Page 24 of Secrets at Dawn
Dad shook his head. “I’m afraid not. Griffin’s deputized.”
“I’ll fill you in.” Griffin would watch Toby’s reaction when he did, too.
Chapter Twelve
Griffin watched his dad and Cass through the one-way mirror. Frank sat at a metal table with an unopened bottle of water. He looked bored and maybe a little scared. Was he afraid because he knew he was going to jail, or did his fear have to do with not knowing if he could get high in jail?
Griffin didn’t know him well. They’d had minimal interaction at pack meetings and around town. He knew his reputation around town more than the wolf shifter himself.
Frank would panhandle during the warm seasons. He’d target the treasure hunters more than the hikers. Frank was a smart guy. Smart enough to know that treasure hunting wasn’t a poor man’s game. It took money to run all over the mountains looking for a pot of gold. Most hunters would stay for weeks at a time. Some even stayed in the area for the entire summer. A person didn’t have to be rich to treasure hunt, but it took more than living paycheck to paycheck, as many people did. This was especially true for the treasure hunters who stayed for longer than a few paid vacation days. Frank was smart enough to get a pretty good read on people.
What was his motive for being on the roof, though? Was he living up there? He’d been homeless before. Rumor had it that his mother kicked him out because she couldn’t handle his addiction. He wouldn’t get help. Griffin knew his dad and Cass had been trying to talk him into rehab, but Frank just told them what they wanted to hear but never followed through.
The pack allowed him to stay in a cabin on the pack lands. That was where he’d been in recent months, as far as Griffin knew. Had something changed in Frank’s life that Griffin hadn’t heard about? It was a possibility, considering Griffin didn’t gossip on purpose. Most of what he heard about was when one of his clients talked to someone else in front of him. He’d be fixing their sink while they rattled on the phone to one of their friends. As a maintenance worker, he was often forgotten.
Griffin watched as Cass opened a file folder. And then he just stared at Frank, not saying a word, until Frank fidgeted on the metal chair. He averted his gaze and then sighed. “Fuck, Cass. You know I can’t tell you shit. You have to know it.”
“I know you’d better give me something, Frank.”
Griffin figured the silent treatment was some sort of tactic to get under Frank’s skin.
Dad slipped out of the room.
The door to the viewing room opened, and his dad walked in. He stood next to Griffin and watched through the one-way window.
“Toby’s sulking,” Dad whispered.
Yeah, Griffin had noticed. It was kind of cute. Cute enough to make Griffin smile when his dad mentioned it. “He deserves it.”
“Is that so? Should we interrogate him next?”
“That’s unnecessary.” Griffin would find out what the hell was going on without that. “He knows something about the envelope but isn’t saying. I’ll find out what.”
“That envelope contained a handwritten note telling you about Toby’s magical abilities.”
Griffin stiffened. “I don’t want to find that out from anyone but him. Certainly not some asshole who clearly wants to fuck Toby over.”
But why would someone do that?
Cass shuffled through the file and put the envelope with Toby’s name on it in between them.
Griffin and Iven stopped talking when Cass started in on Frank.
“We have you for resisting, firearm possession, possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia, trespassing, and I’m pretty sure the DA will prosecute you for attempted murder, considering you shot at me.” Cass slid a piece of paper over to Frank. Presumably, it had all the charges against Frank listed in a neat row. All done up nice and tight and wrapped in a bow. “That last charge will get you twenty to life.”
“It’s bullshit.” Iven smirked and shook his head. “He’ll get ten years max and be out in six on good behavior. That’s how it is in this county.”
“I can’t tell you about that. He’ll fucking kill me.” Frank winced as if he had a headache, and he looked a little green. But he got right to the point.
“Who is he?”
Frank winced again. “He’ll kill me, man.”
“Tell me about this.” Cass pointed to the envelope.
“He paid me to lay it on the sidewalk in front of the old pizza place. That’s all I had to do. That can’t be a crime, man. It’s like just doing a job.”
“Who would pay Frank to do that?” Griffin whispered.
