25. Linc
“Don’t wake me up, or I’m going to drive a spork into your eye.” Kennedy groans and rolls over, falling back asleep almost instantly.
In the aftermath of Remy and Parker’s wedding, there is only so much anyone can expect of her. Kennedy stepped up in a big way, helping them around her work schedule to the point I almost didn’t see her for a month. I only knew she slept in bed with me because I had her warm body against mine when I woke up every morning until she got up for work.
After pressing a quick kiss to her forehead, I leave for work, already planning something special for her. I just need to figure out exactly what the perfect gift will be.
In the parking lot at work, I see Remy and Dom walking in. “Hey, what are you doing here?”
They exchange a serious look and then nod toward the building. “Let’s go. You’ll find out when we get inside.”
“What’s going on?” My first thought is that something happened to Kennedy, but she is safe. She is asleep in my bed. My mind goes to Emma next, but if it is her, someone would have called me first.
Remy nods to Dom, silently telling him to go on without us. I cross my arms, which is difficult around my duffel bag, and wait for him to tell me what the hell is going on.
“Mallory Mitchells was found dead late last night.”
His words take the wind out of my sails.
“Royal.” It isn’t a question. We know exactly who did it. Hell, Amie and I had been the ones to respond to the call when Royal beat her.
“Yeah.” He steps a little closer, lowering his voice. “Dom caught the call last night. Here’s the thing, though. Royal wasn’t there. He has five people as his alibi. He says he was drinking away his heartbreak over the fact that he caught her cheating… with you.”
My stomach drops out. “What? That’s bullshit.”
Remy turns and starts walking toward the building. “Let’s go. Chief’s gonna want us there for this.”
Bile, sick and acidic, rises in my throat, making it impossible to breathe, let alone think. Never mind the fact that I’d never cheat on Kennedy, even with a gun against my head. But the idea that I’d cheat with the woman who constantly worked with Royal to hurt her, the woman who took her place as Royal’s punching bag, that is even worse.
“You know I’d never do that to Kennedy.” I have to practically shout across the parking lot at that point, and I rush to rush to catch up as he walks up the stairs and through the glass doors.
“I know you wouldn’t. You’re not a fuckin’ idiot. Plus, it’s not like your alibi is gonna be hard to confirm. You’ve got the same cameras at your house that I have at mine. I think Royal’s just trying to buy himself time.”
“Time for what?” We walk by dispatch, nodding to Teri, who smiles sadly at me. “Does everyone know?”
“By now?” Remy raises an eyebrow. “Yeah, I’d say it’s safe to assume everyone in Birch knows.”
“I gotta text Kennedy.”
“You can’t.” Remy crams my hand before I can send the text. “She can’t know. It’s not public information yet that Mallory is dead.”
“I’m not a fuckin idiot, Remy.” I snarl at him but don’t really care at the moment. “I have to tell her that people think I fucked Mallory. She’s gonna be pissed if she goes into work at noon and gets hit with that broadside.”
He lets go, and I shoot off a text to make sure Kennedy doesn’t walk into that shit blind.
L: Hey. You gotta know. Royal’s accusing me of sleeping with Mallory. It never happened.
K: …
K: Is this a joke?
K: A bad one?
L: Not in the slightest. There’s more. You’ll hear at work I’m sure. Just didn’t want you to think I’d ever fuck her.
K: Not even a worry in my mind. Love you. Kick some ass.
I hand Remy my phone,just to make sure that someone else sees the conversation. He shakes his head and rolls his eyes at my raised brow.
“What?” I ask. “I gotta make sure you know I’m not being a dick.” Then I take a screenshot and send it to the chief’s phone. Just to cover my ass.
“Let’s go.” Remy walks into the bullpen, and I follow. We are probably the last two to arrive, and I’m greeted by varying levels of pity and confusion.
Sheriff Jake Findlay stands at the front of the room with the chief, and I know shit is serious. They are both staring at me with matching expressions.
“You didn’t do it,” Chief Townsend says immediately. “I know that. You know that. We all do.” He nods to Jake. “But because of the accusation, we can’t investigate Mallory’s murder. We’re handing it off to the Birch County sheriff.”
I fight the urge to say something like a smart-ass. Instead, I nod and look over at Amie, who has her arms crossed over her chest, looking as pissed as I feel.
“Bullshit,” she calls out unashamedly. “We all know that Royal Prince did this. Linc and I responded to a domestic at his house. Mallory was the victim, but he wasn’t anywhere to be found. And when I did track him down, he had an airtight alibi. There’s no doubt in my mind he did it.”
“And that,” Jake interrupts her, “is why your department isn’t going to investigate. To us, anyone in law enforcement, your assumption is the right one to make. But we can’t have a defense attorney beating a murder charge on a technicality. Especially with his history.”
Chief nods, tapping his fingers on the podium in front of him. “There’s a reason this meeting isn’t happening behind closed doors. I want him to hear through the grapevine that we’re not going to play his game. That he’s not going to win that easily.” There is more to it than that, and I know it. I see the twitch in his jaw, the rage in his eyes. Chief Townsend knows that Royal hurt his daughter. And if he doesn’t pass this off, Royal will end up dead.
