Rescue Me (23 page)

This wasn't the place for a confrontation with Callie, but Mary Hannah had to do something, at least make sure the woman wasn't so stoned she might be a danger to her family driving home. “AJ, could you talk to Declan and Henry while I speak with Callie? I just want to make sure the family's safe for now and set up a time to speak with her privately as soon as possible.”

“Sure, but you have to remember I'm a police officer.”

“And you have to know I can't break client confidentiality.”

“Fair enough.”

They walked past a group of Girl Scouts sitting on a quilt with three toy poodles, then wove around an elderly couple grooming a Labrador. Finally, they reached the Roberts family as Callie opened a tote bag of snacks. Their tenuous peace would be blown to bits by this secret.

AJ tightened his hold on Holly's leash, but she still strained at the harness. “Declan, I saw a station set up with water and treats for the dogs. What do you say we get Henry and the dogs out of this chaos?” He glanced at Mary Hannah. “Do you mind staying here and texting when it's our turn to walk through?”

“Sounds great.” Mary Hannah turned to the young mother. “I see a couple of diet sodas in there. Care to share? I see a blissfully quiet spot to sit over by the bales of hay.”

“Oh,” Callie said, jittery, “of course. Lead the way.”

Holly tugged and pulled at the harness as AJ led her away. Clearly the distractions of so many people and dogs were upsetting her even though they'd tried to desensitize her to large settings.

Mary Hannah shook off the distraction and focused on Callie. Sitting on a bale of hay, Mary Hannah unscrewed the cap on her diet soda. “I can hardly believe it's almost time for the competition. Are you planning to keep Barkley?”

“Of course we are,” Callie said, not sounding the least bit happy about the prospect. “I know it's the right thing for Declan and Henry. How silly to be jealous of a dog. But Barkley gets more affection from Declan than I do. Although that's not saying a lot, actually.”

“He's connecting with the dog. That means he's healing. It's going to take time, but this is an important first step.”

“As you've already pointed out more than once, my husband and I are not good at communicating.” She picked at the plastic bottle, her nails ragged today. No manicure in sight. “We've spent more time apart than together. Now we have all the time in the world and I don't know what to say to him.”

“Extreme stress has a way of making us say and do things we might otherwise never consider.” She guided the conversation as best she could in this public setting, trying to assess Callie's state of mind. “I want the best outcome possible for you and your family.”

Noticing Callie's pupils, her speedy pulse throbbing along her temple, rapid speech, a million other signs that should have been obvious, all confirmed for her what AJ had already guessed. Callie was using, and not just weed, but hard-core drugs, because damn, there were tiny pinprick marks between her fingers. Needle tracks in unexpected places indicated Callie was too good at hiding the signs for the habit to be new.

Callie sipped the soda, her hand shaking so badly she sloshed a dribble on herself. She swiped her wrist across her chin. “Oh, damn it, I'm a mess. I should go to the restroom and clean up.” She grabbed her purse like a lifeline, her foot knocking over the insulated food sack on the ground. “I'll be back in a few minutes.”

Mary Hannah knew with total certainty the frazzled woman was going to the restroom to shoot up. “Callie, please sit down. If you don't, I'm going to follow you to the restroom. I know what's in your bag.”

And in that instant, Mary Hannah could feel the full force of that temptation only a hand's reach away. Memories flooded her of the moments she enjoyed using the drugs and the easiness they could bring to a scattered, scared mind. She wasn't thinking about meth, but she thought about
her
drugs, the ones that she'd clutched with the same choke hold Callie used on her purse.

She got the draw. Totally.

But she also felt the mental and emotional barriers she'd put into place to help her stay strong. She trusted herself now in a way she'd feared she never could. Even after all life had thrown at her this past month, she hadn't slipped. She was coping. She could handle life.

What's more, maybe her messed-up, horrible past was a way to bring her to this place where she could help other people.

“Callie, you need help. You don't have to do this alone.” She expected Callie to argue; God knows Mary Hannah had been in denial about herself until forced to face her demons.

After only a few seconds, the young mother's face crumbled. Tears streamed down one after the other. “I'm just trying to cope.”

“I understand.” Empathy filled Mary Hannah, along with relief that this first crucial step had been taken—acknowledging the issue. “And I'm here for you every bit as much as I am for Declan and Henry.” She kept her voice low as a couple passed with their overexcited schnauzer.

“Why would you want to help me after what I've done? This is beyond unforgivable.” Callie held her purse all the tighter, talking faster, her voice pitched higher with panic. “And your boyfriend is a police officer. Is he about to arrest me? If I go to jail, what happens to my son? Or what if I don't go to prison, and child services decides to take my son anyway?”

