Chapter Thirteen
Emerson
“Damn, Em. You get attacked by a stray cat last night or what?”
Jet and I were changing into our uniforms in the locker room. Dominic had left around five for his tour, and I couldn’t stop thinking about the slow, lingering kiss he gave me.
“Tonight?” he murmured, his mouth resting on mine for a brief moment. He tasted of my toothpaste and smelled like my shampoo, bodywash, and deodorant.
Mine. All mine.
“Mmm-hmm.” I watched him dress.
He sat on the bed to put his sneakers on and leaned in close. “And you were right. Your sheets feel damn good. Text me when I should come by.”
“I’m right about a lot of things.”
“Okay, Martha. See you later. Be safe.”
I brushed his lips for another kiss. “You too.”
“Yo, Em?”
I blinked out of my dirty fantasy of what might happen tonight to see Jet staring at me.
“Huh? What?”
Jet chuckled. “I asked where you got those bruises and red marks all over your neck, but I’m thinking you must have a new lady and the two of you went wild.”
My laugh was forced. “Oh, yeah. It was off the chain—like nothing I ever experienced before.” I didn’t want to lie to Jet, so that was as close to the truth as I could get.
We walked out to the car, and Jet took the wheel. “Yeah? How long you been going out? Where’d you meet her?”
“Damn, so many questions,” I joked and shifted on the seat.
My ass hurt like a bitch, and yet I couldn’t wait to feel Dominic in me.
Or maybe see if he wanted to switch it up and have me take him.
That thought excited me, and for the first time since I became a deputy, I wished my tour was finished.
“And yet you’re not answering anything. Usually you can’t wait to tell me about your dates.
” A smile tugged at his lips as he started the engine.
“I’m guessing she must be pretty special if you don’t want to talk.
That’s how it was when I met Harte.” Through the car window, sunlight struck his wedding band.
“How did you know?”
“Know what?”
“That you wanted him and not any other guy.”
“I don’t know…I guess it’s no different from knowing which woman I wanted to ask out. There was something about him. And honestly, I was with other guys throughout the years, but none had that effect Harte had on me.”
I drank some coffee and contemplated Jet’s words.
“You’re really into her, aren’t you?” Jet asked, and I felt like a complete shit for not telling him.
Jet was more than my partner. If I’d had a brother, it would be him.
The things we’d been through—him almost getting shot and me killing the guy—that brought you closer than most people could ever imagine.
I trusted him with my life. I should trust him with my heart.
“Uh, well, yeah, I am, but the thing is…” I began to sweat. At that moment a car blew past us, going at least thirty over the limit, with the radio blasting.
“Hold that thought.” Jet flipped on the lights and siren. We tore after them, and they led us on a chase. I took the radio to call it in.
“4-Adam-Charlie, we are in pursuit of a 2017 white Hyundai sedan, New York license 6118YTG. Heading north on Deer Park Road toward the Thruway. They’re going seventy. Requesting backup.”
They entered the Thruway going north and took the Harmony Rock exit.
From experience, I guessed they might be heading for the more isolated section of town, where the farms and trailer park were located.
The wail of sirens sounded behind us, and I was grateful we wouldn’t be the only uniforms on site.
The Hyundai was going so fast, the tires spun up dust clouds, but we saw them turn off onto a farm road. Tires squealing, we followed.
“4-Adam-Charlie, we have suspects heading west on Hoopers Lane in Harmony Rock.”
The radio sputtered. “4-Adam-Charlie, 10-4. One unit from Harmony Rock and state troopers are one minute out.”
I breathed a sigh of relief, and I could see by Jet’s white-knuckled grip, he felt the same. The sedan had pulled behind a ramshackle shed in an open field. We turned off our engine, and Jet took up the loudspeaker.
“Driver and passenger of the Hyundai, exit the vehicle with your hands up.”
No answer, and the music continued to blast. Sirens and the crunch of tires behind us alerted us that the other officers had arrived. Two cars, one from Harmony Rock and one state trooper vehicle. The four exited their vehicles. We climbed out of our car and met them halfway.
