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“A good way to get his debt paid off,” I grumbled.
Maverick agreed. “Only if Alex agreed.”
There it was again, the suggestion that Mark was just as good a suspect as Emma, better even considering what he stood to gain. With what we’d found today, we wouldn’t have to bother manufacturing evidence to get him on the cops’ radar, here it was in full color. “It’s been going on for months.” Inside the main folder were multiple folders going back at least eighteen months.
“What are you gonna do?”
I snapped a few photos of the photos so that I could search for the file names when I made it back to my own computer. The digital copies would help Sheriff Cross and his boys add another suspect to the list and maybe leave Emma alone for a few days. “I’m going to make the best fucking case I can against Mark for his brother’s disappearance.” It pissed me off that Cross and his boys hadn’t done a fucking thing to help Emma when she needed them.
“And if it doesn’t get Emma off the hook?”
I flashed a wide smile. “Then I’ll have them chasing their tails from now until the end of time.” I’d gotten my start making government types go on wild goose chases and if it helped Emma, I would do it again.
And again.
Whatever it took to keep my woman, and my girl, safe.
Maverick laughed as he knocked over a few photos and awards. “I’m all about doing anything that makes the pigs look bad. Whatever you need brother.”
“Mark is a dirty cop. He’s got more confidence than common sense and in the end that will be the thing that trips him up. I’ll do what I do and wait for him to fuck up.”
“And then,” Maverick asked hopefully.
“And then I’ll ruin his fucking life and make him wish he’d never fucked with Emma.”
“Fuck yeah.” Maverick smacked his palms together and went through Mark’s place, displacing shit and taking it just to fuck with him. I hadn’t planned on making my presence known but since he continued to fuck with Emma, I figured turnabout was fair play.
“Let’s get out of here.” Being in his personal space put me on edge and I texted Gio.
“Ladies are all good,” he replied quickly. “My gut is about to burst though,” he replied with a bunch of food emojis.
Maverick pouted. “No arson?”
“Sorry brother,” I grinned. “Not yet.”
He shrugged. “Good enough for me.”
Chapter 27
Emma
For two weeks straight Mark followed my every move. He was my shadow wherever I went. At the grocery store I spotted him a few aisles away constantly watching and waiting, making his threatening presence known. When I stopped at the pharmacy for vitamins, he was there When I scratched my ass, I swore he was there ready to offer a freshly manicured hand.
The only good thing I could find in his actions was his boldness. He didn’t do a damn thing to hide his presence or his actions. It was a relief even if Steel City law enforcement didn’t feel inclined to act on his clear harassment and stalking, not that it surprised me.
By this stage the all-pervasive feeling of guilt over causing Alex’s death was starting to lift. I hadn’t intended on killing him, it was an accident. But what’s done was done. As Slate kept telling me, I needed to move forward with my life, and so I tried.
The only bright spot—other than Ash and Slate—was that the cops seemed to have exhausted their suspicions. I wasn’t foolish enough to think they’d wrapped up the investigation or that I was no longer at the top of their list of suspects, but they’d executed a search warrant on the family home four days ago. They tore up floorboards and cut out pieces of furniture in search of forensic evidence that would put me in handcuffs but in the end, they found nothing.
“You’re awfully quiet in here.”
Slate’s deep voice interrupted my thoughts and yanked a terrified scream from the depths of my belly. “Shit,” I groaned and glared at him. “You scared me.”
“You weren’t paying attention.” There was no bite to his words, merely a statement of fact.
“I know. I was lost in thought.” I shook my head and blinked a few times, realizing I’d been standing at the countertop and staring at a frozen whole chicken for the past hour. “I think the stress is getting to me.”
“Stress?” One raven brow arched, and his lips spread into a teasing grin. “I know the perfect cure for stress.” He wiggled his eyebrows just in case I wasn’t getting the hint.
