Obsidian Beauty (The Obsidian Series Book 1) (4 page)

“Eleven going on thirty.” Abigail sighed. “I’m assuming he’s told you all about what he’s doing?”

Abigail was a good liar. She could tell Scott was impressed as he raised a brow at her.

“I mean, he has. The mayor and I have been screwing around for more than three years now. He’s been coming back here for that long. Pun intended.” Candi laughed at her own joke.

“Okay, so give me something I can use to get him to pay, please,” Abigail asked.

Candi looked like she was thinking about it. She bent down unexpectedly and kissed Abigail. At first, she was testing the waters, but then she really went for it, pushing her tongue into her mouth and grabbing the back of her head. Abigail returned the kiss, knowing the stripper was testing her. After a few more seconds of groping, she pulled away.

Scott stared at both of them wide-eyed now. Abigail knew he was probably turned on because most men enjoyed girl on girl action.

“So, his real name is Benton Sellers.” Candi started with the full disclosure. Abigail was a little surprised he gave her his real name, but she knew he liked to hear it during sex.

Scott looked miffed that she had lied to him about why she called him Benton.

“Sometimes he pays me in cash and sometimes he pays me in crystal meth. He brings his dealers in here to reward them when they have a good week. Young guys, college kids.” Candi had moved back to Scott and was dancing in front of him, running her hands up and down her body.

“Meth? He distributes meth now?” Abigail should have known he would move on to selling drugs eventually.

“He does, except last time there was a bad batch that went out. A kid overdosed at a party and almost died. He paid off the ambulance drivers, hospital, and the sheriff to keep it quiet. Said it was alcohol poisoning. Luckily, the kid—just a high school kid—survived.”

“Wait? He paid off the sheriff to be quiet about it?” Scott was suddenly alert his eyes flashing with anger. He was mad, and Abigail hoped he would hold it together until they were able to get what they needed.

“Yes, he said he could take justice into his own hands that way. He was really proud of himself.”

“Okay. So who is cooking the meth then, Candi?” She watched her cross the room and pour some more champagne.

“I don’t think I should tell you that.” Candi was either getting nervous or fishing for more cash. It must be someone different if she didn’t want to tell them.

“Two hundred more, Candi, come on.”

She hesitated, drinking the champagne, and started dancing again. “All right, but I’ll deny ever saying anything.”

Nodding, both Abigail and Scott agreed with her.

“It’s a gang. They come in here sometimes with him as well. It’s a Mexican street gang in Brucestown. That’s where they make the meth and then give it to the college kids to sell here in Alkapine.”

That was the information they needed. It gave them a lot to go on, and their time in the leopard room was almost over.

“Thank you, Candi, you were most helpful,” Abigail said. The stripper reminded her of herself a little. Dumb, blond, and stripping. She was definitely her in a former life.

As they left, Scott had to adjust his pants a bit. She noticed, but was polite and didn’t make a comment about it.

“You’re full of surprises, like obsidian covering up diamonds.” He grinned at her, causing her to stop and look at him.

“You think my deceitful skills and skeezy past are beautiful diamonds? Wow, Scott, I think you had too much champagne.” Shaking her head, she pushed a strand of hair away from her face.

“You know what I mean, smart-ass, just take a compliment,” Scott said. Abigail wasn’t sure if that was actually a compliment, so she smiled and continued walking toward the car.

“Let’s just get away from here, Scott. I need about five showers.” She shuddered at the thought.

“You learned how to make out with women in prison,” Scott uttered.

“What the hell do you mean?” Abigail stopped and faced him.

“Abigail, I know you were in prison, and you lied to me about it. I’m a cop. I’m trained to know these things. I know for a fact you were privy to everything he was doing. His stripper lovers told you, which is a whole other thing we should talk about, by the way, and you were involved. I’m not going to judge you. You did your time. I still want to sleep with you.”

Abigail had to laugh. “God, you are relentless.”

“I know. It’s part of my charm, right?”

“I wouldn’t go that far. So Benton has graduated from smaller robberies. His real name is Benton Sellers, by the way.”

“You don’t say.” Scott was using every ounce of his sarcasm. She could tell he was still a little miffed at all the lies she had told him.

“We have some pretty damning stuff against him right now. Way more than I thought we would ever get out of Candi.”

