Chapter 37
S he let out a startled laugh. “Tell Dad? How many things do you think I’ve told Dad about over the years that he’s brushed off or ignored or told me that I was the problem?”
Marlin stilled and stared at her, his breath heaving as his chest moved up and down rapidly. “This is assault, Maya. Not teenage stuff that you have against a stepmother you don’t like.”
She tensed.
“Teenage stuff,” Matthieu said in a low voice.
“I know you and Kathryn don’t get along,” Marlin said. “I know what she’s like. I don’t like her either. But this is far more serious.”
“More serious? So you think it’s all right that Kathryn would tell your sister that she’s ugly, dumb, fat, and unwanted?
” Matthieu snarled. “Do you think that’s teenage stuff?
Do you think that’s fine for Kathryn to speak like that to a vulnerable child who lost her mother?
Whose brother and sister left her in that household where her own father never bothered to protect her from the viper he’d brought into their home?
Should Maya have just moved past that? Ignored everything that bitch said to her? ”
“I . . . she said those things to you, Maya?” Marlin asked.
“She never liked me. She was clever, though. She never said any of it front of anyone else. And she never touched me. Well, other than a few pinches here and there. Not enough for Father to believe me. And after he started to view me as a problem, to accuse me of being a brat and making things up . . . well . . .” Maya shrugged.
“I guess I thought I might as well become what he thought I was. Difficult and rebellious. Angry and rude.”
“You aren’t those things,” Matthieu told her. “You built a barrier to protect yourself. Something that Kathryn and your father forced you to do. No one else was there to protect you and you had to learn how to protect yourself.”
She blinked at him, realizing that she was close to tears. She didn’t know how he saw her so clearly when no one else did.
“Is that why you help abused animals?” Brody asked, staring at her with admiration. “Because of your experience you now help those that can’t protect themselves?”
“I . . . I . . .” She’d never thought of it quite like that. “Maybe?”
“You never told me,” her brother said in a stark voice. “I didn’t know things were that bad. I thought that you . . .”
“That I was just being a brattish teenager and painting Kathryn as the wicked witch because she was my stepmother?” Maya said in a remarkably calm voice. The numb really was marvelous. It stopped her from getting worked up. From saying things that she might regret later.
He winced. “Yeah. I mean, I have never liked Kathryn, but mainly because I felt like Dad got involved with her too soon after Mom died. And she is kind of cold. But I never imagined she was saying those kinds of things to you. I should have tried harder to get Dad to let you live with me. If I’d known . . . I’d have done whatever I had to.”
Maya felt tears threaten again, but she had to keep them at bay. She couldn’t afford to give in. So she just nodded.
“Maybe we get back to Vince?” Detective Reeves asked.
Maya nodded with a sigh. “Yeah, sure.”
“Did you tell anyone?” Reeves asked. “About what Vince did?”
“Yeah, I did end up saying something to my father. Only because he asked me why I wasn’t going out with Vince again.
He wouldn’t listen when I said it didn’t work out.
Instead, he tricked me into coming around for dinner.
Told me it would just be the two of us but when I got there, Kathryn and Vince were there.
I nearly walked back out. I wish I had. All night, Dad and Kathryn were trying to push the two of us together.
At the end of the night when I was leaving, my dad told Vince to walk me out and I refused.
Kathryn told me I was being rude. That’s when it all came out. ”
“And what did your dad say?” Detective Reeves asked.
He seemed very . . . intense. She knew that he was on her father’s case. And he seemed like a good guy. But it felt like there was something else going on here.
“Why do you want to know?” she asked.
Detective Reeves sat back with a sigh and exchanged a look with her brother. Marlin turned to her.
“There’s a lot of corruption at the Billings Police Force.”
“Right,” she said slowly. “I know that. That’s why I never complained about Vince. I knew no one would do anything.”
“It goes deeper than that,” her brother said. “Missing evidence on cases that meant they had to be thrown out of court, reports of bribes and coercion and corruption.”
“Seriously?” she asked, sitting up straight. Tank put his head on her lap and whined, obviously sensing her change in mood.
Shit. What had happened to the numb? She needed that back. The numb kept her functioning. It kept her from losing her mind. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, scratching behind Tank’s ears.
“What does . . . does Dad know? He would have to know, right?”
“There have been reports that were buried,” Detective Reeves said.
