Chapter 1 #3
Tanner’s phone buzzed again with Martin’s message, bringing Tanner back to the present moment. He hated feeling like his hands were tied and his heart was in his throat. Helpless wasn’t a familiar or comfortable feeling for Tanner, and he sure wasn’t about to wallow in it.
Tanner: I’m in, whatever you guys decide.
He would always be there for his friends. No matter what. But right now, he needed to focus on the case. The best thing he could do for Blake and Skyla was help them put Arlo J squarely behind them once and for all.
He glanced at the notes he’d taken at the medical examiner’s office, and did a quick search of the coffee shop from the receipt.
But it had already closed for the day. He’d have to stop by there tomorrow during their normal business hours and hope someone remembered who Arlo J was with when he placed that order.
Tanner sighed and glanced back at his phone to read the new incoming text message. It was from Garrett this time.
Garrett: We should do what we’ve always done. Bring food and be with them. Even if it hurts, they need us now more than ever.
Tanner couldn’t argue with that. The only other person he knew who’d endured such a loss was his own mom, but he was almost too young at the time to really remember how she’d managed to get through it.
Tanner’s phone started lighting up with one message after another from his friends, and plans for the evening quickly began to form.
Luke: Orly just got off the phone with Skyla. Got the greenlight for all of us to come over for a bit. We’ll bring dessert. Orly wants to make a pie.
Caden: Pie sounds good. Hallie is going to make a casserole.
Tanner couldn’t help but smile at the exchange of text messages. No one ever seemed to know what to say or do when someone they knew lost a baby, but now it was one of their own. He knew without a doubt that all their hearts were breaking right along with Blake’s and Skyla’s.
“Detective Rhodes?”
Tanner looked up to see a young man wearing a crisp suit, his hair sleekly combed back.
Tanner knew this man, and while seeing him here now wasn’t a surprise, it also wasn’t necessarily welcome.
“Nico Moreno,” Tanner said, giving away nothing of the raw emotions he managed to conceal in the moment before uttering his name. “How can I help you?”
“I know you and your friends have a history with my father, but I just wanted to make sure his murder would be solved.” Nico was Arlo J’s son, and had point blank shot Blake in the gut while kidnapping Skyla at gunpoint.
If it hadn’t been for Skyla’s incredible healing ability, Blake would’ve likely died because of this punk.
“Solving your father’s murder is my job,” Tanner told him in no uncertain terms. “And I always do my job to the very best of my ability.”
Nico took a step forward and Tanner rested his hand on the holster securing his firearm. Another officer Tanner sometimes worked with, Ethan Sinclair, stepped up to Tanner’s desk, offering a show of force and support. “Problem here?” Sinclair asked.
“No problem whatsoever. And I wasn’t implying anything,” Nico said, his gaze going from Sinclair to Tanner. “I just don’t want any bad blood between my father and you to get in the way. The killer must be brought to justice. One way or another.”
“That’s our job,” Sinclair said plainly.
But Tanner read the undertone in Nico’s words, and there was no way he was going to let this punk take the law into his own hands.
Nico had already hurt too many people Tanner cared about, and he’d gotten away with it.
“I can assure you that once we find him, or her, the killer will be brought to justice in accordance with the law. But if you so much as lift a paperclip in your father’s investigation without the DPD’s express permission, I can also assure you that my job completely and fully allows me to arrest you for interfering with an investigation.
Are we clear?” Tanner’s patience was at an all-time low, and he had no intention of mincing words with the man who was responsible for so much of the horror Blake and Skyla had endured in the past.
Nico worked his jaw, a sure sign of the pent-up anger he was failing to hide.
“Crystal clear. But just so you understand, Detective, I don’t care how the killer is brought to justice.
Only that he is. I’m a patient man, but even I have limits.
” Then Nico turned and walked out as if he owned the joint, and Tanner couldn’t help but smirk at his back.
“What a jerk,” Sinclair said.
“You have no idea.” For all Tanner knew, Nico was the killer, and this was just his way of throwing Tanner off his scent, so to speak. The punk had escaped arrest in Blake’s shooting because when Skyla healed him, she’d erased all evidence of Blake ever being shot. However, this time was different.
Everyone in Arlo J’s life was going to be investigated with a fine-tooth comb, and since Nico had presented himself with such enthusiasm, Tanner decided he’d start with the dead man’s son.