Past Midnight (South Island PD Book 2)

by Ranae Rose

  “Come on in,” he said. “It’s good to see you; I just wish it was for a better reason.”

  “That makes two of us. What happened?”

  At a loss for what else to do, she just stood there, purse in hand.

  He motioned toward the couch, then sank onto it himself.

  She joined him, her heart beating fast.

  “It’s a shitty situation. Embarrassing.” He scratched the back of his neck and frowned. “I was on nightshift patrol when I saw an SUV swerving erratically. It jumped a curb and almost flattened three pedestrians on the sidewalk. When I pulled the vehicle over…”

  She sat silently as he finished the story. By the time it was over, a bitter taste had filled her mouth.

  “Wait a minute,” she said after pausing to let it sink in. “You didn’t have a bodycam, but the other officer – Rogers – should’ve, right?”

  “Right. But she wasn’t in the alley with me. Her camera was on, but it only captured what happened at the vehicle. After the driver fled, there’s no footage until I bring him back in cuffs.”

  “Still, the footage will show him hurting Rogers and fleeing. It definitely doesn’t make him look like an honest, upstanding guy.” Butterflies rioted in her belly despite her faith in what she’d said.

  She believed Elijah, but she couldn’t help but think of the dumb article Madison had shown her. How many people would believe that instead?

  The article had claimed that the kid’s parents were pushing for Elijah to be fired.

  “You’re right. Hopefully people will be able to see the truth and this’ll all work out. Eventually. It doesn’t help that the kid’s dad is a member of city council, though.”

  “He is?”

  “Yeah.”

  Peyton snorted. “He’s the one who should lose his position, then – not you.”

  “Thanks.”

  She studied his expression, namely the lines that’d formed between his eyes. His hands were curled, brown skin pale at the knuckles. Like most cops seemed to be – as far as she could tell, anyway – he wasn’t very expressive when it came to tough subjects. But he practically radiated stress now.

  And who could blame him? It didn’t matter if the accusation was bullshit; people were still talking about it. If someone accused her of something she hadn’t done and trashed her professional reputation, she’d probably take a long dive right off the deep end.

  Just imagining the pressure he was under made her head ache.

  “I’m sorry, Elijah. That’s so unfair.”

  “Yeah. Well…” He rolled his shoulders, as if trying to relieve them of tension. It didn’t appear to work. “Internal affairs is investigating what happened, of course. And I’ve been taken off the streets for the time being.”

  His voice was steady, but she could hear his pain anyway.

  “You’ve been suspended from work?”

  He shook his head. “No. They’ve placed me on duty at Shell Point Primary School. I’ll be backing up the resource officers there and teaching an anti-drug education program for the kids.”

  “They must not believe you’d hurt anyone if they assigned you to work with kids.”

  His gaze flickered to hers, and he held it for a moment before looking away, rubbing the back of his neck again. “Joseph Weitkamp’s parents bailed him out right away, and it’ll be a while before the court actually tries him. The other day he tracked down a South Island officer at a restaurant and made a big scene. They don’t want him running into me on the job, so they took me off the streets.”

  She nodded slowly. “I can tell you’re not thrilled with it, but you strike me as the kind of guy who’d be great with kids. The school will be lucky to have you. You know, my nephew goes to Shell Point, and it’s one of the best public schools on the island.”

  She shifted in her seat. Elijah would be great with the students, she had no doubt. But if Madison found out he’d been assigned there, she’d flip out.

  How many other parents had seen the article?

  After being suspended from his regular duties, it’d be adding insult to injury if he was removed from the school as well.

  “It could be worse,” he said. “I’m just worried how this’ll effect me in the long term. My goal has always been to work my way up to detective, and now I’m not even allowed to work the beat. And this bullshit may shadow every step I make at the PD, even if I keep my job.”

  She frowned. He was right, of course. Which made her blood heat with anger – totally justified anger.

