Easy Nights (Boudreaux #6)

Cop eyes.

“That mother fucker.” I blink rapidly, surprised. “I knew we should have had a restraining order against Larry as well.”

“That’s on me,” I reply. “I truly believed he was different. I didn’t realize that he and Lance were in cahoots.”

He blows out a gusty breath and asks me to go through it all again. It’s an exhausting afternoon.

“Can you help me?” I ask.

“Darlin’, not only will I help you, but we’re going to make sure that they can never try to hurt you ever again. I thought we accomplished that before, but we didn’t wrap it up tight enough. You have my sincere apology for that.”

“He’s evil,” I reply with a shrug. “No normal person would ever dream that he’d come up with half of what he’s done. Am I going to have to go back there? Wear a wire, or something?”

The thought of that alone makes me break out into a sweat.

“No.” He smiles kindly. “I would like for you to spend the next forty-eight hours doing what you’re doing. Play along while I get my team in place to take them down. There will be no mistakes made, no reason for a lawyer to come back with a hole in our investigation. These men are all going away for the rest of their lives. Can you do that?”

I cringe, but nod. “I’m hurting my family by lying to them, but I didn’t see another way. He threatened them, and I know him. He would follow through. So I thought that if it looks like I’m playing along, he wouldn’t hurt anyone before I could come to you.”

“That’s absolutely the best thing you could have done,” he replies. “I’m going to get working on this right now. I don’t want to call your cell phone if I have news.”

“I bought a disposable.” I rattle off the number for him.

“You’re a smart woman.”

“I’ve learned a lot in the past two years,” I reply with a sad grin. “I can protect myself.”

“Good. I’ll call you the second we have them in custody.”

I nod and stand to leave, then turn and give him a hug. “Thank you.”

“You’re going to be just fine.”

I nod and walk out, confident that Lieutenant Jacobs will take care of Larry, Lance, and whomever they’ve hired to help them take my family apart.

He made a big mistake in thinking that I’d roll over and take his shit.

***

“No one can reach you on your cell phone,” Beau says the next afternoon as he walks into my office. “I’ve received calls from Mom, Gabby, and Mallory today. Actually Mallory called three times.”

I do my best to keep my face neutral, hating myself for lying. “I must have forgot it at home. Sorry they’re bugging you.”

“Also, you’re acting weird.”

I frown and look around my office. “I’m working. How is that acting weird?”

“I don’t know.” He leans against my desk and taps his lips with his forefinger. “But when you ignore Mal, I get to hear about it. She thinks something’s up.”

“Well, this is one time that she’s wrong.”

“She’s wrong once in a while,” he concedes and then hurries to say, “but don’t tell her I said that.”

“Your secret is safe with me.”

I seem to be keeping a lot of secrets lately.

“Seriously, is everything okay? I heard about Ben.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t bully your way into my office to grill me about that.”

“I rarely bully,” he says. “And I thought you might need a little space.”

“You’re right. I guess I’ve been processing a lot the past few days. That’s probably why I forgot my phone this morning. If you get any more calls, just tell them that I’ll call them back later.”

“Mama wants you to come over for dinner tonight.”

I sigh and push my fingers through my hair. That’s a no-go. I can’t lie to my mama.

“Do you mind telling her that I just don’t feel up to it?”

“Is there anything else I can do for you?” he asks sarcastically, making me smile. “Change the oil in your car? Order in take out? Pick up your dry cleaning?”

“Yes to all of that,” I reply with a sweet smile. “Thanks for being awesome.”

“Now you’re trying to soften me up for something,” he replies.

“You always assume the worst.”

“Of course I do,” he says. “I run a business.”

“We run a business.”

“Well, you help sometimes, but mostly we gave you this big office to make you feel important.”

I laugh now, a full out belly laugh and it feels fantastic. “Oh good, I can just stop reading all of these boring reports and instead have them all sent to you.”

“On second thought,” he says, “maybe you do work more than a little bit.”

“Maybe I do,” I agree. “I needed that laugh.”

“I know.” His face sobers now. “If you think that you’re fooling anyone, you’re wrong. We love you, and we can see that something isn’t right.”

“Beau—”

“Let me finish. When you decide to let us in, we’re here. All of us.”

“I know. But really, I’m fine.”

“You’re better than fine, Savannah. You’re the most amazing person I’ve ever met.”

I simply sit back and stare at my brother in utter shock. “I won’t tell Mallory that either.”

“She knows,” he replies with a smile. “And she gets it. You are pretty great, and that’s why we all start to worry when it looks like something might be wrong. Because of all the people in the world, you deserve a break.”

“Beau, I love you. And I have everything under control.”

That, at least, isn’t a lie.

“Okay then, that’s all I needed to know.”

He kisses the top of my head and then walks out of my office, closing the door behind him.

Please call me, Lieutenant Jacobs. I need this shit show to end.





Chapter Eighteen


Savannah

Day two of the hostage situation, as I’ve come to think of it, was more exhausting than day one. I shouldn’t have gone in to work, and if it weren’t for the fact that I have to make things look as normal as possible, I wouldn’t have. It’s not like I’m getting much done. I stared at the same report for two days straight and never turned the page.

I finally left the office an hour early today and took a drive around the city. Driving calms me. I like to listen to music, or turn the radio off altogether and enjoy the silence.

Also, I’m ninety-eight percent sure that my car isn’t bugged, so I can relax a bit.

I’ve just turned down my street, toward my house, when the throw-away phone rings.

“Yes,” I say.

“It’s done,” Lieutenant Jacobs says on the other line. He’s the only one with this number, so there’s no question of who it is. “Larry is in custody, as are the two men they hired to survey you and your family.”

“We’re safe.”

“You are. I have more to tell you, but I have a ton of paperwork to get through here, three men to interrogate, and I need to go have a meeting at the prison.”

“Thank you. Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome. Go live your life, Savannah.”

He ends the call as I pull into my driveway, right next to Eli’s car.

I frown and then shrug. It’s not unusual for Eli to drop in, although it’s not as common now that he has a wife and a baby.