Chapter 10
I stood against the counter, watching the Chief of Police finish his questioning of Phoebe. Wade sat with them, making his own notes. Mom was putting the coffee she’d brought into cups, having shown up when the gossip reached her at the café.
“Well, it looks like we have everything we need,” the Chief said, snapping his notepad closed.
“There were two sets of prints on the drugs, but our evidence tech already confirmed neither of them is yours. Our investigation will continue, and we may need to come back out to Winterbourne Manor, but for now, I think we’re good. ”
“I knew that,” Phoebe replied tongue in cheek. “But it’s still nice to have the official all-clear.”
Wade studied Phoebe where she sat at Louise’s kitchen table. She’d just finished signing her official statement. As I watched her, I saw her fingers do that rolling thing I’d noticed she did, only this time she was rolling the pen the Chief had given her back and forth almost reflexively.
Other times when she did it, she seemed anxious. Right now, she seemed perfectly calm, which was crazy given a hundred thousand dollars’ worth of cocaine was found in her house along with two surveillance cameras.
Come to think of it, the only time I saw her remotely anxious, other than when my crew had her trapped in her car, was when they all surrounded my tailgate and the lawn filled with police.
She’d looked around at the street, noting each neighbor that came out to watch the show, and had curled up as tightly as she could against the side of my truck bed.
Her hand had shaken when she’d reached for her purse, pulling the notebook out, but once she did and the pen was in her hand… she was cool as a cucumber.
“It’s impressive you saw the camera,” Wade pointed out, and I frowned at him, not sure I liked his tone. He was in his uniform now, having gone home to change when the Chief showed up at Winterbourne Manor.
Phoebe shrugged. “It just caught my eye. The light hit it at the right angle when I stepped out. If it hadn’t, I probably wouldn’t have seen it at all.”
That made sense. When the crime scene people showed up, Phoebe had taken them to the exact spot where she’d seen it. I’d had to crouch down, but I caught the same flash she did.
Getting to his feet, the Chief extended his hand. “It was nice meeting you, Ms. Lebonaire. I am truly sorry for the circumstances.”
Phoebe stood, shaking his hand, the pen still rolling between her fingers. “Guess I was just destined to introduce myself to Maplehurst with flair.”
Mom laughed, pouring me another cup of coffee. “You’ve certainly made an impression.”
Phoebe smiled ruefully. “Just what I always wanted.”
“I’ll let myself out.” The Chief gave his farewell, pausing in the doorway. “Actually, I did have one more question.”
Phoebe cocked her head. “Okay?”
“It’s just, you seem to know an awful lot about law enforcement procedures—”
That was an understatement. Phoebe had gone full-on CSI once the camera had been located. Hell, she’d sat on the tailgate of my truck with her notebook and written a fully detailed statement before the Chief had even arrived.
“—were you in law enforcement?”
Wade and the Chief shared a look so fast I almost missed it.
Ah hell, Wade. I’d known he was suspicious of Phoebe the second he’d gotten outside after making sure the house was clear.
And I got it. He was a cop. He was suspicious of everyone.
Still, she’d answered all his questions without hesitation.
Phoebe accepted a cup of coffee from my mom with a quiet thanks.
“No. Lachlan had an obsession for about two years with cops and criminal procedures.” She put the pen down, wrapping her hands around her mug, a soft smile playing on her face as she looked down at the light brown liquid.
“Unlike most kids, my son decided that instead of playing cops and robbers, he was interested more in the technical side: crime scene analysis, interview techniques.” She let out a laugh in remembrance, looking back up at the Chief and Wade.
“Lachlan can become obsessive, which Ty has already seen—”
“That I have.” Ever since that first night when I’d given Lachlan a little lesson on the basic engineering of houses, he’d dived in.
Within a few days, he’d read the books I’d given him, had pages of questions, asked what other books to read, if there were documentaries, tutorials, and anything else.
It shocked me how good his questions were.
I’d even had to look up some of the answers. “He’s a bright kid.”
“Anyway, part of helping him resulted in me learning a whole bunch about police procedures. aunt Edith even hired a couple of retired FBI agents and a former police officer to give him…well, us…lessons.”
At everyone’s confused look—’cause really, who had an aunt that could just hire former law enforcement professionals?—Phoebe dropped a bomb.
“Alex’s aunt is Edith Devereaux. The Edith Devereaux.”
Everyone’s jaw dropped.
Mom sat down heavily in the chair across from Phoebe. “As in, Edith Devereaux, the owner of AA and D developments?”
That wasn’t all Edith Devereaux owned.
Phoebe smacked her lips. “The one and the same. She adopted me as a pseudo-niece, and I’m pretty sure she’s still secretly trying to get Lachlan to call her grandma, which means she likes to, well…go bigger than big whenever she can.”
Wade whistled, and I met his gaze.
The Chief stood up a little straighter. “That’s—well, that’s excellent then. I’ll just be off. You folks have a good night. Wade, I’ll see you back at the station.”
“Mom!” Lachlan collided with the Chief, giving him a quick apology. He barreled into the kitchen, followed by Scarlette. Both of them had matching smiles that were a little too wide.
Phoebe lifted an eyebrow at her son at the same time Mom crossed her arms, eyeing Scarlette.
“What’s up, guys?” Wade got up, putting his empty coffee cup in the sink.
“So—”
Now, I didn’t have to be a parent to know what that start meant.
“What do you want?” Phoebe eyed her son suspiciously.
“Do you remember how much you love me?” Lachlan began, and I snorted a laugh, which earned me a glare.
Returning to her son, Phoebe gestured with her hand. “Out with it.”
