Page 84 of Bend (Bend & Break Duet 1)

Bobby pulled the curtain back. “Oh, hell.”

Joe’s car was in the front yard, still running with the lights on. Ma’s rose bushes were toast.

“I’ll move it around back.”

She was going to kill him for driving that wasted.

I jogged down the front steps as blue lights flashed.

Please let them keep going.

The police cruiser stopped in the street next to my Suburban.

How did he manage to get though the parked—oh.

Bobby was going to flip. Joe had smashed the front end of his car so hard it was on the sidewalk. The bumper of Ma’s car was hanging off. There was a dent in the trunk so deep I wasn’t sure we’d be able to get it open.

Egan and McCreedie rounded their car and sauntered over.

“I’m moving it, fellas.” I rested my hand on the doorframe.

“Can’t let you do that, Cal.” Egan pulled out his flashlight. “He ran two people off the road eight blocks back and scraped a half a dozen other cars before he got here.”

“Anybody hurt?”

“A woman and her kid had to go to the hospital. Think they’re going to be okay, but we can’t let Joe off on one.” There was a sorry behind his words, and I appreciated it.

Joe had put them in an awkward position because of their friendship, but he’d crossed a line and this couldn’t be swept under the rug.

“I understand.”

“Egan. McCreedie. What you doing here?” Bobby joined us on the front lawn.

“Collecting evidence. And we gotta haul Joe in.”

“Shit.” Bobby put his hands on his hips and turned toward the house. “He’s out cold.”

“Then we won’t even have to cuff him. We’ll put him in his own cell.”

“Do you have to? It’s just his car and Ma’s lawn—” Bobby noticed his ride was all kinds of messed up. “I wanna strangle that idiot, but I can’t. He’s been through enough.”

“Sent a woman and kid to the hospital,” I said quietly.

He cursed again. “Can we at least get this mess out of here? Half the neighborhood already has pictures. Ma doesn’t need this.”

“We’ll wrap it up as soon as we can. Crime scene unit will be here soon.”

Great.

That was just what we needed. A street full of cops at Ma’s.

McCreedie pulled me aside. “I get it. I really do. But you gotta get your brother under control before he does something we can’t help him out of.”

His lighter. At the point of ignition.

Had he already?

Chapter Twenty-Nine

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