Page 48 of Coming Home to You
“Okay,” Kelsey says, taking my hand as we walk back.
Finn and the young kid he’s assigned to watch the place are both waiting for us.I’m not so sure this kid is cut out for the job; he looks like he graduated high school about five minutes ago.But I don’t say anything to Finn, trusting him and not wanting to step on his toes anymore than I already am.
“Hey,” my brother says, a tight smile on his face as we all walk into the front room.The kid takes a seat on the chair Erin always sits in and I have to suppress a smile, knowing exactly why she loves that chair.
Kelsey filled me in once on how Erin got felt up by some tourist when she was staying up here as a kid.Apparently it was a bonding moment between them, Kels then filling her in on a certain feeling up she got from me in the boat we were just on tonight.I’m glad Erin came back to live here in the end, happy Kels has such a good friend to talk to about things.Although, fuck knows Ryan has got his work cut out for him with that redhead.She’s a feisty little shit, which makes her kinda perfect for him really.
“Any leads?”Kelsey asks.
Finn shakes his head.“No.Your neighbors heard the explosion from your car and called it in.Likely it had been lit several minutes before that so by the time we got there, he’d gone.”
“Any matches or anything left behind?”I ask, already knowing this guy is too smart to leave clues.
“No,” Finn says.“The guy sure as fuck knows what he’s doing, makes me wonder who the hell he really is.”
“I know,” I say, turning to Kelsey.She’s standing beside me, Bella at her feet and a calm look on her face.I get the feeling she’s moved past the fear stage now and is well into the anger stage.Like me, she’s getting sick and tired of all the things this fuckwit is doing to her and just wants him caught.He’s doing more than just disrupting her life, he’s ruining it and we both know this can’t go on forever without one of us losing it.
“You okay, babe?”I ask, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her close.
Kelsey exhales hard.“I’m pretty fucking pissed actually,” she says, making me smile.I’m glad after all this time I can still read her.
“Yeah, you’re not the only one,” I grumble.“But about what Finn said, is there anything Jason said to you about his past.Anything to give you some indication as to who he really is, what he might have done before?”
Kelsey shakes her head.“No, he always told me he ran a sporting goods store out of Boston.I know it’s true because I had the number, called him a couple of times at work.”
“Shit,” I say, knowing we’ve already searched the store and found nothing.
Just as I’m about to ask about his family, my cell rings again.Pulling it from my pocket, I see Ryan’s name flashing on the screen and I answer it immediately.
“Summers,” I say, glancing up at Finn.“I’m with Finn and Kelsey.Give me a sec, I’m putting you on speaker.”The three of us move into Kelsey’s office at the back, just in case any customers come down.
Ryan exhales through the phone and when I give him the go ahead, he says, “We’ve just finished searching the storage space he had rented.”His voice is tight, and I immediately know there’s a whole lot more to this man than we first thought.
“What did you find?”I ask, my eyes on Kelsey, knowing this isn’t going to be good.
“You’re not going to believe this,” he says.“But the fucking asshole is a cop.”
“What?!”Finn barks, his hands on his hips as he glares at my cell phone.
“Yeah, well ex-cop is a better way of putting it,” Ryan says.“Turns out he got fired for being dirty.That’s when he moved to Boston.He changed his name, got a new identity and opened the sporting store.Probably when he picked up his nasty little habit of fucking and spying on women without their permission.”
I swallow hard, remembering I haven’t exactly filled Kelsey in on all the details from what Ryan found in Jason’s apartment.She looks at me; her face white as though she understands there’s more to the story.
“Where was he a cop?”I ask.“Boston?”
“Nah,” Ryan says.“Florida.Seems he moved as far away as possible when he got busted planting evidence and coercing witnesses.Had a thing with the wife of some drug lord he put in jail too, as well as a relationship with one of the female members on his team.”
“Jesus fucking christ,” I say, reaching for the bottle of whiskey Kelsey keeps on a side table in her office.I snag three glasses and pour all of us a generous drink, which Finn and I throw back immediately.“Anything else?”I ask.
Ryan takes a deep breath.“Yeah, although this is unrelated,” he says, his voice almost apologetic.
“What is it?”I ask.
“You’re gonna need to come back to Boston, Beck.The trial got moved up and we need you to testify.”
“Shit,” I breathe out, immediately pouring myself another scotch.
An hour later, Kelsey and I walk into our room at the inn.Finn has gone with a promise to keep an officer at the inn at all times.The kid’s gone home, replaced by someone who looks more than competent to pull the night shift.
