Page 63 of Ly to Me (Devils of Alliston Springs #1)

“Nah.” Another wad of heinous spit. My fist clenched beneath my bicep. “Got a call from Jamie.”

“The same man who assaulted my wife this mornin’?”

His gaze shot to Lyra over in the ring. She waved sweetly back at him and I watched as his cheeks warmed.

Always such a stunner, that woman.

“I didn’t hear a lick about that.” He reached into his back pocket, procuring a scrawled-on notepad. “She wanna make a statement?”

“Let’s hear Jamie’s first.”

“Right. Right.” He cleared his throat, taming the redness of his cheeks. “Claims wrongful termination and battery.”

“Can’t terminate him as he’s not an employee. He’s a co-owner who is signing over his rights in two more weeks. Buying him out,” I clarified. “Besides, that’s something more along the lines of needin’ a lawyer, ain’t it?”

“Tried tellin’ the boy that, but he seems to think he has to report it first.”

“Course he does. Does he have evidence for the battery?”

“Showed me his nose.” He tapped the pencil to his nose. “That right hook of yours is a bit of a signature.”

“Don’t recall.” I shrugged. “I think he fell in the kitchen when he was stealing my blender the other day.”

He scribbled something on his notepad. “He stole property from inside your house? Is he still renting?”

“Nope. Moved out when Lyra, my wife, moved in.”

“That the only thing he took?”

I rubbed my knuckles over my stubbled jaw. “My wife and I are still investigating. She was pretty shaken up over it. The attack this morning, too.”

“Can I get her statement?”

“She’s still worked up about it,” I said firmly.

He bobbed his head. “She tell you what happened?”

I flipped the toothpick back and forth with my tongue. “Said he lured her to his truck and slammed her into it.”

“Any witnesses?” More scribbling as I told him about the store, relaying the information Lyra shared, with pieces missing, of course. “You have those cameras up around your property still?”

I grinned, pointing up at one facing out from my porch. “Sure do.”

Henry fished a card from his back pocket and wrote his number on it before holding it out to me. “Call me if you find anything else missing, or can give footage of him leaving with that blender.”

I accepted the card and stuck it in my pocket. Henry bowed his back, sticking his gut out toward the ring. “Congrats on the marriage, by the way. Happy to see you settled down. Your dad and mom would be proud to see you finding the right track.”

“Sure.” I cocked my head as he started walking back to his car. He didn't seem to recognize Lyra, but maybe his fading memory would remember the cocksucker she lived with. “Henry, got a question for you.”

“Shoot.”

“You ever hear about a Chet Walker?”

“Why’re you asking?”

I feigned nonchalance. “Heard his name, didn’t recognize it.”

“You wouldn’t. Not from that side of town.”

A whole mile down the road. A single fucking mile. That was the division between Lyra and me growing up, but that wasn’t where those cruel lines ended.

“What do you know about him?”

Henry let out a low whistle. “Bad man. In and out of lock-up since he came here decades ago. Trash like that don’t belong in my town.” He spit again, and I fought the urge to slam his face into the disturbing wad on my property.

“He in there now?”

Henry rubbed the back of his bald head. “Nope. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen him in awhile. Not since he tried robbing a convenience store for more money to gamble away.”

“He ever go to jail over a woman?”

Henry paused, his hand tense on his car door’s handle.

“I probably shouldn’t be tellin’ you all this.

Could lose my job and all. But since your daddy and I used to play poker with each other, I’ll tell you this—Chet put his hands where they weren’t supposed to be.

Money, weapons, girls. Wherever he wound up, I hope it’s six-feet under. ”

I smirked as he climbed into his car, then rolled his window down. “I’ll file the report for your wife. Don’t worry ’bout needin’ to get her to talk about it.” He waved before rolling the window back up, then turned off the lights and drove away.

I pulled out my cell, searched for the name I needed, then pressed the phone to my ear.

“Can I come get my shit back now? Left my better gun there.”

“Good mornin’ to you, too, Grant.”

“My apologies. Good morning, dollface. Can I come—”

“Tomorrow night.”

“What?”

“Tomorrow. Night,” I repeated. “Bring your pj’s too, dollface . You’ll be here awhile.”

Grant snorted. “Game night?”

“Somethin’ like that.”

“Might need to bring Tallulah with me. Caught signs of more tracks around the woods again. One day, I’m gonna—”

“It’s been a year. If whoever it is was going to do something, they’d have done so.” It was better than telling him the truth.

“Not exactly reassuring,” Grant muttered.

“Give her a gun.”

He cackled. “Tallulah with a gun would be more frightening than what your wife did to your truck.”

I grinned, watching Lyra riding in the ring, looking peaceful since Henry rode off. “I did tell her they’d be good friends.”

“I’ll see if I can convince her to tag along.”

We ended the call, but before pocketing my phone, I fired off a text to Leo.

Carver: Taking more time off.

Leo: You get arrested?

Carver: Jamie tell you I was about to be?

Leo: Affirmative.

Lifting the phone back to my ear, I waited three whole seconds before Leo answered, “Hey, boss. Was just kidding, I—”

“Yeah. Got it. Listen, I need you to check the cameras again. Closely.”

“What? Why?”

“Don’t repeat what I’m sayin’. Jamie has been stealing from Warehouse Four.”

“The hy—”

“Kid.” I pinched the bridge of my nose as he apologized. “You can ask Luna for help checking them, just don’t fuck her in my security room.”

“I’m not—”

“Yes, you are.”

Leo sighed. “Sorry, I know there are rules about fraternization.”

“I don’t give a damn about that. I do , however, trust you both to figure this shit out without uttering a word to Jamie. Got it?”

I could hear Leo’s gulp. “Got it.”

“Warehouse Four. Watch him entering and leaving, what he takes in and out, all of it. Have Luna watch the parking lot cams.”

“Near post harvest?”

“Now you get it, kid.”

“Who’s it goin’ to?”

“Probably only a handful of people. Just enough to skirt under the radar. Taking small amounts at a time, going undetected.”

“Anythin’ else?”

“Actually, yes. I need his new address. See if he updated it for his pay or ask around, I don’t fucking care what you have to do to get it. Before tomorrow night, I need everything and I need it sent to my phone.”

“Will do.” Right as I pulled the phone from my ear to hang up, he added, “Thanks for trusting me, boss. I won’t forget it.”