Remote Consequences (9 page)

But the fact that I'd once looked up to him and cared for him deeply was enough of a disappointment after the way things had ended between us. He'd humiliated me and then he'd blamed me for everything in his life that had gone wrong. And…well…I didn't know if I could ever fully trust him again.

Pulling up to the station a mere twenty-four hours after my first visit still brought up the same feelings of anxiety and dread. But this time, Ty was outside the building, speaking with an older, white-haired man in uniform. They both gave me a glance and then wrapped up their conversation.

Ty headed my way and took no shame in studying both me and the car as I cut the engine and stepped onto the asphalt, shoving sunglasses atop my head.

"You've kept it in great shape." His words seemed to reference the condition of my classic muscle car, but his eyes roamed my bare arms and low-cut tank top as he spoke.

I pursed my lips. I wasn't in the mood to chat about cars with him. Although I did wonder what he was driving these days. A passion for hot cars had always been something we'd had in common. But I didn't have time, nor was I in the mood for idle chitchat today.

"I've got to get to the hospital before they are ready to discharge Paget. What exactly do you need from me, Ty?"

"Uh, that's Detective Dempsey." His quick retort took me a bit off guard. It shouldn't have surprised me. He was the master at turning off personal feelings at the drop of a hat. Of course, I wasn't here for personal reasons. And he didn't know that I'd just been remembering his hot rod and his hot…
rod.

I felt a rise in my blood pressure, accompanied by a whooshing sound gathering behind my eardrums. "Fine. Detective Dempsey. Ask your questions, and let me be on my way. I have things to do."

He pulled out a small spiral notebook and a pencil from his back pocket. His forearms flexed as he turned his arm over to check the time on his watch. I waited. Impatiently.

"Is everything such a big production with you? Am I supposed to be impressed that you're a detective with the police department now?"

The condescension in my voice must have stung, as he looked up, green eyes penetrating mine. His face deadly serious. He knew how we'd left things that night after the graduation party. It had been the last time we'd spoken, and it had been the night I'd lost my battle to keep him. My life had changed into a big dream on the horizon as I'd left for pre-med at the University of Alabama. And his dream had died just a few months later when he'd blown his knee out at spring training—a career-ending ACL tear. It had been surgically repaired, but his scholarship had been lost.

"I have a job to do, Mandy. Do you want to cooperate inside my air-conditioned office or do you want to keep smart talking me, and we'll just stand out here in the parking lot while I question you?"

Neither. I wanted to get back in my car and go home. Forget everything I'd seen and done the last two days. I wanted to pack my bags and drive back to Birmingham, where I'd been forced to sublet my adorable apartment to a geeky lab tech. I sighed. None of those things were going to happen. Not today. Not any time in the near future. It looked like we both had something new in common these days. Both of our dreams had been lost and we were both back home once again.

"Okay. In your office."

Ty led the way to the front door and then opened it for me, adding a sweeping arm-motion gesture for me to enter.

*  *  *

"Tell me exactly what you found and when you found it."

It wasn't a question, it was a statement. Obviously he was done playing Mr. Nice Guy or "Tall Winking Stranger."

"I was on an emergency service call at the residence of Mayor Mills yesterday morning. I was supposed to have the morning off. I've been working the one-to-ten shift and had been out late the night before. Somehow, I've been switched to the day shift now—go figure."

He tapped the end of the pencil on the pad as if boredom should be accompanied by an annoying drumbeat. "Let's get to the part where you
allegedly
found a dead body."

I swallowed. The word
allegedly
had come out with the same terse undertones he'd used yesterday. He still didn't believe me? Could one lie in high school follow you this far into the future? Why hadn't he just gone to the house and checked it out? Why was that so difficult?

"I was in the attic looking for a bad patch of coaxial cable line, and I hurt my knee."

The pencil stopped tapping and his eyes stabbed me with a steely glare. "You hurt your knee? Is this going to get to the dead-body part of the story sometime today, or should I call for backup while you dictate your autobiography?"

