Meant to Be Immortal (Argeneau #32) - Lynsay Sands Page 0,72
been sure it would work, and she’d damned near had another head wound to add to the one she’d got in the hit-and-run.
That thought made her spin toward Mac. “Let me see your hand.”
His eyebrows rose, but he held out his hand for her to take a look. The rock was gone, and his hand looked perfectly fine. There wasn’t a mark on it. CJ stared at it blankly. From the sound when it had hit his hand, she’d been sure he’d at least have a bad bruise if not a terrible gash. Sighing, she released his hand and glanced around at the now empty parking lot.
“Well, I guess we should go back inside. I need to talk to Dupree before I leave, make sure he doesn’t charge anyone for what happened here tonight,” she said, moving around the three men and heading back inside.
A much-subdued Captain Dupree was alone in the reception room. He met her just inside the door, and spoke before she could. “Thank you for handling that.”
“You’re welcome,” she said solemnly. “But—”
“I’ve called Steve—Officer Jefferson in,” he interrupted solemnly. “He should be here in twenty minutes. I’m going to put him on leave until you finish your investigation and come to a decision. I also had my wife call my daughter over to our house. After I deal with Steve, I’m going home to talk to her and find out if the bastard has been beating her.”
“That’s good, but—”
“And myself and the men will cooperate fully with your investigation. I’ll talk to them and make it clear that they’re to answer all questions honestly.”
“Good. Thank you. Now about the mob out here tonight. I told them no one would be charged for this,” she said quickly, just wanting to get that subject out of the way and head back to the bed-and-breakfast before she collapsed where she stood. She was exhausted and the stress had brought her headache back. All she wanted at that point was to take a couple more painkillers and lie down.
“I heard you say that,” Captain Dupree said, and grimaced as his gaze slid to the shattered windows and door. “They caused a lot of damage.”
“So has Jefferson if what those boys are saying is true,” CJ countered quietly. “And the townspeople are angry. The way they see it, he’s misusing his authority. He’s actually breaking the law, and from their perspective you’ve been letting him do it.” She paused briefly to let that sink in and then glanced toward the glass and rocks covering the floor before adding, “If they’d hurt anyone I’d say throw the book at them, but since that didn’t happen, I suggest you bite the bullet on this and just get the glass replaced and take this as a lesson learned. Your people expect you to keep them safe, even from your own men. Maybe especially from your own men.”
“Yeah,” he sighed unhappily, running a hand through his hair. “He used to be a good guy. I hope he still is and this is all just a mistake, but . . .” He shook his head.
CJ was silent. There was really nothing she could say to comfort the man. This was a mess, but she’d get to the bottom of it with her investigation. For now, though, she really just wanted to leave. Unfortunately, her brain was pounding and her thinking processes were slow and she didn’t know how to end this and leave without seeming rude or uncaring. Fortunately, Bricker had no such problem.
“So,” he said abruptly, clapping his hands. “Are we done here? Can we get some Chinese and go back to the bed-and-breakfast?”
CJ glanced to Captain Dupree in question. “Is there anything else before we go?”
“No, I guess not,” the captain said, glancing around. “You’re coming back tomorrow to sign your statement and interview Steve.”
It was more a reminder than a question, but CJ treated it like a question. “Yes. I’ll try to be here early to sign the statement, but if not, I can always sign it after the interview.”
“Right,” he muttered, frowning at the mess of glass on the floor. “I need to clean this up and call our window guy.”
“All right, then,” CJ said mildly. “We’ll head out and leave you to it.”
Grunting, Captain Dupree nodded and turned to make his way around the reception counter and into the back of the station without another word.
“I guess that means we’re good to go,” Bricker said cheerfully.