Page 85 of Is Anyone Listening?
As I followed Finn into the parking lot of the Stonecross Sheriff's Department, I immediately noticed three men standing near a black pickup truck. When I got out of my car, their raised voices carried across the lot, and even from a distance, I could see the tension radiating from their bodies. It was Sheriff Tom Holloway, his son, Cole, and his brother, Jeff.
Finn slowed, holding up a hand as I moved toward him, and we watched from a distance as the scene escalated.
"I am done bailing you out of trouble!" Tom shouted, his face flushed red with anger. He stepped closer to Cole, invading his space. "You hear me? Done!"
"Good!" Cole shot back, not backing down despite his father looming over him. "I'm done with you and your lies!"
"I'm not the liar. You are!" Tom's voice was raw, furious. "Everything that comes out of your mouth is a lie!"
"Tom, come on—" Jeff tried to step between them, his hands raised placatingly. "This isn't helping anything. Cole is your son."
"Stay out of this, Jeff!" Tom snapped. "You don't know what the hell you're talking about."
"Don't yell at him," Cole shouted. "He's the only one who sees you for who you really are." Cole shoved past his father, heading for his own truck. Tom grabbed Cole's arm, yanking him back.
"We're not done?—"
"Yes, we are!" Cole jerked free, almost knocking his father over with the violence of his movement.
He jumped into his truck and sped away as Tom stood there, his chest heaving, his fists clenched at his sides.
Jeff shook his head slowly, something cold settling into his expression. "You drive everyone away, don't you?"
Tom whirled on him. "This is not on me. I've done everything for that kid, bailed him out of every problem he's ever had. Same as I've done for you."
"That's the story you tell yourself, that you're the hero, and the rest of us are shit. But you're the reason everyone has to leave. It's always because of you." Jeff walked toward his gray Jeep, keys already in his hand. "You've been doing this your whole life, Tom. Pretending you're the hero, when you're anything but."
"Jeff—"
But Jeff wasn't listening to anything else his brother had to say. He got into his Jeep and pulled out with another squeal of tires.
Tom stood there for a moment, his shoulders rigid, before turning toward the building. That's when he saw Finn and me standing by our cars, clearly having witnessed the entire exchange.
His face, already red with anger, darkened further as we moved toward him. "What do you two want?"
"We need to talk to you about Nathan Carmichael," Finn said. "He apparently overdosed."
"Yeah, I'm aware. Cork Harbor PD is investigating. Looks like a suicide attempt."
"Or someone wanted to shut him up," Finn suggested.
"You getting him riled up now, too?" the sheriff asked me.
Before I could answer, Finn said, "Cassidy has nothing to do with this. I told you yesterday about what happened on Nathan's boat, the ring, Tessa, a possible drugging, and you said you were going to look into it."
"Didn’t have a chance," the sheriff said. "But I'm planning to drive up there this afternoon and see what's going on. But it's either an accident or a suicide attempt. Nobody shoved pills down his throat."
"Well, glad to see you're keeping an open mind," Finn drawled.
Anger flared again in Tom's eyes. He definitely did not like his opinion being doubted in any way. "I always do," he snapped, then walked past us toward his cruiser without another word.
"Do you think he's going to tell the police in Cork Harbor what we told him about the ring and Tessa?" I asked.
"Hard to say. Our best bet is Nathan wakes up from all this and tells us what happened."
"I agree. What do you think about that scene with the Holloway men?"
"Not surprising. Tom can't stand it when people don't do exactly what he wants. And Jeff and Cole usually do the opposite."
