Page 43 of Tied Over

“I’m a federal marshal with a spotless service record. You are a piece-of-shit sex offender. Who do you think people will believe, Luke?”

“I didn’t touch her,” he whispered.

Bodhi let his face go, and Luke whimpered.

“Tell me again.”

“I promise you,” he said shakily. “I didn’t touch her—she doesn’t trust me. We were never alone.”

“But that’s not true,” I countered, keeping my voice low, my tone flat so I didn’t yell. “Stella said you kissed her and lifted up her shirt.”

“So you did, in fact, touch her.” Bodhi’s voice was strained, growing colder with every passing second.

“Yeah, I—but I didn’t—I mean, I didn’t do anything more.”

“Anything more,” I repeated.

“Only because there wasn’t time.” Bodhi clipped the words. “Because she didn’t trust you and the two of you were never alone.”

“I––”

“Yes?” Bodhi barked at him.

“Yes,” he whimpered.

“Listen,” Bodhi whispered, taking a breath. “Here’s what’s about to happen. We’re going to take a walk to your room together. Once we’re there, I will pack up your shit, and then we’ll go outside and wait for Seattle PD to get here. Do you understand?”

“But I—”

Bodhi gut-punched him so fast, so hard, he doubled over and would have dropped to the ground if Bodhi wasn’t there to grab him.

“What’s going on?” asked a man in board shorts, an Aloha shirt, and a Panama hat, with the print on the shirt matching the one on the hat. “Bodhi, this is my buddy Luke Stoker. Is there some issue?”

“Yeah, Giles, there is,” Bodhi told him. “Your friend Luke is a sex offender, and since your kids are here along with everyone else’s, he’s gotta go.”

It wasn’t just Giles; there were two women with him, ready to give Bodhi hell, to defend Luke, to stand up for him. But at Bodhi’s clipped, cold words, their faces went from angry to stunned horror in seconds.

“No,” Giles rasped, sounding gutted. “That can’t— I have daughters and—”

“It can, and it is,” Bodhi explained, calming, modulating his tone. “This is my partner, Josiah Redeker, and he just checked with our office in Chicago, so I’m gonna walk Luke to his room, get him packed up, and then deliver him into the hands of Seattle PD so they can drive him to the airport and make certain he gets on a plane.”

“Oh my God,” one of the women gasped, hand over her mouth.

“Did he touch one of my girls?” Giles asked, beginning to shake.

“No,” I told him, “because you’re all here, around, watchful. Stella is the only one without any supervision.”

The dark-haired woman to Giles’s left, her eyes went wide, but I saw the difference, the instant murderous intent. “He touched Stella?” she asked in a whisper.

“Yes,” I answered, “but because Stella is a very smart little girl who made sure to stay away from a predator, and who then came and talked to me, she stopped the escalation of abuse. I do need to speak to her father, though. What’s his name?”

“It’s Keith, and yes, of course you need to speak to him. I’ll have him here in a few minutes,” she promised, pulling her cell phone from the pocket of her walking shorts before spinning around and heading outside.

Luke had his head down and would not lift it even when Bodhi asked if he was going to give him any trouble.

“No,” he replied quickly.

Bodhi looked up at me and mouthed the words I don’t have cuffs.