Page 11 of Broken Daddy

Donovan:Alan is getting increasingly agitated the longer this goes on without the cops being able to track the person sending him death threats.

Hayes:Can’t really blame him. Although so far it’s been a few notes. Nothing more.

Not that thenotes weren’t enough. These threats could escalate. Although there had been no threats since he and Donovan arrived so Hayes guessed they’d caused the person behind them to hesitate.

He hoped at some stage they’d slip up so they could catch them.

Donovan:Liam and Chief have been looking through Alan’s old cases, searching for ones in the last few years where he’s lost trials and the client could be holding a grudge. They’re hoping the cops have missed something. Although I have my doubts the cops are really giving this their full attention.

Chief waswhat a number of the guys called Kent.

Hayes doubted the cops were giving it much attention either. Alan and Sondra lived in the small town of Angel, Colorado which was about an hour out of Denver. The police force here hadn’t seemed that fond of Alan. And Denver PD seemed to like him even less.

Alan was a successful defense attorney who’d helped a number of, likely guilty, clients walk free. The police would be looking into these threats; they wouldn’t want to risk any complaints from Alan or his law firm. However, it might get pushed to the backburner, given to more junior detectives to handle. The fact that the person threatening him hadn’t moved onto anything violent . . . yeah, it would make it less critical for the cops to investigate.

Hayes:Hopefully they find something. Soon.

Donovan:If you need a break I can take over watch tonight. There only needs to be one of us here if they are both home. The security system is tight.

That wastrue since JSI had put in the new security system. But where would he even go?

Hayes:I’ll think about it.

3

Devi snuck into the trailer later on that afternoon.

She didn’t want to risk waking her father up if he was asleep. But she needn’t have worried. As she stepped inside, the scent of bacon made her stomach rumble.

Aaron wouldn’t let her stop for lunch today. It was probably illegal, but she didn’t want to argue with him. He’d been fuming over the number of mistakes she’d made today.

Like staring too long at Mr. Tragic Eyes aka Hayes. She liked her name for him better, though.

And then she’d fallen over that damn chair leg.

That had been so embarrassing. Devi blew out a breath as she moved further into the trailer. It had once looked pretty nice, back when her mom was alive. But now, neglect and age had worn it down. She opened a window to let out the smell of bacon. She liked the scent, but she didn’t want the trailer to stink of bacon for the rest of the night.

And the fan above the stovetop was broken. Not that her dad would have remembered to turn it on.

“Hey, Mouse,” her dad said, turning. He was wearing a pair of shorts and a ripped singlet.

At least he had all of his bits covered.

There was only so much a person wanted to see of their dad. And she’d seen way too much in her twenty-eight years.

“Hey, Derick,” she replied as she put the milk she’d bought on her way home into the fridge. The bread went onto the counter.

“Good, just what I needed for my bacon sandwich.”

She gave him a tight smile. “I haven’t seen you in a couple of days.” She wasn’t sure if she’d been worried that he wouldn’t return . . . or that he would.

He was a terrible father. He could be neglectful and sometimes, downright mean. However, she didn’t want him dead. Well, most of the time anyway.

“Been busy, Mouse.”

Devi hid her wince. She hated that nickname. She’d been given it in high school. All she’d wanted was to blend in. To have no one notice her.

Her brother had been a legend at school. People were always shocked that they were related. But one of the teachers had a grudge against him and she’d turned that anger onto Devi