Chapter 24
TWENTY-FOUR
CAL
When I open my eyes, my head is throbbing.
“What are you waiting for? Rub his fucking prints on it.”
“I am!”
I feel someone gripping my hand as I try to blink away the darkness and realize that some man I don’t know is forcing my hand around a gun. My instincts tell me that I need to keep this gun in my possession, but before I can take it, he rips it out of my hand.
“Bring her over here. Make him scratch her. We want it to look like there was a disagreement.”
That voice… it’s the one from my nightmares. That voice, which once made me feel so good when he showered me with compliments and made me feel like I was worth something, now makes anger ripple through me.
I shift my eyes and Lt. Allen looks down at me.
“I was beginning to think I’d hit your head too damn hard,” he says. “Didn’t know if you were going to wake up.”
“Why?” I whisper.
“I don’t have time to deal with you.”
“Why me? Why the fuck did you decide to ruin my life?”
“Because you’re absolutely phenomenal, Cal. You really are outstanding, and you could have gone so far if you had let yourself.”
“So far? You wanted me to join your bullshit?”
“Of course I did. I wanted every one of you who came with me on my team. But once I saw how unstable you were after shooting the others, I realized you were nothing more than a liability. I should have killed you then, but your talents are one in a million. I knew that if there was ever any chance of pulling you over to my side, I had to take it. It’s too bad it became quite apparent you were never going to live up to your potential.
But that’s okay. You’re going to take the fall for all of this.
I have a recording of you admitting that you killed Eddie and Devon—you even announced that Tate was dead because of you. ”
I look up and see Audrey across from me. She’s sitting in a chair, face twisted with rage. “How the fuck do you think we’ll take the fall for it?” she snarls.
“Audrey… you were involved in everything every step of the way, were you not? Don’t worry, I made sure to keep proof of your involvement, in case you ever decided to stab me in the back.
Let’s say that you employed Cal to keep those who didn’t abide by your rules quiet.
And when they didn’t, you had him execute them, just as he did Eddie and Devon.
“And then, because I was getting too close to finding out the truth, you tried pushing the blame onto me, taking the money, and running. But instead, the two of you fought over the money. In his anger, he shoots you in the stomach so you won’t immediately die.
We need you to live long enough to shoot him in the head, you know? ”
“They already have proof of your involvement,” Audrey says. “You really think they’ll just ignore it?”
“They’re not ignoring it, they just don’t want to believe it.
No one wants to see a man like me—someone so many rely on—be the bad guy, but people like you two?
A coldhearted bitch no one likes and a man who is a depressed alcoholic?
Now that makes a bit more sense. It won’t take much for them to believe it. ”
“Ready, sir. I’ve uploaded everything to her computer so it looks like she’s the one behind the transports and sales,” another man says, making me wonder if we’re in Audrey’s home.
“Everything has been duplicated and written clearly to show that it was originally created by her. As soon as the house is searched, they’ll find it. ”
“Good,” Lt. Allen responds as I’m dragged over to Audrey and then held still by the first guy. Allen grabs Audrey’s hand and shoves it against my arm, forcing her nails down my skin, likely so my DNA will be found under her nails to cement the idea that we’d gotten into a fight before I shot her.
My head is finally clearing, so I try to slam my feet down and throw myself back quickly. It shoves the other guy back and he stumbles, but when I twist, I can’t get free.
“Careful. We don’t need unexplainable marks on him. DNA has been placed where we need it. Documents done… alright, it’s your time to shine,” Allen says as he gets behind me and puts a gun in my hand.
He wraps my fingers around it and points it at Audrey. Using all of my strength, I try to pull it back to me, but he refuses to let me do so.
When he starts to struggle to hold on to me, the guy who’d been at the computer cups a hand over my nose and mouth. “This won’t leave a mark,” he says as I realize he’s trying to make me lightheaded so Lt. Allen can control my arm.
I try to pull my arm back, fighting as hard as I can, but with the hand over my mouth and nose, I can’t breathe. Thrashing is getting me nowhere.
I decide that I need to let them take over while I still have some energy in me. I slacken my body, and Allen hurriedly aims my hand, but the moment I feel his finger over the trigger, I yank my arm back hard and fast as the shot goes off.
“Fuck,” Allen snarls while I thrash for air. The head wound was already making me feel off, but now darkness is creeping in.
Suddenly, the hand trying to suffocate me is torn off me and I drop down, gasping for breath. Lt. Allen shifts to look at the man screaming on the ground next to me as I become aware that I feel a wetness splashed across my arm.
My eyes drift up to the window where there’s a beautiful bullet hole in it.
“I thought I told you assholes to deal with Grayson!”
“They said they were!” the remaining man says.
“Then who the fuck is shooting at us?” Lt.
Allen snaps, jerking me away from the window.
My foot catches on the downed man’s gun and I kick it back an instant before I ram my shoulder into Allen.
He stumbles as I scoop up the gun, only to find that he has the gun he’d been trying to get me to shoot Audrey with pointed at my head.
“I’ll just fucking set it up after you’re dead,” he snarls.
“You know I’m faster with a gun.”