  He met her gaze again, and the lines between his eyes deepened. “You said you read about the accusations. Where?”

  She told him about the article Madison had shown her. “It was obviously total bullshit, but my sister – well, it’s easy for something like this to get her stirred up. It really hits home with her, even if it’s not true.”

  “She upset?”

  “Yes.” She hated to admit it, but she wouldn’t lie to him. A part of her yearned for him to understand, but how could he? Just like Madison had her own life experiences that shaped how she perceived the world, so did he.

  “She means well. She’s worried about me – my big sister, you know? Because of what happened—”

  “You don’t have to explain. I know how this must look to her, and I can’t blame her for wanting to keep you safe. I think I’d want to kick my ass if I was her.”

  She took one of his hands in hers and squeezed. Somehow, his understanding only made her feel hopelessly sad. Like she was kicking him while he was down.

  “Her physical therapy has been going great, but I don’t think she’s in any condition to kick anyone’s ass just yet, so don’t worry.”

  Her joke earned only the briefest of smiles from him.

  “She know you’re here right now?”

  “No. I told her I was going grocery shopping.” Her face flushed.

  He nodded slowly.

  “I know a grown woman shouldn’t feel the need to lie about where she’s going or who she’s seeing. I just feel guilty for making her worry. Even though she’s way off base, I understand where she’s coming from.”

  Another nod. “You going to tell her the truth?”

  “Yes.” Of course she was. How could she not when she’d just made such a big deal out of being honest with her sister, even if it meant upsetting her?

  “Seeing that article shook me up,” she said. “I wanted to talk to you right away, and I lied to make it easier. I shouldn’t have, but I did.”

  “You still want us to keep seeing each other, even with the trouble this is causing?”

  “Yes.” Her reply leapt from her lips, and her heart sped. She meant it, so why did she feel a pang of guilt?

  “I’m glad, Peyton.” He squeezed her hand. “But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t surprised, too.”

  Another pang of guilt, for an entirely different reason.

  “This may’ve thrown us a curveball,” she said, “but the truth has to come to the surface eventually. Things will work out.”

  They had to, because she wasn’t going to turn her back on him just because he’d been falsely accused. She wasn’t perfect – and yes, she’d misjudged him in the beginning – but she’d make up for that now by standing by him.

  Which was exactly where she wanted to be, anyway.

  * * * * *

  “Madison, the number of shoppers you’ve been drawing in here is amazing.” Peyton kept her voice low. Although the latest surge of customers had subsided, there was still a woman in the fitting room.

  Madison looked up from where she sat behind the counter, on a chair brought out from the breakroom. She refused to use her wheelchair any longer at Charmed, and the seat was a compromise, since she couldn’t be on her feet for long.

  “All I did was approach the city’s tourism director. She was happy to share the news about our annual drive to help the women’s shelter. I designed a graphic, she made sure that it was shared on the city beache
s’ social media accounts and voila, tourists are stopping in to shop.”

  “That’s not all you did – you talked the city into funding the contest, and then there’s the hashtag.” The island’s tourism department was sponsoring a contest in which anyone who posted a selfie with a Charmed shopping bag and panty drive contributor’s receipt was automatically entered in a drawing for a free weekend stay at a beachfront hotel. All they had to do was tag it with the official hashtag. Madison had even designed special lavender contributors’ receipts that looked cute in the photos.

  Madison shrugged. “The idea just sort of came to me. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately.”

  “Well, it was a brilliant idea. You should be VP of Marketing somewhere.”

  Madison flashed a smile. “That’s my new title here: Co-Owner-Entrepreneur / VP of Marketing. Didn’t I tell you?”

  “It’s okay by me, as long as you don’t leave Charmed to work your magic elsewhere. I wouldn’t want any corporate head hunters stealing you.”

  “Fortunately, I’m not in business for accolades or huge paychecks. I just want to make a living and have a little fun doing it. It feels good to take such a big aspect of my life into my own hands.”