Scarlette and Lachlan shared a look, which had me doing a double take. They’d known each other what? Two weeks? And already it was like they could read each other’s minds.
“Well, it goes like this…” Lachlan swiped a muffin off the plate Phoebe had put on the table.
Finally, I’d gotten my hands on one of her muffins. I’d never tasted anything like it and knew the next time she baked, I’d probably join the hyena pack fighting over them. They were that good.
“You did say you wanted Lock to participate in his new school,” Scarlette reminded her, and Mom shushed her.
Lock nodded at Scarlette in agreement.
“He already said he could take me on as a student.” Lachlan pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket.
“Ugh,” Scarlette sighed. “Boys,” she muttered, giving Lachlan a look. “You have to get her to sign you up for the team first.”
Phoebe sat up straight. “What team?”
“I gotta head out,” Wade interrupted. Everyone said goodbye. Wade gave me the hand sign to text him later.
“What team?” Phoebe picked up the pen from the table, rolling it between her fingers, still looking calm. Well, if suspicious was calm, then that’s what she was. I didn’t see the tension in her face that usually accompanied the movement. Maybe I needed to keep a pack of pens on me…
“The Maplehurst River Bats!” Lachlan proclaimed.
“You want to join the baseball team?” I grinned. That was amazing. “I played for them when I was a kid.”
Phoebe gaped. “You want to play baseball?”
Lachlan handed Scarlette his muffin when she pouted at him, thinking there were none left.
“Yeah.” He headed to the counter where a container sat. “I like watching it with Uncle Grayson. I tried out a bit at Scarlette’s practice today, and it was actually pretty fun.”
“You tried out? Why didn’t you tell me?” Phoebe cried, jerking in her seat to glare at Lachlan, who pulled out a muffin from the container with a shrug.
While Lachlan and Scarlette gave Phoebe a rundown of everything, Mom and I chatted.
Even she was amazed at how quickly Lock (yes, I called him Lock when Phoebe wasn’t within hearing because he preferred it) and Scarlette’s friendship had formed and at the transformation in my little sister.
Ever since her dad, the fucker, had left them, she’d been withdrawn.
Lock’s appearance seemed to be the thing to pull her out of what we were all worried was the beginning of depression.
In fact, everything was going pretty great despite the day’s events. I’d get the house released back to me the day after tomorrow, which worked. I needed to get some supplies in anyway, and I could work on the back deck in the meantime.
Then Lock said it. “So Rowdy said he could coach me. Actually…” Lock looked at his watch. “He should be here by now.”
“Rowdy?” I cut Mom off mid-sentence.
“Yeah. We ran into him after practice…” Scarlette explained, acting as if it was no big deal. “Anyway, he said he had to come see you, Phoebe. And since Coach Matthews can’t take Lock on as a student till the end of October, Rowdy said he could teach him.”
Just then, the doorbell rang.
“I’ll get it!” Mom put a restraining hand on my shoulder.
Lock started on why Rowdy should coach him, and before I could even think about it, I blurted out, “I’ll teach you.”
Scarlette jumped up and down with a squeal. “Yes!!!” She rushed to me. “You are the best big brother! If Ty teaches you, we’ll win for sure. He was MVP eight times!”
“Ty,” Phoebe admonished me, and I tensed. “I can’t ask you to do that. Or Rowdy, really. I’m sure I can find someone else.”
“So I can do it?” Lachlan’s face lifted, and then he too was shouting in excitement when Phoebe gave him a nod. Without waiting, Scarlette grabbed Lock by the arm, dragging him outside to practice. The door hadn’t fully closed when I heard him say, “Wait! She hasn’t said who’ll coach me yet!”
“Ty said he would!” Scarlette dismissed him, dragging him down the back steps of Louise’s back porch, no doubt heading for the shed full of sports equipment, leaving Phoebe and me alone.
“Ty,” she began, turning to face me.
“Hang on.” I held up a finger, almost laying it on her mouth.
I really wanted to feel her lips, I realized, my attention focused on the way her bottom lip was a little fuller than the top and the shade of pink deeper than the blush she wore earlier.
“Before you say no, you need to know that I wouldn’t charge you—”
“That’s insane! Of course you should! I won’t accept that—!”
I forced myself not to touch her, no matter how badly I wanted to know if the feeling I’d had earlier when I held her hand was only my protective instincts flaring, or if it was the same thing that had her slipping into my dreams at night.
Her green eyes widened, and I forced my hand down before I gave in. It didn’t help that I saw what looked like a flash of disappointment in her pretty eyes. Did she want me to touch her?
Move it along, Ty, I thought, hearing my mother in the front of the house talking to someone.
“I won’t be charging you to do something I’d already planned on doing.
” I hadn’t really made a decision yet, but I wasn’t telling her that.
“The team’s coach asked me if I would be the assistant coach this year.
” He asked me every year. “I wanted to get your urgent renos done before I agreed, which they all will be, except the back deck, by the end of next week.” And she could move back into the house while I finished.
“So, no arguing.” Her nostrils flared at that, and I bit back a grin.
So, she didn’t like being told what to do.
And then I did it. I slipped. “I’m happy to give Lock a little extra help to get him up to speed. ”
It was true. I would gladly help him, even if he wasn’t responsible for the change in my sister.
There was just something about him that I connected with.
Maybe it was because he was going through what my siblings went through when their dad left abruptly.
Also, over another woman. I’d been desperate for a way to help them but felt like I failed.
Even if Lock didn’t impress the hell out of me, I wanted to help him.
“Lock?”
Well, fuck.