He knew Lucy was taking it much harder, having dedicated most of her life to raising the kids and keeping her career as a second priority. Lately, he’d seen her wander the house, picking up and setting down their pictures while she sighed. He’d even caught her sitting in their rooms, sniffing their clothes and muttering to herself.
They were all due for a visit soon.
In the meantime, he wanted desperately to bring them some good news.
In the distance, a dog howled, and he heard a car backing up. Ian gave a slight shake of his head and shuffled back into the station, the blast of hot air hitting him directly in the face. He strode past the main desk, where a man and a woman sat in uniform, their gazes fixed on their screen.
With a quick wave, he strode past them and into the main part of the station.
Marissa had her legs propped up on her desk and was talking to a few people. After a brief pause, Ian weaved in and out of the desks and ducked into the back, where a few prisoners were being kept in cells. He stood in the doorway outside the security camera’s range and studied the cells. All of them were built the same: with metal bars, faded old mattresses on uncomfortable-looking metal beds, and single windows that overlooked the backyard.
Most of the prisoners were already fast asleep, except for one.
It didn’t take long for Ian to recognize the Falmouth burglar, who was perched on the edge of the mattress with his fingers linked together. In his stained shirt, a pair of jeans that looked frayed around the hem, and a small scar over his right eye, he looked like every inch the criminal he was.
Ian wondered if there was more to him than that.
He was, after all, the key to this whole thing, even if he didn’t know it yet.
“You going to keep lurking in the shadows, or are you actually going to ask me what you want to know?”
Ian’s heart skipped a beat. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Jake Long lifted his gaze up from the floor and looked directly at him, sending a shiver racing up Ian’s spine. “I don’t think you want to start our relationship off with a lie.”
Chapter One
“What relationship? Are you delusional?”
Jake stood and shoved his hands into his pockets.
In silence, he crept over to where the metal bars stood and came to a complete stop. “I’m not the one sulking around the police station at night.”
“I work here.”
“My point stands. I’m sure you have better things to do than keep an eye on us. Isn’t that what those cameras are for?”
“That’s a lot of talk for someone who’s about to go on trial.”
Jake snorted. “Yeah, I’m not worried about that.”
“Because your employer is going to pull strings to get you out?”
Jake’s expression tightened. “I’m making a deal and selling him out. He probably wants me dead by now. Or he will, once he finds out what I’m doing.”
“Or you’re playing all sides.”
Ian stepped out of the shadows and into full view of the security cameras. His heart was pounding steadily against his ears, and bile was forming in his stomach, but he didn’t care. None of it mattered.
All that mattered was getting Jake Long, the Falmouth burglar and Eric Taylor’s henchman, to break.
Jake took his hands out of his pockets and gripped the metal bars. “Play the police? Yeah, I’m a lot of things, Ian, but stupid isn’t one of them.”
Ian’s blood turned to ice. “How did you know my name?”
Jake raised an eyebrow. “Did you really think I’d take this job without knowing everything there was to know about all of you? I only threw in those other burglaries to throw you off my scent.”
And they’d walked right into his mousetrap.
