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Chapter Fifteen

Shae

I stared at the picture of the man I hated most in the world. I didn’t know what the hell was going on, but the fact that John Turner—he’d never been a dad—was mixed up in it all didn’t surprise me.

Danny looked down, surprised, as his phone flashed and he picked it up. “Hi Gael,” he said quietly. “I’m with Diesel, Kane, Gray, Shae and Ringo. Do you want me to—” he paused then put the phone on speaker.

“Hey,” Gael greeted us all.

I mouthed a greeting. I didn’t know Gael. I’d met a couple of the others, but not Gael. I thought he rivaled Danny on a computer, but Danny said he was on a different level to him, something about talking to them.

“Before I forget and before he gives me grief, Finn says you all have to come down for Thanksgiving. Talon and the guys are holding it at their house as it’s the only yard big enough. There’s plenty of beds for everyone for the weekend between their place and Connie’s, and he says he’s going to send the kids up unsupervised to drag you here if you don’t.”

I was pretty sure that was an empty threat, as I knew Finn. I’d met him and Talon the one time at Diesel’s place and Finn was an amazing dad, and between the whole team I knew they had a lot of kids now.

I processed that. Well, I struggled. Thanksgiving was a family thing, and the thought Drake wanted us there—and included me—made my throat a little tight.

Shae Turner! How many times do I have to tell you those potatoes won’t peel themselves?

Gran’s voice echoed in my ears and for a moment, I wanted nothing more than to hear it one more time.

I glanced at Drake, and he arched an eyebrow, his eyes encouraging, and my insides warmed a little. I wasn’t sure I could manage a nod, but I tried to look like I wanted to go.

Diesel chuckled. “I’ll tell Pink. Should she contact Connie to sort out sides?”

“And I should know because…” Gael teased.

“Anyway,” Gael switched back to business. “I got a message from Thor for you.”

Danny rolled his eyes. “I’m assuming we’re not talking either a mythical god or a Marvel universe character here?”

I glanced at Drake in confusion, but Danny must have seen my look. “Thor will be a computer,” he explained. “Since Gael started talking to them it’s a bit like AI on steroids. But they all love Gael, so it’s not like they want world domination or anything.”

We heard the chuckle from Gael. “Actually, Thor wants an introduction to Daisy.”

“Who’s Daisy?” Danny asked.

Gael sighed. “Would you believe me if I said the computer that runs the ticketing for the Tampa Bay Lightning? Although,” Gael continued. “Thor says Daisy can get us box seats whenever we want.”

“Derek says hi,” another voice interrupted, and I assumed it was Jake, Gael’s husband.

“Hi Derek,” everyone chorused except me, and I pretended to look at my phone so no one would notice. I absently started googling Gael, as I’d never seen a picture of Derek, but stopped because of course Gael—who was talented with computers—would never allow a picture of their son on the internet.

“And what did Thor want that was so urgent?” Danny asked, all attention while everyone else was still smiling about Daisy and hockey tickets. And because Danny’s voice was so soft, everyone instantly sobered and listened.

“There’s a hacker, as you know, called Asylum,” Gael said.

“Is he even still alive?” Danny said dismissively.

“I haven’t looked, but his signature searched for Shae and someone called Tamzin Turner earlier today. They found the link to John Turner, but then they tried to search an Albert Davis. The fact that their search was blocked at every turn told Thor—so he tells me—something important. Namely, that this Albert Davis has a pretty large firewall behind him, and that ran up red flags. Thor is quite happy to delve, but he’s a bit sensitive so he doesn’t want to do anything to upset Derek.”

“Derek is like Gael?” Kane whispered. Danny sent him a fond look.

Gael chuckled again, obviously hearing him “You know my son is getting good with his tablet. Thor plays scrabble with him.”

I didn’t get a chance to register that startling comment before Gray chimed in. “Woah, Derek is exceptional, but he uses the equivalent of a kid’s educational tablet.”

“I’ll be sure to tell my son you called him exceptional.” Jake said, chuckling. I knew about most of the team even the ones I hadn’t met because Pink had told me. “You hear that, buddy?” Jake asked, showing their son, Derek, was with them.

I knew Derek—Jake and Gael’s adopted son—on the face of it, was disabled. In actual fact, he was incredibly intelligent and had helped them numerous times. Gael and Jake were fiercely protective, according to Pink, and I was ashamed to say a little jealousy reared its ugly head. I picked up my phone and googled adopting teenagers because for some reason I wanted to twist the knife.

How pathetic was that? I put my phone back down, not waiting for the results to load.

This clever kid was in a wheelchair. I had the use of both my legs, but I was jealous because he had great dads? I looked down at the table, unwilling to meet anyone’s eyes in case they read my shame.

