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“Sorry? What are you sorry for, deputy?” I take a step closer to him, my eyes seeing red. My chest is puffed up, and my fists are aching to punch this motherfucker the fuck out.
“I had to. I had to! I’m sorry. He left me no choice.” Johnson’s visibly shaking, his lips trembling.
“I’m going to ask you again to explain yourself. If you don’t, I’ll have no choice but to beat it out of you. And I couldn’t give two shits about the badge right now. So, explain. What thefuckdid you do?” I grit through my teeth.
Johnson hesitates for a moment before speaking. “I was in trouble. I … I had a huge gambling debt from a year ago. Remember I went to Vegas? It was from that trip.” He pauses, and his hand runs down his face as he sighs. “Brett, that guy that kept bothering Zoey? He approached me a little while back. He knew about the debt and said that Mitch knew the person I owed. H-He told me if I helped him get Zoey to come home, Mitch would pay off my debt. All I had to do was get her to run.”
“You met Mitch?”
Johnson shakes his head, gulping. “No. Never met him. Everything I’ve done has been through Brett.”
“Then how did Mitch know about your debt?” I demand. My heart feels like it’s ready to explode from my chest. My entire body is shaking with such rage and hatred for the man standing in front of me. A man who swore to protect the people of this town.
“I-I don’t know. Brett mentioned something about Mitch doing his homework on the people here. Mitch had, like, information on us. The guy has connections. Hell, Brett’s been here pretty much since Zoey has. I mean, I don’t know how he found Zoey, but he did. Mitch found out where some of my money was going to, who I was paying off. Look, maybe he does know the people I owe, but I couldn’t ignore it. I had to do what I had to do, and I regret every single second of it.” He chokes up, sniffling.
I sneer. “So, the stuff on the ranch—”
He quickly says, “That was me.” He shakes his head, frowning. “I’m sorry! That debt was hanging over my head. I’ve been scared out of my mind because of it. Mitch said he could help me if I helped him. That I just had to figure out a way to get her away from you. You were in the way, man.”
“The bank?” I question.
“I had Rachel help. Told her I would find a way for her to get paid if she helped me. She took the bag and did something with it. I don’t know what. But that way it wouldn’t get deposited. We got lucky that the cameras didn’t catch the bag going in so we used that to our advantage.” Johnson was cracking under the pressure. “Fuck, I’m sorry, boss.”
“Goddamn it! Don’t fucking call me that. You’re an absolute disgrace to everything you’re supposed to stand for! Are you fucking serious right now? You turned my family, this town, against her. She’s fucking innocent! Do you have any idea what you did? Fuck!” I can feel the heat of my anger rise up my neck. I take off my badge and throw it on the ground, roll up my sleeves and take another step closer to him. “That man’s going to find her, Johnson. He’s going to kill her! Fuck! All that shit had me doubting her. But she was telling the truth; she didn’t do any of the stuff she was accused of.” I run my hand down my face. “You handed her over to the fucking Devil.”
“I’m sorry,” he cries.
I roar and stalk towards him. I raise my fist and bring it down so hard against Johnson’s face that I can feel bones break against my knuckles. I bring my fist back before landing another. Then another. Fuck this motherfucker. His head goes limp, and his legs give out.
He falls to the ground, knocked the fuck out.
After knocking Johnson out, I handcuffed him to a pipe and I ran into the diner to have someone contact dispatch to have them get McCormick over to the alley. I didn’t give McCormick the full rundown but just enough to clue him in. Johnson was the cause of the trouble on the ranch. The look on McCormick’s pale face said it all. He was disgusted.
We got Johnson in custody but taken to the local hospital so they can do X-rays on this face that I for sure broke. Asshole. When I finally make it back to the station I immediately grab my phone on my desk and click on Zoey’s text and read it.
Zoey: Ryker, I’m sorry for everything. For the hurt I caused both you and your family. God, why won’t you just listen to me, Ryker. Well … What I’m saying next, I’m only doing because I don’t think I will ever get the chance to say it to your face. Please remember our good times. Please don’t forget our stolen moments or our times of passion. I love you, Ryker. I always will.
“Fuck!” I slam my hand against my desk. I pick up a coffee mug on my desk and hurl it against the wall. She loves me and I sent her away. I lied about being able to protect her. There’s a pain in my chest that makes it hard to breathe. The palm of my hand rubs the spot over my heart. She loves me. I love her. What the fuck did I do?
I look up at the clock hanging on the wall in my office. It’s been a couple hours since I talked to Dean last and I need to update him on everything Johnson spilled. This really makes me doubt the information he found, not that it was his fault, but that someone else gave him false information. I sit down in my chair and pick up the phone and hit his contact name.
“Fuller.”
“Hey, it’s Holliday.” I look at the folder in front of me and open it up. My stomach churns as I see her picture. “We got an issue. I think the info you gave me was falsified.”
“Yeah, it was. I was going to call after I had a few more loose ends tied up, but it didn’t take much digging. We found something.” I can hear the keyboard on the other side of the phone as he clacks away. “Sending you something now.”
Opening up my email I see a name, Todd Evanston. “Who’s this Evanston character?”
“Works for the state. Dirty. Looked back at some of his arrests, he was arrested for falsifying government documents. But never got convicted.” Fuller continues to type away on his keyboard in the background.
“Why not? Who does he know?”
“Mitchell Wakefield. Well, the whole Wakefield family. Seems he’s been represented by their attorneys. I mean it’s not hard to guess that they threw a little money at the problem and it went away. From what I can tell, this whole Wakefield family is dirty. In bed with politicians and other high officials. Probably has the police force corrupted to with the amount of money they throw around. I don’t have the evidence to prove anything, that will take some time to get. That’s just a hunch on what I’m seeing.”
“But if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck—”
“Then it probablyisa duck. Exactly.” He finishes for me.