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Oh no. No, no, no. “He’s not here. I don’t want him drawn into this.”
“It doesn’t matter what you want, Mr.Gates. We need to talk to him.”
“He’s fifteen.”
Bad Cop scowled. “That’s old enough to—”
“He’s special,” Corey blurted out. “Cognitively challenged. He can’t read or write and is emotionally a child. I don’t want him dragged into this.”
Again, lies. Jace wasn’t cognitively challenged. He was just stupid. He’d been that way when Corey had taken custody and no amount of bribes or punishment had made his youngest brother any smarter, so Corey had given up. Jace was a lost cause.
“We’ll bring in a specialist,” Good Cop said soothingly. “We won’t upset him.”
“He’s already upset,” Corey said angrily. “That’s why I sent him to stay with a friend. All the reporters chasing us, yelling at us, asking questions? Police all over Aaron’s house? All the TV coverage? He was in a right state, Detective. So, no. I will give you access to Rick’s room and his things. But Jace is off-limits. I’ll have to insist on a warrant.”
Detective Good Cop lost his sunny disposition. “I thought you wanted to be cooperative, Mr.Gates.”
“I do. I have been. But Jace is off-limits. I fucked up with Rick. I’m not repeating my mistakes with Jace.” Untrue. Corey hadn’t fucked up at all. His brothers had been ruined when he’d gotten them, and they were too old to fix.
Liam had been his chance to raise a child the right way. Since Aaron had never been home, child rearing had fallen to Dianne and she’d leaned heavily on Corey. But now Liam was dead. And I can’t think about Liam right now, he thought as a wave of fresh grief hit him hard. Have to keep my wits. Have to make these assholes go away.
He held his breath, hoping the detectives would back down. If they didn’t, he’d make them work for a warrant. In that time, he’d school Jace on the proper responses. Jace was easily controlled. A couple of slaps, a few kicks, and a punch or two rendered him completely compliant. Corey could handle Jace.
“We’ll get back to you,” Bad Cop promised ominously. “Until then, do not leave town.”
Yada yada yada. “If I do, it’ll only be to Houma and back,” he promised sincerely, then opened the door to show them out. “Have a good day, gentlemen.”
They left without another word and Corey closed the door, truly exhausted now. He tugged at his tie as Ed emerged, looking grim.
“They don’t give up, do they?” he asked.
“No.” Corey stuffed his tie in his suit coat pocket. “Let’s get out of here before they come back with more questions.”
Ed immediately started for the door, but Corey shook his head. “We can’t leave her here,” he murmured.
Ed looked over his shoulder with a sigh. Dianne sat in Corey’s living room, clutching a photo of Liam to her chest. It was one of the pictures taken before the chemo had robbed the child of his hair and his vitality. He was grinning sweetly and it was Corey’s favorite photo because Liam looked just like Dianne.
“Why can’t we leave her here?” Ed whispered.
“Because she’s my alibi for last night,” Corey whispered back. “I left as soon as Jace called and she was asleep. I handed the boys off to Bobby, then hightailed it back here because I knew the cops would figure out who Rick was pretty damn quick.” And they had. He’d made it back home with only thirty minutes to spare. He was damn lucky they hadn’t asked to touch the hood of his car because it would have still been warm to the touch. “I woke her up and made her believe she’d only nodded off for a moment, then started sobering her up. She told them what I told her to say, that she and I had been home the entire time. If the cops catch her when she’s totally drunk, she might tell them I had to wake her up. They’ll assume I was with Rick.”
The Gates brothers hadn’t had the best track record in the last week. If it came down to it, the cops would believe he’d lied about the alibi. Which he had. “She’ll spill everything.”
Ed sighed again. “So what do you want to do with her?”
“Bring her to the camp.”
Ed’s eyes widened. “What the fuck?” he hissed.
Corey pulled a bottle of Dianne’s sleeping pills from his pocket and tossed them to Ed. “We’ll fix some coffee for the road. Put some in hers and, combined with the vodka she’s been drinking all morning, she’ll be out like a light.”
“And when she wakes up?”
“We’ll keep her confined, keep her sedated.” He shrugged uncomfortably. “Keep her drunk. Just until we deal with Rick. Like we planned.”
Ed gave him a reluctant nod. “Fine. But I wish you’d chosen a sober alibi.”
“I did the best I could with what I had.” He had, in fact, panicked, but he wasn’t going to admit that. “You make the coffee. I’ll sit with Dianne.”