Jet introduced us. “Deputy Jet Saunders and my partner, Emerson Kane, from Appleton Falls. We caught them going at least seventy. When we attempted to pull them over, they accelerated and took off to here.”
One of the troopers, a tall, lean, Black man nodded, his face grim. “We’ve had reports of a possible drug gang holed up in the vicinity. Any movement?”
“No. They’re still there, as far as we know,” I answered, and the other trooper peered at me.
“Weren’t you involved in that jewelry store robbery in Appleton Falls?”
“Yeah, but with a different deputy.”
The two deputies from Harmony Rock had been on their radios until now. “That Hyundai has expired tags and no insurance.”
“We’ll make first approach,” one of the troopers stated, then motioned to me and Jet. “You two cover us, and you two,” he addressed the Harmony Rock deputies, “circle around the other side.”
I was happy to play second fiddle, and it worked perfectly.
We found them in the kitchen, packing cellophane baggies with a variety of pills.
There were only three of them, and the troopers kicked open the flimsy screen door, surprising what turned out to be teenagers, none more than sixteen or seventeen.
I cuffed one of them and dragged his sorry ass to our patrol car.
“You dumbass punk,” I snapped at him. “What the hell do you think you’re gonna get out of running pills for some dealer?”
“Shut up and fuck you,” he snarled. Jet joined us, I pushed the kid into the back seat, and we drove to the Harmony Rock jail to process them. On the way, I tried to talk some sense into the teen.
“Do you understand if you don’t tell us who you work for, you’re gonna do some damn hard time? You’re just a kid—you should be in high school, not doing this crap.”
“Why? I ain’t goin’ to college. And I ain’t gonna end up like my old man, working on a farm for crap pay.”
“So this is better? I gotta tell you, not the smartest move, my dude. You could learn a trade or have a legit job. This isn’t the way.
Nothing good’s gonna come from being involved with drugs.
Now you’re gonna end up in jail—maybe even Green Haven or Sing Sing—and that isn’t a fucking joke.
” I didn’t know if that was the case, but I was trying to make a point.
“There are hard-core criminals in there.”
“What the fuck do you know about it?”
I checked on Jet, who was concentrating on driving. I knew what he was about to hear me say would hurt, not because of the truth, but because I’d kept it from him and we were so close.
“I know because my old man was an addict and spent time in Green Haven for falling in with the wrong crowd.” Sure, until the day he died, my father professed his innocence for his last arrest, but that wasn’t the issue at the moment.
I was trying to keep this angry, hopeless kid out of the system.
I knew I had his attention when he swiped the greasy bangs from over his eyes and gave me a mistrustful glare.
“Yeah? What happened to him?”
I swallowed hard, and caught Jet’s concerned face in the rearview mirror.
“He was killed—shanked. They said he was a snitch.”
“Was he?”
I couldn’t give him an honest answer because I wasn’t certain of the truth. “I know he worked as a confidential informant for the police when he was on the street. He’d been in and out of jail, and I guess at one of those times, he was approached.”
“And he’s dead?”
I blinked rapidly. “Yeah. The point is, he would’ve been alive if he’d never gotten involved with drugs.”
We arrived at the Harmony Rock jail, and all we had to do was drop the prisoners off, make our reports, and leave. But Jet could see I’d developed a rapport with the kid and hung back to wait.
“You’re leaving?” For the first time, the kid looked scared, and though he was a dumbass and too cocky for his own good, I wanted to push him to see where the right path led.
“Yeah. Our work is done. They’ll charge and process you. I don’t know where you’ll spend the night. Good luck.” I turned and walked away.
“Wait. Uh, what if I could tell you where the guy lives who gives us the pills to sell?”
“I’ll let the officers know, and I’m sure the DA will want to talk to you.”
“But…you can’t stay?”
Damn, he was so young and scared, but he had to go through this to understand the consequences of his actions.
