Wolf Untamed (SWAT - Special Wolf Alpha Team #11) - Paige Tyler Page 0,44
hearing.”
Diego frowned. He’d have to look into that parole board hearing. The Texas judicial system was known for its leniency, but taking six years off a sentence for a vicious murder in front of witnesses wasn’t the norm. “Has he been bothering you and Brandon since he got released?”
She took a slow sip of wine. “He’s come around my office a few times and stopped by here. Once, he tried to talk to Brandon outside Kevin’s house. It’s always the same line about wanting us to get back together as a family. When he wants something, he has a hard time understanding why people won’t give it to him.”
Diego didn’t like the sound of that. “How’s Brandon taken his father going to jail for killing a man, then showing up like nothing ever happened?”
“Not well, as you can probably imagine.” She ran a hand through her long hair. “The relationship Brandon had with his father before the trial would be described as complicated at best. He tried to get Dave’s attention from the moment he learned how to talk, and my jerk of an ex pretty much ignored him. When Dave went to prison, Brandon tried to act like he didn’t care, but I could see his world was falling apart. I tried to be there for him, hoping I could take Dave’s place, but it didn’t work. Things only went downhill when the other kids at school found out his father was in jail for murder. They became cruel in the way only children can be. All except for Kevin, of course. From then on, Brandon hung out exclusively with him.”
“And you don’t like Kevin,” Diego surmised.
“I like him,” she said quickly. “It’s just that I don’t always like the crowd he hangs out with.”
Diego nodded. “I thought so.”
“How did you know?”
“Just an educated guess,” he admitted. “But when a kid comes in smelling like weed, it’s not exactly going out on a limb assuming he hangs outs with the wrong crowd.”
Her eyes went wide. “Kevin was smoking marijuana before he and Brandon came in?”
“He wasn’t smoking it. But he was around other people who were.”
That seemed to mollify Bree somewhat, but she still looked surprised. “You can tell all that simply from the way he smells?”
Diego grinned and tapped his nose with his finger. “I can smell what he had for breakfast yesterday. The great sense of smell and night vision are part of the package—along with the claws and fangs.”
Bree returned his smile with a small one of her own but didn’t say anything. Instead, she sat there looking thoughtful.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, it’s just that…”
“Just what?” he prompted when her voice trailed off.
She bit her lip, as if unsure whether to continue. “The night Brandon got shot, he was supposed to be at the movies with Kevin, but instead they were at a convenience store all the way on the other side of town. When I asked him about it after he got out of the hospital, he told me they met one of Kevin’s friends at the movies and went to the store to grab some sodas and junk food.”
“But you don’t believe that?”
Her brow furrowed. “I wanted to. But they drove past thirty fast-food places on the way to that convenience store, not to mention a dozen stores exactly like it. In addition to that, the officer I talked to at the hospital told me the store where Brandon got shot is a well-known location for drug dealing and that they suspected the shooting was between two gangs who both claim the store as part of their turf.”
“Did the officer believe Brandon was the target of the shooting?”
“No,” she said. “Not that it really matters. When I was sitting in the waiting room wondering if my son was going to live or not, it didn’t help knowing he’d gotten shot by accident. Regardless of what Brandon says, he and Kevin almost certainly went there to buy drugs and he could have died because of it.”
“Have you talked to him about it?” Diego asked.
She let out a weary sigh. “As much as any mother can have that conversation with their fifteen-year-old son. But he insists he and Kevin were there to buy soda and candy and that he had no idea the store was a gang hangout. He also swears up and down that he doesn’t do drugs.”
“Do you believe him?”
Bree considered that before answering. “I don’t know. I want to, but I don’t know