Sienna listened to him as she chewed on her nail, and it didn’t take a genius to see she was overwhelmed by it all. I was willing to place a large bet that she was also dubious any of it would make a different.
“Then, I’ll look into whether she’s done what the judge told her to do and gotten the anger management therapy. If she hasn’t, it might give you some leverage to deter her if she contacts you again.”
Even though she looked slightly dejected at how little this did for her safety, she still smiled gratefully at him. “Thank you, Mr. Mayson. I really appreciate—”
“I’m not done. I’ve got a lot of contacts, and I’m going to see if I can use them to send her a message that you don’t exist for her anymore. Never thought I’d say this,” he glanced at me and then back at her, “but I agree with Jinx. It’s time for you to start living free, and if I can help with that, I’ll do my best to make it happen.
“You’ve been a prisoner for long enough. I’ll also investigate the friends of hers who are still here—the ones Jinx gave me the names of—and find a way to deter them from revealing your location. One of them’s married to a cop, so I’ll go through him to get the message to her.”
“Can you really do all of that?” she croaked, leaning into my side for support.
“Absolutely,” he replied firmly, with zero hesitation. “I can’t say it’ll work, but I can definitely do it.”
After asking her for some final details, he said goodbye and asked me to walk him to his truck. When we got there, he fiddled with his keys, keeping his head down.
“She’s watching us, so don’t let her know we’re talking about something serious. Smile and act like we’re joking around, okay?”
Using the reflection in his vehicle's window, I saw he was right and hummed my assent.
“What I’ve found out about her isn’t great, and it’s only the top of the anthill. You need to make Sienna understand that if anything happens, she calls the cops, she calls you, and you find a way for an alert to go out to the rest of the club. I’ll see if I can find a way to stop it from even getting to that stage, but we need a solid backup plan.”
It felt wrong to chuckle and smile at him after hearing all of that, but I did it for her sake. “It’s that bad?”
“Five months ago, she knocked over a little girl with her car. The kid was playing basketball during school break, and there’s no way it was the accident she claimed it was. Somehow she got out of those charges.”
“Jesus,” I hissed, shoving my hand into my hair. “Who the fuck does that?”
“An unhinged psychopath, but I’m not a psychologist so don’t quote me on that as an expert diagnosis. Now, laugh before she comes over or realizes something’s up.”
It felt like I was forcing all the air out of my lungs as I did it, but I gave it my best. “What else is there?”
“Stalking.” He stopped and barked out a laugh, almost making me jump. “Sorry, she was chewing on her lip. I can tell you Hazel’s got a list of shit on her rap sheet. Stalking, harassment, she’s hit an ex over the head with an end table, and rammed the vehicle of a woman she thought was having an affair with the guy she was dating at the time.” He turned and smiled over at her. “It’s a long, sad tale of one hundred degrees of fucked up.”
Patting him on the shoulder, I forced my mouth into a smile. “’Preciate your help, man. I’ll keep an eye on her. Once the fence is up and we raise the one between her and the field over there, she’ll be secure. Her alarm system’s a good one, and she’s got the dogs now, but I’ll do what you’ve suggested as well. I didn’t trust Hazel not to try shit before, but hearing all of that… I think the backup plan needs to be solid.”
Lifting his chin at me, he got behind the wheel of the truck. “Agreed. I want to install some cameras around the place to keep an eye on things, and in case we need evidence at some point.”
“That’s an idea. I was going to get some, but I know yours are better.”
He’d installed cameras around the veterinarian practice July worked at when dogs were being dumped on its doorstep, who’d been victims of a dogfighting ring. Without a doubt, his systems were outstanding, so it put my mind at ease that he’d be installing them for Sienna.
Just before he closed the door, though, he said something that hit me hard.