Chapter 36
A doctor named Hack was checking her over as she sat in a meeting room at Callahan Security.
She wanted to ask what sort of doctor had the nickname, Hack, but she’d decided she was better off not knowing.
To her surprise, Matthieu had managed to get them into a twenty-four hour vet. The vet had even come out to the car to check on Tank and Big Berry. And Tank actually let the vet touch him without cowering or growling.
Butch had gone with them to the vet, then followed them to Callahan Security.
She hoped her babies were all right. They’d left them in Ink’s office with Butch guarding the door since Tank hadn’t been that keen on him going into the room with him.
“Right, aside from being pale and stressed, you’re good,” Hack told her with a small smile.
“A nasty burn on your hand, but it will heal as long as you take care with it. Watch for any sign of infection, take painkillers if you need to. Leave the bandage on for twenty-four hours, then replace it. If it’s not looking better in a few days, let me know.
Otherwise, I prescribe rest and self-care.
You’ve had a hell of a fright, that could have repercussions. ”
She nodded and attempted a smile. She wasn’t sure if she managed it. There was this feeling of numbness running through her.
“Thanks, Hack,” Matthieu said.
“Of course. I’d say anytime, but I hope it doesn’t happen again.”
Hack stood and left as her phone beeped. She glanced around, wondering where it was.
“Here it is,” Matthieu said, handing her purse over. Taking out her phone, she sighed with relief. “Well, that’s one less worry.”
“What is?”
“The puppies are all good. The team extracted them.”
“Already? They move fast.”
She nodded. It was one less thing for her to worry about.
Before she could say anything else, there was a knock on the door. Matthieu turned and opened it. To her surprise, her brother rushed into the room.
“Marlin? What are you doing here?”
“What am I doing here?” he repeated back to her. “I think the question should be why didn’t you call me?”
Um.
She had a feeling that the correct answer wasn’t that it hadn’t even occurred to her.
Nope. That seemed the wrong thing to say.
“Sorry?” she said.
“What the fuck happened? A buddy of mine called to say that your house was set on fire!”
“I’m fine,” she quickly told him. “I just have some superficial burns on my hand. Matthieu is fine too and so are my babies. Thank God. They could have died.”
She was managing to stop herself from thinking too much about that. But it was difficult. It kept wanting to infiltrate the wall in her brain that she’d erected to protect herself.
They could have died.
Her babies could have died.
Don’t think about it. Push it down.
“Thank God you’re all right.” To her shock, Marlin walked over and hugged her.
“I don’t know what we’re going to do, though. What are we going to do? Who did this?” she asked in a shaky voice.
“Vince did it,” Matthieu said grimly, looking up from his phone. “Brody just messaged me. He was caught on camera pulling off his mask before getting in his car. It was Vince who tried to kill you.”
Oh my God.
Vince. That bastard.
“Fuck,” Marlin said. “Vince? Are you serious?”
“Very serious.”
Marlin ran his hand down over his face. “You have video footage?”
“Yeah. We do.”
“Copies?” her brother asked urgently.
“Yes.”
“Good. Do not lose all of those. My father . . . he’s not going to believe this without seeing this proof. And . . . well, there has been some history on the force of crucial pieces of evidence going missing in certain cases. We do not want this to be one of those cases.”
“Oh, believe me,” Matthieu replied. “We are well aware of the corruption in the Billings Police Force. And how Vince is deep in that shit.”
“You are?” He shot his gaze to Maya. “Do you know why Vince might have targeted you like this? The other day you didn’t seem to want anything to do with him. Is there something I don’t know? I don’t see how he could be the person threatening our father. Vince is like a son to him.”
A throat cleared at the doorway and she glanced over to see Detective Reeves walk in. “Maya, I’m glad to see you’re all right.”
“Thanks,” she told him.
Marlin turned to him. “It was fucking Vince.”
Shock filled Reeves’ face. “You are fucking kidding me. I told that asshole that if he went near you again, I’d make his life a living hell.”
“Obviously, he didn’t believe you,” Matthieu said. “And now he’s going to pay.”
“By going to jail,” Marlin said.
Matthieu just grunted.
“We should all sit down and talk about this,” Reeves said. “Can you do it now?”
“Maya is exhausted. She needs to rest.”
“I know but the information will be fresh for both of you,” Reeves said.
“And Father is demanding a report,” Marlin added.
Her stomach was a tight knot. “Let’s just get it over with. I just want to check on my babies first.”
Matthieu eyed her for a long moment. “All right. We’ll go check on the animals and then give a report.”
