Page 43 of Faking I Do
I got up and followed him into the office. “How are you feeling, Dad?” Asking about my dad’s recovery was a safe place to start. Then I’d move the conversation over to their cigar smuggling. Nice and easy.
“So you’re here to bust our balls over the cigars, is that right?” Dad cut the end off what I now recognized as the same brand of cigars I’d found in the warehouse.
“Not exactly.” I glanced toward my grandfather, who’d begun to clean underneath his fingernails with his pocketknife. A surefire act of intimidation. I wouldn’t let it get to me though.
“Then, what is it?” Dad lit up the end of his cigar, huffing and puffing to get it to catch.
“Why didn’t you tell me what you were up to?” I took a seat in the chair across from my dad’s desk. Pops continued to stand, leaning against the wall and working on his manicure like he didn’t have a care in the world.
“We didn’t know if we could trust you. Seems like you’ve forgotten about putting family first since you took on the deputy title.” Dad set his cigar on the edge of a giant Texas-shapedashtray. The right side of his face sported a mottled mix of blue and purple. I winced just looking at it.
“You think your ‘accident’ was related?”
“It was a message,” Pops said. “We sent one back of our own.”
My head jerked to look at my grandfather. “What are you talking about? Who are you working with on this?”
“You ready to take sides?” Dad asked. “No sense getting you involved unless you’re going to back us up.”
“Take sides against who? Y’all are lucky you haven’t been brought in for questioning yet. Suarez yanked me off the case so you don’t have to worry about me.” The little white lie rolled off my tongue as easy as if I’d been chatting about the weather. True, I’d been taken off the case, but I still intended to get to the bottom of things, no matter how deep I had to dig.
“Well, that’s a relief.” Pops pushed off the wall and took the seat next to me. “You had us trembling in our boots.”
“It’s not a joke, Pops. Suarez suspects something. He’s going to be trying to figure out what’s going on. You’d be better off coming clean and letting me see if we can figure a way out of this rather than waiting for him to come down on you.”
“We’ll take care of Suarez. He’s a sucker for that brand of whiskey, what’s it called again?”
“Devil’s Dance,” Dad said. “Out of Beaver Bluff, Tennessee.”
I glanced from my dad to my grandfather. “You’ve got Sheriff Suarez in on this, too?”
“Nah. He has no idea what’s really going on. We just keep him happy so he looks the other way. But once you’re elected sheriff, we’ll have an ally on the inside.”
I funneled my hands through my hair. “What the hell are you up to? I’m not signing on for anything without knowing exactly what the two of you have done.”
Pops spread his hands then placed his palms on his knees. “All right, all right. I suppose if you’re going to go all in with us you have a right to know.”
As much as I wanted to figure out what my dad and pops were up to, I wished for a half a second that I could remain oblivious. Once I had the information, there would be no going back. I’d have to decide what to do about it. I swallowed the doubt that had formed a giant lump in my throat and nodded. “Tell me.”
CHAPTER 22
LACEY
I groanedinto my ice water. I thought maybe the party would have mellowed out a bit at the restaurant, but instead, things had kicked into high gear. We’d been seated in a private room in the back, and the trays of Cherry Blossom Chillers hadn’t stopped coming. Music blared over the speaker system, pounding into my head, making me wish I had a pharmacy of painkillers at my disposal instead of my ineffective ibuprofen.
“More sushi?” Celeste dropped into the seat next to me. “The spicy tuna rolls are really good.”
I couldn’t stomach raw fish right now. I wanted to get to the hotel, check in, and take a long, hot soak in the tub. “No thanks. So, what’s the plan after dinner? I know Adeline’s got a full day of shopping planned for tomorrow. Are we turning in early?”
Celeste smiled, the kind of patronizing smile she might give to a child who’d asked a stupid question. “We’ve got entertainment on the way. Then we’re heading to Ice Blue, it’s one of the best dance clubs in Dallas.”
“Right.” I twirled my straw around in my glass. Time for another refill of H2O. “So I’ve got a monster headache coming on. Do you think you could drop me at the hotel on the way?”
“Don’t be silly.” Celeste bumped her shoulder into mine. “You’re not going to want to miss what we have planned.”
Oh, don’t bet your push-up bra on it. I stopped myself from actually uttering those words out loud. Maybe I could sneak out and grab a cab. Or download one of those ride apps I’d never had the chance to use. I was about to excuse myself to find a quiet place to make a call when the door to the dining room opened.
Three men walked in, dressed in dark blue uniforms. Sunglasses shaded their eyes. My first thought was that we were being busted for drugs. I’d seen the pills Celeste had tucked into her purse. When the tallest guy flashed a badge and held out handcuffs, I cradled my head in my hands. We were going down. All of us. I never should have agreed to come to Dallas with Adeline.