I crossed my arms over my chest and balled my hands into fists. I wanted to punch him. Right here. Right now. In his windowed office that overlooked the parking lot. I wanted to give him a one-two punch sequence he wouldn't soon forget.

"As I said…I'd hurt my knee and sat down to tend to it. That was when I took notice of my surroundings and became intrigued by the sight of a deep freezer. I thought this was suspicious."

He cleared his throat and interrupted me for the third time. "So, you decided to unlawfully snoop through the mayor's frozen green beans and preserves in search of what…an icepack for your knee?"

"Do you want to hear my account of the event or not?" I'd had enough of his attitude. One minute he was charming my sister into a schoolgirl blushfest, and four hours later he was about to get assaulted by a woman half his size. He really knew how to push my buttons, and I didn't doubt that he took joy in it. He scratched his chin with two fingers and then resumed the pencil's drumbeat.

I reached forward and snatched the pencil out of his hand, flinging it across the room. We both watched as it pinged a filing cabinet, poked the bulletin board, and landed in an empty vase atop the corner credenza.

He straightened what seemed like a foot taller. "Are you out of your mind? What'd you do that for?"

I took a deep breath and then leaned back in my chair, propping my boot-clad feet on the edge of his desk. "You obviously take great joy in annoying potential witnesses. So I'll make your job easier. I'll wait here while you fetch the captain. With such a high-profile case at stake, I'm sure he'll make the time to hear my boring story about a dead body that may belong to the Brooks family. Will that work better for you?"

He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.

Ha! I'd sure put him in his place. Take that, Tall Winking Stranger.

But then his words found their mark, and my heart began to race once again. The brief bravado faded in an instant.

"Did you say Brooks family? How would you know that?"

Uh-oh.

Sense doesn't come before age. –Irish Proverb

"Mandy?"

"Look, I met someone who has a theory, and that's all. I don't know anything other than the fact that I opened the freezer and saw a man, curled on his left side in the fetal position. He was dead and frozen solid. I know what I saw, and that's the extent of my report,
sir
."

He raised his eyebrows at my sarcastic "sir" but remained silent for a few moments. We both had our hackles raised from this interaction.

"Who is this person who thinks the body is related to the Brooks family?"

Studying my fingernails, I offered no response.

"Mandy?"

"I'd rather not say."

"You'd rather not—"

I continued to study my nails. I dared not make eye contact with him at the moment, as I knew the look on his face without actually seeing it. I knew that his eyebrows were drawn together. I knew his forehead was doing that scrunchy thing. I knew his ears were slightly reddened and I knew that his tongue…his tongue…his tongue was pressing against his teeth.

His tongue. What am I doing focusing on that?

"I have a meeting with the mayor, the chief, and the captain in less than an hour, and you want to play games?"

"Not games, per se…"

He slammed the palm of his hand down on his desk.

My head shot up, and we had a stare-down.

"Ty, don't get huffy with me. I came here yesterday. I tried to report this. Your desk sergeant ogled me and all but laughed me off. Then you sent me on my way with scary news about Paget in the most indelicate way ever. Don't try to bully me now."

I wasn't sure where the words came from, but they felt darned good. I was surprised at myself and at the look I received from Ty. He seemed to settle down considerably at my response. He took a deep breath and leaned back in his seat. He crossed his arms over his chest, and I could tell he was considering his next words carefully.

"Listen, I'm sorry about that. I wish I'd handled it differently. But you have to understand that I don't have time for this now, Mandy. I need your help. So, one more time, I'm asking you…who told you this might have something to do with the Brooks family?"

I shrugged. "That has nothing to do with my report. It's probably nothing. I shouldn't even have mentioned it. That's all I know. I've got to go get Paget now."

I pressed my hands down on the wooden chair handles and stood before him.

"Mandy, come on. This is a police investigation. You can't make a statement like that and then leave me hanging. These are serious accusations. "

I turned to leave and then looked over my shoulder, piercing him with a look. "No, driving off and leaving a person hanging is what
you're
good at. Remember?"