“This is something I have to figure out how to approach, Abigail. This is huge. Brandon Greene wasn’t a careless teenager who was drinking and got into trouble. He was a careless meth addict who bought a bad batch. I had to go and get his parents to take them to the hospital. He was in the high school with other kids, and I’m sure he wasn’t the only one. The next problem I have is everyone was involved. The mayor and the sheriff, for crying out loud. He’s my boss. If my boss can be bought that easily, then I am in a corrupt department. Who knows what else they have gotten away with?”

“Right, so that’s the problem.” Abigail was going to continue, but he stopped her.

“That’s not the worst part. The worst part is I didn’t know about any of it. The mayor is distributing meth in my town, and I didn’t even know it.”

“You don’t see meth heads in town?” Abigail replied.

“Yes, I arrest different meth heads every week, but I thought they were getting it from out of town. I didn’t think the freaking mayor and police department of my own town was the reason they were on it. As many people that shit has ruined and lives it’s destroyed...” Scott needed a minute, so he was quiet the rest of the trip back. She let him have his silence. Her wheels were turning too.

It was at the only grocery store in town where Abigail had her first encounter with Mrs. Sizemore. She ran into her while she was looking at bananas and tried not to see her.

“Hello, dear,” Benton’s wife called out. Abigail knew she was older than Carla Sizemore and wondered why the hell she would ever call her dear.

“Hi,” Abigail said, pretending she didn’t recognize her.

“You’re the girl who flashed the playhouse and almost died falling off the balcony, aren’t you?”

“Guilty.” Abigail wished she could sink through the floor and get away from her.

“Yes, my husband was quite shaken up by that event. He will be glad to know you are doing quite well.” The way she said it was not polite. It was almost threatening. She couldn’t tell, but there was a strong possibility she knew more than she was letting on.

“I’m an old friend of Mayor Sizemore. I simply came to say hello to him. Once I almost fell, I was so embarrassed I left immediately.” There, that was mostly the truth.

“Funny, he didn’t mention knowing you to me.”

“Perhaps he didn’t recognize me. It’s been around ten years since we last saw each other.” Abigail took in this woman whom Benton had committed himself to. She was pretty, yet she wasn’t gorgeous. Her well-tailored pantsuit showed a fit body and not a strand of her chestnut brown hair was out of place.

At this point Abigail realized someone was standing behind her, and she knew it was Benton. This was about to get a lot more awkward. Biting the bullet, she turned around and was relieved to see Scott standing there instead.

“Scott!” She widened her eyes to try to throw a hint at him to get her out of the mess she was in.

“Hey, cupcake.” He grinned, and she mouthed cupcake at him like he had lost his mind. He continued to grin as he pulled her in for an intimate hug, and she played along. When they broke from one another, she turned back to Carla.

“Mrs. Sizemore was just commenting about when I almost fell over the banister at the playhouse.” Scott looked confused but continued to play along.

“Yes, ma’am, cupcake is awfully clumsy. We better go before she knocks over the fruit display.” He whisked her away before Carla could say another word.

“You will never call me cupcake again, understood?”

“Sure thing, cupcake, it will never happen again.” 

Throughout the next week, they gathered intel on Benton by talking to people around the strip club in town, and with the help of Scott using his badge, as he put it. Really it consisted of him riding around talking to people he knew about local gossip and trying to pick up anything. Abigail called it doing what he would be doing anyway. He didn’t appreciate the way she belittled his helping. She felt like he would be driving around and talking to people as part of his regular routine, but he argued he was doing much more.

“Without my police work you wouldn’t have known he belonged to the country club,” Scott pointed out as she sat down on the couch with a notepad so they could go over what they had.              

“I’m almost willing to bet you already knew that, Scott.” He sat in his usual place on the couch beside her as they discussed their plans. So far, their plan consisted of busting someone working for Benton and using them to get to him. It wouldn’t be easy and there would be a great deal of deception on his part since the sheriff was involved.

***

Scott didn’t stop trying to flirt with her every chance he got, because she still intrigued the hell out of him even when she didn’t want to pick up any of what he was throwing down. These thoughts amused him.

The pair caught a break one day when Scott responded to a breaking and entering call. He caught one of the local students, whom they suspected of helping distribute the meth, trying to steal the Adams’ television. Scott thought the boy clearly had to be on drugs. No one would think it was a good idea to steal from someone they knew in the middle of the day. Thomas cut their grass for them. They knew him. He didn’t think the boy had a weapon, but he wasn’t taking any chances.

