29. Cale
cale
Tansley peeks around the door of my office, holding up an envelope with a saucy grin. “Mail call!”
I straighten back from my desk, cracking my neck as I eye her suspiciously. I’ve been ignoring my paperwork from the last three jobs I’ve done. The consequences have come to roost today in the form of an unholy pile to get through—and Tansley threatening to disembowel me if I don’t get it done.
“If that’s another glitterbomb…” I glare at her meaningfully. “I know you sent that video to everyone. To my parents.”
Tansley cackles, completely unrepentant as she sets the mail on my desk.
“It was part and parcel of your punishment. But if you’re trying not to get glitterbombed, you’re going the wrong way about it.
I hear you and your pretty neighbor are shacking up, which means the next time you leave the toilet seat up… ”
There it is.
I narrow my eyes. “We are not shacking up.”
She smirks, cocking a hip out and lifting her red eyebrows high. “Where did you sleep last night?”
I blink in bemusement. My truck was firmly parked in my own driveway, but it’s obvious that Tansley knows more than she’s letting on. “Where’re you getting your info, Tans?”
She taps her nose. “I don’t give up my sources.”
“No comment, then.”
She grins as she backtracks to the door. “That tells me everything I need to know.”
I smile wryly. “A pleasure talking with you, Tans, as always.”
She doesn’t leave straight away, propping her shoulder against the doorframe and watching me curiously.
“I heard you had quite the weekend.” I eye her, mouth clamped shut as I wait for more information, unwilling to tell her anything in case she doesn’t actually know a thing.
She shrugs. “My friend was telling me there was quite a scene down at The Blue Grill on Saturday night.”
I clasp my hands in front of me, asking casually, “Was there?”
“Mhmm,” Tansley hums. “She said something about someone getting punched— Wait. That’s not right.” She pretends to think about it, tapping a finger against her chin. “She said someone walked into someone’s fist. Can you imagine that?”
“Nope,” I say with a smug grin. “Can’t say I can.”
Tansley rolls her eyes, but her mouth is twitching with amusement. She looks over her shoulder at something before saying, “Better get back to work. Knox is a real slave driver. Can’t wait for Boss Man to come back.”
Levi took the week off to spend some time with Ryan, not that I blamed him. But as a result, Knox is walking around with a miserable scowl, hating the responsibility of now being the one we all complain to.
“If you actually cared about doing anything I said,” the man in question says, coming up behind Tansley, “we would have a lot fewer problems.”
“Says you,” she counters, spinning on her heel and walking away, her voice calling back, “I make things more interesting.”
Knox shakes his head, muttering, “That’s one way to put it.” He turns to look at me. “I need to go to Ashland.”
I glance at the time with surprise. “Right now? What’s in Ashland?”
He rubs the back of his neck, looking surly. “An up-and-coming country singer has been getting threatening letters in the mail. She wants to talk about hiring a bodyguard. Levi was supposed to go, but—”
“He’s not here,” I say with dawning understanding. “Heavy is the crown, huh?”
“Fuck off,” he mutters. “You can take it if you want.”
“No can do,” I say quickly. “I have plans this afternoon.”
“What plans?” He’s all suspicious, and I grin.
“Ice cream plans with my woman and her kid.”
Knox doesn’t blink, staring at me before he sighs. “I want to be annoyed, but happy looks good on you.” His mouth tugs up in a small smirk. “You’re still an asshole, though.”
“Ah, but I’m a happy asshole,” I say, just as my cell phone rings. I pick it up, grinning when I see Melanie’s name. “Speaking of my woman…Hey, baby. What’s up?”
“Cale,” she breathes, voice choked like she’s been crying. “He’s gone. Oakley’s gone. The school called straight away this time. They said he never came back in from lunch. Nell saw him climbing into a car.” She sucks in a breath, the sound whistling through her teeth. “With Davis.”
Panic rolls through my body in a slow wave, but I don’t let it take over. Instead, it’s followed by an icy calm as my eyes lock with Knox’s. “Tell me everything you know, darlin’.”
The cop flicks his focus between his notepad and Melanie, his brow furrowed. “So there’s no current custody order that would stop your husband from taking Oakley from school?”
“Ex-husband,” I grit out—again.
“Ex-husband,” he corrects, giving me a wary look.
“No. We share custody, but he doesn’t take Oakley during the week.
He doesn’t even show up for most weekends.
” Melanie shakes her head. “Isn’t it enough that he’s been acting out of character?
Oakley told me last night he didn’t want to go back there.
He wouldn’t have just left with his father. After he ran from school—”
The cop’s brows climb, his mouth twitching down. “Your son has a history of leaving school in the middle of the day?”
She’s practically vibrating at my side, her agitation palpable. “His dad’s girlfriend’s daughter,” she says slowly, “was bullying him, so he came home. He didn’t run away. He. Came. Home.”
“Is it possible that your”—he looks at me carefully—“ex-husband is just trying to spend time with his son?”
Melanie takes a deliberately calming breath. “In the middle of the school day? When he’s never done it before? After confronting me in the middle of the restaurant on Saturday night and basically threatening me?”
He perks up at that. “Did you report it? I didn’t see…” He trails off when Melanie drops her head with a sound of despair.
I cup the back of her neck, squeezing firmly.
“It’s okay, baby.” She looks up at me, her eyes wet and lashes spiky with tears.
I stroke my thumb over the column of her throat before looking back at the cop.
“Look, we know how this sounds, but you gotta trust his mother here, right? This asshole hasn’t had shit to do with his son in months.
