Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 86177 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86177 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
“Listen, Nolan, what should I put on this alert? Is this Jamie person aggressive? Did he commit a 187, rob someone, home invasion? What has he done since being a teenager?”
I scrubbed the back of my neck, inching forward in traffic. “What do you mean, what has he done? The little—ahem. Let’s go with a home invasion. Jamie’s behavior is wildly erratic, never cuffed with a 459 charge, it’s consistent with his past criminal activity.” Except the kid was in the pregnant girl’s backyard, so he hadn’t technically broken into a residence. “But I don’t get what you were trying to say. You should’ve had your pick of the litter. He’s been 51’50’d enough. Psych hold after psych hold.” On account of that, I told the MacKenzies I couldn’t expunge his juvenile record. Sorry, not sorry.
“Well, get this, Nolan. I don’t see anything when it comes to the Mental Evaluation database. I’ve typed in variations of the last name even though you spelled it out. Nothing’s flagged in the system we use for casual traffic stops. No restraining orders. No firearm restrictions. I’ve looked up CLETS—and if you’ve forgotten about that since your promotion, it’s the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System. And even searched REDD, the—”
“Records Evaluation and Decision Division,” I bite off. “I haven’t been Deputy Chief of Major Crimes that long, Ledbetter. What is eating you?”
“The wife’s breathing down my neck every day, sorry. Alls I’m saying is, I don’t have access to any past charges in the system. And I’m not seeing any altercations between him with any persons under the age of eighteen, or adults for that matter. The kid hasn’t unalived anyone. However, if you prefer to go with a home invasion. We’ll go with that. May I have his likeness for this alert? Eye color. Hair color.”
“Wot?”
“Like I said, none of that is available without past charges because your mark doesn’t have outstanding warrants or prior convictions. No gang affiliations. He’s not even on the sex offender registry—which I checked seconds ago. I got my neck on the chopping block, inserting my credentials in all these programs to help you.”
A choked laugh came from deep in my throat. “I don’t understand. All of that should be there. His father, Brody MacKenzie Senior—”
“What? Brody MacKenzie? And Little Brody, well, he ain’t so much little. I love those guys. Are you telling me they have a son who’s done—actually, I don’t know what you’re telling me. Nothing’s in the system. These MacKenzies are from the LBC?”
“Yeah. Long Beach. How-how do you know them?” A quiver edged its way into my throat. Relax. You have Ledbetter’s secrets too. You go down … he goes—
“My sister attends church in Long Beach. I go sometimes. His wife, I can’t think of her name offhand, is head of the choir. They own MacKenzie Freight. It might be a blue-collar business, but their name is also at the community center where my nephew plays ball. He hasn’t gotten into any trouble since going to the community center. Maybe that’s what happened to this Jamie kid? He turned his life—”
“I’m telling you; this kid is the worst thing walking since—since Starbucks took over and my favorite coffee shop closed.”
“Well, as much as I love gossip, I’m sitting in the middle of a police post trying to help you push around your weight, Nolan. Call me when you have something better. Or better yet, do it when you return to the office. I’m actually gonna be busy tonight too. So, we can’t hit up Mary’s.”
Proud Mary’s, a cop bar.
The call disconnected. I glanced around myself. If I could just get through this traffic. As Deputy Chief, I no longer drove around in cop cars. I no longer had access to flip a switch on the dashboard. As a rookie cop in Long Beach, the siren was my red carpet to an adrenaline rush.
I fought the urge to spiral into paranoia after Leith’s cryptic request. Maybe I’d jumped the gun? I hoped so because there was only one woman on earth who scared me more than any man alive.
Nan MacKenzie.
That laddie’s mother loved him more than all of her kids combined.
I shook that thought away and smirked. Nan didn’t know about the other kids. She couldn’t.
If she did, that nugget Leith wouldn’t have tipped me off.
Nan would’ve shown up at my doorstep at the crack of dawn, right as I stepped out with my first cup of joe. Knife in hand. Ready to carve my heart out for not saving those rugrats.
Which meant … Jamie had started picking apart that twisted little pretzel of a brain I’d created. Maybe he’d let a concern slip to Leith. Not his parents.
Aye. It made sense now.
I muttered, “Alright. Get rid of the rat.”
No more Jamie. No more threat. Maybe then Nan would stop pining over Nutty-for-Nutter-Butter’s Jamie. I could still picture him scarfing down those cookies. The nickname stuck.