Page 31 of Provocation (Den of Deception #3)

The cop lets out a loud cough and sniffs, running a finger down the screen in front of him. He has a gut and sweat patches under the armpits of his uniform, even though it’s freezing outside. I see his eyes flick to me, taking in the scabbed knuckles, his lip curling just a little.

‘There you are, kid,’ he grinds out. ‘Fill out this form.’

He hands me a clipboard with a form on it.

I fill it in, and I’m told to put my cell, keys, and anything else I’m carrying in a locker.

I’m patted down and walk slowly to the next room where I’m patted down again.

A short alarm sounds as the inner door is released and I’m admitted into the visitor’s room.

It slams behind me. My father isn’t here yet, so I grab him a couple of chocolate bars from the vending machine, putting them on the table in front of me as I sit down.

I don’t look around at the other visitors, or the guards standing around.

I try not to touch anything. I hear the faint alarm that triggers when the door to the interior of the jail is opened, and I glance up to see the line of prisoners entering slowly.

My father is first. Shaggy, brown, salt and pepper hair, slight build, and short stature.

He looks the same as he did before he was arrested except for a long scar running down the side of his face, which happened the first week he was here.

Though, as he tells it, the guy who attacked him came out worse.

He comes over once he’s told he can and sits across from me.

‘You got my letter.’

‘Yup.’

He grabs the chocolate bars and puts them in his pocket quickly. ‘Thanks, son.’

‘I put a couple hundred on your account,’ I say, staring at him with a bored expression.

‘You heard from your mother?’

There’s a sliver of hope in his voice that I do my best to ignore. Even after everything, he still loves that faithless bitch.

‘Nope.’

He sits back and stares at me, mirroring my expression. I hate it. It reminds me of how similar we are.

‘I heard you’re doing a good job. Kormak is more than satisfied.’

‘Great.’

He nods a little. ‘Yeah. It is, son.’ He leans forward. ‘You still at school?’

I nod.

‘Couple more years to go?’

‘This is my final year.’

He frowns and then nods. ‘Yeah, ’course. Time flies.’

He doesn’t speak again for several seconds, just watches me.

‘Girlfriend?’ he asks.

I shake my head, and the silence stretches on again.

‘Why am I here, Dad?’ I finally ask impatiently. ‘You didn’t send me that note so you could see me. There’s something else.’

He shrugs. ‘Maybe.’

He stretches, glancing around at the guards, making sure none are close enough to listen, I realize, when he leans in over the table a little.

‘You hear stuff in here,’ he says cryptically.

‘Like what?’ I ask, knowing if I play this little game, then this will go faster.

‘Like you’re into some shit with a guy named Sauvage.’

‘Don’t know that name,’ I lie. ‘You’re hearing wrong.’

‘Maybe,’ he says quietly. ‘Or maybe you need to make sure you’re on the right side, son.’

‘I am,’ I say, looking him in the eye. ‘Mine.’

He snorts. ‘You sound like your mother more every day.’

I resist the urge to sneer at him, or to let him know that he’s got to me at all. Luckily, the guard calls ‘early release’ so I can leave if I want.

‘Well, this has been fun as always, Pop. But if that’s all, I got class.’

He nods and I get up, walking a couple of steps before turning back to where he’s still sat at the table, unmoving.

‘Don’t contact me, don’t send me any more letters and I’ll put a hundred in your account every month ’til you get probation. Deal?’

He hesitates and then nods again, looking a little disappointed, but I ignore his expression as I turn.

As I’m leaving, I see a pair of guys at the table behind ours. Both are covered in tats and staring right at me. I look back at my father who’s gaze is swinging back and forth between us all.

Son of a bitch. I catch his eye and shake my head in disgust.

He got me here so these fuckers could get a look at me.

I take in as much about their appearances as I can while I walk slowly by their table, memorizing tattoos and features so I’ll recognize them if see them around.

They could be Kormak’s guys, Sauvage’s, someone else.

The last thing I need is more heat on me.

I don’t look back even though I can feel his eyes boring a hole into my head. I grab my stuff from the locker and leave. The rain is still coming down hard as I get on the road.

What a waste of fucking time that was.

I drive back to the KIP house and find some of the guys milling around, but the upperclassmen are getting ready for the party at the club in a couple of days and the rest are preparing to go home for Thanksgiving next week.

Upstairs is quiet and I check on the program I wrote to unscramble the corrupted data from the cameras.

It’s still working, so I do some classwork, and take some time to get together a list of the names of the girls who have been harassing Daisy.