“Continuing on your current path isn't going to work. You have to know that. Especially not now.”

“I don't think your suggestion last week of doga—yoga with a dog—is going to fix this for me.” Her laugh was shaky but reassuring.

“I can recommend a first-rate rehab clinic.” One she knew well from her own experience. “You'll need to take this step quickly. AJ is the one who guessed. He's going to want to talk to you.”

Callie's eyes went wide with panic. “Can't we just go to his cousin instead?”

Mary Hannah covered her hand. “AJ is a good, fair man. We're going to get you help. The path won't be easy, but there is an opportunity here to regain control of your life.”

“You don't understand.”

“Then tell me.”

Her throat moved in a nervous swallow. “His cousin will be more, uh, sympathetic.”

Oh God, Callie couldn't possibly be saying what Mary Hannah thought. “I'm not sure I'm following you. You'll need to be more specific.”

Callie chewed her chapped bottom lip before blurting out, “Your boyfriend's cousin knows all about the drug traffic in this area. He provides protection for my supplier.”

Shock rippled through her. Wyatt? Mixed up in the drug world? A dirty cop? Mary Hannah looked quickly and found Declan in the distance with Henry as the boy took a dog biscuit from a person in a big St. Bernard costume. But where was AJ?

How was she going to tell him about this? The betrayal Sheila had dealt him sent him into a burnout tailspin from which he was only just beginning to recover. What would it do to him when he learned his own family member had been deceiving him on such a fundamental level?

Without question, she knew AJ would do the right thing. But at what cost to himself?

The hair on the back of her neck stood up with that sensation of being watched. Please, no.

Already knowing the answer in her gut, she shifted on the bale of hay, and damn it all, the private corner wasn't so solitary after all. By a stack of bales, AJ stood holding a couple of water bottles.

And there was no doubt he'd overheard every word.

There are winners and losers at every game. Make your next choice wisely.

—HOLLY

A
J WANTED TO
deny what he'd overheard back at the stadium. But those few words still rattled inside his brain as tangibly as the clanking of the tools behind his seat in the Harvester Scout.

Once Mary Hannah had seen him, he'd backed away from her before Callie Roberts could notice his presence. For the whole dress rehearsal, he'd kept his silence and gone through the motions like an automaton. Thank God Mary Hannah had been visiting a client before dress rehearsal, so they'd come in separate cars.

The second his part of the rehearsal was over, he'd taken Holly and left. Clearly, his dog was grateful as hell to get out of there.

His
dog?

He would think about that later. For now, he focused on driving to confront Wyatt, to get to the truth. His cousin would just be finishing up his shift. AJ needed to reach him before Wyatt went to Lacey's. No way in hell could this confrontation happen in front of Sierra and the new baby. If his cousin caught wind that AJ was onto him, it could put others in danger.

Not alerting their boss first was skating close to the edge, forcing him to make the kinds of decisions he'd had to make while undercover. Sometimes, you had to trust your gut. Right now he still had only a tip, the word of a drug addict who could be playing them. Could be.

But wasn't.

The truth rang through in her words and in an odd way made sense. The day of the meth-house bust replayed in his mind, how when the tip came in Wyatt had leaped at the chance to volunteer for the Christmas Eve takedown. He'd handpicked his team, even the animal rescuers, doing everything he could to ensure that he got to Evelyn Lucas first. He'd even arranged to be alone in the police cruiser with her all the way to the station in order to get their stories straight.

Childhood memories roared through his mind, each one more painful than the last. Back then, Wyatt, the oldest cousin in the family, had been the easygoing leader of the second generation in a tightly wound cop clan. He'd used that good ol' boy charm to disarm his detractors, then plowed ahead doing things his own way. AJ had appreciated the quiet bullheadedness when Wyatt had talked him into coming to this small-town force. But what the hell? Had Wyatt picked him because he thought AJ would turn the other cheek on this kind of shit?

Anger simmered as he steered the Scout into the back lot where Wyatt parked his truck, and sure enough, there it was, under the halogen glow of a streetlight. Theirs was such a small police department he wouldn't have to worry about much traffic coming through to interrupt them. Waiting, he picked up Holly's leash as she sat in the passenger side.

Less than five minutes later, Wyatt walked out into the cold night, his steps loose and easy. For one final second AJ allowed himself to consider the possibility his cousin walked like an innocent man because he was one. Not because he didn't give a crap for the law he'd sworn to uphold.

And then the second passed.

AJ opened his door and stepped out onto the salted concrete of the cleared parking lot. Holly bounded past before he could close her in. He wasn't used to her embracing a new locale so quickly. But since she stayed by his side, he held the leash and approached his cousin.