“We found some names, though, and we reinterviewed those people. Well, some of them. Some were reluctant to talk to us after their last reports were buried. Some of those people mentioned cops who said that the Chief of Police had sent them. Or that the Chief could help them if they did something for him in return.”
“Oh my God.” She felt like she was going to be sick. Could her father really be that corrupt? Was he collecting payments from people?
“Violent crime has increased in Billings over this last year in particular,” her brother said. “And a number of cops seem to be turning a blind eye to it.”
“Are you saying that Dad is corrupt and that he’s filled the police force with cops like him?” she asked. “But he’s always lived and breathed being a cop. It’s his life. And I never would have thought . . . the two of you . . . are you investigating him?”
“What we have to say is very confidential, Maya,” Reeves said to her. “We have to be careful not to show our hand too soon. Not only could it put the investigation at risk, but it could also put us at risk.”
“You think Dad would hurt you?” she whispered, looking at her brother.
“I don’t like to think that way about him, but the more evidence we find .
. .” Marlin shook his head. “I was approached by someone from Internal Affairs a while ago, they asked me if I’d come back to Billings and look into what was going on.
They figured Dad wouldn’t suspect his own son.
And he doesn’t know that I’ve been working with them.
Reeves had been doing some sniffing around so I approached him, told him to calm down or he was going to get caught. ”
“So that’s what you meant in our other meeting when you said you weren’t opposed to working with IA,” Ink said to Reeves. “You already were.”
“In a roundabout way,” Reeves said. “I didn’t want to tell you about Marlin’s involvement because I wasn’t completely sure I could trust you and I didn’t want to stick his head out with mine.”
Ink nodded as though that made sense.
“Wait,” she said, confused. “Other meeting?”
She saw them all exchange looks. What was going on? What meeting?
“I met with Ink before your father hired his company to protect you,” Reeves said. “I actually suggested that your father think about hiring you a bodyguard. Then I came to Ink and asked him if his company would consider taking the job if I put their name forward.”
“Why would you do that?” she asked.
Reeves sighed. “Two reasons. One, I thought his guys might find something we couldn’t. And the second is because I didn’t want something to happen to you. When your father mentioned getting you protection, Vince put his hand up and volunteered for the job. I knew that couldn’t happen.”
“So . . . Matthieu was spying on me?” she whispered, feeling sick at the thought.
“No,” Matthieu said firmly. “I was hired to protect you. And I knew straight away you knew nothing about what your father was up to. You’re too open, too sweet, and you’re not a fan of your father. I might have kept my eyes open for anything, but in no way was I ever spying on you.”
She eyed him carefully.
“Have you ever known me to lie?” he asked calmly.
She shook her head. No. Never. Matthieu hated lies. Her doubts eased and she nodded to him.
Was it her imagination or did he look relieved? Had he been worried she wouldn’t believe him?
“You’re the reason we took the job,” Ink told her.
She gave him a startled look. “Me? Why?”
“Because you helped Livvy,” Ink told her. “Livvy is part of the Iron Shadows family and we look after our own. You helped protect her that day, that means we owed you.”
Maya shook her head. “You really didn’t.”
“We did. You risked yourself to help her. That was brave. And you’re a person worth protecting, Maya,” Ink told her.
Wow. That was . . . she didn’t even have words. Instead, she took several big breaths to try and calm yourself. “Thank you.”
The words were croaky and quiet, but Ink must have heard them as he nodded.
“Why did you come to help me that day?” she asked Reeves, needing to change the topic. “With Vince.”
“I’d heard Vince talking about you one day in the locker room,” Reeves said. “I’d been keeping a close eye on him. I didn’t like what he was saying. Thankfully I was nearby when he tried to force you into his cop car. And after that, I knew if I could find a way to protect you, I had to take it.”
“He tried what?” her brother yelled.
Tank let out a small growl. And she patted his head. “It’s okay, Tankie. He’s not mad at you.”
Another growl.
“Or me,” she added. “You need to speak in a calmer voice. You’re scaring Tank.”
Her brother nodded immediately. “Sorry. I just . . . fuck, Maya. I had no idea he was coming after you like that.”
She shrugged. “I thought I could handle him. Turns out, I obviously couldn’t.”
“We think he also spray-painted Maya’s garage door before I moved in,” Matthieu said.