With that, I took two steps closer to the door before his voice stopped me.

"This isn't personal. This is my job, Mandy."

I stepped into the hallway and pulled the door closed behind me.

Damn
.

*  *  *

I wasn't sure why I was protecting Colin. It didn't exactly seem smart, but I'd held it back for now. Ty hadn't exactly confirmed whether or not he'd searched the mayor's house yet. Though, I'd gotten the idea that he was still trying to figure out how to handle this mess and this was a huge deal from anyone's perspective.

There was nothing more I could do for now. So, I did what I do best. I stepped inside The Back Porch Café and closed my eyes as I inhaled the scent of country cooking at its finest.

I made my way to the bar and took a red-topped stool, hooking my boot heels on the footrest below.

"What'll it be, Panda?"

I lit up at the familiar voice. A gray-haired woman with her hair in a bun and soft tendrils framing the side of her face grinned at me from across the countertop.

"Ms. Maimie, only you and Dr. C. still call me that."

The woman let out a smoker's crackly laugh as she patted my hand and leaned in on her forearms for a kiss. I kissed her cheek. It was smooth, but heavily coated with foundation.

"How come you are just now coming in to see me? I haven't seen you since the funeral."

I blinked at the statement. "I'm sorry."

"I miss her, Mandy. Your Aunt Patty and me worked here together for nearly twenty years. And that was after our Vegas days. She was my best friend in the whole world…" Her voice caught on the last word, and I watched as she shook her head to fight off the emotion.

"I know. I'm sorry. I've stopped by a time or two, but I must have missed you. I should have swung by the house to see you. Brought Paget by."

Ms. Maimie made a kissy-kissy face and gave my cheek a pinch. "What do you have to be sorry for? I know things have been tough on you and little sister. How is she doing, by the way? I've never been so scared in all my life as to when I saw her run out in front of that car."

My spine straightened a notch. "You saw her accident yesterday?"

"Of course I did. I was on the night shift and was heading out to my car as soon as the breakfast shift took over. She was crossing the street from Ingram's over there, and she just walked right out in front of that car. I saw it happening, but there was nothing I could do."

"Oh my God. I didn't know that. No one told me the details…" My voice trailed off as I remembered Ty telling me this morning that he'd been the one to pull her out of the way. I hadn't thanked him for that. I'd been too busy giving him a hard time over this matter with the body.

"Thank goodness Ty was there. It was like something out of an action movie, I tell you. He just came running and grabbed her, and they both flew through the air. Everyone was watching out the window."

My mind raced with the images that Maimie's words created.
Thank goodness for Ty.
It seemed that he was back in my life every time I turned around this week.

"Well, I was here yesterday afternoon, and no one mentioned it. How come
that
didn't make it into the paper?"

"'Cause Ty asked me not to." Penny's voice reached my ears, and I turned to see my old friend take the stool next to mine.

Maimie gave Penny a purposeful glare and then dropped the topic of conversation.

"What can I get you?" she asked me, returning to the business at hand.

"I'll take the burger, well done…almost burnt…and some fries."

"And a peach pie shake…" Maimie completed my order and wrote nothing down. She knew the order by heart. She gave me a nod and left to holler out the order to the kitchen crew.

"What do you want, Penny? Haven't I given you enough?" I pulled a straw from the dispenser in front of me and began to twist the white paper wrapping around my left index finger.

"Oh, I'm just getting started." The tone of Penny's voice screamed
hurt
. I hadn't picked up on this yesterday. Had it been there all along? Had I been too preoccupied with my own day's events and troubles to hear it?

"So, Ty didn't want you to print the story about his heroic efforts with my sister, but he did want you to print a story about me finding a dead body in the mayor's house?"

Penny's nostrils flared a little at the comeback. "You don't worry about what goes on between me and my
family
. You worry about your own problems. And you're fixing to have a lot more problems rain down on you. Trust me on that."