Wyatt looked up. “Hey, AJ. What are you doing here? Catch a night-shift call?” He spread his hands. “Oh, wait, you wouldn't have brought your dog.”

Had Holly just growled? Unmoving at his side, she panted puffs of cloudy air into the night.

AJ looped the leash around his hand an extra time. “How long have you been providing protection to local drug traffickers?”

Wyatt stopped dead in his tracks. His right eye twitched, but not his hands. AJ watched both.

“What the hell, AJ? You're not even going to ask me if I'm innocent?” Wyatt scratched under his hat, a wry smile twisting his lips. “You're already jumping to the why?”

“I already know you're guilty, and I have a reliable witness.” Anger burned hot as hell inside him, not just for what his cousin had done but for thinking that AJ would look the other way. He'd brought him into this mess to help hide his own criminal activity. No doubt Wyatt assumed AJ wouldn't second-guess him when it came to police business.

They were family.

“AJ . . . Cousin . . . Come on, it's just a little cash. You need to see the bigger picture here,” Wyatt said softly, his hand resting slowly on his 9mm. “Wasn't there a time when you were undercover and you did a line of coke to earn trust so you could get the big fish? Every now and again we have to dabble with the bad guys to catch them.”

“You're saying you took kickbacks in order to find more criminals?” Holly plastered herself to AJ's leg while he shuffled those pieces in his brain.

They still didn't add up.

“Exactly. You understand.” Wyatt smiled.

AJ shook his head. “But I didn't do anything for my personal benefit. Whatever way you look at it, you're on the take.”

“You just don't get small-town politics and how to keep the criminal element reined in. And I'm guessing if your witness was as reliable as you claim, you wouldn't be coming to me for confirmation.” He stepped closer, clapping AJ on the shoulder. “Now let's just forget this conversation happened.”

Holly most definitely growled.

Wyatt stepped back.

AJ continued, leveling a no-bullshit stare. “You're going to turn yourself in.”

“Why would I do that?” His eyes narrowed.

“Because if you don't, I will. And then it won't go as well for you.”

Wyatt studied him as if gauging his conviction. “Isn't this the point where I pull a gun and kill you so you can't ruin my life?”

“Should I have worn my bulletproof vest?” He didn't think his cousin would shoot him, especially not in the back lot of the police station. Still, he felt his mortality in that second, and his lone thought was of Mary Hannah, wanting to hold her one more time.

Wyatt's hand fell away from his gun. “I'm not going to kill you.” He backed toward his truck. “I'll go to the captain and tell him about the rumors. I'll beat the rap or cut a deal. There are enough people on the force who feel the same way I do. You know that.”

“I hope to God you're wrong.” AJ eased his phone out of his coat pocket.

Wyatt went stiff, his hand going back to his weapon. “What the hell are—”

“My cell. Nothing more.” He tapped two buttons on the keypad. “I just sent our taped conversation to the captain. So if you're thinking of running, you still have about two minutes to rethink that plan, go inside and turn yourself in. You're not going to be able to lie your way out of this.”

Wyatt's eyes took on a frantic gleam AJ had seen dozens of times during arrests, the moment the perp unraveled, realizing there was no going back.

Wyatt held out a hand. “Come on, cousin. Remember all the times I had your back when we were kids? I even had your back now. I dragged your ass here to keep you from losing your shit in Atlanta when Sheila went to prison. I got you that damn dog so the captain wouldn't fire your butt when you started to spiral again. And you can't cut me enough slack to turn this thing around now? We're blood, you and I.”

“I know. That's what makes this so hard.”

Wyatt's shoulders went back, the frantic edge going to desperation as his fate became increasingly unavoidable. “I can make this right. I know I can.”

AJ forced out the hardest words he'd ever said. “Wyatt, you're going to have to turn yourself in. That's the
only
way you can make this right.”

Wyatt paled for a second. Stilled.

Then he laughed, throwing his head back and shaking, before he looked at AJ again with a cynical sneer. “You're just like your old man after all, a toe-the-line hard-ass. But a damn good cop.”

Somehow that didn't make AJ feel one bit better.

For decades, he had looked up to his cousin. Watching Wyatt walk back into the police station hurt like hell. His idol from childhood had gone so damn far astray it was incomprehensible. Sure, people were flawed. Human. Hell, there had been truth in what Wyatt said. There were things AJ had done during undercover operations he wasn't proud of. Lies he'd told. Mistakes he'd made in situations where all choices were bad ones.

But he had never, never chosen selfish gain or taken his eye from the goal. Protecting others. Protect and serve. Somewhere along the way, Wyatt had lost sight of that and let the job become about his power, sway, influence.