My phone suddenly lit up.

Derek is a friend of Shae .

The fuck? What the hell was that?

I knew it was genuine because Pink had said this was the way Derek talked. He would never say I or me. My throat grew tight, and my chest ached. I picked my phone up and stared at the message, not questioning for one second how he got my number. Or even if he was some sort of mind reader. After a moment, I typed.

Good, because I need all the friends I can get.

I didn’t get a reply, but I didn’t think that mattered. I looked up and saw Drake watching me. Maybe I could do Thanksgiving? I wanted to so much. Maybe it would be good for Tammy. She needed to have a big family.

After Gael had hung up, Rawlings looked at everyone. “Suggestions?”

“Dodson’s PM report is in,” Danny interrupted. “But they’re happy with basic blood tests. It’s been rushed because it was a death in police custody, and significant amounts of amphetamines were found in his blood. Couple that with Dodson being arrested for possession of ecstasy four months ago, and a report that Dodson appeared to be sweating after arrest, but said he was nervous, it’s basically case closed.”

“Sweating?” I asked. What the hell did that have to do with anything.

“Early signs of possible overdose from E or Molly,” Danny explained. Now I felt stupid, but my da— John Turner’s drug of choice was vodka and cheap whisky, and he consumed it in enough quantities not to need anything else.

“What about the cops who were on duty?” Drake asked.

“There were three that had access to Dodson,” Danny said. “One transferred from Miami because his wife has just gotten a very high-paying job here, and he checks out. One that had been there two years, no red flags, and a sergeant who’s one year from retiring. Nothing to indicate problems with any of them.”

“What about authorized visitors, lawyers?” Drake asked.

Danny shot an apologetic look at Drake, pressed some more buttons, and a man’s face flashed up on the screen. “I was just getting to this. There was also a retired cop in the station, Sergeant David Starr. From the reports he often comes to visit colleagues.” Danny glanced at Drake again, but Drake didn’t say a word. “He has an expensive drinking habit, and he likes to gamble. He had twenty thousand in debts up to last month when they were abruptly settled. He was at school with Gary Bruin’s father.”

Drake’s lips flattened, but he didn’t say a word.

“On the surface, Starr’s financials look precarious,” Danny continued, “but I need to investigate some more.”

“Precarious?” Drake asked, frowning. “Twenty thousand isn’t a lot by most standards. He owns his house. He—”

“Actually he doesn’t,” Danny said. “He remortgaged seven years ago to pay off a hundred thousand in debt, and he’s added a second mortgage two years ago. The only reason he had just twenty thousand credit card debt was because his old ones were closed by the companies themselves after he had to take out the loan to pay them off.”

Drake gaped, “Did my mother sign off on this?”

“The house isn’t in joint names,” Danny said and Drake just stared at him in shock.

I squeezed his hand under the table.

“It’s one thing to look the other way, an entirely different thing to commit murder,” Rawlings said mildly. I glanced back at Drake. He was estranged from both his parents and I knew his dad had beat him as a kid, but I wasn’t sure how he would feel about the possibility of his dad being involved in Lee Dodson’s death, but then I remembered the truck driven by whoever shot at us had been returned to the police parking lot.

Gray waved at the screen. “I have no idea where you found the time to do all that.”

“Impressive as always,” Diesel agreed. Danny grinned and did a mock bow.

“Gael helped me set up my own program for this. There’s no way I could access this sort of thing quickly or at all without his help.”

“And only Gael can get the servers themselves to delete shit afterwards,” Kane said.

“So long as you’re protected,” Gray added.

“What now?” I asked, feeling completely thrown by the whole thing.

“I think we need to find connections,” Gray said thoughtfully. “There’s too many loose ends.”

“And it looks like Ryan is somehow mixed up both with John Turner and David Starr,” Rawlings continued. “What we need to find out is if he became involved with them before you two did.”

Nothing that John Turner did surprised me, but I was hoping I was rid of him. Looks like I wasn’t going to be that lucky.

Rawlings’ phone buzzed, and he looked down, then left the room. Danny stood up to stretch and Gray gathered the empty coffee cups.

Drake squeezed my hand. “I don’t suppose I can persuade you and Tammy to go stay with Pink until we get this mess sorted out?”

I searched his expression. “If you come with me.” I knew he wouldn’t. “And you’re not telling me Jay won’t have the place locked down.”

Drake scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “You know he will, but—”

“Look,” I interrupted, but this time my phone rang with a number I didn’t recognize. I picked it up. “Hello?” Drake waved at everyone to be quiet and, understanding, I put it on speaker.

“Mr. Shae Turner?”

“Yes, that’s me,” I said.

“This is Gerald Slater from children and family services. I’ve been assigned to Tamzin Turner’s case, and I’d like to visit you today, please.”

