Relief tinged with shame bloomed on the boy’s face as he stood. Tess pulled him into her arms and hugged him tightly. Closing the door, Brian leaned against the wall, giving the siblings a moment together.
Tess finally grasped Andy’s shoulders and pushed him back to arm’s length. “Now, what is going on? What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything, Tess, I?—”
Brian cleared his throat. “If you both take a seat, I’ll explain what happened, Tess.”
The teenager scowled. “You know him?”
“Yes, I know most of the agents from here and the local police officers. They sit in on autopsies, and I talk to them on the phone a lot about cases.”
Frowning, Andy eyed him, probably trying to figure out if that was the only thing going on between his sister and the cop. Brian returned the intense stare, silently reminding the kid that he was the one in trouble at the moment.
Andy finally glanced away, and Brian pulled out one of the three chairs at the table. “Have a seat, Tess. Can I get you some water or a soda?”
She sat and shook her head. “No, thank you. I’d really just like to know what’s going on, Agent Malone.”
Deciding not to correct her about using his title in front of Andy, Brian pointed at the seat the teen had occupied for the last half hour. “Sit.”
Once his command was obeyed, Brian took the last chair and sat back, crossing one ankle over the opposite knee. “Andy was hanging out with some members of the Devil’s Crew—a street gang.”
Andy interrupted, “I told you?—”
Tess held up her hand. “Quiet. I’ll let you tell me your side after Agent Malone is finished.”
Her brother rolled his eyes but didn’t say another word. Instead, he crossed his arms and dropped his gaze to the table with his mouth set in a thin line. Tess’s attention returned to Brian, who continued. “He told me he was walking from school to a computer store a few blocks over from where we spotted him. Andy said he knows who the guys are, but he’s not involved with them. One of them stepped into his path and started asking him questions, preventing him from passing. I can’t verify that because they were talking when we pulled into the parking lot across the street and spotted them. Two of the gang members had warrants out for them, and they all ran when we approached. Andy took off, too, so that made him fair game to haul him in for questioning. It wasn’t until after we got him down to booking that we found out he was your brother.”
Tess’s hazel eyes narrowed in confusion. “So, he’s under arrest?”
“No, he’s not. As I said, he was brought in forquestioning. Unlike the other guy we caught, Andy didn’t have any drugs or weapons on him.” Brian watched as some of the tension left her stiff shoulders. An image of him giving them a massage, while she was naked, popped into his sometimes-perverted mind, and he shoved it out again. The last thing he needed right then was a hard-on.
He’d always thought Tess was pretty, but meeting with her outside the morgue—even under the current circumstances—had him seeing her in a different light. He and Rafe both innocently flirted with her a few times at the coroner’s office, just as they did with ER nurses, the female court clerks, and other women they often met through their jobs. However, neither had ever crossed the line with any of them.
Although truth be told, Rafe probably regretted not asking out a certain FBI profiler who had come from Quantico to help with a serial killer a few months ago. She was also a friend of Sean’s, and it had been obvious to both Malone brothers that Rafe had more than a passing interest in the beautiful psychologist. But Brian and his partner had seen far too many law enforcement members get screwed in on-the-job flings or relationships, so neither pissed in their own sandbox. As he studied Tess, Brian began to regret the personal oath he’d made long ago.
It was a huge relief to hear Andy didn’t have any drugs or weapons on him when he was stopped, not that she thought he would have. She had no reason to believe he was involved with the local drug scene at all. However, she knew a few of her own high school classmates who were able to hide their addictions from their friends and family until they either overdosed or got arrested.
She tried to be vigilant, keeping an eye on what Andy was up to, but she also wanted to give him a little leeway. He would be an adult in two years, but still had some growing up to do. Despite a few incidents at school—cutting classes to hang out at a friend’s house, participating in relatively harmless pranks, and fighting with another male student who’d harassed a girl in Andy’s computer class—he was a good kid. She knew that with their parents gone, and her having to learn how to raise him by trial and error, things could be a lot worse.
Turning in her seat, she regarded her brother. He was growing up so fast and looking more like a man every day. He sported a small mustache and a goatee that he let grow out about a month ago. It made him appear older, and she wasn’t ready for that yet.
Reaching across the table, Tess placed her hand on his arm. “Do you know those boys?”
He shrugged. “I’ve seen them and their buddies around. I only know a few of their names from other people, but that’s it. I don’t hang out with them. Iswear, Tess, I was just walking to Cyberline, and Diego got in my face.”
Cyberline Computers was a local store Andy liked to hang out in after school for a bit. He was a whiz at computers, and Tess hoped he maintained his good grades to get into a college where he could get a degree in the field. She’d put most of her parents’ life insurance money and the settlement the siblings received from the trucking company into safe investments for her brother’s future tuition, thanks to the firm where her father had worked for years. Hopefully, Andy would win a few scholarships to offset the cost of a four-year college.
“What did he want?”
“He asked me where I was going, and then he asked if I wanted to make some extra money. I said no, and next thing I know, the cops are yelling for everyone to freeze.” His gaze dropped to the table again. “Everyone ran. I didn’t know what was going on and got scared, so I ran too.” He jutted his chin toward the lawman. “He chased me and threw me over the hood of the police car.”
“What?” Tess glared at Brian, ready to bawl him out, but he rolled his soft brown eyes and then sat forward.
“I did not throw him over the hood of the car. Don’t lie to your sister, Andy. I turned on my body cam before we approached and announced ourselves. So did my partners. Everything was recorded.” His gazemet Tess’s. “When I finally caught up to him, I grabbed him by the back of the shirt and shoved him against the car to handcuff him. Remember, I didn’t know who he was and why he was running from me. He could’ve had a weapon on him for all I knew. I can show you the video if you want.”
She knew the SBI had issued body cams to their agents after an incident last year when one of them was falsely accused of shooting an unarmed man and planting a gun on him after the fact. The agent was vindicated, though, when a nearby business’s security camera showed what truly happened.
Tess glanced at Andy, and when she saw his guilty expression, she knew he’d exaggerated a bit. After a moment, she faced Brian and shook her head. “No, that’s okay. I believe you.” She shifted in her chair. “So, what happens now?”
