Page 24 of Fight for Me

CHAPTER V

BRODY

There’s a knock on the door and one of the female officers, named Leslie, sticks her head into the room. “Hey, Brody! You’ve got someone asking for you at the front desk.”

“Who is it?” I ask absentmindedly, without lifting my eyes from the stack of papers on my desk. Ever since the disaster with Jen and the sheriff, most police officers in Bell Ridge were assigned to find her. Those who aren’t in Wallace’s good graces, meaning those who aren’t so willing to kiss his ass and to turn a blind eye to his missteps, like Diaz and I, were pulled aside to do everything else. My desk is folding under the weight of petty crime cases and unpaid tickets.

“The kid says his name is Marcus, but wouldn’t give me his last name.”

The image of a sneering punk shoving Jen in front of the school goes through my mind, and I snap my head up to look at the woman. My paperwork forgotten for the moment.

“Did he say what’s this about?” I straighten in my chair and click my pen anxiously.

“Nah, said he’ll only talk to you and that it’s super important,” Leslie replies in annoyance. “You want me to get rid of him?”

“No, bring him in. Thanks.”

My colleague nods and retreats from the room. I don’t even have time to pull myself together or rearrange the disaster on my desk before she brings Marcus. I ask her to close the door on the way out and gesture to the twitchy-looking kid to take a seat.

“Hi, I’m Officer Damon Brody. Officer Collins said you have something significant to talk about. I’m all ears then. What do you need?” I motion for him to start as I sit back in my chair.

Marcus looks at me askance with contempt, but from the way his leg is twitching, I can see that my perusal is making him nervous.

“Name’s Marcus Lepinsky. But I guess you know that from Jenny or whatever.” He looks away and licks his lips. “Don’t know what’s the deal with you two, really, but I think...”

When I only lift my eyebrows and don’t say anything, the teenager shakes his head and curses under his breath. I can see he’s battling with himself whether to tell me what he knows, and years of interrogations have taught me to let guys like Marcus work it out on their own. So, I wait patiently until he exhales heavily and sits up from his slightly slumped position to look straight at me.

“Jenny and I used to be a... thing. I care for her. Probably more than she ever cared for me... Still do, even though she broke my fucking heart. She’s a piece of work...”

Involuntarily, my hands clench into fists, but I keep my cool despite the fact I want to smack him already.

“I know what happens at her house. I know about the sheriff. And I know you know too.”

“Know what?” I play ignorance.

Marcus scoffs and crosses his arms. “Don’t give me that. The noble sheriff Wallace is using his daughter as a punching bag. I know it. You know it. And I heard some other shit about what he’s doing.”

“Heard from where?” I’m asking in an even tone, but I can feel my pulse accelerating in excitement. Could this kid really have something useful that could help the case?

“If I tell you, I don’t want any of this shit tied to me. I won’t be giving any official statements or anything. This is just to help Jenny.”

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