“Of course. He was the Peterson’s kid. Those were the people who owned the bookstore before me,” she clarified.
“He was always a shithead. Getting into trouble, scamming people. We were all shocked when he went to the police academy and got a job in town here. Everyone hoped that meant he’d grown up, was going to do something useful with his life, especially his poor parents. Then he got busted for running some kind of scam, asking business owners for money for enhanced police protection. To my complete shock, your guys actually arrested him and sent him away.”
“Why were you shocked?” I asked curiously. “He broke the law. That’s kind of a big part of our job – arresting people who break the law.”
“You know how you all are, always protecting your brothers in blue no matter what they do or what laws they break.”
She had a look on her face I couldn’t interpret. It was a mixture of bitterness and resignation.
“That’s the second time you’ve implied that all cops are dirty.”
She raised her eyebrows at me.
“Aren’t they?”
“No, they’re not,” I growled. “In fact—.”
“Why did you ask about Brian?” she interrupted before I could say more.
“We followed up on your idea that there was a missing master key. Turns out Brian Peterson never turned his into the station when he was arrested. Claimed he lost it. Coincidentally, he was paroled about a week before your first break-in.”
“Why would Brian mess with my store?” she asked in confusion.
“We talked to the Petersons. When he heard his parents were retiring, he asked them to cancel the sale and hold the store until he was paroled, but they refused. Apparently he was furious that they sold his legacy.”
She laughed. It was the first time I’d heard her laugh and the sound was sweet.
“His legacy? That kid never worked at the store unless his parents forced him. Mrs. Peterson caught him stealing from the till several times and finally they just gave up on him ever taking over for them. He was always getting into trouble. It was so bad they kicked him out of the house the minute he turned eighteen. He was a total jackass, and the Petersons were such a sweet couple, it totally broke their heart.”
“Well, he’s a jackass on the loose, with a key to your store and every other business in town. I’m increasing patrols at the store and around your house, but until we catch him, you’re going to need to be careful and watch your six. We have no idea what he might do as he gets increasingly frustrated.”
“Okay. I’ll keep my eyes out.”
“And no more playing vigilante in your store.”
Evie stalked over to me and poked me in the chest with her pointer finger. I don’t think she did it on purpose, but she managed to poke me right where I had the bruise from the paintball shot. I bit my lip to keep from grimacing. I had a manly reputation to protect.
“You listen here Jake Wilson. You are not the boss of me. I’m a grown woman, and I’ll do what I want, when I want. You don’t get to come over here and stand in my own damn house and tell me what to do.”
I grabbed her hand and used the leverage to pull her between my legs, my other hand coming to the back of her neck.
“Well, that’s where you’re wrong.”