Chapter Thirteen #2
A second later, the sheriff himself appeared with a glare on his face. “You fucking done?”
“She needs some time to process this, Humbly,” I said, walking down the stairs. “If you have places to be, go. Let her settle and come back.”
“We need to question her while it’s still fresh on her mind.”
“Trust me, Michael,” Dominic said, coming into the foyer with his hand in his pockets. His tie was loose, his shirt rumpled. “She’s not going to forget this morning anytime soon.”
Humbly sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. I remained at the base of the stairs, folding my arms over my chest. “Go. Tell Marg and get the autopsy started.”
“His body won’t be at the morgue for another hour or so. My forensics team is still at the beach.”
“Then perhaps you and I need to go to Margie’s Place together,” Grayson offered as he came into the space.
Humbly’s brows came together, his eyes turning to slits. “Why would you need to come? This isn’t one of your cases.”
Grayson’s eyes met mine, asking the silent question. We in this?
I gave him a single nod, knowing there was no other choice. Angel was mine, after all.
“Red Snake Investigations is formally requesting to partner with you on this case,” Grayson continued. Behind him, Hayes came into view and leaned his shoulder against the wall, his green eyes pinned to Humbly’s profile.
“Why would Red Snake need to be involved in this?” Humbly pressed.
“Because Felix Kolby was a friend and coworker of Angel’s,” I said. All heads turned to me. “Angel is a woman I rescued years ago while on a job.”
“Who were you after then?”
“I’m not at liberty to discuss that with you. At least, not here.”
Grayson’s jaw ticked.
The sheriff put his hands on his hips. “And you believe this death is connected to her in some way?”
“After everything she’s been through, I can’t afford to not suspect,” I replied, casting a glance at Jake. He jerked his chin and moved back into the kitchen.
Humbly clocked this, shook his head, and turned to look out the screen door. “And if I deny your request?” he challenged with an exhausted sigh.
“Then you’ll work your investigation and we’ll work ours,” Hayes answered him. He looked at me, something shifting in his gaze, a muscle jumping in his cheek. “We have more resources, Humbly.”
“I can’t just let you take over this case,” he shot back, turning to face us.
“We’re not asking for that,” I told him, hearing the floorboards creak above me. There was no doubt that she was hearing.
“And what if it’s nothing, Doss? What then?”
“Then you close the case, there’s a funeral, and this town will grieve in peace.”
“I didn’t like the way you say that,” he said, glaring at me.
“I didn’t like saying it, but that’s where we’re at.”
Grayson cleared his throat. “So what’s it going to be, Humbly?”
He studied each of us for a few seconds before letting out a second sigh. He pointed at me. “Where did you just send Jake?”
“He’s running a background on Kolby,” Hayes drawled. “So far, we’ve found no next of kin. Orphaned at the age of three. He was raised in Boston by foster parents until he was sixteen. From there, he graduated early, traveled a bit, and then went to culinary school.”
“I haven’t given you permission to do that yet,” Humbly clipped. “You can’t just run background checks on people.”
Jake poked his head into the room, giving the sheriff a questioning look. “Michael, I do this shit all the time.”
I shook my head at him. Not the damn time, Murphy.
Humbly looked like he was two seconds away from losing his mind.
“We don’t need your permission,” Dominic mused. “Grayson was just asking because he respects you. We all do.”
Humbly moved to him. Out of the five of us, Dominic had the closest relationship to Humbly.
He and his wife, Sarah, had become good friends with Dominic for some reason.
He spent most Saturdays over there with them and their children.
We couldn’t figure out why he was drawn to them.
Perhaps it was the healthy family dynamic they possessed.
Or the hardships Sarah and Michael survived without turning cold and hard.
Whatever it was, Dominic and Michael were close friends, closer than they had been before I left.
“So there’s really no point in me giving you an answer then, huh?” he pressed, his tone cold.
Dominic’s indigo eyes didn’t leave Humbly’s as he said, “With your permission, none of us would feel guilty.”
“You don’t have to do this.” He paused to face everyone. “Red Snake doesn’t have to get involved with every case.”
“And it won’t,” Grayson vowed.
“But when it comes to the people we care about, Michael,” I said, coming to the center of the foyer, “we have to.”
“And you care about Ms. Howell?”
“More than you can comprehend.”
He ran his hand over his short hair as he looked at his boots, muttering something under his breath.