“Turn over your reports, any reports that the SO doesn’t already have access to.” He swears under his breath. “Including your body cam footage and field notes,” he adds after the fact. “Hayes, Townsend, Lee, Ortiz… Report to my office. Now.”
Everyone disperses, deputies and officers alike. Logan Pierce, one of the deputies, stops in front of me. “I’m sorry this shit is happening, Linc. If you need anything, let me know.” His eyes aren’t on me, though. They are looking over my shoulder, where Teri sits in dispatch, currently on the phone. Her voice filters out into the bullpen, but I can’t quite make out what she is saying.
“You know,” Remy says from my side. “She won’t talk about you.”
I look at him, trying to figure out what the hell he is talking about. But he is staring at Logan.
“Teri,” he goes on quietly. “I tried asking her about it. How did you fuck it up so badly with her that she won’t even talk about you in any capacity?”
“I lied to her,” Logan says simply. “Killed the love she had for me. It was easier than you’d think.” He walks away without another word, and like a high school drama queen, I want more information.
“Later.” Remy nods toward his retreating back. “That man’s story is a fucked-up one, to say the least. Let’s get this shit over with.”
We are the last two in the chief’s office, and I try to stand in the back of the room next to the closed door, but he isn’t having that. He stares at me and then at the empty space next to his desk.
“What is he going to find?” Chief Townsend doesn’t beat around the bush. “Have any of you, anyone, done anything that can be seen as intimidation?”
“Yup,” I admit without guilt. “I threatened him in the bathroom of the courthouse. Benton Mays, another attorney, was there and watched me do it. I told him to stay the fuck away from your daughter.”
Chief makes notes on a piece of paper on his desk. “Do you remember the date?”
“Nope. But I had court that day. And Benton will confirm it. I wasn’t exactly hiding it.”
He sighs deeply. “Anything else?”
“Yep,” I go on. “Last month, at Lucy’s. He did something to her. She was on the ground at his feet, crying. I dragged him into the kitchen and told him I’d kill him if he touched her.” I cough. “I don’t think anyone saw me but Kennedy.”
“Damn it, Linc. Could you not have left him alone?”
“No,” I admit. “I mean, I could have. But that ship sailed the minute I knew he hurt her. To be fair, I didn’t threaten to kill him until the day Amie and I responded to the call where he beat the shit out of Mallory.”
The chief runs a hand through his hair, and his shoulders slump. “Anyone else?”
Remy coughs. “Yeah. I may have spoken to his secretary and let her know that if Royal made any unexpected trips or cleared his schedule to let me know.”
I figured he’d do something like that, and I lean over to offer him a fist bump. Completely ignoring the scoff Chief gives us both, I nod at my friend.
There isn’t a chance in hell he’ll let his little sister become a victim. Not again.
Amie raises her hand, silently waiting for the chief’s attention.
“What did you do?” His voice lowers an octave, and he rubs his forehead with one hand. “Please tell me it stops with you.”
“I might have done a thing,” she admits while clearing her throat. “Technically, I think it amounts to a minor case of stalking. After he beat Mallory, I may have driven by his house and stayed there until I could build a case on him for domestic abuse.”
“Were you there last night?” There is almost a hint of hope in his voice.
“No,” Amie admits. “I was out of town. Otherwise, I’d have video of it.”
The chief’s face falls, and even though I feel bad for him, there is something else happening.
In the years since Danny died, I’ve pushed everyone away. Everyone except Remy. Well, and technically Dom, who deployed with us. Him and Ian. Our unit. The small group of men who relied on one another to survive. But now, things are changing. The chief wouldn’t be asking us if he isn’t trying to protect us. Amie doesn’t need to do anything about Royal. She did her job. But the look she shoots me tells me she did it for me. For Kennedy.
“I didn’t do anything nearly that bad,” Dom scoffs while leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms over his chest. “But my mother, on the other hand, she definitely did.”
“I don’t know why, but I’m horrified to hear what he says,” Remy whispers next to me. “His mom is fucking terrifying.”
“She may or may not have called his parents,” Dom goes on. “I guess she knows them from the old days. When she used to be donation coordinator for the hospital.”
Chief actually laughs at that. “I don’t even care at this point. You guys couldn’t make my job any easier, could you?”
“Actually,” I snap, “I feel like we were protecting you. Protecting Kennedy, Chief. He’s obsessed with her. He hurt her. I know it. You know it. We all do. She didn’t have to report it for us to know.” I don’t tell him what she confided in me. “He beat Mallory to a pulp, and she wouldn’t press charges. He made her color her hair red. The exact same shade as Kennedy’s.”
There are murmurs of agreement from the other people in the room, and I can see that he agrees with us; he just can’t say it.
“If we didn’t do something,” I go on. “If I didn’t do something, it would be Kennedy dead right now, and not Mallory.”