Page 105 of Captivated

The Chief of Police laughed. “Yeah, wives think a lot of things, don’t they?”

Joe only shrugged.

“I think I’m good,” Martin added.

Nope.

Joe couldn’t let him off that easy. He still needed to make this as clean as possible, after all. “I recognize you—Chief of Police, right?”

Martin grinned.

Proud and pleased.

Hook, line, and sinker.

“I am, young man,” Martin replied, rocking back on his heels. “Proud to be a part of the Blue Line.”

Yeah, Joe bet.

Cops always were a special kind of proud.

To say the least.

“Really, let me handle this,” Joe told him, “and you can finish packing up your gear.”

The man’s gaze narrowed—suspicious in a blink. “My gear?”

Joe nodded toward the porch of the house. “Fishing gear. It’s sitting on the deck. You do that often?”

At the mention of fishing, Martin was fine again.

Pleased again.

Stupid again.

“Every weekend,” the man murmured, pushing up to stand. “Thanks for this, I appreciate it. I swear, these young people nowadays wouldn’t know how to lend a helping hand if their lives depended on it.”

You’re one to talk.

Joe said nothing, only gave the man a nod, and then got to work on replacing the tire. It took him maybe fifteen minutes to get the tire on, and fit all the lug nuts, too. He was done before Martin had even finished hauling all his shit to the back of the car.

That seemed like a hell of a lot of gear for a day—or even two—of just fishing. But who was Joe to say?

Leaning against the back of the SUV, Joe swung the tire iron to and fro with the tips of his fingers. Martin eyed the swinging tool as he came with the last of the bags.

“That was fast,” he said. “Thanks again.”

Joe nodded. “No worries.”

He could have easily swung that tire iron, and killed the man. Probably crushed his fucking skull into bits in the process, too. He would have enjoyed the sight of the blood pooling and splattering, if only because he could imagine this man had seen pictures of what Rich Earl had done to Liliana, and he chose to help hide it.

Monsters were everywhere.

They came in all forms.

Not all were easy to spot.

Instead of hitting the man like his heart screamed to, Joe handed the tire iron over with a smile. “I’ll let my wife know I did what she said, and made a friend. I’m sure it’ll make her day.”