Page 78 of Family Bonds- Jarrett & Andi

When she hesitated, he looked at Jack, who said, “If you don’t tell him I will. We’ve come this far.”

“Leo Birch. Leonard Birch. I didn’t know that he was secretly selling fentanyl to local dealers in the area to cut with.”

“How could you not know this?” he asked.

“He was a pharmacist,” she argued. “I thought he was this great guy with an upstanding job. I had no idea about it.”

“Was he arrested?” he asked Jack.

“A year later,” Jack said. “He was watched, but we’ll get to that in a minute. It had nothing to do with any other cases on my docket. Keep going, Andi.”

“I thought he had some shady friends, but they were people with good jobs and great cars, homesandthings. I didn’t thinkmuch about it,didn’talways ask what they did either. It was more a vibe I got from them.”

“Because you didn’t want to know?” he asked. “And why not tell your father if you thought he was this upstanding citizen?”

“I told you my father was harsh with men I dated. And maybe I noticed he was distracted too.” She was crying now and he didn’t want to add to her misery. “It was only a few dates. It’s not like what I feel or felt for you right away.”

He saw Jack frown, but they were past all of those things right now. “What happened?”

“I went to Leo’s house one day. I didn’t tell him. I thought I’d just surprise him. I had an appointment canceled. The front door was open and I went in. He was upstairs in his loft over the garage. I heard voices and followed them. But then I heard them talking about shipments and being a day late, money being owedandwhat they were going to make on it. I started to put things together and just ran.”

“Did he catch you there?” Jarrett asked. He’d have to look into this guy too. He’d get more from Jack later.

“No, not like you think. I tripped and fell down the stairs when I was trying to leave. I thought I could get out without him knowing I was there.”

“That didn’t happen,” he said. “He knew you fell.”

“He did,” she said. “But I told him I lost my balance coming up the steps and went to turn and grab the railing and just fell backward. The stairs were at the other end of the house from where he was. No way I could have heard him if that was how it happened.”

“Did he believe you?” he asked.

“I think he did.”

“We thought he did but weren’t positive at that time,” Jack said. “I got the call and went to the hospital. Leo wasn’t there. Andi was in surgery and I was the one with her when she cameto. She told me what happened. I don’t think she meant to, but she was drugged.”

“I didn’t want to tell him at that point and slipped, but I was going to,” she said. “I had every intention of it once I was more aware of my surroundings.”

“Leo didn’t know about me,” Jack said.

“He didn’t know what my father did for a living,” she said. “I never told him. I didn’t tell many. As I said, it was only a few dates when my father was alive. Maybe a month at the time of the accident.”

“Probably a good thing,” he said.

“I don’t think we would have had more than a few dates if he knew what my father did for a living.”

“You were dating him when your father died?” he asked. “How do you keep that secret?”

“It’d been like two dates. They were spread out and he gave me space. I only said that my father was shot. It was kept out of the news. Looking back, I think he didn’t have plans to get close to me and I was just someone to pass the time, so it’s not like he was there for me when I was going through it.”

“We did that on purpose, keeping it out of the news,” Jack said. “It helped on more than one case.”

“The next day Leo showed up at the hospital. I didn’t want to see him. Jack and I were trying to figure out what to do.”

“I had guards on the floor in plain clothing,” Jack said.

He’d give the guy credit for that. For taking steps when many wouldn’t that early on.

“Leo asked me what I was doing at his place and why I didn’t call first. I played coy. I kept to my story that I tripped and fell and I was just surprising him, which was the truth. I told him I was drugged and in pain and he stopped asking.”

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