Page 27 of Lead Me On
She felt about sixteen again, complete with the pouty chin. “I told them I wasn’t a cop.”
“Well, great. I’m sure they were fine with that. That’s why Arlo called me and told me to haul my ass over there and get you out.”
Her anger dropped a notch, but the space it left filled up with frustration. “I’m trying to help Jessie. That’s all.”
“You can help by calling up that boyfriend of yours at the D.A.’s office and getting some information.”
Jane threw her hands up. “Dad, I broke it off with him.”
“Can’t you at least call the guy?”
Oh, God. What was she supposed to say to Greg?Hey, guess what? I’m not the woman you thought I was. I was raised in a trailer and my brother’s been arrested for theft and drug possession. Can you help?She held back a shudder. “I’ll go to him if I need to, but right now we’ve got to tread carefully.”
“Agreed,” he muttered. “So don’t go back to Ryders again. If there’s any questions that need asking, I’ll ask.”
Jane shot him a doubtful glance. Sure, Mac would be a good tool for intimidation, but he’d made clear that Jessie had made his own bed and would have to lie in it. He wasn’t inclined to help, but Jane needed to do something.
She figured she could gather up bits and pieces of information, and if anything solid came up, she could turn it over to the police.
But Mac was right about her appearance. She did look like a cop. Right down to the conservative black heels. “Have you heard anything new?” she asked.
He slipped the faded bandanna off his head and rubbed a hand over his graying hair. “I talked to Arlo,” he growled. “He didn’t know anything about Jessie snatching purses, obviously, or he would’ve beat the shit out of him for causing trouble with the customers.”
“What about…” She swallowed, afraid to bring up the subject. “I, um… I heard Jessie’s been hanging out with a dealer.”
Mac’s whole face shifted into a terrifying scowl. “That little shit. He’s got some nerve living in my house and hanging out with that kind of trouble.”
“You hadn’t heard anything at all?”
He shook his head, his hoop earrings catching the faint light from the kitchen. “Arlo would’ve told me if Jessie was getting mixed up in ice. And I doubt he was dealing himself. They don’t usually hang out in pairs.”
She nodded, then put a hand over the ache in her stomach. “I wish I knew what the police suspect. Maybe we’re just being paranoid.”
“Maybe.”
Jane reached out to put a hand on his arm. Her fingers looked pale against the crude lines of his tattoos. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, yeah,” he said, shrugging. “Hey, your grandma wants to see you.” He was obviously hoping to distract her from her sympathy, and it worked.
“Oh, God,” Jane groaned. Grandma Olive was a woman Jane could barely handle on a good day. “That woman isn’t even related to you. I don’t know why you let her keep hanging around.”
Mac shrugged again, his dominant mode of communication when he was upset, then peered out the window as a car drove past.
“Where’s Mom?”
His shoulders tightened. “She went to see Jessie,” he muttered.
Tires crunched on the driveway and Jane walked to the window to see her mom pulling up. “I’m sure…” Jane started before realizing that Mac had left. The door to his small office clicked shut just as the front door opened and her mom came in, face blotchy from crying.
Jane pulled her into a hug. “You saw him?”
“Yeah. He looked good.” The weeping started again, so Jane squeezed harder.
“It’s all right, Mom. We’ll get him out. The new attorney seems really good.”
“Thank you so much, baby. Mac and I will try to pay you back for—”
“No. I want to do this.” She needed to do this, because then she could continue with her fraud and still feel like an almost-decent daughter even though she kept her family hidden. She’d pay for the attorney, and get Jessie out of this mess, and then everything could go back to the way it had been.