“Fine. Fucking fine. Red Snake will have access to this case, and in return,” his brown eyes snapped to Hayes, “you share resources. And if this turns out to be something bigger than we anticipated, my department will be the first to know. We clear on that?”
Hayes nodded and held out his hand. “You have our word.”
They shook hands. “Marg is going to be a fucking mess,” Humbly confessed.
“And we’ll be there to support her.”
“If this death turns into a homicide, I’ll need to hold a town hall,” he announced. “You boys up for that?”
“Whatever it takes,” I said.
A few minutes later, Grayson, Hayes, and the police left. Dominic closed the door, and my shoulders dropped. I let my head fall back for a second, rolling my neck, trying to release the tension.
“How are you?” he asked me.
Agony was seeping into my bloodstream with each passing second, its poison heading straight for my heart. “Peachy,” I muttered.
“And Angel?”
Our gazes locked. “I don’t know,” I replied. “This is so much for her.”
“It’s a lot for everyone.”
“I need a word.” I jerked my head and moved down the hall. Dominic followed. “What is it?” he asked, his voice low.
“Angel wants something from me,” I muttered, turning to face him. I crossed my arms. “She wants a distraction.”
Dominic’s eyes flashed with recognition. “She’s seeking out physical intimacy with you.”
Nodding, I crossed my arms over my chest. “I don’t know how to navigate this. She’s a survivor.”
“She’s also a grown woman trying to find some sense of control,” he said softly.
“But what she’s been through—”
“Ash, you don’t know what she’s been through. No one here does, and until she decides to tell someone about it, trying to guess what traumas she endured isn’t going to do anyone any good.”
I stared. “What do I do?”
“Do you want to pursue this? A relationship with her?”
“Of course, but not now—she just found her friend’s body on the beach.”
“Part of PTSD is dissociation, Doss. She wants a distraction. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s human nature.”
“But—”
He put his hand on my shoulder. “She’s not my patient. You’re my patient. If you’re comfortable, explore this with her. You’re a good man, Ash, and clearly, she can see that.”
I nodded. Fuck, he was right. “Will you let me know when Jake finds something?” I asked, heading back up the stairs.
“Of course.”
I found Angel sitting on the edge of her bed in an oversized dark blue T-shirt. Her hair was dry and shining, hanging around her face like curtains, hiding her from the world. And me. I tapped on the door lightly. Her head popped up, revealing a pair of sad honey eyes and a blotchy face. “Hi.”
My gut twisted.
Were those tears because of Kolby? Or because of me?
“Hey.”
The silence that lingered in rooms after death, in my experience, had never been thick.
It never felt toxic or heavy. It lingered in the air like the fading scent of a loved one’s perfume, reminding you that life was fleeting and no matter how hard you tried to hold on, it would slip through your fingers eventually.
Pain morphed into anger, anger into numbness, and eventually, scar tissue would form around the empty part of your heart where that person used to reside.
It would never disappear. It would never heal.
It became a part of you, and you had no choice but to accept it.
For some, it was easy. For others, it was damning.
For my Angel, I hoped it would be a smooth transition.
“I’m sorry.”
The present came rushing back, her room snapping into place, her bright eyes at the very center. They were two suns I needed to spend the rest of my existence orbiting. “You have nothing to be sorry for,” I assured her.
“No.” she shook her head. “I shouldn’t have reacted that way. Putting you in that position, after everything, was uncalled for and so incredibly insensitive. I’m so sorry, Ash.” She stood up, the shirt stopping in the middle of her thighs. “I hope you can forgive me.”
She could set me on fire, and I would forgive her.
“Two things,” I started, coming into the room and shutting the door.
“One. Losing someone is damn hard, no matter the circumstances, but the way you found out about Felix was undoubtedly horrific. You were overwhelmed with emotions. Two, bouncing off my first point, don’t ever apologize for coming to me for comfort—”
“But—”
I wrapped my hand around the back of her head, sinking my fingers into her warm hair. “But nothing,” I murmured. “I’m so fucking grateful you did that.”
Confusion washed over her beauty. “You are?”
The reminder fell gently from my lips. “You told me you wanted to feel it with me.”
My free arm wrapped around her waist, tugging her closer. Our bodies were inches from each other, and all the cells in mine were seconds away from exploding. Her lips were parted, her breath softly hitting my neck. “Yes,” she rasped.
“You’ll never understand how happy that makes me, beautiful.” I paused, trying to find the right words. “Rejecting you like that was something I never thought I would have to do, let alone get the chance to.”