Fire and Onyx Read online

  “Did you get the info you needed?” Wes asked as Evan began to eat, seemingly much more at ease than he had been.

  “Yup.”

  Wes ate his salad. He loved the ranch dressing they had here, and when he was done, Nadine cleared the dishes and brought his burger and some more dressing for the fries. He handed one of them to Greyson, who gummed it happily, grinning and sometimes waving his fry around.

  “Does he always do that?”

  Wes shrugged. “He isn’t really hungry, but he needs something to do, so a fry or two will keep him happy. And hopefully he won’t start fussing until it’s nearly time for us to go.” There were always limits to the amount of time he was capable of sitting relatively quietly. “I’d ask you about your work, but I don’t know if you want to talk about it.” It seemed strange with how cagey Evan was being.

  “I’m a deputy with the sheriff’s department. We’re responsible for a lot of areas, including the courthouse, as well as law enforcement for rural areas of the county without other police protection, the jail, transporting prisoners to and from the courthouse… all those sorts of things. Thankfully I don’t pull courthouse duty. That’s the worst as far as I’m concerned, though friends of mine really like it and find listening to the cases interesting. I like more action in my day, so I mostly work the cases in the rural areas.” He seemed to be downplaying what he did, and Wes wondered why.

  “I design websites and raise this little guy here. He’s actually my brother’s kid, but Trey is a terrible parent—even he admits it. So I’m Greyson’s official guardian, and if I can get Trey to sign off on his parental rights, I’ll adopt him permanently. Trey hasn’t been willing to do that. Mainly because I think he wants something.”

  “I see.”

  Wes took a bite of his burger and handed Greyson one of his fries. A lot of them seemed to end up on the floor after a while. Wes shrugged again. There was no use fighting what he couldn’t do anything about. “It’ll happen eventually. Trey was never the brightest bulb on the string, and he isn’t interested in being a parent at all, only the process of trying to make babies.” He smiled. “Mom told him that if he brings another one home, she was going to make sure he could never do it again, so he’s more careful now.” Wes tickled Greyson’s belly. The truth was that Trey’s mistake gave Wes the greatest happiness of his life. And while he didn’t want his brother going out and getting a bunch of girls pregnant, he couldn’t be unhappy with the result.

  The guys Evan had been watching passed by their table on their way out without giving them a second look. Evan lowered his gaze, and Wes saw him smiling. He continued eating until the guys left, then pulled out his phone and watched the screen for a while before slipping it back in his pocket.

  “What is it you think these guys did?”

  “Honestly, I’m not sure. They have the demeanor of the people I’m looking for.” He didn’t say anything more, and Wes figured he wasn’t going to get any more answers. Not that it was any of his business. After all, he was just a guy that Evan had shared a table with in a crowded restaurant.

  “Okay. Can you check them out like that?” Wes asked.

  Now it was Evan’s turn to shrug. “Do what, actually? I haven’t approached them and only observed. I did get the license plate number so I can run it to see if there is anything that I can learn, but otherwise I haven’t interfered with them in any way. If they have nothing to do with what I’m investigating, they’ll never know I was looking at them.”

  Nadine brought their checks, and as he expected, the only charge was for the drinks. She also spent a few minutes engaging with Greyson, who gave her a smile and offered his soggy french fry in return.

  Evan took the check, and Wes thanked him while he got Greyson ready to go. It was going to be a chillier walk back, so he got the blanket out of the stroller and made sure Greyson was wrapped in it before walking toward the entrance, where Evan waited for them and held the door as he wheeled Greyson down the ramp.

  “Thank you for dinner and for earlier. I really appreciate it.”

  “Do you need help getting home?” Evan asked.