  Peyton turned to the register program on the countertop computer and reviewed the day’s sales.

  The numbers were great, and the day wasn’t even over yet. But the satisfaction that fact brought didn’t erase the sense of unease that’d been dogging her ever since she’d come home from Elijah’s place the night before.

  He’d made her forget about both of their problems, but only for a little while. Awareness had returned to her as soon as she’d slipped out of his arms, and the drive home had been a subdued one. When she’d arrived, Madison had made it clear she hadn’t been fooled by the grocery lie.

  “Hey,” Madison said, “it’s almost time to leave for the bus stop. Today’s going by fast.”

  “I can meet Jace by myself if you want, that way you can stay here to help Julie out. She could probably use an extra set of hands today.”

  Madison hadn’t driven a vehicle since the accident. Peyton didn’t blame her. Lately, they’d been driving to the school bus stop together to pick up Jace while Julie handled things on her own.

  “Okay,” Madison said, “I can at least run the register.”

  As Julie walked in the door, Peyton walked out.

  “Madison’s not going with you?” Julie asked.

  “We’ve been really busy today, so she’s going to stay. I’ll be back soon too, with Jace.”

  “Take your time; I’m sure the two of us can handle it.” Julie grinned. “And it’ll be fun to work with Madison again. I’ve barely seen her lately.”

  Peyton nodded. “See you soon.”

  As she drove, her mind wasn’t on the school bus stop so much as it was on the school, where Elijah had recently started working.

  How had his day gone? Good, hopefully. It was hard to imagine the kids not loving him.

  All she could do was hope that the school assignment would turn out to be a good thing, and that it wouldn’t be ruined by something like Madison finding out he was there.

  Peyton hadn’t mentioned it to her the night before. Hadn’t mentioned it and didn’t know if she could bear to, even if it meant keeping a secret from her sister.

  And it wasn’t just the desire to shield Elijah that’d left her speechless the night before. She wanted to protect Madison, too.

  They both needed her right now, and it was a strange feeling. They were two of the strongest people she knew, and here she was trying to spread her loyalty thin enough to cover them both.

  It was hard to tell whether she was doing the right thing, or just being stupid.

  * * * * *

  “Looks like it’s just you and me, Officer Rex.” Elijah dropped the stuffed, uniformed dinosaur onto his cruiser’s passenger seat. “Fortunately, you’re starting to grow on me.”

  If Lieutenant Aldred had been the joking type, he would’ve laughed when she’d presented him with Officer Rex. She’d been dead serious though, and now Rex rode shotgun to and from Shell Point Primary School. The idea was supposed to be that having a dinosaur for a partner made Elijah more relatable to the kids during the drug resistance education lessons they had him teaching.

  He had to admit, it worked. A pair of first graders had nearly snapped the tyrannosaurus’ plastic cuffs in half during a tug-of-war earlier that day. Sometimes he felt more like Rex’s bodyguard than the one in charge.

  Buy hey, whatever worked. If the t-rex got the message across, it’d be worth it.

  Still, this wasn’t what he’d had in mind when he’d gone through the police academy.

  Working with the two resource officers assigned to Shell Point wasn’t like working with the officers he’d gone through the academy alongside and had been working with for years, either. Jerry was pushing fifty and just weeks away from retirement – when school let out for the summer, he’d be turning in his badge and gun. Meanwhile, he didn’t seem to be interested in much, least of all getting all buddy-buddy with Elijah.

  Suzanne was nice enough, but in a way that reminded him more of his mother than a peer. It was obvious she loved the school kids – almost as much as she loved gardening.

  She talked about her garden constantly, and she’d presented Elijah with abundant evidence of her skill: on the floor mat in front of Officer Rex’s seat was a grocery tote overflowing with rhubarb and collards.

  He didn’t have a damn clue what to do with rhubarb, but Suzanne hadn’t taken no for an answer.

