Page 40 of Claimed By the Deputies

Lucas looks at me. “We don’t have time for this.”

“That’s right!” Stuart shouts. “The longer I’m sitting in here, the more time the real criminals have to cover their tracks! So get me my fucking deal!”

“I have a better idea,” I tell Lucas, choosing to ignore Stuart altogether.

“What’s that?”

“Let Tyler take a crack at him.”

Stuart doesn’t seem as disturbed by the prospect as Lucas does. Then again, Stuart was never on the receiving end of Tyler’s true wrath, and I’m sure he’d love to take a bite out of the guy who almost hurt Tassia. I know I’d rather splatter this bastard all over the room instead of trying to get him to cooperate.

I expect Lucas to argue, but to my surprise, he concedes. He gives me a slight nod before leaving the interview room.

“What’s going on?” Stuart asks, his voice fading.

Within seconds, Tyler comes in. Cold-faced and dead-eyed.

“I tried to give you an easy way out,” I shrug. “I really did, buddy. But you overestimate your value to this investigation.”

“You need my intel.”

“True. But you forget it’s a small town,” I reply.

Tyler steps closer, the violence that oozes off him seeping right into Stuart’s bones. This is Tyler’s dark side, the monster he keeps mostly hidden since we came back from the service.

Stuart has no idea what’s coming.

“Is the camera off?” Tyler asks without taking his eyes off Stuart.

I go through my phone, tapping into the CCTV app. “It’s off now.”

“Good.”

“What are you doing?” Stuart mumbles, cold sweat glistening all over his face.

Tyler grabs him by the back of the head and whacks him against the tabletop. The whole thing shakes as Stuart cries out in pain. His nose instantly bursts with blood, a large gash opening above his eyebrow.

“This is police brutality,” Stuart whimpers, covering his nose.

“It’s going to get a lot worse if you don’t start talking,” Tyler says, sitting on the edge of the table, dangerously close to him.

“You can’t do this!” He looks at me as if he thinks I’ll help.

“I told you, buddy. Small town. The sheriff is the law here,” I reply. “Who do you think they’re going to believe? Us or a drug dealer?”

“I’m not going to stop until you give us a name,” Tyler warns him.

“I need a doctor!” Stuart wails. The look of horror upon seeing his blood on his trembling hand gives me a quiet satisfaction. It’s the least he deserves.

“Talk first, then I’ll get you a doctor. You fell down the stairs once,” Tyler says. “Do you want to fall again?”

He’s about to reach for Stuart’s head when the prick finally caves in. “The Silver Stallions!” Stuart blurts out. “We’re getting all of our product from the Silver Stallions!”

“That’s not exactly new information,” I tell him. “We already suspected that.”

“Yeah, but I have proof. I keep a burner phone at the convenience store. You guys don’t know about it. I didn’t want to keep it at the stash house because I knew you might find it if you ever got a warrant,” Stuart replies.

I push a tissue box across the table for him to soak up the blood. “Go on.”

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