  “We’ll be fine, and Greyson will be sound asleep by the time we get there.” Wes wasn’t worried at all. These kind of late-evening walks settled Greyson, and he’d go right to bed. “Thank you for everything.” Wes turned toward town and walked slowly. The sidewalks were well illuminated, and while the air held a chill, he was warm enough in his jacket. Greyson was cocooned in the stroller, and his head lolled back. Wes knew he’d be asleep very soon, which gave him a chance to think.

  He hadn’t exactly lied to Evan, but he hated that he hadn’t told the whole truth either. He had seen those guys in town, but he’d also minimized Trey’s involvement. Wes didn’t know who they were or their names, but he had seen that Cadillac parked in front of their house, and Trey had gotten in and ridden away with them. Wes couldn’t help wondering what they were all up to—if there was some sort of trouble going on, and if Trey getting sucked into it.

  Trey liked to think that he was streetwise and savvy, but he was gullible and went along with guys like that because he wanted to seem cool and was desperate to be the big man. For Wes, the little boy he was strolling home was enough to make him feel important. Trey would never know the joy of being the first person Greyson saw in the mornings and the one to get that “I’m happy to see you” smile or to hear those giggles while Wes kept Greyson occupied so he could change him. Not that Wes was really interested in sharing those things with Trey or anyone. Maybe that made him selfish, but he could live with that.

  Greyson shifted and hummed a little in his sleep as Wes turned the corner, heading north off High Street to take the direct route home. Wes continued walking the next few blocks and then turned onto their street.

  He saw the Cadillac parked across the street and maybe one house down from theirs. Wes purposely didn’t pay them any attention as he passed the car and lifted Greyson out of the stroller. Then he collapsed it and took Greyson inside, passing Trey as he was about to go out.

  “I need to talk to you,” Wes said.

  “Now?” He didn’t even look at Greyson, which sort of broke Wes’s heart a little. Yeah, Wes took care of him and loved Greyson beyond all measure, but part of him still hurt for Greyson that his real daddy showed no interest in him at all, not even in an uncle sort of way.

  “Yeah….” Wes motioned toward the kitchen with his head, Greyson asleep on his shoulder. Trey paused and then went with him. “Are you going with those guys in the Cadillac?” He figured he might as well get right to the point.

  “What’s it to you?” he growled, and Greyson stirred, then settled.

  Wes shook his head. “They’re trouble.” For some reason he decided to keep quiet about Evan and his interest. He didn’t want to get Trey in hot water, but if these people really were bad news, he wanted them gone and for Trey not to be involved in their shit.

  Trey shrugged. “They’re cool and fun to be with. You’re so wrapped up in playing daddy that you have no idea of fun anymore.” Trey was already heading toward the door. “Just keep your nose out of my business.” The glare and sneer were probably meant to be a threat.

  Wes turned away. He had done the right thing and tried to warn him. If Trey chose to ignore it and any semblance of good sense, then that wasn’t Wes’s fault in the least.

  Wes sighed and went through the house to his room. He changed Greyson, singing to him softly, then got him into bed. Wes read him a story, but Greyson was asleep after only a few sentences. Wes left the room and closed the door, carrying his baby monitor with him. His parents were still watching television, the table between their chairs covered with cheap beer cans. He wondered what he wanted to do and wasn’t interested in what his mom and dad were watching. Instead, Wes quietly retrieved his computer and sat at the table in the back of the living room, near the front window, and got to work on some projects. He could also see out through the curtains to where T
rey stood on the sidewalk, talking with the guys from the diner. Wes wondered what they were up to and honestly hoped to hell that Trey would wise up. But he’d seen enough guys like that and knew his brother well enough to know that this was trouble, and it had been brought right to his family’s doorstep.

  Chapter 3

  EVAN SCOWLED at the report in front of him the following morning. The car from the diner was registered to a William Howard from Philadelphia, but that told him very little. The name wasn’t familiar, and there was no particularly helpful information on him, other than the fact that he was nearing seventy years old. The car hadn’t been reported stolen, and while it obviously wasn’t being driven by the owner, it hadn’t been used to commit a crime as far as Evan knew. However, the situation did convince him that he was on the right trail. These guys weren’t necessarily the ringleaders of the organization he was looking for, but it was possible they were members. He put down the report, scowling once more.