“Good,” Reeves said grimly. “Meanwhile, I’ll send someone we trust to Vince’s house to keep an eye out for him.”
She figured that Vince wasn’t likely to return home. Then again, she hadn’t thought he’d throw a firebomb through her window, either.
“Let’s go,” Matthieu said.
Maya let him guide her back to Ink’s office as he messaged someone on his phone. “Just letting Ink know what’s going on. He and Brody will join us for the meeting.”
Butch was still standing outside the office door. He looked uncomfortable as he saw them.
“He said you wouldn’t mind him going in there!” Butch said hastily.
“What are you talking about?” Matthieu asked. “Who said that?”
“Captain.”
“He spoke?” Maya asked. “Like he used actual words.”
“Welll, not exactly. I asked him what he was doing. He gestured at me to move. I said, won’t Maya and Matthieu mind? And he shook his head.”
“Captain is in there?” Matthieu asked, reaching for the door. They walked inside.
To her surprise, Tank hadn’t even hesitated to get out of the car and follow them into Callahan Security earlier. He’d stayed pressed to her side, clearly protecting her.
Under any other circumstances, she would have been crying tears of joy, but she felt like she was in a bubble and everyone else was carrying on around her without her.
God, she was so grateful that they’d saved all of her babies.
Vince was an asshole who needed to pay for this.
As they stepped into the room, she ran her gaze around, taking in her pets. Marshmallow was in his cage on the desk. Princess Priss was also in a cat carrier on the desk. She’d been very upset earlier and the vet had given her a light sedative so she was sleeping.
Captain was sitting on a chair behind the desk with Dougie on his lap. Dougie let out a few woofs and jumped down, running toward them. Well, he banged into the side of the desk then the leg of a chair first.
She winced. Ouch.
Big Berry was in the corner of the room with Tank and . . . Gummy? Gummy barked and ran to them. Big Berry let out a snuffle, waddling over. Tank stayed where he was, but he watched them both.
She made her way around all of her babies, checking on them. She got to Tank last and patted his head, talking to him quietly.
“Captain?” Ink asked, stepping into the room. “Are you coming to the meeting?”
Captain shook his head and gestured to the animals.
“You’re staying in here with the animals?” Ink asked, sounding surprised.
Captain nodded as Tank leaned against her. His weight was heavy but she didn’t care. If anything, it was helping to ground her.
“We’re all ready for the meeting,” Ink said to Matthieu and Maya. “Brody is joining us.”
Brody. He’d warned them about the fire.
“The chickens,” she said suddenly. “Have the chickens been sorted?”
“Spike and Duke came and moved the entire coop along with the chickens to Spike’s place,” Ink told her. “They were going to go to Ink’s house, but Spike’s is closer. And Millie insisted that she was their godmother so they had to go to her.”
Oh.
“That’s good. Millie will look after them.”
“She will,” Ink agreed. “She said to tell you that she’ll guard them with her life.”
She wanted to smile. But it just didn’t come. That numbness had fully taken hold of her.
Matthieu held out his hand to her as she stood there. “Come on, Maya. Let’s go get this done so we can figure out where we’re going to next.”
“We’ve got a safe house you can use,” Ink said. “I don’t know how animal appropriate it would be, though. I’m toying with another idea too.”
She stared at Matthieu’s hand and then at Ink.
A safe house? She needed a safe house . . . because Vince had attempted to kill her. Why had he escalated like that though? Why go from spray painting the garage door to attempted murder? What the heck had she ever done to him?
“Spitfire,” Matthieu murmured. “Take my hand. We have to go have a meeting and then you can rest.”
Rest?
How was she meant to rest? There wouldn’t be any rest for her. She would be lucky to ever sleep again.
But she let him take hold of her hand. The one that wasn’t bandaged.
She glanced down at Tank. But he didn’t stay with Big Berry, instead he followed her.
She stilled and Matthieu turned back.
“Tank wants to come.”
Matthieu glanced down at the dog and then nodded. “Let him come. Big B, too, if she wants.”
That’s how they ended up walking into the conference room with Tank and Big Berry.
Her brother and Detective Reeves were already standing in the room.
There was another man sitting at the table, staring down at his laptop screen.
He seemed vaguely familiar but she couldn’t think of where she would have seen him before.
Detective Reeves gaped at them. “Is that a pig?”
“This is Big Berry and Tank,” Matthieu explained. “Two of Maya’s babies. Tank is feeling protective, I think, and Big B is his best friend. Tank was abused before he came to live with Maya, and he feels more comfortable with Big Berry around.”