Sebastian (Bowen Boys, #5)(43)
Sebastian’s burst of laughter made them both turn toward him. Caitlynne had warned him to keep quiet, and he put his hand over his mouth. He might have been stupid, but he wasn’t any longer. Both he and Caitlynne knew that Debby couldn’t lie to him, but they were saving that for when the other cops showed up. And a few seconds later, three of them, including a female officer, showed up.
“This woman has a purse in her possession. I would like it searched for possible theft.” Debby stood up and held her purse to her like a shield. She looked ready to bolt, but one of the officers stood in front of the door.
“You can’t look in my stuff. I know that law. You need a warrant or something. And I know you don’t have one or you would have showed it to me already. You don’t have anything on me.” She sat down and sneered at him. “You’re going to regret this. I’m going to sue you for everything you have.”
“I don’t need a warrant to search your purse, Debby. When you signed on here, you signed an agreement that there may be bag searches if necessary. You agreed to them by signing your name.” She was shown the paper. Then Caitlynne handed it to the senior officer. “So we’re going to do a bag search right now. Hand the nice police officer your purse or we’ll take it from you.”
“You can’t do this.” Debby looked at him. “Please don’t let her do this. I haven’t done anything wrong. Nothing.” She struggled with the cop taking the purse. “I’m your assistant. You couldn’t run this place without me. I’m here more than you are.”
Sebastian looked at Caitlynne, who nodded. “You might have been my assistant, but that gave you no right to steal from me. And you did, didn’t you?” Debby backed up a step, fighting him. “You stole from me. You took out my cash box and took money, didn’t you? How much did you take? How long have you been stealing from me?”
“I took…please don’t, Sebastian.” He asked her again. “I took nearly fifty grand over the past six months. I was going to pay it back, but you never seemed to notice so I took more and more. I was trying to stop it, but I knew that if I could win just one ticket, one big payoff, then I could pay it all back. But the stupid tickets never seemed to be in the right order. I never got a break.”
“Lottery tickets?” She nodded at him. “You stole fifty grand to buy lottery tickets? Christ, if you had asked, I would have gotten you help.”
“I don’t need help,” Debby snarled at him. “I have this under control. I can quit whenever I want. I just needed to pay you back, and then I would have had to make enough to live on for the rest of my life. And it would have paid off, too, if you wouldn’t have caught me.”
“It’s here, sir. All the money you said was missing. There is also a list of what appear to be credit card numbers and expiration dates.” The officer showed it to her boss, then Caitlynne. “I believe there is money here that might have come from today’s sales as well. There are three one hundred-dollar bills. Should you count your drawer out?”
His money was taken into evidence, and Debby was taken away, still screaming that it was his fault she was caught. He wondered if she would ever own up to the fact that she needed help. Caitlynne sat down opposite him and sighed.
“That was fun.” He chuckled at her. “You know that in the past few days, I’ve arrested a doctor and a clerk, and I don’t even work for this town yet?”
“Yet?” She nodded. “You took the job? That’s f*cking awesome. The best news I’ve had all day. Congratulations. Is Walker happy?”
They were moving back within the next month. They had decided to keep the house in DC for other things, but to move back here for good. He was excited. She’d been offered the chief of police job last week. The man who did it now was retiring soon. Of course, she’d have to run for it if she wanted it next term, but she would be a shoo-in. The life as a CIA director was too boring for her, she said.
“He’s thrilled. Khan and he have been working on the clinic set up as well. They are spending a great deal of time together. It leaves me enough time that I can get to know my newest sisters-in-law. I like Ama.”
“Me too.” She laughed. “The doctor? Did that pan out like you’d thought it would? I know that Doris was a little afraid to help you.”
“She did really well. When she realized that all the nurses in the room with her were agents, she relaxed a bit. It also helped her to know that the meds he was going to put into her had been approved by Walker. She was getting a good dose of vitamins, not the shit he’d been giving her.”
Anderson had been feeding her aspirin. Heavy doses of it, too, nearly ten times what a normal dose would be. The babies were simply bleeding to death from it, and her body was reject them. Aspirin was pretty lethal to all paranormals anyway, and to unborn children, it was toxic.
“I read in the paper that several more women have come forward. That has to help in the case.” She nodded again, and he thought she looked distracted. “What is it? Something wrong?”
“Why do you smell like you’ve burnt something?” She got up and leaned over him, careful not to touch him. “You do.”
Sebastian leaned back in his chair. He had to tell her because he liked her and he needed to talk to someone. She looked at him with a raised brow, something he noticed that Walker did a lot, too.