Fries Before Guys

by Vale, Lani Lynn

  Sometimes cops just knew when there was something more wrong.

  Chapter 15

  Love me like you love beer.

  -Avery to Derek

  Avery

  I didn’t know who I expected to be at my house so late at night, but the mayor definitely wasn’t it.

  I blinked in surprise as the cab pulled into my driveway, and got out with a murmured, ‘thank you’ after paying.

  The cab backed away, illuminating Lynn’s face once again, and left me in the dark.

  “I have some news,” he said, his eyes going down the length of my body. “You look beautiful. What was the occasion?”

  I grimaced and tugged my camera back up higher.

  “I had to take photos at prom,” I answered. “I didn’t want to be the only one not dressed up, so I wore my mom’s prom dress. I was lucky it fit.”

  Lynn’s mouth turned up at the side. “It’s wonderful.”

  I walked up to him and stopped only a few feet away.

  “What’s up, Mayor?” I asked. “It’s kind of late.”

  He grimaced. “I know it is. I found a couple of interesting things I thought you should know about.”

  My brows went up in surprise.

  “Okay then,” I said as I moved toward my front door. “Let’s go inside.”

  Lynn followed me, making sure to keep a respectable distance.

  For some reason, he didn’t intimidate me in the least.

  I felt safe with him, and I wasn’t sure altogether why.

  “If you don’t mind,” I said as I gestured to my dress. “I’d really like to go change. Have a seat. Get a drink. Whatever you need.”

  He nodded once, and I disappeared into my room, coming back out moments later dressed in sweats and a sweatshirt—both Derek’s.

  He grinned at my ‘KPD SWAT’ shirt and gestured to it with his chin.

  “I like it. It suits you,” he teased.

  I rolled my eyes and took a seat on the counter across from where he was sitting at the bar.

  “What’s up?” I asked, feeling nervous now.

  He grinned at me.

  “I did some research,” he said. “And I found out about the woman with the child.”

  I waited, heart in my throat.

  “The baby is a girl. She’s probably your sister,” he said, voice soft. “Your father was seeing the baby’s mother at some point. I’m not sure when. Your father is listed as the baby’s father on the birth certificate as well. I came here tonight to see if I could get some of your DNA. To test it between yours and the baby’s.”

  I immediately nodded my head.

  “What do you need?” I asked. “Hair? Cheek swab? Why did she do this?”

  “Cheek. And I have no clue. That is something that only she can answer at this point.” he answered. “But there’s more.”

  “More?” I asked, crossing my arms tightly over my chest. “What kind of more?”

  He grinned at that but just as quickly sobered.

  “I got a police report that says you pressed charges against a man that pointed a gun at you. Threatened to shoot you,” he said. “This is the same man that is married to the woman that slept with your father. The mother of your most-likely sister.”

  My mouth fell open in surprise.

  “What?” I gasped.

  Derek walked into my house then without knocking, his eyes narrowing on Lynn.

  “What the fuck are you doing here?” he barked.

  Lynn grinned wryly.

  “Explaining a few things that I was able to find out about the baby that is your girl’s sister,” he answered.

  Hearing Lynn call me Derek’s girl made my heart all tingly.

  “And also making sure she wasn’t left alone,” he continued.

  Derek’s eyes narrowed.

  “I was at the hospital today visiting a sick friend when I saw her leave,” he said. “I’d heard the call earlier about a drunk driver hitting your sister and brother-in-law. I’m sorry to hear that, and I’m glad they’re okay.”

  “Why would it matter if I was left alone?” I asked curiously, sensing there was more to this story than what I’d been given.

  Lynn’s eyes met mine, no longer filled with amusement.

  In fact, they were intense and honestly kind of extreme.

  His gaze left me and turned to Derek.

  “I’ve been doing some digging,” he told Derek. “Into the baby. And what I found was a whole lot of mess that might explain a few things.”

  He began to explain, and even with Derek at my side holding me up, I was too flabbergasted to comprehend.

  “So you’re telling me that the man that held me up at gunpoint for stealing his million dollars and my mom were dating,” I said.

  Derek squeezed my neck that he was once again supporting, offering emotional support too.

  “Yes,” Lynn said.

  “And the woman that had my father’s baby was dating my father.”

  Lynn nodded again.

  “And that they both tried to collect insurance payouts on each of them,” I continued.

  “Yes,” Lynn repeated.

  “Did they kill them?” I asked. “Was it them?”

  Had I watched a man die that hadn’t actually murdered my father?

  “No.” Lynn shook his head. “From what I gather when I talked to the woman, they just dated them in the hopes that they would die since they had such dangerous jobs. They liked the possibilities, and apparently each enjoyed the liaisons. Them actually dying was a complete coincidence that they were never able to capitalize on with your mother. They tried to do things differently with your dad, the woman purposefully getting pregnant. They kept the insurance policy on him, which they collected on. She thought that if she had the kid, half of the money for insurance and such would go to her as well. The woman got cold feet in asking for the money, so the husband decided to take it into his own hands and hold you at gunpoint until you gave him what he wanted. She also filed for divorce from her husband because he was a little too gung-ho on collecting the money that he felt that he was owed.”

