Page 27 of Defending A Promise
She laughs as Smith follows us into the conference room and for the next half hour I give them the details, copies of the emails, her timeline, and the pictures Riley’s been collecting.
“This is really thorough. I’m surprised Atlanta couldn’t do more with all of this information,” Smith says as the three of us walk out of the room.
“Yeah, I thought the same thing.”
“We’ll take it from here. Just keep her safe, okay?” Kowalski says as if she needs to tell me that. I’ve been away from her forabout an hour and a half and I’m already jonesing to see or at least talk to her to make sure she’s okay.
“Will do. Gotta get out there on patrol. Let me know if you have any questions,” I call to them over my shoulder as I leave the detective bureau and make my way out to my patrol car. Jax has been covering my zone so that I could talk to the detectives.
I’m just about to climb into my patrol car when I hear my name. “Hayes!” I look around the parking lot and see Elijah Ford walking towards me. “Hey man. What’s with the face blanket?” I tease.
He strokes his beard, “Trust me. I can’t wait to get rid of this. It’s hot as hell in this Florida heat. I heard Riley’s back in town. That true?”
“What’s it to you?” My guard goes up. She’s mine.
He smirks at me recognizing my hackles are up. “Relax man. I wouldn’t dare tread in your house. I was just asking. Wondering how’s she doin’. That’s all,” he holds his hands up in defense.
I relax a bit, but not totally. I’ve seen him dog around town. He’s got quite a reputation with the ladies. Hell, I’m not sure there’s any left he hasn’t slept with. “She’s good.”
“I heard about what happened at her parents’ house. That’s fucked up. You on it?”
“Kowalski and Smith are working it. What’s happening with you?”
He suddenly looks ragged. “This case is a mess. Working with these guys that’ll do anything for a dollar. Bad, bad things. It’s fucked up, man. I can’t wait until this undercover case is over.”
“What kinds of things?” He’s got my curiosity piqued.
He shakes his head, “Can’t talk about it yet, but you don’t want to know. Don’t want that shit in your head, man. Trust me.” Eli looks haggard and worn out and I can tell that whatever itis, it’s bad and he’s probably right – I don’t want that shit in my head. It’ll make me worry even more about Riley and Nicholas.
“Ford!” The desk sergeant calls from the doors to the office.
“Gotta go. Stay safe, brother.” He slaps me on the shoulder and then jogs to where the sergeant is standing.
“You, too,” I call after him and I climb into my patrol car. I want to talk to Riley even more now.
After a few traffic stops and a couple 911 calls, I finally meet up with Jax in the parking lot of where the Bean and Bagel used to be. There’s finally some construction happening here and we’re all glad that things are moving in the right direction for Hudson’s girl, Kate. Not to mention, we miss her coffee and bagels.
“Hey man. Thanks for covering for me while I was in the DB this morning.” We’re each sitting in our own vehicles; he’s facing one way and I’m facing the other with our windows down.
“No worries. You get everything sorted out for Riley?”
“I’m not sure about sorted out, but I gave them all the information that Riley had about this fucked up situation.”
“Wanna tell me about it?”
“Honestly, I’m not too sure what’s going on. Five years ago, she posted a picture of her ultrasound when she got pregnant and ever since, this guy has decided her son is his and he wants him. Been chasing her around Atlanta, posting shit on her social media, and it seems he’s followed her to Hibiscus Harbor. He even tried to kidnap the kid from daycare once.”
“That’s fucked up.”
“Yeah.”
“Hate to ask, but are you sure he’s not really the father? I mean, she’s been gone a long time. People change.”
“Nick Masterson was the father.” I tell him to shut him up. She’s not changed one bit. She’s still my little geeky girl.
Realization hit him, “Wait. That guy on River’s team?”
“Yep.”
