Then—
He stepped back toward the door.
He needed to get back to Grace.
She was stillat his desk, hands wrapped around the mug he’d given her. Watching him. Waiting.
He held her gaze.
I’ve got this, he hoped she could read there.I’ve got you.
He turned and stepped into an empty office, shutting the door behind him. The hum of the fluorescent light filled the silence as he pulled the number Eli had given him.
It rang twice before it was answered.
“Yeah?” a man answered, sounding annoyed. “Who is this?”
“Officer Luke Bennett,” Luke said. “Crystal Lake Police.”
There was a pause on the line.
“Eli Hart is in my town,” he continued. “He’s on probation. Under active supervision.”
Another beat.
“That makes him my jurisdiction,” Luke said. “Any of your people step foot in Crystal Lake, they get picked up. I don’t care who they are or what they think they’re doing.”
The man exhaled slowly, like he was already weighing the math.
Luke went on. “If someone comes looking for him, it becomes my problem. And I don’t drop problems.”
Silence stretched. Long enough that Luke imagined the man picturing court dates. Paper trails. Attention he didn’t want.
He imagined Grace’s front porch, her locked door, the way her shoulders had finally eased when Luke had saidI’ll handle it.
“He’s not worth the heat,” Luke said, steady. “You know that.”
Another pause.
Then a faint click of tongue against teeth. “Fine,” the man said at last. “He’s done. We’re done.”
“Good,” Luke replied.
The line went dead.
Luke lowered the phone and stood there for a moment longer than necessary, listening to the empty office settle back into quiet.
Luke steppedinto view in front of the holding cell.
“Rourke.”
The man looked up slowly, a lazy smile spreading across his face. “Officer.”
“Your boss just cut Eli loose,” Luke said.
Rourke leaned back against the bench, cuffs clinking softly. “That so?”
Luke stepped closer to the bars.
