Ezra interrupted the General. “Thank you for coming in, Mr. Boucher.” Jaxon noted the way Boucher’s jaw tightened at being called anything except ‘General’ by someone other than Thorne. Interesting. Ezra got right to the point. “We need to talk about the paintball incident at the protest in Darling Town Square.”
The General frowned and shook his head. “Terrible situation. Inexcusable really. If that man had been carrying a real gun instead of a toy, Jaxon’s girl would be dead now. What a shame that would have been.”
For a brief moment, Jaxon fantasized about breaking through the glass and ripping the General’s throat out. Instead, he remained quiet, as furious as he was, he knew it was better for the General to keep mouthing off.
The General turned toward the mirror again. “I also heard about Tazzy’s tires being slashed. Such a dangerous world we live in. It never would’ve happened if I were still the DA handling prosecutions. I kept the streets of Darling safe.”
Ezra cleared his throat. “If you would direct your answers to me.”
“Of course, detective. And to answer your question more directly, I was nowhere near the corner of that square, as you well know.”
Erza lifted a brow. “I didn’t say anything about a corner.”
Phillip jumped in, throwing a glare at the General. “I briefed him on the events at the square so he could be prepared.”
“Really, because where the shooter was spotted is one of the details we suppressed.”
“Someone must have missed that memo because I’m sure I read it in one of the reports,” Phillip said. “Can we move on?”
Ezra’s smile was knowing. “I’ll make a note to request that report from the DA’s office. Okay, let’s move on. Give me just a minute.” Ezra turned a page over and made some notes.
“He’s pausing and writing down notes to try and make the General nervous,” Raleigh said.
“I know,” Jaxon said. “But I don’t think it’s working. Look at that grin on the General’s face. He can barely keep from laughing.”
Ezra finished his note and continued. “I see on this registration form that you own a black SUV. Is that correct?”
“Me and about 3000 other Tennesseans. Or so I hear. What’s your point?”
“Were you aware that one of our citizens was nearly run down while he was on his motorcycle last night?”
The General widened his eyes in the worst parody of surprise Jaxon had ever seen. “Wow, this town is going to hell in a handbasket, isn’t it. Imagine not being able to take your Harley out for a ride with your girl without being run over. Good thing they got away. They must have felt very lucky.”
Jaxon’s hands curled into fists. The bastard had just admitted in a roundabout way to driving the SUV that had tailed them, or at the very least being involved. How else would he have known all the details like what kind of bike it was or that Tazzy was with him? Boucher might be a steaming sack of shit, but he was a smart sack of shit, too. Boucher knew exactly what he was doing, taunting without saying anything that could be used against him in court.
“Alexander, that’s enough.” Phillip tried to intervene. “As your lawyer, I am advising you to terminate this interview.”
Instead, the General looked at the mirror again. “Tell your little… Darkling, or whatever you call her now, that I said hello. She looked so pretty in the pictures I saw of the protest. Shame about those red spots, though. That shirt’s probably ruined.”
Jaxon was headed toward the door before Raleigh grabbed his arm.
“Easy,” Raleigh said. “You know good and damn well that he’s baiting you. You go in there, and you give him exactly what he wants.”
Raleigh was right, but damn, Jaxon wanted to make Boucher pay.
Ezra ended the interview quickly after that. The General stood and straightened his shirt. He looked at the mirror one last time. “See you soon, Jaxon. You and Tazzy. both. You have my word.”
When both men had left the station, Ezra waved Jaxon and Raleigh into the interview room.
Without waiting for Raleigh, Jaxon stormed into the room. “He’s playing games. He knows we can’t prove anything yet, but he can’t resist rubbing it in my face.”
Ezra took a deep breath. “We’ll keep digging. The monitoring system we’re using for the General’s ankle bracelet reports no errors at all. We’ve been in touch with the company, and they say they’ll send someone down to look at it. I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m fastbelieving that something’s off. I’ll check every angle until I figure out what it is.”
Jaxon nodded, but his mind was already moving ahead. He needed to get back to Tazzy. He needed to hold her and make sure she was safe. The General had made it very clear he could hurt her anytime he wanted. Or so he thought.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Later that evening, the Sabre crew plus Ravage and Brick gathered in Reid’s large backyard in Arcadian Hills for a group barbecue. Jaxon filled everyone in on what happened at the police station and on his and Tazzy’s narrow escape from the SUV the night before. None of his brothers was any happier than he’d been about either.