Scott slowly walked toward the boy with his gun drawn. “Thomas, put down the TV, would you? You aren’t going anywhere with that.”

Thomas looked around to see if he could find an out. Maybe he could escape. He didn’t think Scott would shoot him.

“I need the money, okay? Just look the other way, Scott. Please, man.”

Scott could tell the boy was scared of something, or maybe just desperate. If he were selling drugs for Sizemore, then there were only a couple reasons he would be desperate for money and stealing from the man was a big one.

“Thomas, I’ve known you since you were three. I know your parents are not going to want to hear about this. Let’s just talk. Come down to the station with me, and we will sort this out.” He handcuffed Thomas and pushed him toward the car.

“Like I have a choice.”

“You don’t, but I thought I’d seem politer if I asked.” He laughed and hopped in the car to take the kid down to the station. He hoped he would finally be able to get somewhere with Sizemore. He had to be careful while questioning Thomas to make sure the sheriff or one of the other deputies didn’t notice. When Scott searched the boy, he found evidence of crystal meth on him, so he had a little more leverage once he sat down.

“So, now I could get you for paraphernalia and for theft, you know? Give me some information, and I’ll try to see what I can do,” Scott offered.

Thomas wasn’t what one would call a hardened criminal, so he didn’t take a lot of convincing. The only thing he gave Scott was the location where they met to pick up the drugs for distribution. He never said he went there to pick the drugs up himself, but it was where he heard people grabbed their inventory for the week.

The location was a factory in neighboring Brucestown where they manufactured silly straws. It was owned by members of the Latino gang who originated there and wasn’t in Scott’s jurisdiction. It would be a little tricky getting his unit in the building.

Scott was so excited to share the news with Abigail, he busted into the cabin and caught her in her undies. Freezing in the doorway, he stared at how her tight little butt looked in her cute pink panties and how muscular her stomach was. His mouth was hanging open when she turned around and saw him.

Screeching, she fled to her room, leaving him with the memory of such a delicious sight. She returned dressed in a simple blue dress and had let her hair down, which stuck to her shoulders. She looked pissed, though.

“Knock next time, would you? Geez.”

“Sorry.” He was smiling as he apologized but tried not to show her, so he faked interest in something on the floor.

***

She flopped down on the couch and tried to calm down. She hadn’t wanted him to see her in her underwear, and she had been unprepared for the hungry look of lust in his eyes when she turned around. It made her feel uneasy and excited. Still, they had to keep their eyes on the prize and off each other.

He moved over to the couch to sit across from her, and she pulled her knees underneath her, putting the couch cushion in front of her chest.

“Let’s have dinner tonight,” he blurted out. She was surprised and wondered how good she looked in her underwear. “You can come in and have dinner, and I will wait on you tonight.” She knew what he was doing. Fortunately, she had to work so it wouldn’t happen. Not having to flat out refuse him was a good thing.

“Oh, okay,” he sounded defeated but didn’t push it.

“So, what did you come running in here to tell me?” She gave him a half smile, hoping he understood why it wasn’t going to happen between them.

“That’s right. I found out where they operate from. It’s a place where they manufacture silly straws right outside of town. Tell me my police work isn’t worth anything now.” He had moved closer to her as he talked.

She couldn’t go anywhere as she was already backed up to the arm of the couch. “I never said that.”

He was really close to her now, his arm behind her head. It was like some force was pulling them closer together. She had a hard time resisting him. When he was this close, all she wanted to do was pull him to her and have him hold her. It was all she had been thinking about. It was lust, for sure, but it would be fun while it lasted.

His nose was almost touching hers now. It would be so easy for them to kiss. All she had to do was meet him the rest of the way. She stood up from the couch and walked over to the chair, putting the distance she felt was necessary between them.

“I know how I’ll find out when they’ll be at that location,” Abigail informed him.

“Oh, yeah?” Scott leaned back on the couch and she hoped he was able to deal with her rejection.

“I will seduce him in his office and listen to his phone conversations. Benton is someone who can’t help but take work calls. He used to take them in the middle of having sex. It was annoying, but I know if anything is going down, he’ll talk about it.”

Scott stood up, his face turning red. He ran a hand down over it and walked loudly towards the door. “Great plan, Abigail. I have to go.”

Abigail knew Scott was mad at her. Maybe she was sending mixed signals, but this was the plan the whole time.