to talk to Sable like a common criminal.
“Who needs him?” she asks, barely looking away from her paperwork like she can’t be bothered.
“Tell him it’s Mr. Vale and Mr. Hollow.”
She pops the chewing gum in her mouth and presses the numbers down, repeating the names as she gives us a first look.
“Okay, you go ahead. His office is the last one down the hall.”
We move around the uniformed officers, trying not to draw too much attention.
I don’t know who is paid off and who isn’t, but I do know I don’t want anyone calling my father and letting him know I’m poking into his business.
A few sets of eyes follow me, but I can’t tell what the true cause of their suspicion is and whether or not I should be worried.
I knock just once before opening the door.
Askey is behind his desk, a fake smile on his lips.
“Well, well. To what do I owe the pleasure?” he asks. “You didn’t bring Miss Briarwick with you to answer my questions, did you?”
I’m running out of time, and I’m not sure how to deal with him.
I’m not the eldest child, I wasn’t raised to be the head of the family, and unfortunately, I’m used to getting most things I want without having to do anything.
I look at Hadrian just once, my eyebrows arching in question, but he just shrugs.
My full-of-shit brother Arthur would know exactly how to handle this dick.
“Miss Briarwick isn’t available for questions for the foreseeable future, but I’ve been thinking about the investigation after you left, Detective,” I say as I take a seat across from Askey.
“If my girlfriend were suspected of killing her uncle, I’d be sleeping with one eye open too,” he says breezily, like I wouldn’t kill a man for less.
I chuckle. “No, I was thinking about why you were the one visiting us and asking questions when it’s not your jurisdiction? Carl Briarwick doesn’t live here. He’s back in the city as far as I know.”
“But Bellthorn is here.” He scoffs.
“Carl Briarwick hasn’t set foot in Bellthorn for years.”
“How would you know?” he asks, lifting his brow like he’s suddenly onto something. “Keeping close tabs on the man for some reason?”
“Please.” I wave him off. “He simply wasn’t ever at the school.”
“He’s gone, boys, and I’d bet anything it leads to Bellthorn. You don’t need to understand the complicated inner workings of police business, and I wouldn’t expect you to.”
“It hardly matters what you think we understand,” Hadrian says, his calculating gaze on the detective. “What matters is that you had no business interrogating Miss Briarwick, and you won’t do it again.”
“And what are you going to do about that?” Askey laughs, shaking his head as he stands. His shoulders hike, and his pinched expression tells me he’s feeling the pressure. That makes this the perfect time to press him.
“I’m going to make you a deal instead,” I say.
“A deal?” he asks.
I nod. “I don’t mind that you took a personal interest in us. But it made me wonder what you might have found.”
“What makes you think I found anything?”
I smile slowly and deliberately. “If you have information about the investigation into the Briarwicks, I can make it very worthwhile for you.”
My meaning is there for everyone to see. I know our fathers pay him, and I wonder how much it will cost me to get him to double-cross them.
“Aren’t you the Hollow spare?” He arches an eyebrow, a laugh in his voice.
“I have access to as much cash as the rest of them, and so does Hadrian here. Name your price.”
Detective Askey drums his fingers over the file cabinet beside his table, his back to us.
I wait for his move, keeping my mouth shut.
This wasn’t a tactical maneuver, and it can all come back to bite me if he decides to let the family know.
I pretend I’m not nervous. My back is relaxed against the chair as if I have nothing to lose.
“I won’t give you access to the investigation, Mr. Hollow.”
I curse under my breath.
Do I need to fuck him up? I thought money talked, but maybe I just need to beat his ass. Before I leave the chair, Hadrian’s hand closes around my arm, stopping me. I flash him a look, but he shakes his head, still watching Askey.
“But there’s something I intercepted, something not even your parents know about, and I was saving it for a rainy day.” He opens the cabinet and takes out a letter, holding it up between his fingers.
“What’s that?” Hadrian asks.
“The last letter the dead Briarwick sent before picking your girlfriend up at school and trying to kill her.” Immediately, I’m listening, and I know I’d pay anything for that letter.
It’s not that it would mean a lot to Sable to have a letter from her father, but I also know this is the key to making sense of this whole thing.
“How do you have it?” Hadrian asks.
“I was following him, pulled it from the box.”
“Isn’t that a federal offense?” I ask, but he just laughs.
“Give us the price, Askey.” I grit.
His smile slowly comes through his creepy expression, and he rattles off his price. It’s a lot of money, but between the five of us, it won’t even raise suspicions.
“Done.” I extend my hand to take the letter.
“Start the wire,” he orders.
Hadrian shakes his head and takes his phone, starting to move money. Once it’s obviously happening, Detective Askey relaxes and gives me the letter. I don’t wait for him to try to take it from me or ask for my money. Hadrian and I are out of there right away.
“It’s addressed to Nina,” I tell Hadrian once we are in the security of my car.
He doesn’t say anything, his eyes burning the envelope in my hands. I rip it open and scan the contents before cursing loudly.
“Fuck, we need to show Sable this.”