Page 68 of No Second Chances

I turn around with my back to them and push in long, smooth motions.

“Damn it!” Dom calls out loudly. “Get back here.”

I waggle my fingers at him, only too happy to take the win. “Suck it, loser.”

Except I hit the wall and go down, and Dom is right there on top of me. The weight of my chair hits me in the chest, knocking the air out of my lungs, only to be compounded when Dom drops on top of me.

Laughter fills the room, and Remy holds his phone out to get video proof. “Shit, man. Parker’s gonna love this.”

“Speak for yourself,” Carter says from the other side of the bullpen. “Avery’s gonna want to show her class this. It’s awesome.”

I turn my head to see him standing on top of one of the counters, using his phone to get the entire scene in front of us.

The entire time, Dom doesn’t move. He just wheezes while lying there, and I want to punch him in the throat, but I can’t get close enough. There is an entire chair blocking the way.

I grunt under the weight of the other man and both of the office chairs. “Not again,” I groan. “Move, already. This is embarrassing.”

“Hey.” Dom laughs as he gets up and offers me a hand. “At least it wasn’t your balls in my hand this time.”

“Get out of here before I kill you.” I shove him in the shoulder once I get up and we right the chairs, but he laughs it off.

Neither chair is broken, which I guess is a good thing since we still have to use them to work in.

“Okay, our turn.” Carter hops off the counter and grabs his chair.

Remy practically sprints across the room to grab his.

“You guys wanna tell me why you’re not out on patrol?” Carter looks between us while he takes his spot on the other side of the room, at the de facto starting line.

“Chief benched all three of us, put on desk duty, so we don’t interfere with arresting Royal Prince.” Remy scoots next to him. “Probably a good thing.”

Carter nods. “Yeah, Avery said she wouldn’t blame any of us if we had to put a bullet in that guy’s head. She went to school with Mallory and said that lady was crazy. But no one deserves what happened to her.”

They are ready to go, starting their metaphorical engines, when Teri sticks her head out of dispatch, frantic and upset. “Linc, you need to come up here.”

When I don’t move fast enough for her, she snaps, “Now, Linc.”

I run the length of the hall, and I won’t be ashamed to admit it if asked about it later. When dispatch panics, patrol panics. That’s just the way it goes.

Henley Moore is in the lobby, pacing back and forth while worrying his hair. The last time I saw him was the night of Kennedy’s accident, and I hadn’t really gotten a good look at him. The kid looks like he should be out playing football or something, not standing in our lobby having a panic attack.

“Officer Hayes.” He rushes to the window as soon as he sees me behind Teri. “There’s something wrong.”

“Henley.” I lean forward, curious what would have him upset like he is. “What’s going on, kid?”

He turns around, checking over his shoulder for something, before turning back to me with wild eyes. “I’m going to sound absolutely crazy. I know that. But I need you to listen to me. I think there’s something wrong. My girlfriend, Lexi, the girl I was with the night of the accident. She lives next door to this guy. He’s creepy. Always watching her. He gives me the creeps. I was dropping Lexi off after school and I saw him going up to his house.”

My gut starts to churn. “What happened, Henley? Focus.”

He nods and takes a deep breath. “Yes, sir.” He takes another breath, more to calm himself than anything. “Sir, I think he was carrying Kennedy.” He swallows down something, and I feel like throwing up while I wait for him to go on. “He had a girlfriend, sir. A blond one. We used to see them fight. But then, she colored her hair red. So at first, I thought I must have been seeing her and thought it was Kennedy instead. But I got in my car and started heading to work, and my gut told me that it was her. That something was really wrong. So I came here instead.”

Behind me, I hear Remy and Dom muttering. Remy curses. “She’s not answering,” Remy hisses.

“Amie’s not answering either,” Dom says. “She’s off today, but she said that she was going to keep an eye out for Kennedy until one of us got there.”

My heart drops out of my stomach, and I turn to Henley. “Is he a tall guy, with dark hair?”

Henley nods. “Always wears expensive suits, but just looks like a douche.”

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