  “Any luck?” Pierre asked from next to his desk. Evan hadn’t even heard him approach, he’d been so deep in thought. “Looks like smoke coming out of your ears. Must be using at least a few brain cells.” He was kidding, and Evan smiled automatically, his mind still trying to develop a course of action.

  “I don’t know—maybe.” He tapped the top of the desk a few times. “I think I may have found part of the group we’re looking for. But then again, maybe not. The car is new in town, and so are the guys using it. That alone doesn’t prove anything—nothing I have really does. It’s just a group of guys that my gut is telling me could be involved.”

  “Do you have a way to get closer and check them out?” Pierre asked.

  Evan sighed. “Maybe. That’s the hard part.” He really didn’t want to go there. He didn’t like the idea of involving innocent people in his investigations, and yet that was what he was contemplating. At least he hoped Wes was innocent.

  Pierre pulled up a chair. “Tell me about it?”

  “I followed the car to the diner west of town.” Evan slid the vehicle and DMV report across the table. “Not much to go on, but just enough to raise my suspicions. I met someone at the diner, had dinner with him because the place was packed and he was sitting alone, with a kid. It was a great cover to watch them, and it seems his brother might know these guys.”

  “So, you’re thinking of trying to use the brother somehow to get closer?” Pierre asked.

  “Yeah. Except I don’t know how.” Evan was stumped.

  Pierre scoffed lightly. “That’s never stopped you before. Do you know his name?”

  “That’s the thing. I have first names, and I could have had a last name if I had known.” Evan told Pierre about helping Wes on the sidewalk. “I was just trying to help the guy and scare off the bullies. The kid with him, his name is Greyson, and they live somewhere in the center of town because they were out walking.”

  Pierre nodded. “How old is the kid?”

  “Almost a year, I think,” Evan answered.

  Pierre paused. “Okay. Do a search of birth records. The name isn’t all that common, so if it happened here, you might get a last name and you can go from there. If nothing else, you can narrow it down.”

  That wasn’t a bad idea.

  Evan formulated his search and got lucky. There was one child about that age, and the address associated with Greyson Douglas’s family was local. At least Evan had a first and last name now, as well as an address. He tapped his finger on the top of the desk as he thought. Evan needed a way to get closer to them, but he wasn’t quite sure how. The shitty thing was that he had blown any cover he might develop because he’d helped Wes already. Maybe he should just back off the case and let someone else take it. He hated the idea, because no one else in the department had the experience with this sort of work that he did, and it was going to take a great deal of skill to be able to infiltrate this group.

  “I think what I need to do is somehow get close to the brother, Trey. Honestly, I think he’s the way into the drug organization.”

  “What about the guy with the baby?” Pierre asked. “He could be using the kid as a sort of cover.”

  It was a possibility, but Evan didn’t think so. Wes seemed too innocent and wrapped up in the kid. Besides, he said he had a job of his own and really looked like he was trying to build a life for Greyson. God, Evan really hoped Wes wasn’t involved in this crap.

  “I don’t think so. He gave me some of the information I have.” Evan continued running possible scenarios through his head and kept coming back to the fact that he had so little to go on that he was going to have to take a chance if he was going to have even a slim shot at getting close to what he needed. Evan put the reports away and got up from his desk.

  “Where are you going?” Pierre asked.

  “I need to check out their house and figure out a way to somehow ingratiate myself. I know Wes isn’t my point of entry—I can tell that in my gut.” God, Evan hoped he was right. But Wes was the only lead he had, so maybe he could parlay that into somehow meeting his brother, and then Evan could figure out things from there. The only hitch in this plan was that he had to somehow convince Wes to keep a certain fact about him to himself. Yeah, it was a long shot and Evan knew it, but it was one he had to take if he was going to have any chance at success.

