No Perfect Hero(88)

Doc's normally serene expression tightens. “Truly? I thought you knew me well enough not to fall for that ridiculous urban legend, Blake. Nine hasn't been seen around these parts in years. The man's probably long dead.”

“Whatever, Doc. Give it another year or some shit. We're gonna have people out here hunting Nine instead of bigfoot over in Washington.”

I roll my eyes as Doc just shakes his head. We don't have time to rehash whatever the latest crazy talk is around town about Doc and that scary-ass inmate he swears he never really met, even if they were both at the same hotel the night of the Great Heart's Edge Fire.

Sometimes, knowing how he sneaks around, I wonder...but today's hardly the place or time to poke at the truth.

“Guys, enough,” I say dryly and take another pull off my coffee. “I’ll have to map out a timeline. Figure out where and when we'll do it. You’re still licensed for concealed carry?”

“Who do you think you’re talking to, my man?” Blake asks, thumping his chest.

Doc counters with a more sedate, “Naturally.”

“Then make sure you stay strapped just in case. We’ll meet up again once I’ve got a game plan sketched out.”

“Is it just us?” Blake asks. “What about Stewart?”

I hesitate. Blake’s kept me from starting things I shouldn’t, but Stewart’s been pushing so hard for me to drop it, to move on, to act like a normal person and begin the healing process rather than pursuing this vendetta...damn.

He probably wouldn’t want to be involved. But he’s the one who told me, wasn't he? Who told me the truth, who exposed Bress for the snake he is, even if it took a night of hard drinking to pull it out of him.

I have to at least ask.

At this time of morning, he’s usually up. Just to be on the safe side, I text him while Blake and Doc lose themselves in a conversation about the best bait to use for shallow water fishing.

Stew, I’ve got a lead and closing in. You want in?

Deliberately vague, just in case.

I’m not expecting my phone to light up in my hand seconds later with an inbound call and Stew’s name. What the fuck?

When I answer, he doesn’t even wait for me to say hello before he blurts, “What do you mean, a lead?”

“I mean...I’ve got Bress on camera in the middle of a transaction,” I answer. “It’s enough for me to bring him in, turn him over to the police for questioning, and drop the entire book of evidence I have in their laps. They can do the rest. So. We’re planning a sting – me, Doc, and Blake. Citizen’s arrest. You want in, or you still willing to sit back without ever doing right by Jenna?”

The phone shakes in my hand. I don’t think I’ve realized how much his passive attitude has been eating at me till now.

He was the one who watched her die. He was in her platoon, covered her for several firefights, grew a bond almost like mine as her brother.

Yet while I’ve been eaten alive by grief, he’s constantly been playing peacemaker. Trying to get me to drop it and move on.

He'll get his way once the score’s settled.

He can either speed it along, or he can walk the fuck away.

“Stew? You there?”

“Yeah, and that’s cold, Warren,” he says after a long pause.

“So's spending years asking me to forget my sister was murdered.”

“Goddamn. I was just trying to spare you more heartache, spare everybody, don't you get that?” He sighs deeply. “If this’ll give you closure...yeah. I’ll be there. Just clue me in on the plan when it’s time.”

I want to shout at him that it’s about more than closure.

It’s about doing the right thing, saving our town from this parasite crouched at its center, sucking it dry. But I don’t have it in me, and even if Blake and Doc are still talking to each other, I can feel them watching, listening in. There’s no point in starting a mess.

So I just say, “Thanks. I’ll let you know.”

Then I hang up, staring down at the phone, my palms clammy and my mouth dry.

It’s happening. It’s really happening. Finally.

I've got the key I need to unlock the door into Bress’ world, and every criminal act that led him to the moment he decided he’d rather gun down the woman who loved him than let the world see him for who he really is.

He’ll pay, Jenna. I promise you that.

God as my witness, you'll rest easy soon.





17





Don't Wait Up (Haley)





Falling asleep in Warren’s arms is getting to be a habit.

I shouldn’t have even come to his place last night, but something about the way he’d looked when he’d walked away pulled on every last bit of me, leaving me scared and aching and just wanting to ease that torment inside him.

I’ve never been the kind of girl who needs to fix a broken man, but something about Warren makes me care that he’s hurting. I can’t fix him. Nobody can fix someone else's life.

But we wouldn’t be human if we didn’t want to offer.

And that's just it. I really do care about Warren Ford.

That’s what got me in this mess in the first place, wanting to soothe him after that altercation with Flynn. Somehow, soothing turned into kissing, and kissing became a whole lot more.