“Yes, but there is only one gun pointed at my head and two at yours.”
“You think I’m afraid to die?” I ask. And while this was true at one point in my life, it’s sure not now, but I can’t let him know that. “You destroyed my life. I’ll welcome death as long as I get to kill you first.”
His grip tightens on his gun as he snarls at me. “If you weren’t so fucking weak, you could have had the whole world, and now… you have nothing.”
“He has me,” Grayson says a second before I hear a gunshot.
I shift quickly, knowing that Grayson has dealt with the man behind me, and shoot Lt. Allen right in the shoulder before he can react.
His arm is snapped back as his gun goes off. Grayson is on him in an instant, slamming him to the ground while he tears the gun away from him and throws it my way.
“Are you okay?”
“Seem to be,” I say as I eye the bullet hole in the wall, thrilled it missed me.
Lt. Allen glowers at me from where Grayson has pinned him down. “If you call the police, you’re going to rot with me, Cal. I have proof you killed Devon and Eddie. I have proof of your involvement.”
“Not anymore,” Audrey informs him. “I deleted it… I knew you were keeping it to hold it over him, so I deleted it long ago. He didn’t ask for this.
I didn’t either, but I went along with it.
I will tear you down, Allen, if it’s the last thing I do.
I’ve spent all of my life thinking I had no purpose, but maybe my purpose is making sure you rot in prison.
I tried giving you everything so I could have a place to belong, but in the end, it was never enough.
I never had a place, even with you. Cal, Grayson, go.
I don’t want you to get wound up in this.
I won’t tell them that you were ever here. ”
“No, I’m not leaving you alone,” I say. “You hired us, remember? You hired my detective agency to help you put a stop to this man.”
She hesitates, realizing what I’m saying.
“You think I won’t tear all of you down?” Allen asks with a laugh. “You think I won’t ruin your lives?”
And I really don’t know if he can, but I can’t let another person die by his hands. I will do whatever it takes to prevent that.
Grayson calls the police, who show up quite quickly, and it doesn’t take long for others to show up as well.
It seems like we weren’t the only ones interested in Lt.
Allen’s whereabouts. They ask us questions and we go with the story that I’d been hired to look into it, making me thankful that I have my license to be a private investigator.
So after I’m checked over to make sure I didn’t suffer any trauma and for them to document my head wound inflicted by Lt. Allen, I’m questioned about what I know. I keep it vague and simply explain how I’d known Audrey from a long time ago.
As long as the three of us stick to our story, I have hope that we’ll stay out of this. Lt. Allen can place blame on us all he wants, but when they have so much proof against him… how much will stand against us?
After I walk out of the station, I turn to Grayson. “Who took that shot through the window?” I ask.
“Arthur.”
I raise an eyebrow. “You let my wild gunslinging ex-neighbor snipe someone through the window?”
“Sure did.”
“Where’s the gun now?”
“Hopefully not aimed at his ex-wife,” Grayson says, which makes me laugh.
“Why the fuck are you laughing?” Felix asks.
I look up, startled to see him as he stands outside of his car. “I’m not allowed to laugh?”
“NO! Grayson called and told us you were missing and there was blood, and he was absolutely panicked and crying, and now you’re over here all ‘ha ha ha.’”
I look over at Grayson, who won’t meet my eyes. “Were you that panicked?”
“Of course I was!”
“How did you even find me?”
“Some guy tried taking me out. Arthur saw him and nearly shot his head clean off. The man ran off bleeding all over, but I caught up to him and I… asked him nicely… and he told me.”
“You asked him nicely?” I ask as I look down at his hands and see how busted his knuckles are.
“Nicely enough,” he says, trying to slyly hide his hands.
“We were too far away to do anything. Why the hell would you get kidnapped without alerting us first?” Felix asks.
I raise an eyebrow. “It weirdly wasn’t my plan!”
Felix grumbles about that as I’m ushered into the car. “Do we need to get one of those kiddy leashes for you so we can’t lose track of you?”
“You act like Cal purposely wanders off,” Lane says. “Just admit you’ve been starving to death since Grayson’s been here.”
Felix gives me such a desperate look. “Cal, I’ve been so hungry. I’ve never starved for so long! I told Kiwi he could eat me if I starve to death.”
I can’t help but laugh. “Oh, I’m glad to know that you want to put me on a leash because you’re hungry.”
“Nah, not only because of that. Just mostly because of it.”
“Do you think everything is going to be okay?” Lane asks me.
“Audrey claims she erased all mention of me being involved,” I say, hoping that’s true. “As for Grayson, you were following orders anytime you were involved.”
“I was. They were legitimate orders. We just had no idea that he was changing them to benefit himself.”
“Well, no matter what happens, we’ll be here for you,” Felix assures us. “If they try to throw you in prison, we’ll break you out.”
“They’re not throwing us in prison,” I say.
“I really have my doubts anything will come of it for either of us,” Grayson says. “It’ll be okay. I promise.”
He reaches over and squeezes my hand.
“If not, I’ve got a man who’ll give you a new identity,” Felix offers.
“Well, that’s not concerning,” I say, which makes everyone laugh.