  I leaned forward until my hands were resting on the counter.

  “This is… this is a mess,” I said. “I don’t even have any money, y’all. I’m literally living from paycheck to paycheck. Spending twenty bucks today on food to make sandwiches will have me eating ramen noodles for the next week. Where do they think that I’m getting all this money from?” I paused. “And how the hell was she able to get an insurance policy out on my father? Is that even legal?”

  “Apparently, he helped her,” Lynn said. “As did your mother with Howard.”

  “Howard?” I asked.

  “Howard and Lindia Bales. Howard was the man your mother was having that affair with,” he said. “Your mother died before the policy could go all the way through.”

  I pinched my eyelids and pulled them away from my eyes just to let them snap back into place.

  “Did my parents know that they were each cheating?” I asked curiously.

  I mean, the parents that I thought I knew were no longer.

  And for my parents to help their lovers to get insurance policies on the people they were seeing, and not their own family? On me? That was like a shot straight to the heart.

  But another part of me was happy that my little sister was being taken care of. Even if she was conceived due to treachery.

  Hell, it may not even be treachery. It might just be that my parents knew exactly what they were doing and offering.

  Motherfucker.

  This was killing me.

  I scrubbed my face.

  “I’m…” I groaned before he could answer. “I don’t want to deal with this anymore. I’m confused as hell, nothing is making too much sense, and I’m just over it. Let’s just forget it ever happened, okay?”

  There was a long moment of silence before Lynn cleared his
throat.

  “I wish I could say that it could be forgotten,” he admitted. “But I don’t think that it can. I think that Howard Bales had something to do with your hit and run.”

  “It wasn’t my hit and run,” I admitted. “It was Logan and Katy.”

  “It was your hit and run.” Lynn shook his head.

  “Because you were supposed to be in the car today, not them. You left in the car. Maude Cobb has a pretty isolated parking lot. With the window tinting on your mom’s SUV and the darkness? There’s no way he could tell that you weren’t the one in that car. This was meant for you.”

  Derek’s words had me turning to him with a shock of pain written all over my face.

  “You’re saying that what happened to them was my fault?” I gasped.

  Derek smoothed my hair back.

  “It wasn’t your fault,” he said carefully. “But whatever happened today, I think it’s linked to you.”

  Tears started to leak out of my eyes as I started to understand the repercussions.

  His family could’ve been killed. His sister, brother-in-law, and niece. All because of me.

  Another fat tear slid down my cheek.

  “I would’ve expected it from Rachel before I thought it was that weird guy,” I admitted. “I thought he was still in jail.”

  There was a long moment of silence before I heard Lynn shift across the counter from me.

  Moments later there was a, “Yeah, I need to check the files on someone.”

  I looked up to see a look of confusion on Lynn’s face.

  Sure enough, moments later, he started to curse.

  “He is still in jail,” he admitted. “It couldn’t have been him. His bail was denied because they deemed him a flight risk.” His eyes went far away. “So if it wasn’t him, who was it?”

  Lynn left a bit after that, he and Derek discussing the possibilities.

  Rachel Howell or Lindia Bales.

  Those were their two suspects. Two women that could easily be checked out, and they deemed me safe for now.

  Though, I had a feeling that Derek would be giving me a ride to and from school from now on. Oh, and I’d also be on the receiving end of no freedom.

  But I didn’t have a problem with that right now.

  Not putting other people in danger felt like the best option at this point.

  Staying home and keeping my nose clean seemed like the best course of action.

  “My father was distraught. About my mother,” I said into Derek’s chest. “You can’t fake that kind of emotion.”

  Derek squeezed me tighter. “No. But baby, maybe he really did love your mother. Maybe they just had an open relationship. We just don’t know.”

  We didn’t, which sucked the most.

  If I wanted answers, I’d have to talk to the woman that slept with my father while he was a married man.

  Talking to the man that held me at gunpoint, I had a feeling, would be a no-go with Derek.

  But with her being a suspect in the hit and run today? Well, I just didn’t see this as ever being solved.

  Chapter 16

  Valentine Schmalentine.

  -Avery’s secret thoughts

  Avery

  Later that night, as I lay in bed, I thought back to the day of my father’s funeral.

  ***

  I stared at the crowd as I watched the auditorium fill up with so many cops that it was unreal.

  My father was a loved member of the law enforcement society, and even more, he loved his town. His town that had come out in droves to attend as well. Though they were outside watching the funeral at the stadium and not inside in the auditorium.

  They were live streaming the funeral to the jumbotron, as well as onto the local news channel.

  Still, I watched as all the seats inside filled.

  I started counting seats when I’d gotten here earlier, and I knew that there were five hundred and forty-two seats. And they were all filled.

  In fact, there was standing room in the back that was quickly filling, too.

  There were people lined against the wall all the way down to the stage that I was standing next to.

