like some knight in shining armor.”
Adam stared at him, his eyes wide. Then he got up, pressing his palms to his desk. “So you’re saying you’re not going to leave her alone?”
“Only if she asks me to. Only if she wants to end things. But I have a bit of news for you, buddy.” Jaime leaned toward him. “It’s none of your business. It never has been, and never will be.”
“It is my business because she’s my sister.” Adam’s voice was low, harsh, and if they weren’t at work, Jaime had a feeling this could come to blows. He rather wished it would. It would probably make them both feel better.
“Yes, she’s your sister, who’s an adult. She doesn’t need you making her decisions behind her back.”
The two of them breathed hard, staring each other down, wondering who would give in first. Jaime refused to give in. He refused to apologize because he’d done nothing wrong. Yes, he’d told him—and Grace—their relationship wasn’t necessarily the wisest idea, but that didn’t make it right for someone else to forbid it from happening, either.
“Go to hell,” Jaime said before stalking out of Adam’s office, shutting the door probably more loudly than necessary.
The rest of the day devolved from there. Two of the groups either burned or grossly overcooked their racks of lamb, rendering them inedible. The only bright spot was that Jaime had scheduled to leave early since it was a standard night and leave Eric in charge. He normally hated leaving Eric in charge of the rest of the staff, but by five o’clock, he didn’t care. He couldn’t stay one more second at River’s Bend and have Adam breathing down his neck, just waiting for him to do something else to reprimand him for.
Driving home, Jaime was looking forward to an evening of booze and maybe watching a game or two, but when he got within eyeshot of his house, he knew that wasn’t going to happen. Two police cars waited outside for him. Parking, he got out of his truck and, seeing four officers waiting at his door, he raised his hands in surrender.
This is it, he thought. They’re going to arrest me for a crime I didn’t commit. I should’ve known this would happen.
But instead of the officers coming toward him with handcuffs, only one came forward. It was Sheriff Jennings. He handed Jaime a document and said in an exultant voice, “We have authorization to search your residence, Mr. Martínez. Glad you arrived so soon. Wouldn’t want to wait around all night for you to come home.” He grinned, showing crooked teeth in his red and wrinkled face.
Jaime stared at the official document in his hand, glancing at the various signatures scrawled at the bottom. He swallowed.
“I’ll let you in then,” he said in a quiet voice, gripping his keys in his fist.
After that, he said nothing else. He said nothing as he wondered where he should sit as the officers scoured his house, going through every room, every cabinet, every drawer. He wondered if it would be strange if he turned on the TV while they worked. Would they hold that against him if he were later charged? Would they say he wasn’t taking things seriously if he turned on a game? So he turned on nothing, staring at the wall, listening to the officers talking and going through everything he owned.
He didn’t know what they expected to find. Then again, for all Jaime knew, someone had planted evidence without his knowledge. A smoking gun, a bloody knife, anything. Nothing would surprise him at this point. The only question he wanted answered was who would do this to him in the first place.
His second concern? His parents could never, ever find out that this happened.
The search was over faster than Jaime had expected. He watched as the officers carried out various items, including his laptop. Sheriff Jennings gave him a list of things confiscated and said they would talk with him shortly after they had finished looking through everything. Jaime nodded, not getting up to see them out.
He listened as they started their cars and finally drove off. They’d left the front door open, he realized. He went to shut it, using the bolt lock, and it was only then that the severity of what had happened collapsed upon him.
Going through his house, he looked at where the officers had opened drawers, dumped open boxes, sifted through his clothes. A pile of shoes lay at the