Page 72 of Hitch
The officer sniffs. The process repeats for the other building and the barn, and each time, relief swims through me.
Someone—probably Todd—must’ve moved the product.
After they’re finished with the buildings, two of them take an SUV to search the fields, while the other two keep a close eye on Braden and I. The whole process takes hours, but eventually, they’re satisfied.
“Sorry to waste your time,” Sunburn says. “We apologize for the inconvenience.”
“You still filing a report?” Braden asks.
Mustache narrows his eyes at Braden. “It’s our policy. But you’re not hiding anything, so you should be fine. Right, gentlemen?”
After that, Braden keeps his mouth shut and we’re polite as they head out. The sun beats down on us as their SUVs disappear into the late afternoon light.
“Where did Todd move the mushrooms?” Braden asks.
Braden doesn’t know the details?
I pull out my phone, dialing Todd. He answers on the first ring. “Yep?”
I put him on speaker. “Cops came by,” I say.
“With a fucking warrant,” Braden adds.
“Yeah?” Todd asks. He clears his throat. “Shit.How’d it go?”
“Where’d you move the mushrooms?” Braden asks.
“This warehouse on the south side. I told you about it.”
Braden lets out a sigh.
“You saved our asses,” I grunt.
Braden gets closer to the phone. “We gotta figure out this blackmailer shit. It’s gotta be your girl,” Braden says, nodding to me.
“Have you seen anything?” Todd asks. “Like a video? Pictures on her phone? Something like that?”
I think of the camera in the back of her car. The hidden lens on her purse. The time I found her in the spore house, holding up her phone as she took pictures and videos. There’s so much proof that it’s her, but my mind won’t let go of the idea that it’snother. It can’t be.
Reggie’s cutthroat. Shewouldblackmail someone.
But she wouldn’t do that to me.
“It’s not her,” I say.
“Where is she, anyway?” Todd asks.
I shrug. “Don’t know.”
Braden lifts his chin. “It’s her,” he says. “We all know it.Youknow it. You just gotta think with your brain and not your dick for once.”
Anger pours through me, bubbling under my skin.
“For all we know, it’s one of you,” I yell into the phone as I point at Braden. “Maybeyouwent to the cops.”
“You’d say that about me?” Braden snaps. “I’ve been with you since we were kids. I helped you with your father. I—”
“You can’t be serious,” Todd says. “Come on, Duane. Be real.”
