Page 43 of When You Got a Good Thing (Misfit Inn 1)

Now was not the time to chastise her for listening in on confidential interrogations.

“He asked her about them, where they’d come from. She said they weren’t hers. That some kids at a party she’d gone to were planning to use them, and she knew that was stupid, so she took them and intended to get rid of them before anybody could hurt themselves.”

Now that sounded like something she’d do.

“And then?”

“He asked her to name names. Say who all was at the party, who she’d gotten the drugs from. She wouldn’t do it.”

Because he’d been at that party. So had all their closest friends and a fair chunk of the senior class. Kennedy was no sellout.

“Buck got mad then. He hated that drugs had gotten into our county, turned into a problem. Took it as a personal attack. I knew he didn’t like her. But I never thought he’d—”

A sick feeling took up residence in Xander’s gut. “He what, Essie?”

“He told her it didn’t matter if she named other names, he had her on felony possession charges with intent to distribute, and he...he used it to blackmail her.”

“That’s bullshit. Kennedy never did drugs. She didn’t even drink.”

“I’m just telling you what I heard. The drugs were in her car. Jim was very clear about that.”

And given the laws in Tennessee, she could be charged, whether they’d been hers or not. But officers had room for discretion, as did judges, to look at the realities of each individual case.

“You said he blackmailed her. How?”

“Everybody knows Joan had a zero tolerance policy for criminal behavior. He played on her fear, made her believe that this whole thing would make Joan kick her out. She was eighteen, a legal adult. Joan didn’t have to be responsible for her anymore. Scared that poor girl to death. But he said he’d make her a deal. He’d see that all the charges went away if she left town, without you. He made it clear the deal only stayed in place so long as she stayed gone.”

Xander’s hands curled to useless fists as shock slid into anger. His father had never liked Kennedy, but he never would have believed Buck would use his position as Sheriff to do something like this. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

Essie knotted her hands and worried the lipstick off her bottom lip. She seemed to have aged a decade over the past few minutes. “I couldn’t risk my job. Not with Henry being in chemo. And honestly, I never dreamed she’d really do it. Everybody could see how much she loved you, and I thought she’d fight. She was never the type to just roll over when someone attacked her. So when she left, it was a shock. And then she stayed gone and...I didn’t want to bring it up and hurt you more.”

Xander’s blood was boiling, but he struggled to keep himself in check. This wasn’t Essie’s fault. “What happened to the case file?”

“There wasn’t one. She was never formally arrested.”

“What about the evidence? Was it ever sent off to the lab for analysis?”

“A few months later it was, when a similar stash was found. Arrests were made. It was after you’d left for college.”

“And what was it?”

“I don’t remember.”

“Who was arrested? Pull up the damned file.” Xander knew he was snarling, but everything he’d believed for ten years was wrong and he needed to see how bad this really was.

With shaking hands, Essie checked the computer, then went to pull a file from the cabinet.

He yanked it from her and flipped to the lab report. The way the laws were written, charges were the same whether the drugs were marijuana or something harder. He had to know what the hell she’d been caught with, what exactly his father had been sitting on for years. He read the lab report through, then read it a second time as relief and fury hit him in equal measure.

Coral plants. Kennedy had been threatened with felony drug possession over coral plants. Not even a legitimate drug. Even if he’d charged her, the charges wouldn’t have held up.

Without another word, he strode to his desk and snatched up his keys.

“Where are you going?” Essie’s worried voice floated after him.

“To talk to my father.”

Buck had taken the afternoon off for a doctor’s check-up, so he’d be home now. Xander intended to corner the bear in his den.

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