Page 66 of Contentious

“He’s perfectly fine in art class,” the woman assured her.

“I’d like to take him home, please.”

“Of course. We’ll get him signed out.”

While Cresley went with the woman to get Ty, Carson turned to the officer who’d taken the statement and gave him the same info he’d given the officer at the scene of the crash.

“Thank you for that additional information. I’ll pass it along to Patrol to be on the lookout for him.”

“He’s driving a black Honda Ridgeline truck with the front end smashed in.” Carson had called up his notes on Marlon on his phone and recited the license plate number he’d taken from the truck weeks ago.

“This is very helpful. Are you a cop?”

“Nope. An investigator for a law firm.”

“Ah, I see. Well, I’ll go call in the info. Thanks again.”

“Please find him. He’s terrorizing the mother of his child in a shakedown for money. He needs to be stopped before he succeeds in killing her or someone else.”

The thought of her being harmed struck fear in Carson’s heart. He wouldn’t let that happen. With protecting her foremost in his mind, he sent a text to his father, brothers and the other partners at the firm.

I need to take an immediate leave of absence to tend to a personal matter. I’ll put Anthony in charge of reporting on all ongoing investigations and will be back to work as soon as I can.

He wasn’t leaving Cresley’s side until Marlon Beckett was in police custody.

* * *

Cresley did her best to dial back her anxiety so she wouldn’t terrify Ty, who would immediately know something was wrong. She rarely picked him up early unless he had an appointment that he would’ve known about ahead of time.

Carson had gone back outside to wait for them by the SUV. She’d felt that having them both there would alert Ty to something big going on, and she wanted to keep the more disturbing details from him.

Ty came bouncing into the office, carrying his backpack and lunch bag. He rushed to hug her as if he hadn’t seen her in weeks rather than hours. He was always so happy to see her after any time spent apart.

She exhaled a deep sigh of relief when he was back in her arms where he belonged.

“What’s going on? How come I’m going home early?”

“Mr. Carson and I were in a little car accident, and we have to do some stuff to get his SUV fixed, so I needed to get you early.”

“Are you guys okay?”

“We’re fine, but the car isn’t so great.”

“That’s a fly Range Rover. He must be bummed.”

In addition to Ty’s tremendous love of all sports, he was also fascinated by cars and knew more about them at seven than she did at thirty.

With Ty’s hand tucked into hers, Cresley walked him out of the school. “He’s glad no one was hurt, and he said cars can be fixed.”

“What’s up with all the cops?” Ty asked, taking a wary look at the action outside the school.

“They’re doing a routine security check.”

“Oh.”

She hated lying to him, but she didn’t want him as terrified about his father’s actions as she was. One of them on edge was enough.

“Oh crap,” he said when he saw the damage to Carson’s SUV.