Tanner had no idea how long he sat there. He’d just offered Blake what he could. A shared silence. Saying “I’m sorry” was on the tip of his tongue, but it felt so cheap and wrong. Sorry didn’t even begin to describe how Tanner felt. Blake and Skyla hadbeen happy. The baby hadn’t been planned, but it had instantly been wanted and loved.
Tanner’s phone buzzed again with Martin’s message, bringing Tanner back to the present moment. He hated feeling like his hands were tied and his heart was in his throat. Helpless wasn’t a familiar or comfortable feeling for Tanner, and he sure wasn’t about to wallow in it.
Tanner: I’m in, whatever you guys decide.
He would always be there for his friends. No matter what. But right now, he needed to focus on the case. The best thing he could do for Blake and Skyla was help them put Arlo J squarely behind them once and for all.
He glanced at the notes he’d taken at the medical examiner’s office, and did a quick search of the coffee shop from the receipt. But it had already closed for the day. He’d have to stop by there tomorrow during their normal business hours and hope someone remembered who Arlo J was with when he placed that order.
Tanner sighed and glanced back at his phone to read the new incoming text message. It was from Garrett this time.
Garrett: We should do what we’ve always done. Bring food and be with them. Even if it hurts, they need us now more than ever.
Tanner couldn’t argue with that. The only other person he knew who’d endured such a loss was his own mom, but he was almost too young at the time to really remember how she’d managed to get through it. Tanner’s phone started lighting up with one message after another from his friends, and plans for the evening quickly began to form.
Luke: Orly just got off the phone with Skyla. Got the greenlight for all of us to come over for a bit. We’ll bring dessert. Orly wants to make a pie.
Caden: Pie sounds good. Hallie is going to make a casserole.
Tanner couldn’t help but smile at the exchange of text messages. No one ever seemed to know what to say or do when someone they knew lost a baby, but now it was one of their own. He knew without a doubt that all their hearts were breaking right along with Blake’s and Skyla’s.
“Detective Rhodes?”
Tanner looked up to see a young man wearing a crisp suit, his hair sleekly combed back. Tanner knew this man, and while seeing him here now wasn’t a surprise, it also wasn’t necessarily welcome. “Nico Moreno,” Tanner said, giving away nothing of the raw emotions he managed to conceal in the moment before uttering his name. “How can I help you?”
“I know you and your friends have a history with my father, but I just wanted to make sure his murder would be solved.”Nico was Arlo J’s son, and had point blank shot Blake in the gut while kidnapping Skyla at gunpoint. If it hadn’t been for Skyla’s incredible healing ability, Blake would’ve likely died because of this punk.
“Solving your father’s murder is my job,” Tanner told him in no uncertain terms. “And I always do my job to the very best of my ability.”
Nico took a step forward and Tanner rested his hand on the holster securing his firearm. Another officer Tanner sometimes worked with, Ethan Sinclair, stepped up to Tanner’s desk, offering a show of force and support. “Problem here?” Sinclair asked.
“No problem whatsoever. And I wasn’t implying anything,” Nico said, his gaze going from Sinclair to Tanner. “I just don’t want any bad blood between my father and you to get in the way. The killer must be brought to justice. One way or another.”
“That’s our job,” Sinclair said plainly.
But Tanner read the undertone in Nico’s words, and there was no way he was going to let this punk take the law into his own hands. Nico had already hurt too many people Tanner cared about, and he’d gotten away with it. “I can assure you that once we find him, or her, the killer will be brought to justice in accordance with the law. But if you so much as lift a paperclip in your father’s investigation without the DPD’s express permission, I can also assure you that my job completely and fully allows me to arrest you for interfering with an investigation. Are we clear?” Tanner’s patience was at an all-time low, and he had no intention of mincing words with the man who was responsible for so much of the horror Blake and Skyla had endured in the past.
Nico worked his jaw, a sure sign of the pent-up anger he was failing to hide. “Crystal clear. But just so you understand, Detective, I don’t care how the killer is brought to justice. Only that he is. I’m a patient man, but even I have limits.” Then Nico turned and walked out as if he owned the joint, and Tanner couldn’t help but smirk at his back.
“What a jerk,” Sinclair said.
“You have no idea.” For all Tanner knew, Nicowasthe killer, and this was just his way of throwing Tanner off his scent, so to speak. The punk had escaped arrest in Blake’s shooting because when Skyla healed him, she’d erased all evidence of Blake ever being shot. However, this time was different.
Everyone in Arlo J’s life was going to be investigated with a fine-tooth comb, and since Nico had presented himself withsuch enthusiasm, Tanner decided he’d start with the dead man’s son.
Chapter 2
April’s all expenses paid, one bedroom apartment sat on the fourteenth floor of a twenty-story building, complete with top-of-the-line furnishings, a parking space she never used, and a balcony she never went out on. April still wasn’t convinced the building wasn’t outfitted with cameras since it was owned by DynaTech, but it wasn’t like Ned paid her enough to afford her own place, plus the cost of groceries and utilities. Not to mention, she’d saved every penny she could to pay two different private investigators.
The place was modern and sleek, and while everything worked and looked brand new, it wasn’t really April’s style. She preferred a homier and more rustic feel to her decor, but she wasn’t about to complain. In fact, April hardly noticed her surroundings outside of the great water pressure in the shower, and the soft bed she climbed into every night. At the end of the day that was really all that mattered to her.
Not the shape or color of the couch she was currently sitting on. Or the make and model of the smart television she was watching an episode of Law and Order on, while eating the last bit of leftover salad and a small baked potato. She hadn’t seen this episode, but despite the engrossing murder mystery, her mind still wandered to thoughts of Tanner, and the business card on her nightstand.
She hadn’t gotten much time with him at Madigan’s before he had to leave, but she liked what she’d seen. He seemed nice, genuine, had an easy-going sense of humor, and he didn’t act like it was all her fault when they had bumped into each other, and she’d spilled her drink on him. April hadn’t even planned on going out that night, but it had been her day off, and she was due for a night out.
Since Ned never allowed her to spend any time with Violet on weekends, April decided she needed some kind of distraction, or she would go crazy thinking about what Violet was being forced to do without her there.
Violet always tried to reassure her that Ned never made her do anything on the weekends, but April found that hard to believe. Still, she wasn’t about to call out her six-year-old niece for lying. She’d let the subject drop early on and did her best not to think about it. Instead, she went out to local bars or clubs. Never to get plastered. More to just get out of her head and out of her apartment. As nice as her place was, spending too much time in it alone often made April feel like the extravagantly decorated place was closing in on her.