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I shook off the anxiety of being the one who protected her, the one who was responsible for her safety. We weren’t there yet, and she hadn’t asked for anything. In fact, she’d called on Archangel Michael to protect me.
Pulling into the mechanic’s shop, we parked side by side in the small lot. The flat-roof building housed three bays, and the sign above them read Harbor Garage & Service Repair Center. It was an old building that had clearly been renovated with fresh paint and equipment.
We moved toward one of the open bays, waiting for the man working near the car to see us and come over. His overalls said his name was Jake.
He wiped his hands on a cloth before holding it out to me. “Jake Stockton.”
Shaking his hand, I said, “Officer Castle. This is Officer Ashton.”
“How can I help? I assume you’re not here for repairs.” He glanced over at our squad cars gleaming in the sun.
“We’ve had some issues with kids tagging the stores downtown,” Dexter said.
Jake’s brow furrowed. “Tagging?”
“Graffiti,” I supplied.
His shoulders tensed. “How can I help?”
“We have video of a kid tagging a storefront. He looks to be middle-school-aged. You have a son that age?”
His eyes widened. “I don’t, but my partner does. Let me get him.”
He moved out of sight.
“You think this is it?” Dexter asked me.
“It would be nice to wrap this up.” For Remi and my career.
A taller man walked over in similar overalls. The name Ryan was stitched over his chest. “You looking for me?”
His voice was gruff, and it didn’t escape my notice that he didn’t introduce himself like Jake had. “You have a middle-school-aged child?”
His jaw tightened. “I do.”
“We have reason to believe he might be involved in some property damage in town.”
Ryan’s brow furrowed. “Corey’s either at school or here with me at the garage.”
He didn’t deny that it was possible he’d gotten into some trouble, which told me he had in the past. “You know if he’s been skipping school or leaving at lunch?”
“They’re allowed to leave at lunch, but I haven’t gotten any calls that he skipped classes.”
“Sneaking out at night?” I pressed.
Ryan shot me a disgruntled look. “Not as far as I know. You got proof it’s my kid?”
In my experience, parents with a kid who’d never gotten into trouble usually led with that. Sure, sometimes parents lied about it, but it was telling that Ryan let us get this far with questioning before he asked that question.
Dexter took over, his shoulders relaxed, his tone affable. “Apparently, he was bragging about having spray paint in his bag at school. Would he have access to paint from your garage?”
We worked together enough to know which questions worked better coming from him versus me.
Ryan looked around at the shelves that lined the back wall. “I haven’t noticed anything missing.”
It was notable that he left open the possibility that it could be.
“Have you done inventory lately?” Dexter asked in his level voice. The one that relaxed most people we questioned.
