Page 67 of The Voices are Back

It wasn’t as if I needed my suspicions of him being back and what I thought he might or might not do, to be confirmed through someone else. But it was good to know that someone else felt the same damn way as I had.

“The old judge, district attorney, and sheriff had some good ol’ buddy-buddy thing going on,” Derek said. “I’m in the process of going through some old files, and I feel like there were a lot of things overlooked, missed completely, and covered up. Cases that should’ve never been cases. People sent to prison and serving time for things that should’ve never been time served.” He looked at me pointedly. “We have the chance to clean things up, and we’ve partnered up to do just that.”

I nodded, happy to hear that.

“Thank you,” I said.

“What happened before won’t happen again,” he promised.

Then he went to the car, leaving Sunny and me on the porch alone.

“He’s a good guy,” Sunny said. “But sometimes he’s so literal, black and white, that it’s hard to like him.”

I grunted out a laugh. “You’re not lying.”

“I feel like possibly there’s a disconnect between him and me. That’s why the golf day,” he said. “But I did stop to say that I felt like something was going to happen. It’s a gut feeling I can feel right in here,” he pressed his hand to his chest, right over his heart. “Had these feelings since I was a kid, and they’ve never steered me wrong.”

I nodded. “You think it’s just him?”

Because I felt like it was more than just him.

I got the same feelings. Though they were now directed at quite a few people, not just the sick fuck who liked to switch babies for fun. For instance, the man that attacked Morrigan. He was just one of a multitude of people that’d been bothering me lately.

“The guy we’re holding until Monday,” he said. “He’s not saying anything. He’s barely even moved since we got him to jail after being checked over. But someone came to try to see him the other day. Another guy that said he was his ‘club brother.’ But the guy said they were leaving, and not to come find them because they didn’t want to be associated with dumbasses. His exact words. The guy practically deflated when he heard his ‘club brother’s’ words.” He sighed. “Haven’t seen them at all since. My guess on that end, it’s a dead end. Nothing will come of that. The judge will sentence him, he’ll spend time in jail, that’s the end of that.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. No, still not happy with it. No amount of jail time would ever be enough for what he’d done to my woman.

“There’s something going on with the youth population, too,” he said. “I’ve had a couple of kids your son’s age start vandalizing. Good kids, according to their parents. All of them are flabbergasted that their ‘babies’ are turning into deviant tyrants. Then there’s a growing number of teenage pregnancies. Though, luckily all those girls are of age. But there’s just a pulse in this place of bad shit going on, and I can’t figure out what it is.”

“I can ask Bowie. And Lolo,” I said. “Wake would know more about Lolo, though. She’s a good kid.”

“I notice you didn’t say your kid was a good kid,” he observed.

I remembered what the little fucker had said to me this morning as he’d gotten out of the car.

And for what it’s worth, your new girlfriend looks like she’s special. A special piece of trash.

I clamped my hands into fists.

That’d be something that I would be bringing up to Danyetta when we were alone next.

“He’s something.” I paused. “But I don’t think he’s dumb enough to get into trouble with kids his age. He’s at that new school, and they’re all nerds. Bowie barely leaves his room, and when he does, it’s to go to his friend’s house that’s the next street over. Once there, they livestream, cuss, and video themselves doing mini raves when they finally manage to kill someone in COD.”

COD beingCall of Duty.

He didn’t know it, but even though I freakin’ hatedCall of Duty, and video games in general, I was their only follower. When Bowie got onto the live stream, a notification popped up on my phone, and no matter what I was doing, I got on and watched them. And when I couldn’t do it, I got an SOS signal out to Danyetta, and she watched them.

At first, it was because we wanted to make sure they were being safe about it. With the internet and information age being what it was, I’d wanted to make sure that he wasn’t inadvertently sharing information about his life, where he lived, where he went to school, stuff like that.

But now, it was because when Bowie was livestreaming, it was as if I was witnessing a different kid. One that didn’t hate me and everything there was about me.

“That’s good.” Sunny nodded. “Anyway, there’re a few things on my mind lately, and right now, I don’t think that I can pinpoint why. But if any of those end up involving any of y’all.” He gestured at my cut, the one that denoted me a member of the Gator Bait MC, and finished with, “I’ll let y’all know.”

I nodded, offered him my hand, and was watching him leave when Folsom and Danyetta walked out the door.

“Did we give you enough time to talk without us?” Folsom asked.

I grinned at her. “He was concerned about a lot of things, one of which being Yeti and my son. But I told him he had nothing to worry about there.”

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