kids. Matti was rubbing Tabitha’s back in slow circles while she avoided his eyes.
“Police can be shitty,” I said to them, trying to make it a comforting declaration. “But, look. Sikorsky doesn’t suspect any of you, not for real. Tabitha’s right—if he really intended to throw down against your family, he could’ve done a lot worse. The good news is, he didn’t. He’s either got other suspects or he’s not looking to solve the case, and I’d bet on the latter. Stay out of his way, leave it to us, and we’ll bring your dad home safe.”
Tabitha gave me a forced nod, her head down and her hands still closed into fists.
My mobile buzzed.
I didn’t recognize the number. I took a steadying breath and picked up, trying to backtrack who knew this phone. It was the one out of Pilar’s car, so unless she’d given someone the number in advance, that limited it only to—
“Ms. Wells, it’s Willow,” said Willow Grace’s voice. “The police have taken your friends into custody.”
fifteen
“WE’RE OKAY, we’re okay,” Pilar kept assuring me over the phone, so many times it didn’t seem likely at all. “They’re just investigating, right? They asked me some questions and checked my alibis, but they didn’t try to railroad me or anything…”
“Don’t be so naïve,” I snapped. She had far too much faith in the system. “What about Checker?”
“He—um—he’s being held. I mean, he kind of lost his temper when they said they were taking us in, because the delay and all, and—well, I think they might have suspected him already. But they’re not going to have any evidence, right?”
“They what? How the hell is he a suspect?”
“His history with the bomb guy is on the record. He almost went to prison for something D.J. did, Cas. As an accessory. It was like almost a decade ago. I—I didn’t know.”
None of us had known. None of us had known because Checker hadn’t said a damn word about it. Neither had Diego, and he sure as hell knew.
Now the authorities had at least two more explosive crime scenes that were both linked to Checker’s business partner’s disappearance. Both of them, as we ourselves had discovered, with D.J.’s signature.
Of course they suspected Checker. How could they not? How had Checker not realized they would? How had he not told us?
Someone touched my arm. Diego. He had a cell phone to his ear, and he reached out his hand for mine. I was surprised enough that I handed it to him without demanding to know why.
“Mija, what station are you at?” he asked Pilar. After listening for a moment, he said, “No, no, no. That won’t happen. I’m calling Elisa. She’ll send someone in her firm till she can get here. Oh—Lisie?” he said into the other phone as someone picked up. “I’ll call if she needs more information,” he added to Pilar, and handed the phone back to me before moving away to continue the conversation with his eldest daughter. Elisa was the lawyer, I thought I remembered.
“Cas?” Pilar said. “Are you still there?”
“Yeah.” I felt numb.
“Checker didn’t want us to call at all, because he didn’t want anything distracting you from Arthur. Diego’s right, though, that won’t happen because we’ll handle this legally. You and Willow Grace need to keep on with the search, and—and I do too. They haven’t filed any official charges yet—they’re just questioning him—Elisa will be able to protect him; I know she will. And at least he’s not in danger here.” She said it like she was trying to convince herself.
She didn’t know Arthur had old police enemies still nursing grudges. I’d gathered from Sikorsky that most of the kids had trouble in their pasts—if Arthur had helped get Checker off the hook a decade ago, the fact that Checker had never legally become part of the family wasn’t going to stop a resentful cop from throwing the book at him.
And short of breaking Checker out of prison, I couldn’t think of one single thing I could do about it. Fuck.
Except—I could rescue Arthur. If we got Arthur back, safe and whole, that would go a long way toward getting Checker out of the crosshairs of the law.
Christ, it would be so much easier if I could just break into the police station and bust him out. But unlike me, Checker had a life. I wasn’t sure he’d regard being rescued only to go off the grid as significantly better than prison.
I had a life, shivered the