Wolf grinned back. “I did promise her we’d have something of a vacation, like Tex and Melody’s.”
“Arden will see to that,” Kyle said. He looked back at Brock. “So, keep your eyes open and keep me in the loop. Today should be nothing but a picnic in the hills. Let’s keep it that way.”
* * *
“One, two, and three on the move,” Brock said as he put his SUV into drive and watched the three vans pull out of the gravel parking lot back toward the entrance to the park. As Brock watched the late-afternoon sun flash on the white vehicles, he breathed a sigh of relief to be going back to Lyons. The day had gone well on the surface, but there were underlying tensions.
“Roger,” Kyle said in Brock’s comm. “ETA?”
Brock checked the map on his phone. “Thirty-five minutes.”
“Copy.”
Jake, Mack, and Flint all reported that their passengers were safe and secure. Jake drove the van with Rachael of course, and they were also accompanied by Brianna while Jerold was in a different van, which made Brock feel worlds better.
Yup, the day had gone smoothly—mostly.
The morning at the park had started rough. The van doors had opened in the visitor’s center parking lot and two of the three vanloads of musicians stepped out laughing and happy while the third acted pensive and guarded. No need to guess which van was Jerold’s.
Flint walked away from the group and up to Brock as he was unloading Valkyrie from her crate. “Lucky me—I got to babysit the turd in the punchbowl.”
“How bad was he?” Brock eyed the three crowds now starting to mingle. As Jerold’s group joined the other two, the mood definitely sobered up and was on its way to souring.
“Born dick. Everybody of course had questions as to why Jerold was suddenly carrying. And he didn’t hesitate to call out Brianna’s brother. The son of a bitch took the opportunity to try and smear Brianna’s reputation, tar her with the same brush. Everybody else was from out of town, so on one hand, she didn’t have anyone agreeing with him, but on the other, no one was really there to defend her besides myself and Anthony Silver. He said she was a hardworking musician, same as the rest of them, and that she deserved respect. I like the guy.”
Brock nodded. He was impressed with the fiddle instructor too and was glad he was in Brianna’s corner. “What about the judge?”
“Guy kept quiet, but he was listening for sure.”
“Shit.” He looked at the crowd again, which had become somewhat subdued.Turd in the punchbowl is right. He was about to go over, especially when he saw Brianna’s face fall, but Then he spotted Jake defusing the situation—with a joke, judging by the subsequent laughter.
“Easy, brother,” Flint said beside him. “You don’t wanna go in hot right now. Another thing our boy was talking about was favoritism and you don’t want to throw fuel on that little fire.”
“He’s saying Rachael’s showing Brianna favoritism?”
“He’s saying that the whole festival is since her family’s coffee shop offered that free lunch for them all. But I guess they do that every year, and this year they didn’t even know she’d entered.” Flint shook his head. “Pot calling the kettle black considering he’s sponsoring today’s vans for the first time.”
“Seriously?” That made his blood boil.Shake it offhe told himself. Brianna was doing fine right then despite that douchebag’s best efforts to ruin her chances. She was laughing with the others and having a good time. If anything, Jerold was the one who was sweating profusely. He kept looking around and touching his piece like it was the 1800s and he was expecting Billy the Kid to come riding up with guns blazing. Brock was pretty sure the guy was doing blow and became convinced of it when he snuck off later. Brock and Valkyrie tracked him to the van he’d ridden up in. He was walking around it, muttering to himself and wiping his nose.
“Looking for something, Jerold?” Brock asked behind him. The man nearly jumped out of his skin. One look at his eyes, and yup—the asshole was using.
“Leave me the fuck alone,” Jerold said, pushing past Brock and heading back to the others.
Motherfucker. If they’d been pulled over and searched…
“Flint,” Brock said.
“Copy.” Flint’s voice came through the comm.
“You’re gonna want to search your van. You might find some snow in there.”
Brock heard Flint grind his teeth. “Bet I know the source of the snowfall.”
“Bet you do.”
Beside him, Valkyrie whined and pulled at her leash. Brock followed her lead—to an empty baggie on the ground. The wind picked up and blew it against the front wheel. Brock knelt as he pulled a pair of disposable gloves and a second baggie out of one of the pockets in his cargo pants. He examined the baggie, which he realized had been turned inside-out.Jesus, good thing I have gloves.The bag was smeared like someone had sucked on it.NumbiesBrock thought as he put the damp baggie into the larger bag. Brock smiled—now maybe they had traces of cocaineandJerold’s DNA if anything happened. He made sure to call his findings in to Kyle.
“You earned your keep for the day,” Brock told Valkyrie as he gave her a treat.
