“We thought of that but we got a warrant for her computer and she gave us details and he’s unreachable. No one’s even heard of him,” Ozzie returned.
“Then she met with him personally and that’ll hurt her case so she’s hidin’ somethin’ from you. She’ll give it to me. And the way I’ll get it means either during or after your Department will get a call from her. If she tells you I’m there, your boys take their time showin’ up. If she calls after I’m gone, you cover my ass,” Sam demanded.
“You have got to know askin’ me to do that is not only unlawful, it’s insane.” Ozzie was getting heated.
“I get that you got a responsibility to all your citizens, including that bitch. I feel for you, that’s gotta tear you up. But straight up, I don’t give a shit about that either. You’ll cover my ass.” Sam was still cool as a cucumber.
“You need to stand down and let my boys handle this,” Ozzie snapped, at his end.
“And I’m tellin’ you, I’m not gonna do that,” Sam retorted.
“Then you’ll find trouble in this town,” Ozzie returned.
Sam was silent.
I waited.
Dad waited.
Ozzie waited.
Sam finally gave it to Ozzie.
“Seven years, you knew,” he said quietly.
Ozzie and Dad sucked in breath.
I held mine.
Sam wasn’t done.
“You, of all people, had a responsibility to her.”
“I –” Ozzie started but Sam cut him off, no longer cool, totally pissed.
“Don’t,” he bit off. “Do not. Do not stand in front of her and make excuses. Do not do it. Her friends, her parents, they were caught in his web, she was fragile, they had to be careful not to break her in trying to deal with that shit or tip him into making it worse. You have no excuse.”
“She never called it in, never made a report,” Ozzie said softly then his eyes came to me. “Darlin’, I’m sorry but –”
Sam cut him off. “That’s an excuse.”
Ozzie’s gaze sliced to Sam and he clipped, “You clearly do not understand the sometimes extremely frustrating limits of law enforcement.”
“Yeah, I do. But not for men who hunt with an abused woman’s father who’ve known that woman since she was a little girl. Men like that make shit happen so that shit stops,” Sam fired back.
It was time, I felt, for me to intervene and I did this by lifting both hands and wrapping my fingers around the arm Sam had around my chest, twisting my neck, tipping my head back to look at him and whispering, “Sam, honey, that’s not fair.”
Sam looked down at me. “Did you tell me you were contaminated?”
Another audible breath from my Dad.
I stared in Sam’s eyes, silent.
“Did you tell me that, baby?” Sam asked.
“I… yes,” I whispered.
“You’re terrified of me when I get angry. Not an adrenalin rush, you get the shakes. I see ‘em, it’s so fuckin’ bad.”
“Sam,” I was still whispering.
“First, a woman like you with a family and friends like yours, beauty like yours and a personality like yours should never feel like she’s contaminated. I do not know how that feels for you, baby, but I do know what your face looked like when you said it to me and I held you in my arms when you cried after you confessed that shit so I can guess and that is not right, that is not fair. And you jumpin’ straight to that kind of fear because you were trained to do so at the hands of your dead husband is also not fair.” Sam looked to Ozzie. “I know you’re a good man. I can see you warred with this for a long time. I can also see you carry a burden for the decision you made. So what you need to do now is stop makin’ decisions that cover your ass and start makin’ them to take care of Kia.”
“You don’t understand what you’re askin’ me to do,” Ozzie said quietly.
“I do and I’ll do my best to make sure nothin’ I do blows back on you. That said, shit happens and I’m focused on makin’ Kia safe so, if it does, you need to suck it up and think quick to cover my ass and yours.”
Ozzie stared at Sam and Sam held his stare.
Then Ozzie looked very briefly at me but he avoided Dad’s eyes before he looked back at Sam.
“You hurt Vanessa, I won’t cover for you.”
“I’d like to rip the bitch’s head off but that’s not how I work,” Sam replied.
Ozzie tipped up his chin then continued, “Whatever you get you also give to us.”
“Done,” Sam agreed.
“You track either the broker or his man down, you give them to us.”
Sam shook his head. “No fuckin’ way.”
“Then no deal,” Ozzie fired back.
“We get what we need from them; you can have ‘em. But not until we know shit is locked down and Kia is safe,” Sam returned.
Ozzie clenched his teeth. Then he nodded.
Then he added, “Heartmeadow is not the OK Corral. Your badasses do not have carte blanche to make it so. They see a threat, they call it in.”