School of Fish (Fish Out of Water #6) - Amy Lane Page 0,57

sent the night before, they refined their goals.

“Okay, new plan,” Jackson said. “I take the DA, and you take the public defender’s office. And this time forge some relationships and try not to piss anybody off.”

“You’re the one who got into the fight yesterday,” Henry said mildly.

“Well, that was old business,” Jackson said, trying for dignity and achieving only satisfaction. “Some fuckers want to hold on to the past even though it was crooked. You’re the future. Keep it straight and narrow, Junior, that’s all I ask.”

“I am maybe four years younger than you. And that doesn’t even count your emotional constipation.”

Jackson was privy to a lot of Henry’s past, and he knew all the signs of a fellow sufferer straining to outrun his demons. He arched a single eyebrow at Henry, who turned a healthy shade of pink.

“I’m still doing better than you,” he mumbled.

Jackson cocked his head, staring at Henry in scientific fascination, like a new bug.

“Shut up! Fine. I’ll hit the PD’s office, you hit the DA’s, we’ll meet back here in the middle and go interview the parents. Are we good? Are you going to let me out of your sight? Do I need to take a weapon, Dad?”

“Shut up,” Jackson muttered. “And be careful, dammit.”

Henry rolled his eyes. “Oh my God. Listen to yourself. Try not to get shot, asshole.” And with that, Henry stalked out of the conference room, flipping a salute behind his back and leaving Galen, Ellery, and Jade looking at Jackson in amusement.

“What?” Jackson glared at all of them, crossing his arms.

“Nothing,” Jade said, her full mouth quirking. “Nothing at all. Not a damned thing. De nada. Zilch. Zero.”

Jackson rolled his eyes. “Ellery, can we go now?”

“No,” Ellery said. “I want Galen to repeat that thing he said yesterday about the larger pattern. It was important.”

Galen smiled thinly. “I do believe I’m being patronized,” he said, and it was Ellery’s turn to roll his eyes.

“No, it was important.” Ellery paused and gave Jackson a bored look. “And it will give Henry a chance to clear out of the parking lot so he doesn’t run Jackson over with the car.”

Galen’s laughter—dry as lint—scuffed through the room. “That’s the honesty I treasure. I told him to look out for patterns. There is something here we’re not seeing. This is like a pattern of sabotage, a random trail of things that go wrong that shouldn’t. Be on the lookout for things that don’t fit, stuff that doesn’t jibe with what you know. A guy in a nice suit with crappy shoes, a small-time thug with too much cash—”

“A guy who looks like a high school student who smells like a grown businessman and can vault over a fence and down a story while holding a knife?” Jackson said, eyes flicking to Ellery.

Ellery sat up a little straighter. “Yes. Sean did say he smelled like aftershave and mint. A businessman, like you said. The street hood and the high school student—those are disguises.”

“Yeah,” Jackson murmured. “And we’ve got a guard who’s either taking payoffs or being coerced into beating down poor Tage. So a prison guard who’s assaulting prisoners, a kid who didn’t do it letting himself be arrested instead of fingering the grown man dressed as a kid who did. A house party that was probably held to get Ty out of commission and ruin his whole future.”

“Where was that kid going to college?” Galen asked suddenly.

“USC,” Ellery said, with that prompt recall of details that Jackson so admired.

“Hm….” Galen fingered his goatee.

“What?” Jade asked. “What is that sound?”

Galen cocked his head. “What do you mean?”

“That sound. That just wasn’t right, was it, Jackson?”

“No,” Jackson agreed. “But he’s from Georgia. It’s not his fault.”

Galen shot Ellery a puzzled look. “What are they talking about?”

“You’ll hear it eventually,” Ellery reassured him. “Why does it matter where Ty plans to go to school?”

“We’re talking big business here. The working theory was that they wanted to get the cops away from what they were really doing, but it was so elaborate. It’s another thing that made me think corporate sabotage. So many moving pieces. Let me check with some sources. I have a theory.”

Still pondering, Galen used the chair back to shove himself up to his feet, and without his cane, he walked steadily out the door and across the way to his office. Jackson knew he worked really hard to go without support as much as he could, and he admired a man who could stretch