I ordered her a new coat yesterday, so I’m hoping that comes soon.

The look on her face when she was trying to wash the ruined one in the bath broke me.

I knew she liked it, but I don’t think I’d realized that she loved it so much she’d cry over it.

Angry at Laurie, Jolie, Tabatha, and Michelle all over again, I consider how we should punish them.

The usual beatings and drug charges are getting a little boring.

I think about what Daisy said to me about the work I have to do to pay off my debt, how she wasn’t disgusted.

And the fact that she wanted to get Bennet back by herself.

Maybe I should let her in on the decision-making process for her bullies.

It might be good for her to have some control over what we do to them.

Yeah, I decide, that’s a great idea. I’m kind of interested to see what she comes up with.

I check the program again and look through the files it’s fixed so far to see if there’s anything interesting.

But it’s all just normal video of the KIP brothers going about their daily lives.

It hasn’t even gotten to Daisy’s files yet and they’re all so muddled up that I can’t tell what’s what until the program has fixed what it can.

I frown as I see a text file appear and open it, scanning the random lines of code.

Something jumps out at me–another external source besides the one in Richmond.

A second location with remote access to our cameras.

Heart quickening, I note down the corresponding IP address.

That’s all there is, but I search for it.

The approximate location makes me take out my phone and call Shade.

He answers immediately.

‘Where are you?’ I ask, not bothering with a greeting.

‘The club.’

I grab my coat and my laptop. ‘I’ll be there in a few.’

I take Shade’s car. The drive is slow because of the weather. It’s still coming down in sheets and the wind is crazy. There are branches all over the roads and I see more than one tree down. It’s starting to freeze, too, but I make it to the club in one piece within the hour.

Inside, I find Shade, Mav, and Daisy up in the office. They’re watching a movie on Mav’s laptop, trying to broaden Daisy’s film and music experience since she missed out on so much. I need to get her into North and South or Tipping the Velvet , a couple of my period drama favorites.

‘What is it?’ Shade asks.

‘I found something.’

He pauses the movie, and they all look up at me expectantly. I take a seat and glance at Shade and then Daisy meaningfully, but he shakes his head.

‘No more secrets. Daisy needs to know what we know.’

The smile she gives him at his words could light the room.

‘I found another IP address of the person who was watching.’

‘And?’ Mav asks. ‘Did you get an address?’

I shake my head. ‘There’s no way of narrowing it down that much, but the general area was south of Richmond.’

‘My father’s house?’ Shade mutters.

‘I think so. There’s nothing else really out that way, is there?’

Daisy tilts her head. ‘You’re sure? It couldn’t be anywhere else?’

Shade stands up and begins to pace. ‘I’ll have to check, but I don’t think there is.’

‘Your father’s been spying on Daisy?’ Mav asks. ‘Writing those notes?’

‘Not really Pop’s M.O.’ Shade paces the room. ‘Unless it was all part of the test for the Bandervilles.’

Daisy sits back and stares at the ceiling. ‘If that was true, they’d have stopped by now, wouldn’t they?’

She delves into her bag and pulls out a crumpled piece of paper. ‘This was thrown at me today.’

Congratulations on soon becoming the psycho’s wife. But he won’t do worse to you than I will if you don’t figure it out soon. Tick tock, bitch. You’re running out of time.

‘That doesn’t sound like my father,’ Shade mutters, pulling out his phone. ‘Wait. There is another estate out that way. I’ve just never been there.’

He glances up at us. ‘The Bandervilles.’

Daisy frowns. ‘It’s weird for the note to be talking about Joe like that if he’s the one who wrote it. Could it be Marcus?’

‘That or a double bluff. I’ll keep the program running. See if we can get anything else,’ I say.

‘Do you want me to put the movie back on?’ Mav asks.

Daisy shakes her head. ‘No, I have to check on the lab. I’ll be back in a minute.’

She leaves the room, and we hear her making her way down the stairs.

‘If it’s from the Novelle house but not your father, could it be one of the staff? The butler?’ Mav asks.

‘What about your brother?’ I say.

I’ve only met Andrew on a couple of occasions, but both times he’s seemed like a rich asshole to me.

Shade shakes his head. ‘Andy’s at Harvard. Has been since the day Daisy got here. I don’t even think he’s coming back for Thanksgiving.’

‘You’re sure?’

Shade shrugs. ‘I can find out.’

I nod. I don’t like him, but if he’s been at Harvard the whole time, it can’t have been him watching.

I let out a long sigh.