Chapter 36
“What are you doing up?” says Emily. She’s out walking with her family in a green park but has fallen back to take Braedon’s FaceTime call.
“Some big stuff happened tonight. Want to hear about it?”
Emily looks at her family, stops to let them get ahead more, then says, “Yeah, I do. Did you find Teddy?” She starts walking again.
Braedon shakes his head. “No. The police arrested someone tonight. They think he might know something about where Teddy is. My grandpa is there now talking to the guy.”
“And your da?”
“No,” says Braedon. “He’s home to be with me. After what happened.”
“Which is?”
“I found my mom.”
Emily stops. “You what?”
Braedon recounts the story. With a little hindsight, and at least for the moment, he’s more proud of his investigative work than he is hurt by his mother’s betrayal. Maybe that’s out of necessity—he doesn’t want to cry in front of Emily.
“That’s bloody brilliant, Braedon. I can’t believe you found her on your own.”
“Yeah,” says Braedon. “Sue told me that’s what the police do now. Search for people on the internet. She gave me the idea.”
“Are you going to contact her? Your mum?”
“Don’t know,” says Braedon. “But…” Braedon hesitates.
“What?”
“Maybe when I get to visit, you and I could go see her.”
“In London?”
“Yeah.”
“How would we get to London?”
“Train.”
“Yeah, but I mean, London’s not in the EU. I don’t know if we can go there without our parents.”
“Oh,” says Braedon. “I didn’t think of that. Maybe Dad would go with us.”
Emily keeps walking. Her eyes look off to the side as if she’s deep in thought. Braedon expects her to say something, but she doesn’t. Finally he says, “What are you thinking?” Again she doesn’t answer and her eyes stay to the side. “Emily? Can you hear me?”
“Yeah…” says Emily.
“Why aren’t you saying anything?”
“Well … I don’t know if I should.”
“What do you mean?” says Braedon.
“I guess…” Emily hesitates. “I mean…”
“What?”
“Braedon, don’t you think your dad already knew?”
Braedon’s head gets fuzzy. If his father knew where Braedon’s mother was, he would have told him. Because to not tell him is a form of lying. And Dad’s always been truthful with him. Hasn’t he? “I don’t think he did know,” says Braedon.
“But think about it,” says Emily. She has a sick look on her face.
Like she doesn’t want to say this but has to.
“Your dad is super smart. All the teams want him to be coach. When he was a player, the commentators always said he was the smartest player on the pitch. That’s what my da says, as well.
I mean, it’s great that you found her. It means you’re super smart like your da.
But he probably did it before you did. He just didn’t say anything ’cause he didn’t want to hurt your feelings. ”
Braedon considers this for a little too long.
“Hey, sorry,” says Emily. “We’re at the breakfast place. I have to go. But talk to you later? Like when it’s morning for you?”
Braedon bites his lower lip and nods.
“Okay. See you later, then.”
Braedon ends the call without speaking. He’s afraid his voice will break. He’s afraid if he lets his thoughts out, the tears will come, too. He puts his phone on its charger, turns out the light, lies there in the dark, and stares up at a ceiling he cannot see.
“Why are you here if you’re not a cop anymore?” says Wags. He sits on the cot in his cell, his hair a mess, a plastic bottle of water at his feet and a paper cup of coffee in his right hand. “I mean, I don’t have to talk to you.”
“You don’t have to talk to anyone,” says Judd. “And I’m here because Chief Jensen asked for my assistance in the search for my brother, Teddy.”
“Oh, great,” says Wags. “My tax dollars at work. Paying for an old has-been cop so he can look for his fuckup brother. That’s government for you.”
Judd swivels in the office chair he pulled over from Kimmich’s desk. He’s positioned himself right outside the bars of Wags’s cell. “Not in this case,” says Judd. “I’m working for free. You can think of it as giving back. I know that’s something that’s important to you.”
“Fuck you,” says Wags.
“Language,” says Mike, who sits on his desk, one leg on the floor and one up.
“You want a lawyer, Wags? Because we can have this conversation when your lawyer’s here.
Maybe that’ll be tomorrow. Maybe it’ll be the day after tomorrow.
Maybe it’ll be in a week, especially if you didn’t pay your legal bills last time you were in this situation. Doesn’t matter to me. I’m in no rush.”
“What good’s a lawyer going to do me? I had nothing to do with those catalytic converters. I don’t know how they got in my trunk. But I did blow a .16. You got me on that. And on that only, I plead guilty.”
“That’s something you do in court,” says Judd. “Not here. Of course, this is a small town with a small police force. Mike and Andy and Chief Jensen, they like to keep things informal. Maybe not follow the letter of the law, if that’s what’s best for the community in the long run.”
“Ah,” says Wags. “You want to make some kind of deal. I don’t know what I have to offer, but I’m willing to listen.”
Judd gets up from his office chair, walks to the coffeepot, and refills his cup. He’s mid-pour when he says, “Let’s go back to those catalytic converters that you don’t know anything about.”
“I don’t. Someone’s trying to set me up.”
Judd heads back toward his chair. “I’m sure that’s true,” says Judd. “Happens all the time. Just the other day, I looked into the back of my Tahoe and found a whole mess of unmounted diamonds. Someone must have just put ’em in there. Figure I’ll make myself a crown.”
Wags gets up off his bunk and walks to the bars of his cell.
“I know you’re not going to believe me,” he says, “but I swear. I don’t know where those catalytic converters came from.
Clay was asking me about catalytic converters the other day.
Said he heard I’d been stealing them. I told him it wasn’t true.
Then Clay went up to Robert’s scrapyard and asked if they buy catalytic converters.
Now I have a bunch of them in the trunk of my car, so maybe you should talk to Clay because that’s where this whole thing started. ”
“You know I don’t really give a shit about those converters,” says Judd.
“No,” says Wags. “I didn’t know that. If you don’t care about the converters, what in the hell are we talking about?”
“I want to know if Teddy tried to sell you any.”
“No,” says Wags. “He didn’t.”
“Because, let’s say, you told Teddy you’d pay him X amount for each catalytic converter.
And let’s say, you may have told him where he could get some, then maybe he did just that.
And then maybe Teddy put those converters in your trunk so you could drive them to wherever you’re going to drive them.
Maybe all the way up to the cities. No sense taking the risk of keeping ’em in your shop. ”
“Listen,” says Wags. “I’m sorry Teddy is missing.
I really am. Personally, I like the guy.
I like him a whole hell of a lot better than I like you.
If I’d seen him, I’d tell you. If I had any idea where he might be, I’d tell you.
If I had even a clue of what he’s been up to, I’d tell you that, too.
But I don’t know anything about Teddy. Other than he’s a nice guy, he has that cool earring that Joe Strummer supposedly gave him, and he had his ups and downs. All stuff you already know.”
Judd thinks on this for a good minute before he says, “Mike, do what you have to with him. And Wags, if I find out you’re lying about seeing Teddy or knowing what he’s been up to, I am going to make your life even worse than it already is.”
“How are you going to do that, Judd? You’re not police anymore.”
“Oh, I know,” says Judd. “Being a private citizen makes my options considerably more interesting.”
The station’s front door opens. Zoey Jensen walks in, sees Judd and Mike outside of the jail cell and Wags in it and says, “I thought something fun might be going on in here. How come no one called me?”