How strange to find that in his messy life of peanut butter Pop-Tart meals, he was more like orderly Mary Hannah than he'd realized. There were rules for the world he moved in, and it didn't matter how long he'd spent undercover, the rules were still damn clear to him. It was important that the guardians of that order stay honest. There was a reason for police procedures and a code of honor he believed in.

And here in this moment of feeling so close to Mary Hannah, needing her and understanding her, they'd never been further apart.

*   *   *

THIS HAD TO
be the world's worst Valentine's Day ever.

Lacey stood in the wings of the Mutt Makeover competition as Billy Brock entertained the crowd with a song from one of his platinum-selling albums. The music did nothing to lift her spirits. Even the sight of happy dogs with their families backstage didn't provide the usual joy. She'd held such high hopes for this day, and now her world had been shattered by news of Wyatt's arrest for drug trafficking. Small consolation that he'd turned himself in and his lawyer was hopeful he would get a good deal. How could she have so misjudged him? Small consolation that at least she wasn't pregnant with his child after all. She was just entering menopause early.

A widow.

And alone.

Damn Wyatt for being the worst kind of bastard and for wrecking her life. She should be celebrating at this event as well as rejoicing in her new grandson and her daughter's health. Bitterness made her want to scream at him, at the whole damn world.

Billy finished the number and gripped the mic stand. “My next number is a song I wrote for my daughter. I'd like to dedicate it to all my friends out there with the Second Chance Ranch Rescue who've given hope and healing to countless numbers of God's creatures in need. The tune just happens to be called ‘Second Chances.'”

Tears stinging her eyes, Lacey pressed a hand to her mouth and another to her stomach. The words flowed over her, lyrics about broken dreams and the pain of betrayal. Dressed all in black with a face that had seen life and lived it hard, Billy sang the country ballad about imperfect people. People saved by second chances.

A hand fell to rest on her shoulder and she jerked, looking back to find Mary Hannah. The sympathy on her face was more than she could stand. Only pride kept her from bolting.

“Lacey, how are you holding up?” Mary Hannah whispered.

Of course Mary Hannah knew even though word hadn't been leaked yet. AJ must have told her.

“My boyfriend is going to jail. But hey, at least I'm not pregnant. Only getting old,” Lacey said softly but flippantly, because dark humor was really all she had right now. “I'm just wondering how I was fooled.”

“We all were. He deceived his own cousin, a very smart cop.” She fidgeted with the strap of her paisley bag. “Um, have you spoken to AJ?”

Lacey shook her head. “Only briefly. He stayed at the station following every step of Wyatt's processing. He said they were keeping things quiet while they bring in other players, part of Wyatt's deal.”

Mary Hannah took Lacey's hand. “Is there something I can do for you?”

“Your support means a lot. I'm sorry to be irritable. You've worked so hard to make today come together.”

“And it has. I know it's probably small consolation to you right now. But we all love you, and you have a huge, unconventional support system. This crazy zoo of a family.” She nodded toward the entirety of the stadium beyond the wings, full to the top row with supporters for the cause. “Your Second Chance family loves you, and we're all here for you, no matter what.”

“Thank you.” And she meant that.

“Thank
you
,” Mary Hannah said with undeniable gratitude. “You're the one who built this haven for all of us. It's only fair we get to give back to you after all you've done for us and so many others.”

Mary Hannah slid an arm around her shoulders and held on through the song. Lacey felt that support all the way to her soul. She still hurt like hell. But she would be okay. She'd survived worse and come out stronger. She had an amazing family at her side. A family she'd built and no one could take that away.

*   *   *

NUMB WITH SURPRISE
and a million other emotions there hadn't been time to process in the past twenty-four hours, Mary Hannah stood in the winner's circle with Lacey, Barkley and the Roberts family. Confetti poured from the rafters, sticking to the scruffy terrier's fur until he sparkled like a little diamond in the rough. She was so relieved and happy for the pup and the Roberts family.

Callie was still fidgety in the earliest hours of her promised detox, but she held on tightly to Declan's hand and Henry's with a grip that reflected her determination and grit. Mary Hannah recognized that desperate need to do better, and she planned to make sure Callie got as much help as she needed to ease her transition now that she'd admitted she had a problem. Callie had been a rock for her family through so much more than any woman should have to bear.

The crowd roared with cheers and applause, feet stomping their support for the family. And Barkley hadn't won simply because of sympathy for Declan Roberts's disability. The Cairn Terrier had performed his routine flawlessly, jumping through hoops and bounding over barriers. Each feat was rewarded with a treat from little Henry, who stood in front of the crowd like a brave soldier, showing no nerves or fear.