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and-bull story about wanting to know more about Ben s life before he came to Reed. What ever
it was they told him, Kilgore bought it. He s agreed to let this little incident go as long as Jamie
and Megan agree to stay away from his investigation. Yeah, right. Anyway, just swing by the
station and I ll give you directions on how to get to the precinct where they re being held.
Damn.  You set me up.
Brandon snickered.  You can blame Nate for that. It was his idea for you to pick them
up.
Dillon rubbed his forehead.  I m confused. Why can t Megan just drive them both back
to Reed herself?
 Because, even though they weren t officially arrested, Megan s car was impounded for
being illegally parked in front of Carpenter s house. She doesn t have the cash on her to bail it
out, so I ll give you the money when you come by to get the directions and we ll kill two birds
with one stone. Actually, I was all set to go over there and get them myself, but Nate felt sure I d
cause a big scene. I swear, my own husband has no faith in me. Since Jamie is your
responsibility now, Nate thought sure you d wanna do it.
 He was right. I ll be at your office as soon as I square things with my boss. Dillon
hesitated.  Hey, Bran?
 If you re gonna thank me, kid, you might want to save it. Just because I m not going to
pick them up tonight doesn t mean I don t have a thing or two to say to Jamie and Megan about
this little misadventure of theirs. This isn t the amateur detective hour, and I ll be damned if
Jamie isn t gonna get that through his thick skull even if I have to pound it in there.
Dillon actually smiled.  That, I don t doubt. But I do want to thank you. For everything.
 Yeah, yeah. You re welcome. Now go get your guy before some sex starved jailbird
decides to make Jamie his bitch. Knowing my sister, she d want to watch.
Dillon disconnected with that rather disturbing picture in his head. The first thing he did
after he got off the phone was seek out Jim Pembroke. He found him up front, talking to one of
the pharmacists.
 Hey, Mr. P., can I talk to you for a sec?
 Sure, Dillon. Jim nodded to the pharmacist and motioned Dillon towards his office.
 We can talk in here, if that s okay with you.
 Yes, sir. That d be great. Dillon followed Jim into his office. Once seated, Dillon said,
 I hate to do this, Mr. P., but something s come up. I need to leave.
Jim leaned across his desk, his dark gray hair ruffled from a night at work, his hazel eyes
boring holes into Dillon s skin.  Is everything all right with you, Dillon? Before Dillon could
speak, Jim held up his hands.  I don t mean to pry, but you went from never missing a night of
work to having to take leave at a moment s notice. The change in you has me worried.
The skin on the back of Dillon s neck began to prickle. He needed this job too bad to lose
it now.  Mr. P., are you gonna fire me? I know I ve taken some extra time off lately, but  
Jim shook his head.  Calm down, son. I have no intention of firing you. Like I ve told
you before, you re the best employee I ve got. I just want you to know, no matter what s going
on in your life, you can talk to me about it. He paused.  I heard a rumor that you re no longer
living with your folks.
Dillon swallowed, hard.  No, sir. I m living with my older brother, Heath.
Jim nodded.  I understand that young men your age sometimes have problems relating to
their folks. Heck, I may be three times older than you are, but I haven t forgotten what it feels
like to be eighteen. The point is, my door is always open for you, Dillon. I m more than willing
to help in any way I can.
 Thanks, sir. I ll make up tonight s time, I swear it.
 Not necessary. Now, go on. Take care of your business. I ll see you on Monday night.
Dillon almost screamed his relief as he left Jim s office. He d cleared the first hurdle.
Now all he had to do was get to Jamie and Megan. Dillon clocked out and had almost made it to
the front door of the shop when he ran headfirst into Heath. Oh great. That was all he needed.
 Heath, what are you doing down here?
Heath s face was flushed, and Dillon was pretty sure it had nothing to do with the cold
outside.  Did the sheriff get in touch with you?
Oh, crap.  Yeah, he did.
 Good. He called the apartment first, looking for you. Thought maybe you had the night
off, he said. What s this about Megan and Jamie being arrested in Chicago?
 They weren t arrested, Heath. Just picked up by the police. Oh, yeah. Like that was so
much better.
 Picked up? Heath s panic was near-painful to watch.  Is Megan okay?
Dillon started walking towards the door again.  She s fine, at least as far as I know. I still
don t know why you won t just tell her you re crazy in love with her and be done with it.
Heath followed.  Never mind about that. Tell me what in the hell Megan is doing in jail.
 It ll have to wait. I m on my way to pick her and Jamie up now.
Heath was hot on his heels.  You can tell me on the way there. I m going with you.
Well fuck a duck on Sunday morning. If Dillon s night got any worse, he didn t think
he d survive it. He forced himself to stop the pity party before it reached full swing. Time to
fetch his boyfriend out of the slammer. One more trip to a correctional facility for either one of
them and he and Jamie would officially be white trash. Dillon slipped into the driver s seat of his
Lumina and waited for Heath to climb in on the other side. It was gonna be a long night.
* * * * *
Carrying a thick, manila-clad file Jamie assumed must be Burke Carpenter s, Detective
Kilgore came back into the stale office, his coffee-colored skin dripping with sweat despite the
frigid air outside. Flipping his waist length braids over his shoulder, Kilgore slapped the file
down and took a seat on his side of the rickety, wooden desk, putting him directly across from
Jamie. Kilgore had the dark, exotic looks of a tropical swimsuit model, but the expression he
wore made Jamie want to run and hide. His amber eyes probed first Jamie, then Megan, who was
seated just to Jamie s right. Finally, Kilgore said.  Damn, it s hot in here. Stupid furnace
malfunctioned again. You sure I can t get you kids anything to drink? A soda, maybe?
Jamie shook his head just as Megan did the same. Jamie instantly wished he d said yes
about the drink when Kilgore went on with,  All right, then. Let s go over this thing one more
time. What were the two of you doing at Burke Carpenter s house?
This guy had to be related to Bran in some way. They asked the same kinds of questions
and gave the same damning looks. Jamie sighed.  I only wanted to talk to the guy.
 What about?
Jamie froze, not sure how to answer. That s when Megan stepped in.  As I said before,
Detective Kilgore, Jamie lost his best friend recently. It just so happens that Jamie s friend, Ben
Lewis, lived with Burke for a while. We were hoping Mr. Carpenter could tell us something
about Ben s life before he and Jamie met. You know, childhood stories, funny memories.
Anything that might help Jamie find a little bit of peace and comfort after losing Ben the way he
did.
Damn, she was good. Jamie could actually see Hank Kilgore s eyes softening towards
him.  Look, James, I can understand why you d want to find out all you can about your friend, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]