  He wasn’t too worried about it, though. What he was going to do with the vegetables was a lot less troublesome than trying to figure out what he was going to do in a few weeks, when summer break rolled around.

  Officer Rex would get stuffed into a closet somewhere at the PD, and he’d be lucky if he didn’t meet the same fate – only he’d likely have a stack of paperwork to keep him busy throughout the island’s busiest tourism – and crime – season.

  The thought made his current gig at the school seem pretty damn good.

  Rounding a street corner and nearing the station, he cast Officer Rex a sidelong glance. There was a tear in the dinosaur’s uniform sleeve, from where the kids had fought over it.

  He’d have to sew it up.

  Shifting in his seat, he sighed. This was what it’d come to: stitching up a glorified teddy bear in the name of the law, all the while fearing that things might get worse. Detective had never felt farther away.

  CHAPTER 22

  Peyton was slicing an apple when her phone vibrated on the kitchen counter. Setting down the knife, she answered with one hand while she popped a container of caramel dip into the microwave with the other.

  “Hey. What’s up?”

  “You working?” Elijah asked.

  “I just got my nephew off the bus, but I’ll be heading back in shortly. Madison and Julie are holding down the fort for now, but we’ve been really busy today. Why – aren’t you working too?”

  “My work day ends whenever the car rider pick-up line at Shell Point does.”

  “Right. I keep forgetting.” She opened the microwave when it chirped and sat the caramel sauce in the center of a plate. Cradling her phone between her shoulder and ear, she resumed slicing the apple.

  “I know you won’t be punching out for a couple more hours,” he said, “but can I take you out to dinner tonight?”

  “After work? It’ll be kinda late for a work night.”

  “I don’t mind if you don’t.”

  She glanced at the clock. It was only four, but her pulse quickened at the thought of meeting him after work. “Okay. I’ll have to drop my sister off at home first, but I can meet you afterward if you let me know where.”

  “Great. You’re at home now, right?”

  “Yeah.” She fanned the apple slices around the caramel dip and carried the tray to the dining room, where Jace had emptied his backpack o
n the table.

  “I’m not too far away from your neighborhood. Can I interest you in some rhubarb?”

  * * * * *

  Elijah pulled up to the curb in front of Peyton’s house. The bag of vegetables slumped over, spilling collards onto the floor mat.

  He pulled the key from the ignition and leaned over in his seat, stuffing the produce back into the bag.

  Judging by its production, Suzanne’s garden had to be huge. Where did you get that kind of space on the island?

  Maybe she commuted to work. He’d never asked.

  Peyton answered the door a bare second after he knocked.

  “Is that the rhubarb?” She nodded at the bag.

  “Rhubarb and collard greens, if you’d like some of those too.”

  God, she looked good. Her blue shirt was sleeveless, exposing the same skin the sun hit when she was at the beach. Her shoulders looked gold-dusted beneath lightly-waving locks of hair.

  “I’ve never made a rhubarb pie,” she said, “but I’ve always loved eating it. I might as well give it a try.”

  He scooped an armful of rhubarb out of the bag and heaped it into her arms. “Think this’ll be enough?”

  “Um, yeah … I think this’ll do it.” She nearly dropped a bunch of rhubarb stalks, but caught them at the last second. “Thanks.”

  “I’ll tell Suzanne you said thank you. You want some greens too?”

  “Only if you’re sure you won’t use them yourself.”

  “I’d make myself sick if I tried to eat all of these.”

  “Doesn’t your mom like to cook?”

  “Yeah, she does, but there’s no need to be coy. We both know these vegetables were the perfect excuse for me to stop by here and see you.”

  Peyton’s teeth flashed from between her lips, pearly white, as she smiled. “Just couldn’t wait a couple more hours, huh?”

  “What can I say, other than no?”

  “Speaking of this evening, have you decided where—”

  She stopped mid-sentence, her eyebrows knitting together.