Wild Fire (Chaos #6.5)(30)

Christ, that couldn’t happen.

Tex would take one look at Murtagh and there’d definitely be a catnapping and Murtagh would be lost to them forever.

“Who are Luke and Tex?” Georgie asked.

Both Hank and Eddie stared at her.

Then Hank asked, “Have you not read the Rock Chick books?”

“No. They’re on my list,” Georgie answered.

“Please, God, don’t,” Hank begged. “I think you’re the only woman in Denver who hasn’t, and I cannot tell you how refreshing it is to sit at a table with someone who does not already know the names of my kids.”

“And other shit about you,” Eddie murmured.

“And you,” Hank returned.

Their food came, along with Georgie’s margarita.

They tucked in but Dutch did it pushing, “So the cops know this woman is shady and that’s it?”

“We also talked to the detectives in charge of the investigation, and to describe them as being frustrated, with the case and especially her, is an understatement,” Eddie told them. “They’re pissed. But they can’t waterboard her in order to get her to talk.”

“Though they discussed it,” Hank muttered.

“I’ll fill the buckets,” Georgie also muttered.

Hank shot her a grin and Eddie gave her a big, white smile.

“What about who the Stephens family saw go in and out?” Georgie asked. “Canvassing other neighbors? Is anyone recognizable as persons of interest to the police?”

“You’d be surprised how little detail people have about things they’ve seen, even things that don’t sit right with them, when it comes down to that detail being important,” Hank shared.

“So no luck with that,” she surmised.

“Sadly, no,” Hank confirmed.

“So everything leads to a dead end.”

“Everything leads to the neighbor,” Eddie corrected.

“She’s just not talking,” Georgie said flatly.

No one answered that because they’d already been over it.

“What does she do?” Georgie asked.

“She manages a restaurant,” Hank answered.

“Who owns the restaurant?” Georgie asked.

Hank smiled a respectful smile and told her carefully, “Those leads have been followed and there’s nothing there. If there was something hot, it wasn’t uncovered when it should have been, and it’s gone cold. The detectives on this case are solid and they did the work. I hate to admit it, any cop does, but even if this was my case, I’d keep the file on my desk, but I’d have no choice but to move on.”

“Same,” Eddie grunted. “And not just because we’re partners.”

“What’s her risk here?” Georgie kept pushing.

“Her risk?” Hank asked.

“Giving a false report to the police,” she stated. “And since it’s likely she knows this man, let him in, and is covering for him, abetting a crime. Because it’s a crime, yes? Even if Carlyle’s dad forced entry, he didn’t do it for nefarious reasons, so a crime was committed. One that’s punishable.”

“There would be discussion about that if it was a lovers’ spat that he interrupted and they mistakenly shot him, thinking he was an intruder,” Eddie said. “But how this is looking like it actually went down, it’d be hard to stick murder one on them. Though, if the prosecutor got creative, and there was something dark they’re hiding, darker even than her covering for a lover, or other, that something being the reason she’s not talking, they could get murder two and she could get hit with false reporting and accessory.”

“So if this guy is found, and if she’s found out, they’ll go down,” Georgie concluded.

“If the evidence is there, the prosecutor doesn’t screw it up, no deal is struck, yeah,” Hank confirmed.

Georgie then looked to Dutch and there was a light burning so bright in her eyes, he felt it scorching his skin.

But it didn’t hurt.

It was beautiful.

“How’s the kid?” Eddie asked.

Dutch tore his attention from Georgiana and looked to Eddie. “Not good.”

“I can imagine, seein’ his dad like that,” Eddie murmured.

Dutch’s blood ran cold.

It was Georgiana this time who wrapped her hand around his wrist, but it was like a phantom touch, his focus was hyper-alert on Eddie.

“Seein’ his dad like that?” Dutch asked, his voice sounding funny to his own ears.

Choked.

He felt both Eddie and Hank’s attention sharpen on him but that was phantom too.

He was staring at Eddie like taking his eyes off the man would mean he’d forget how to breathe.

“Yeah,” Eddie said slowly.

“Carlyle saw his father dead?” Dutch pressed.

“Dutch, honey,” Georgie whispered, squeezing hard at his wrist.

He ignored her.

“Followed his dad,” Eddie said carefully. “Didn’t you know?”

Oh Christ.

Followed him?

“Followed him…how?” Dutch forced out.

“His mother tried to stop him, but he followed his dad to his neighbor’s. He spoke to the police at the scene, said his dad was down by the time he got up there. He wasn’t dead. When the police got there, the kid was still pressing on the wound, but it was too late. The carotid was hit. The man was gone,” Eddie shared.