Meant to Be Immortal (Argeneau #32) - Lynsay Sands Page 0,101

paused his story briefly to explain, “That’s what my friends call me ’cause I sell the best skunk weed you’ll ever enjoy. Or I used to before Allistair stiffed me. Now I can’t get any of the good stuff in, not crystal meth for Jefferson or even skunk.” He shook his head with disgust, and then continued, “Anyway, he claims he doesn’t even owe me money and didn’t agree to no insurance burn, but I’m sure he did. Mostly sure,” he added with a frown. “I mean, I was tweaking at the time, so . . .” He paused, his expression dissatisfied as he disappeared into his thoughts.

“Well, that solves one crime.”

CJ glanced around Mac to see Captain Dupree standing next to the booth with Dandridge on his heels. He took a moment to nod politely at her, then turned to Dandridge and said, “Take Andy over to the station, get his statement, and put him in a cell.”

“Oh, no, no, no, man. I’m a snitch. I’m protected, right?” He turned desperately to CJ as Officer Dandridge stepped up to take his arm and urge him out of the booth. “Tell him.”

“You’re being arrested for the fire,” CJ said with a shrug. “Not anything you told me about Officer Jefferson and your business relationship with him.”

“But that fire was totally an accident. I didn’t know anyone was in the house when I lit it up,” Andy protested as Dandridge got him to his feet and started to urge him toward the exit. “This isn’t fair, man.”

“Yeah, cry me a river,” Dandridge said with a roll of the eyes as he urged him out of the building.

Seventeen

“What did he tell you about Jefferson?” Captain Dupree asked CJ grimly as he took Andy’s spot in the booth.

After a hesitation, CJ decided she might as well tell him and said, “He says Officer Jefferson is a meth-head. That he started ten months ago, and wasn’t a ‘happy cranker,’ as he put it.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Dupree asked with disgust.

“Probably that he gets argumentative and aggressive on it,” she said with a shrug before adding, “He also says Jefferson’s even worse now that his source has dried up, which may explain the two incidents the last three weeks.”

“Yeah,” Dupree said wearily, and then glanced around in search of the waitress.

Laurie was already on her way to the table with a cup of coffee for him. Although her smile was noticeably absent as she eyed the captain.

“Thank you,” Dupree said as she set the coffee down with a snap. But when she turned to leave, he caught her arm to stop her. The moment she swung back to glare at him, the captain said, “I just want to apologize, Laurie. For what Jefferson did to Keith and for not acting on it as quick as I should have. He came with a high recommendation when I hired him, and was a good cop at first. I had no idea that he’d got into drugs and was going bad, so when this incident came up I mistakenly gave him the benefit of the doubt. But I’m on it now. We’ll get this investigated properly and hold him responsible for whatever he’s done, both to Keith and those other two boys.”

Laurie was stiff for a minute, and then relaxed with a sigh and shook her head. “It’s not all your fault. None of us were telling you what he was getting up to until he hurt Keith.”

“What do you mean what he was getting up to?” Captain Dupree asked with concern.

“Just his throwing his weight around and bullying and stuff,” she said with a shrug. “Nothing as bad as what he did to Keith and the other two, Mark Loop and Mike MacDonald.”

“Oh.” Captain Dupree relaxed a little with a sigh and released her arm. “Well, I’ll make sure he’s held responsible. I just wanted you to know how sorry I am that it’s taken me so long to get to this point.”

“Well, at least you got there,” she pointed out wryly, and then turned to move away.

CJ had started to eat again as she listened to the captain talk to Laurie. When he turned back to the table, but merely picked up his coffee to take a sip, she swallowed the food in her mouth and asked, “Does Andy have a red pickup?”

Captain Dupree looked surprised at the question and then gave a small laugh. “Hell, no. He doesn’t drive at all. Doesn’t have