Page 77 of Nailed

31

Brock

Something felt off the instant I pulled up to the Cornerstone lot.

Artie Vance wasn’t even waiting for me in his office, which was the first sign that something bigger than I thought had gone wrong. He was standing outside of the open warehouse door with a tablet in hand, looking pissed as hell. I got out of the Chevy bracing myself for impact, my jaw set.

“Vance,” I greeted, my boots echoing against the concrete as I approached and tried not to think about the last time I brought Lauren here. “It sounded urgent.”

“You tell me, Brock,” he said, jerking his thumb in the direction of the warehouse. “You’re late, by the way.”

“I was on a job,” I pointed out.

He grunted, not happy but unable to hold that against me, either. When we walked into the back room of the warehouse, I immediately knew what was wrong. There were gaps in the inventory, the empty spaces on shelves and allotted square footage of concrete noticeable for any worker worth his salt.

“Shit,” I hissed.

“You tell me how ten grand in Milwaukee power tools and equipment walks out a locked door without a single ping on the server,” Vance said grimly. “I checked the logs. No forced entry. Just someone who knew the back entrance was unmanned.”

There were very few men at Cornerstone who knew about that vulnerability, and I was one of them.

I knew that I had an alibi. I was with a client that night and therefore completely above reproach even if my honor wasn’t enough for Vance to eliminate me as a suspect right off the bat.

Most of us who’d been working at Cornerstone since we were practically kids had Vance’s trust, I knew that beyond a shadow of a doubt. But there was one, a new man on the clock who didn’t have that same history.

And what history he did have didn't exactly inspire any confidence in this situation.

“You vouched for the Merrick kid. Tell me I don’t have to regret listening to you,” Vance said, just ripping the band-aid clean off.

My stomach dropped. “Do you have any proof linking him to what happened outside of his record?”

Vance’s frown deepened. “Not as of right now, no.”

“Look, I can vouch for him. I’ve been working with him for months now and he’s never violated his parole even once.” Where the hell were these words coming from? “Wasn’t he accused of stealing from Lauren Wolfhaardt just a month or so back? She cleared it, didn’t she? She wasn’t even the one who filed the report.”

“He’s the most likely person to do this,” Vance said.

“I trust him.” Did I really? That was something I had to figure out when he wasn’t at risk of being arrested. “He gets a bad rep. But if I thought he was capable of something like this, I would’ve said something. You know I would’ve.”

Vance sighed heavily. “Alright. But if it turns out that he was behind this…”

“Yeah, yeah. You can roast my nuts over a spit, I promise,” I said, waving my hand over my shoulder as I turned to leave.

The brevity that I used to dismiss the issue was what finally seemed to convince the boss that Merrick was innocent, but inside I was fuming. I knew damn well that he was most likely guilty.

For what reason I didn’t know, but I was going to find out. I slammed into my truck and tore away from HQ.

*

I stormed into the firehouse, making a beeline straight for Rafe.

He was still standing near the scaffolding and I moved straight past Lauren and Cal, ignoring their questions until I was face to face with him. I think he knew the second he saw my expression because he paled, but to his credit he didn’t take a step back. Not the smartest idea.

“Did you do it?”

It didn’t sound like a question, just a flat statement. An observation that if he lied to me right now, in front of Lauren and Cal and everything we’d been building in this house, then he was officially a lost cause. Especially when I’d just staked my word and honor on a lie. I needed to know. She needed to know.

Merrick opened his mouth to say something, and judging by how fast he shut it again, he probably was going to try to lie. But then his eyes flit past me and without even checking I knew that he was looking at Lauren.