Page 30 of The Sinner's Son
“He’s the best.” Royce gestured to the stack of reports on her desk. “Is this a bad time?”
O’Connell wrapped the donut in the napkin and threw it in the trash. “Not at all.” She dusted off her hands and gave him her full attention. “How can I help you?”
“One of my Explorer cadets has a missing brother, and his family can’t get the police department to take his case seriously.”
She arched a dark brow. “Let me guess. ‘It’s not a crime for adults to voluntarily disappear.’”
“Yep.”
O’Connell sighed heavily and shook her head. “Statistics don’t support that logic, and I seriously doubt they ever did.”
“‘But our resources and manpower are limited,’” Royce recited robotically.
“Ugh. Manpower.” O’Connell rolled her eyes hard enough to strain something. “More archaic language you think we’d do away with in a department led by a woman.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Royce said.
“Tell me why your cadet’s brother didn’t walk away from his life.”
As with Ky and Ashcroft, Royce told her the unvarnished truth about Dane, and like them, O’Connell reacted sympathetically as each development grew more tragic. Ifretelling the Suttons’ story felt like twisting a knife in his heart, what must it be like to live through it? Royce couldn’t take a chance that O’Connell, who was likely overworked and underpaid, would refuse to take a closer look at Dane’s disappearance. “Detective O’Connell, I—”
“Call me Katie.”
“All right. Katie, I know Dane Sutton didn’t abandon his dying mother and his brother, who’s about to become an orphan. You have no reason to trust my instincts beyond the fact I have excellent taste in men.” That made her chuckle and smile. “I need someone to believe us.”
“It’s your lucky day, Detective Locke.”
“Call me Royce.”
“Okay, Royce. I’m your huckleberry.”
He placed a hand over his heart. “That’s one of my all-time favorite movie quotes.”
“A timeless classic,” Katie agreed as she pulled a notebook from her desk. She asked for Nina’s and Cayden’s contact information and jotted it down at the top. She looked up and said, “Tell me again what you know as fact and what you suspect is true. Don’t leave out a single detail.”
He fast-forwarded past the NSFW parts before Jason’s visit but took his time retelling everything else as he understood it. Katie stopped him a few times to clarify things, but she mostly jotted down notes. When he finished, she put her pen down and looked at him. “I’ll call Nina to take an official report and enter it into the system. I’m going to give this my all.”
“Thank you.”
They exchanged contact information, and Royce took his first easy breath since kissing Sawyer goodbye.
When Sal’s Hardware and Home Goods came into view, Royce noted a familiar Harley in the parking lot. Not long ago, he would’ve kept driving, but he parked next to Eddie’s motorcycle instead. Their relationship had continued to bloom since their big talk at the Keys’ Memorial Day party. Eddie and Jo were frequent visitors to their house, much to Dolly’s chagrin, though the Yorkie was slowly warming up to her. After spending the morning with Nina and hearing her talk about regrets, it felt like kismet that Eddie would be at the hardware store too.
Some boys bonded with their dads at a fishing hole or on a sporting field, but Sal’s had been their special place. Eddie exuded rare patience inside those four walls, showing the various tools to young Royce and explaining what they were used for. He always let Royce choose candy from the selection Sal kept at the counter. Sometimes Royce ate the treat right away, but he usually stashed them until Eddie had one of his volatile episodes. Young Royce had hidden in his closet with his box of treasures and ate the candy to remind himself that his father wasn’t always a monster.
Royce exhaled a deep breath as he shut off his SUV’s engine. It wasn’t even lunchtime, and he’d run through one emotional gauntlet after another. It would be so easy to let those old feelings of resentment and heartache taint the interaction he was about to have with his father, but Royce was tired of taking one step forward and two back. They both deserved better, so he wouldn’t take his rough morning out on his dad. Eddie was at the front counter, drinking coffee and shooting the breeze withSal when he walked in. Both men greeted him like he was Norm fromCheers. Instead of pouring him a mug of beer, Sal lifted the coffeepot when Royce approached.
“Want a cup? It’s freshly brewed.”
Royce had often wondered just how much coffee the store went through each day. The seniors who didn’t meet at McDonald’s or the barbershop gathered at Sal’s hardware store, some of them lingering for hours. “I’ve had my limit,” Royce said, waving him off.
Eddie set his cup down and hugged his son. “This is a pleasant surprise. Aren’t you working today?”
“I’m taking a personal day to tackle some things.”
Eddie assessed him with cool gray eyes. “Everything okay?”
“Things are great for me, but one of my students is really going through it right now. I’m just trying to help his family.”