  My father’s friend, Luke, also the chief of police, was standing next to me. A silent sentry.

  “How long are we going to wait until we start?” I asked curiously.

  We were supposed to have started over twenty minutes ago, but there never seemed a good enough time to start, seeing as people still kept shoving in.

  “I’ll say about ten minutes or so,” he answered, not looking down at me. “I would say right now, but I just know that door’s gonna keep banging open and closed until there can be no more.”

  I agreed with him.

  I was twiddling my thumbs, trying not to think about why I was here when he sighed.

  “Are you doing okay, Avery?” he asked.

  I looked up at him to see him staring at me thoughtfully.

  “I’ve been better,” I admitted. “But I’m an ol’ pro at this. I should be okay through the ceremony.”

  That was a lie.

  I wasn’t going to be okay through the ceremony.

  I was going to cry my ass off.

  On the stage in the shadows. All on my own.

  They’d asked if I wanted anyone sitting with me, and I’d declined.

  Sure, I would love to have someone—preferably my mother or my father—at my side, but everybody else wasn’t them. I didn’t want a substitute. And, though my father was loved by all his friends and co-workers, I didn’t know them as well as I probably should have.

  I was what some people would consider weird.

  Weird as in when my parents went out with their friends from work or went to a work function, I didn’t go.

  I was just more interested in hanging out at home, with a book, or editing photos than I was to pretend like I was enjoying myself at a party when I wasn’t.

  Which was why I didn’t know any of my dad’s friends well. Even Luke.

  I’d seen him around town. I knew who he was. Said hi to him a few times. But overall, I was in my own little world a lot of the time. That included staying there when chiefs of police came into the picture, even if he was a bigwig.

  “I think it’s time,” he said.

  I nodded my head.

  “Yeah,” I said softly.

  He gave some signal to the priest, then escorted me to my seat that was on the edge of the stage nearest the curtains that closed off the stage from view.

  He winked at me and took his seat next to the priest who was just standing to start the ceremony.

  I looked out over the crowd, staring at all the people.

  There were tons.

  And when I say tons, I meant so freakin’ many.

  It made my heart happy to know that my dad had that.

  That that many people showed up to support the life he’d lived.

  I looked down at my hands and listened to everyone throughout the ceremony, smiling slightly when Luke got up to speak.

  Once he was done, he looked over at me with a raised brow.

  Did I want to speak?

  I stood up, causing everyone’s attention to come to me.

  I was in a black form-fitting dress that covered nearly every available inch of my body.

  I’d stolen it from my mother’s closet when she’d passed and had no clue that I’d be wearing it so soon again.

  I cleared my throat and then stepped up to the podium, staring out at my father’s friends.

  No family in sight.

  Both sets of my grandparents had passed, and both my mom and my dad had been only children. There were no uncles or aunts, no distant cousins to be had.

  Just me.

  I was all that was left now.

  “I asked my dad for a brother once,” I said, eyes staring blankly at the mahogany wood that the podium was made out of. “He told me that I was a han
dful, and it would take everything he had to raise me.”

  There was a slight chuckle from everyone in the room.

  “When I was five, I asked him if it hurt to shoot someone,” I said softly, running my fingers along the grain. “He said only when he closes his eyes at night.”

  There was a sniffle.

  “When I was seven, I asked him if he could take me to work with him.” I smiled at the memory. “He told me no because I’d get hungry at some point and sometimes they didn’t get to eat for a solid twelve hours if it was a busy shift.” I snickered, remembering that day with picture-perfect clarity. “I told him I didn’t want to go if it wasn’t guaranteed that I’d get to eat.”

  Everybody laughed at that.

  “He came home one time when I was ten with a broken nose and two black eyes.” My mouth tipped up at the corner, and I was no longer seeing the people in the auditorium. I was seeing my dad, grinning like a lunatic at me. “He came home, gave my mom a huge kiss, then took a picture with me. He told me to take it out and laugh at it when I was having a bad day.”

  I blinked, my eyes searching the room.

  I found an officer that my dad had partnered with his rookie year.

  I pointed at him.

  “You were on your first call together, he told me. He said that you were scared out of your mind, and nearly drowned a man with an Icee when he tried to rob a convenience store. He said that you shoved your entire cup into his face and wasted every single drop.” I grinned. “The store employee made you pay for it.”

  The man, Chris Tomlinson, smiled.

  I found another man in the crowd. This one on the SWAT team.

  “And you, Miller,” I said, pointing at him. “You and my dad ran a warrant once. It turns out that the man was a transvestite, and you were looking for a man, and he was dressed as a woman. You let him go and only realized later what had happened.”

  Miller chuckled.

  “I have thousands of stories in my head,” I said. “That’s what happens when you don’t forget anything. Some say it’s a curse because there’s just so much information to sift through. But me? I’m happy that I can remember so much with such vivid detail. That means that I’ll never forget my dad. He’ll always be right here.” I patted my chest. “So if you’re ever in need of remembering, I’ll tell you something about him.”