He doesn’t pay child support, doesn’t show up to baseball games, and doesn’t give a shit in general.
You really think he’s going to just turn up one day and take his kid for a joyride so they can get some bonding time? ”
The cop shakes his head. “I’m sorry, but—”
“I think he’s on drugs,” I cut in.
He frowns, readjusting his notepad and pen in his hands. “Why would you think that?”
“When he confronted Melanie on Saturday night, he was desperate that no one call the cops. He’s been pressuring Melanie to sell her house and pay him out half, even though that’s not what they agreed to in the divorce.
He’s losing weight and doesn’t look well, coupled with his erratic behavior.
” I hesitate, wondering if I should drop him in for the last one, but fuck it.
“The break-in on Saturday night? And the fire that broke Harrison Greer’s leg?
One of the kids involved is related to this asshole’s girlfriend.
The kid said he’s been hearing conversations from the adults, and that’s why he’s been targeting certain houses. ”
Melanie shifts her weight, pressing herself against my side. I slide my hand down over her shoulder, pulling her into me with a tight hold.
“Our house was broken into first,” she murmurs. “Davis came by a couple of days later, insisting I wasn’t safe and I should sell up.” She glances at me, eyes wide. “Did he set Ryan up?”
“I wouldn’t put it past him,” I mutter.
The cop’s attention is flitting between us. “Okay, I think we have enough cause for concern to do a welfare check,” he finally says. “I’ll send a patrol car over to his listed residence. In the meantime, I need you to stay here in case Oakley shows up. Okay?”
He’s gone a minute later, a current picture of Oakley in his hand, and with a description of what he was wearing when he left the house this morning.
As soon as the door shuts behind him, Melanie drops onto the couch, her head buried in her hands and her shoulders shaking.
I crouch down in front of her, cupping her cheeks and angling her face to mine.
Her eyes are drenched with tears, her mouth trembling.
“Where’s my son, Cale? Where is he?”
“I’m gonna find him,” I vow.
She blinks. “What? The cop—”
“Fuck him,” I snarl. “You know Davis, and you know your kid. Hell, I know Oakley. I had to convince him to leave the house on Saturday night by telling him that we were going to you. He wasn’t going to leave if it meant breaking the promise he made to you.
” I shake my head. “Oakley would never have left with that asshole if he felt like he had a choice.”
Mel reaches out, her hands clawing into my arms. “What do we do?” she begs.
I drop one hand to pull out my phone, already unlocking it and finding Knox’s number.
“We mobilize Onyx Security,” I say with a grim smile.
“There are things we can do without having to play by the book like the cops need to. I will find Oakley,” I tell her sincerely.
“If I can promise anything, I promise you that.”
Thirty minutes later, I stride into Knox’s office, finding him hunched over his computer, fingers tapping away. “What do you have for me?”
He doesn’t look up, a low grunt leaving him. “It was definitely Davis Daniels who picked Oakley up. I’ve got him on a security camera from a house across the street from the school. The asshole didn’t even get out of his car. He just rolled down his window and yelled at the kid.”
“How did Oakley look?” I round his desk to look over his shoulder, fighting the urge to crowd him, knowing it’ll just piss him off.
“Not happy,” comes the grim reply. “Oakley looks annoyed as he approaches the car, and then he looks…scared. He gets into the car without a fight, but I’d bet every-fucking-thing that Davis threatened him with something.”
“Melanie,” I murmur. “He would have threatened him with his mother.” Tension tightens my shoulders, and I spin around, pacing the length of the office, clenching and unclenching my hands into fists as I battle my fury and fear.
Knox’s attention flicks up to me for a beat, tracking my movements, and then back to his screen.
“I should be able to follow the movements of the car. I’ve sent the make and model to the cops, but they won’t get off their asses.
Not yet.” He shakes his head. “It’s not their fault, but they’re bound by laws, protocols, and procedures. ”
“And you’re not.”
“I’m not,” he confirms. “I’ll find this fucker, and then we’ll go get Oakley ourselves.
We’ll make sure he comes home to his mama, and we’ll make Daniels regret ever taking him in the first place.
” He shoots me a bloodthirsty smile, rolling his shoulders.
“And then we’ll give him over to the cops for due process. ”
“As long as we get Killer back, I don’t care what the fuck happens,” I tell him. “But if even one hair on that kid is hurt—”
Knox levels an understanding look at me. “Don’t need to tell me, man. I’ll hold the fucker down for you.”
The door opens with a swish, and I turn to find Levi walking in, his expression flinty and face covered in several days’ worth of growth.
On his heels is Ryan, the teen’s head down and a hood drawn over his hair.
Every thud of his father’s heavy boots is matched by the squeak of one of his sneakers as they drag against the floor.
“Didn’t expect you,” I say.
“When one of mine needs me, I’m here.” He turns to scowl at Ryan. “Go to my office and stay there.”
“Dad—“
“Go, Ryan. And don’t move. I want to know where you are at all times. Especially when I might have questions for you.”
He lifts his head, gaping at his father. “I didn’t have anything to do with this.”
There’s not a massive height difference, so when Levi steps forward, he doesn’t have to lean down far to get into Ryan’s face. Their noses are almost touching.
“I didn’t think you’d set a house on fire either, so go.” He doesn’t speak loudly. The edge of anger in his voice is softened with a healthy dose of disappointment and self-recrimination.
At the sound of it, Ryan blanches, his eyes filling with tears before he turns and rushes from the room. Levi watches him go before turning to face us, his expression weary and a little broken. “What’s the plan?”