“No,” I said gently. “I can’t. But they’ll let the DA know you’re cooperating, and they might offer you a deal or go lightly on you. Depending on your information.”
He hung his head. “Okay, I guess. Thanks.”
I left after speaking with the deputies in the Harmony Rock station house and climbed into our patrol car. Jet started it up, and we drove about two miles before he spoke.
“Is it too painful, or do you want to talk about your dad? I’m sorry you went through that.”
My smile was wry. “Thing is, I didn’t go through it. My mom divorced him when he relapsed and got arrested. That happened when I was ten, and she cut him out of our lives. I didn’t see him until I turned eighteen and decided I had to hear his story for myself.”
Jet entered the Thruway and accelerated. “What did he have to say?”
“What I told the kid. That he was innocent. And because he was a CI for the police, he thought he was set up by crooked cops so they could keep getting their bribe money from the local drug lord.”
“What do you think?”
I ran my fingers through my hair. “Anything’s possible.
As much as we hate to admit, there are dirty cops.
But was he lying about not relapsing?” I shrugged.
“I don’t know. I missed out on having a father—first because of drugs and then because my mother wouldn’t let me see him once he was in prison.
She monitored my every move until I graduated from high school.
Only then was I able to see him on my own. ”
Brows raised, Jet exited the Thruway, and we entered Appleton Falls once again. “You said he was killed while inside?”
I nodded. “The guards looked the other way and let him get stabbed. I was told he had no beef with anyone. Could he have been targeted? Yeah, sure, maybe.”
Jet radiated sympathy. “Let’s grab something to eat. We could both use a break.”
We headed to the Blue Bird and sat in a booth. Mary Ann brought us coffee, and I ordered a turkey sandwich.
“Make mine roast beef and Swiss with Thousand Island dressing,” Jet said.
“Heard you got the tow-truck driver, Caleb Porter, arrested. Good. He’s a pig.” Mary Ann made a face filled with disgust. “Always coming in here, trying to hit on the waitresses. I had to slap his hands away from me a few times.” She grimaced.
“I feel sorry for the girl he took advantage of. I hope she’ll be okay.”
“I do too. But you saved a lot of others from the same thing happening to them.” She directed a smile solely for me. “You’re a nice man, and that was a really good thing you did. Stop by sometime at dinner, and I’ll treat you to a piece of pie.”
My cheeks grew hot, and Jet grinned when she left us. “Looks like you made a new fan. Mary Ann is a great person.”
I nodded and sipped my coffee. “She is.” There was no denying it—Mary Ann was super sweet, with gorgeous red hair and big blue eyes.
I’d seen her at the town fairs with her daughter, and she always struck me as a loving and caring mother.
But in the two years I’d been coming to the diner, she’d never once let me believe she was interested in me.
“But you’re thinking about your other lady,” Jet stated. “I can hear it in your voice.”
No way in hell was I coming out to Jet in the middle of the Blue Bird Diner. “Yeah, well, I’m not ready to mess up a good thing.”
“Where did you meet her?”
“Uh, we’ve sort of been running into each other and finally decided to give it a try.”
“Cool. I hope it works out. What’s her name? Maybe I know her.”
Fuck. I couldn’t do this anymore. I felt like crap, squirming like a worm on a hook.
Again, work saved the day. Our radios crackled.
“4-Adam-Charlie. Disturbance at the high school. Security requests assistance.”
“Damn kids,” Jet grumbled and waved Mary Ann over. “We’ve gotta go. Can you wrap up our sandwiches?”
“Sure thing. Be right with you.”
I took out my wallet, but Jet brushed me off. “My treat.”
Mary Ann brought us the bag with our food. “Tossed in a couple of cookies for you both,” she said with a wink.
“Thanks, you’re the bomb.” Jet gave her a big tip, and I smiled to myself—he was definitely freer with his money than before he married Harte.
We jumped in the car and flipped on the lights and siren. I’d made up my mind. As soon as I could, I was going to tell Jet I was with a man.