Protecting What's Mine(77)

“You asked me to drive you. Not Brody,” she said simply.

It was true. Brody would have let Linc stir the pot and waited on the sidelines until punches were thrown. Then he’d jump in. Kelly Wu and her mom vibes would ensure that bloodshed would be kept to a minimum.

“I have to talk to him,” Linc insisted.

“Yes, you do,” she agreed, walking with him toward the door.

“Just keep me on this side of stupid, okay?”

“Will do. What in the hell is that?”

Kelly went from calm, cool, and collected to coldly furious in the blink of an eye.

Linc followed her gaze to Mack’s SUV parked next to the building. A team of nervous-looking garage employees stood by with scrubbing implements while the sheriff and Deputy Tahir took pictures.

“HORE” was clumsily sprayed across the hood in white, drippy spray paint.

“Hore? Ohhhhh. Shit,” Kelly said.

But Linc was already crossing the parking lot.

“Kersh!” he snapped.

A skinny man with a fresh bandage on his arm and a giant sponge in one hand looked up, eyes widening.

Kelly grabbed onto the back of Linc’s shirt as he plowed forward.

“Easy, cowboy,” she said, digging her heels into the asphalt.

It slowed him down, but it didn’t stop him.

Abner Kersh held up his hands. “I didn’t have nothing to do with this,” he insisted. “It was like this when we got in this morning.”

Linc grabbed the man by the front of his coveralls. “Who did this?”

“Calm down, chief,” Ty ordered, stepping between them. “Abner was the one who called it in.”

“I wouldn’t do this,” Abner said adamantly. “I swear I wouldn’t. Shorty, you gotta believe me,” he said to his boss, a short, round man with thick dark hair and a blue bandana.

Linc wasn’t sure if the man was more afraid of him or his boss.

“I know, Ab,” Shorty said, laying a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll vouch for him, chief. He’s one of my best. He wouldn’t jeopardize his job like that. Plus, the guy knows how to spell.”

“I do. There’s a ‘w,’” Abner said, nodding fiercely.

Linc forced himself to relax. But Kelly, knowing him as well as she did, maintained a grip on his shirt.

“Me ’n’ the doc have an understanding. It wasn’t me,” he said more calmly.

He believed him, and wouldn’t Mackenzie get a kick out of that? But there were still questions to be answered. “Then who was it?” he demanded.

Kersh looked at his feet. “Dunno.”

Ty shot Linc a look. They all knew who. Abner’s brother, Jethro, was an illiterate asshole who carried grudges for years at a time. He’d thrown punches over offenses committed twenty years ago.

“If your brother is responsible, we’ll find out,” Deputy Tahir said.

“I don’t know who did it,” Kersh said in a less-than-convincing tone. He fidgeted with the bandage on his arm. “But maybe some of us noticed a can of spray paint behind the dumpster. Maybe it’s evidence.” He shrugged and stared down at the cracked asphalt.

“I didn’t let anyone touch it in case there were fingerprints,” Shorty said, leading the way.

Linc and Abner stayed where they were, facing each other.

“You convey a message to your family,” Linc said. “Dr. O’Neil is off-limits.”

“Understood. And speaking hypothetical and all, I’d imagine she won’t have any more trouble from anyone,” Abner said cagily.

“Good,” Linc said.

Abner scratched at the back of his neck. “The doc seems like a nice lady.”

“She’s also terrifying. So if anyone is stupid enough to come after her, they’ll have to deal with me, and if they get through me, Mackenzie will put them down,” Linc said stonily.

“Message received.” Abner nodded.

Kelly sighed. “Okay. Pissing contest complete. Is that shit going to come off the paint?”

Abner turned his attention back to the SUV. “Looks like water-based. We’ll have it scrubbed down in no time.”

“You can wash it and wax it too,” Linc said.

“Yep.”

Ty finished up with the pictures and bagged up the discarded can of spray paint.

And while the garage employees tackled the spray paint, Linc stayed where he was, staring at his girlfriend’s defaced vehicle.

“Don’t even think about not telling her,” Kelly sang.

Linc growled and pulled out his phone.





36





A week passed and then another after the vandalism at the garage with no other trouble from the Kersh family. The fingerprints on the can had pointed at Jethro, who loudly and drunkenly denied any involvement and then took a swing at Deputy Tahir, who had happily put the man on his ass. Charges were pending.

Mack wasn’t worried.

Linc had gone overboard by changing all of her locks. He’d made noise about contacting the landlord to replace the rickety sliding glass door on her deck and installing a video surveillance system. Mack had put her foot down on both.

October was showing off this year with brilliant oranges, russet reds, and sunny yellows. The weather was cool and crisp. Mack had allowed Sophie, Gloria, and Harper to talk her into a half-day shopping excursion to stock up on warmer clothes.