I felt Hank come up behind me just as the door was thrown open.
Kevin reached out and grabbed my arm and tugged me inside. Every sore, aching muscle in my body screamed out and Kevin swung the door shut behind me.
Not fast enough, Hank had time to twist his torso, slammed his shoulder into the door and it flew open, sending Kevin careening against the opposite wall.
In two strides, Hank was on him, his hand at The Kevster’s throat holding him against the wall.
“Hank, it’s okay, that’s Kevin,” I said.
Hank turned to me, then looked beyond me and said, “Jesus f**king Christ.”
Ally was also in and she was staring behind me and then she tipped back her head and laughed.
I turned and saw that The Kevster’s living room was filled with pot plants. Every surface was covered with plants, and that included the floor. There was a narrow path forged through the plants but other than that, it was wall-to-wall marijuana. It was a pot jungle.
“Holy crap,” I said.
“Gulk,” The Kevster said.
“Hank, let him go,” Ally said.
Hank’s hand loosened at Kevin’s throat and his other hand went to the small of his back. He was wearing jeans, boots and a gray t-shirt that fit snug on the shoulders and chest but sat loose at his waist. He pulled up the back of his tee and exposed a gun tucked into his waistband next to a pair of cuffs. He pulled out the cuffs and slapped a bracelet on Kevin, then he yanked him toward a door and slapped the other bracelet on the doorknob.
Kevin was coughing and explaining at the same time.
“Dude! I had to save the plants! They were dyin’. They didn’t do anything wrong, they’re innocent. Rosie left them to die. Someone had to save the plants.”
Hank ignored Rosie and turned to me.
“I want to talk to you,” he said.
He stalked through the pot path and I followed him into Kevin’s kitchen, which was also filled with pot plants.
Hank glanced around and then turned on me.
“What in the f**k?” he asked.
“How’m I supposed to know what the f**k? I thought he was calling about Pepper Rick, the guy who kidnapped me. I didn’t know anything about this.”
Hank stared at me for a beat and then looked to the ceiling.
“What’re you gonna do?” I asked.
“I’m callin’ it in,” he answered in a no-nonsense cop tone.
Uh-oh.
“Can we take the plants back to Rosie’s first and call it in from there?”
Hank stared at me incredulously, as if I’d just asked for permission to run the world and make every Tuesday International Pink Champagne Day.
I guessed that was not going to happen.
“Okay then, can the police take the plants and leave Kevin? They aren’t his plants, he’s just looking after them as a concerned environmentalist.”
Hank put his hands to his hips.
I sucked some air into my nostrils and then let it out. “How much trouble is he in?”