Danny was furiously typing, not that his keys were loud. I glanced at Drake, who put up three fingers. “I can do any time after three, if that helps.”

“Can you do any earlier?” he snapped out, and I glanced at my phone. It was already nearly one.

“No, sorry, we’re out at the moment.”

“Very well. I’ll see you at three.” I opened my mouth to acknowledge that, but he hung up.

“Gerald Slater, fifty-seven,” Danny read out. “Worked for children and family services in Atlanta for nineteen years.” He paused, his eyebrows going up. “He used to be a cop but left after four years and went back to school. Lives with his partner, Anne McDonaugh, who’s a sergeant and works out of Fulton County. Three kids, two in college and one still in school.”

I blinked, and Danny grinned at my reaction. “Just so you know who’s going to be there.”

Gray chuckled. “Knowledge is power.”

Diesel came back into the room. “That was one of my contacts who did the welfare check on Gary Bruin’s mom. She was there all right, but looks like she’s had a stroke, and not in the last few days, from the condition she was in.” Diesel’s jaw tightened. “They called the paramedics right away. She’s got a serious chest infection and skin sores from, well, having zero care. Very confused, but that could be because of the infection and dehydration. I’ll know more later. Bruin himself wasn’t at home, and the cops are trying to locate him.”

The meeting wrapped up, and we went back into the living room. Tammy looked like she was having a blast with Pink, and my gut tightened. Maybe I should go to Pink’s? Especially with everything happening.

But then Tammy noticed me and immediately raised her arms. I swooped down and picked her up. Pink chuckled. “Winning the hearts of the females again?”

I flushed because Pink’s daughter Indy used to follow me everywhere.

“She hasn’t spoken,” Pink said.

“I know, but we’ve got an appointment with a trauma therapist for her after the weekend.” Pink nodded.

“Well, if she’s had all her shots so far, she’s not due any more for a year, but do you have a primary doctor for her?”

“Give us a chance,” Drake said lightly, and Pink grinned.

“What happened to ‘Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome?’” Pink teased. I couldn’t help the smile. Even I knew that had something to do with the Marines.

Drake rolled his eyes.

“She polished off the eggs I made for her and drank her milk.” Pink patted her hand. “Because she’s a clever girl.”

Drake told everyone we needed to go, as he wanted to speak to Jay, and we had the appointment at three. He glanced over at me. “I want to get the room cleared and box up Ellie’s things. Finish childproofing the kitchen. And Kenny should be done with the plaster work.”

I spent a lot of time with my mind going around in circles on the way home. I wasn’t sure Drake noticed my silence because he’d put Disney songs on for Tammy. I was ready to throw my lot in with Drake—assuming he got over his too old status—but “lot” now meant a traumatized three-year-old little girl. There wasn’t just me now. I had responsibilities. On the face of it, Drake was saying everything I wanted to hear, but it had barely been ten days, not including the time we’d spent together at Pink’s and…yeah. I knew a big part of me expected him to run once it got to be too much. Once we got to be too much. Except this time, he wouldn’t be running. He would expect me to leave him.

My thoughts were interrupted by Jay’s call. Drake had already told me Diesel had three teams now on the house 24/7, and Jay would like to get a feel for our schedule over the next few days. Drake promised to tell him as soon as we knew what our schedule was, but for now we were on our way and a social worker was arriving this afternoon.

Actually, that convo included a lot of swearing until Drake realized Tammy was awake and listening to every word, and he warned Jay. Jay laughed, apologized, and said Danny had already sent the social worker’s vehicle details and description to them, and that they would stay invisible while he was here.

“Who’s paying for all this?” I blurted out when Jay had hung up.

Drake glanced my way. “You’re family.”

“I’m not family,” I whispered. “I don’t even work for Diesel.”

“You might not,” Drake said firmly, “but I do, and you’re my family.”

Stunned, I just stared at him, but then his phone rang, and Jay was back on. “You have a visitor. I ran the plates, and it’s registered to John Turner.”

I closed my eyes in despair. Now what?

“He’s just pulling up, and yeah, getting out of the car.” There was silence. “Can confirm it’s him based on the pic Danny sent us.”

“I’m about to pull into the lane,” Drake said. “Stay out of sight.”

Jay agreed and hung up.

“What do you think he wants?” I asked.

“He could be sniffing for information,” Drake warned, then hesitated. “Don’t let him goad you, but there’s also the possibility he’s here to see Tammy.”

Something red and hot curled in my belly. There was no way I’d ever let John Turner get his filthy hands on her.

“Don’t worry,” Drake said grimly as we pulled into the yard to see Turner knocking on the door. “That’s as far as he’s gonna get.”

But I didn’t trust my father further than Drake could throw him.