  “Maybe you should have a better plan.” Pierre patted the top of the desk. “I need to get over to the courthouse, so I’ll leave you in your quandary.”

  “You’re a big help, you know that?” Evan called. He wasn’t doing himself any good sitting at his desk stewing. The answers and the chance he needed were somewhere, and he needed to find them. The only lead he had was a car and an address, and he was going to see if he could get lucky.

  EVAN DROVE through town in an old, unmarked, and highly forgettable Toyota Camry. It was dirty, a little scuffed, and something absolutely no one would pay any attention to. He kept his eyes opened for the Cadillac, but didn’t see it. Not that he actually expected to. That would be too damned easy.

  He found a parking spot near the corner on Louther Street and settled in to wait and think.

  A few people passed on the sidewalk, no one paying him any attention. Evan got out of the car, stood at the corner, and leaned against the side of the church. With his dirty clothes, frayed and faded blue shirt, and a pair of jeans that were only a little thicker than paper and about two sizes too big, he appeared homeless and down on his luck. Basically, he didn’t want to be noticed. And if people did see him, their attention would pass right over him. He was here to watch, not to draw attention, and it was working.

  At one point after noon, judging by the way Evan’s stomach rumbled, a silver Acura pulled into the parking spot right in front of the address he had for Wes. No one got out, and after a minute, the driver honked the horn. A man practically popped out of Wes’s house and jumped into the car, which then sped away down the street. Another person came out, bearing a resemblance to Wes. Evan was pretty sure it was his brother. He got into another car and left behind them.

  Evan jumped back into his car and followed toward the light at Hanover Street. There was another car in between as the light turned green, and Evan kept them in sight through the intersection and out of town. He had to be careful not to get too close. It got harder to be inconspicuous and go unnoticed once they reached the countryside, but there were few options for heading out toward Newville. Evan didn’t speed and took his time, watching where they turned off and continuing on to alleviate suspicion. He then doubled back and saw the two cars in front of an old house about a mile down the road. There was no sign of the Cadillac, and as he passed, guys were unloading what appeared to be cases of beer from the trunk of one car and grocery bags from the other.

  Just fucking great. He’d located a party, and from the look of it, they were settling in for a while.

  He debated staying to watch if anything happened but decided to continue on, at least for now. He knew where Trey was going to be
, and maybe Evan would get lucky and the other men would show up. One thing Evan had learned was that it took patience for things like this. Making the first right turn he was able, Evan headed back toward town. He was spinning his wheels trying to find a way into the group, though an idea was forming in the back of his mind.

  If these guys were up to no good, then the best way to get in with them was to somehow do something to help them, or at least Trey. A plan of sorts developed, and he continued back to town to make a few arrangements with Pierre.

  IN TOWN, Evan passed Trey and Wes’s house. Wes was strolling down the block with Greyson’s stroller. Evan followed them and parked ahead, then got out of the car as they drew near.

  “That’s different,” Wes said as he approached. “Are you undercover?” he whispered. “I don’t want to give anything away.”

  “No. I was just watching some people, and it’s easier to do that when they ignore you.” And Evan had learned long ago that the homeless and people others didn’t want to deal with could easily be dismissed and not even seen. He peered into the carrier, where Greyson was asleep, his little hand clutching a toy.

  “I’ve been trying to get him to nap for the last few hours. He refused to go to sleep. I get him in the stroller, and he’s out like a light.” Wes smiled, but it seemed strange. “What are you doing here? Is there some trouble?” His gaze narrowed and tension filled his frame. There was something going on, and the suspicion was only heightened by the way Wes kept glancing around. Evan wondered what he was afraid of and what might have changed since the day before. Wes wasn’t talking, and Evan debated pushing him to ask, but he was afraid that would only make Wes clam up more tightly, so instead, he walked with him and pretended he hadn’t seen anything.