Chief Mertz joined Captain Dan Tomie in his squad, and they took off.
Cap motored away from the city dock and headed to his rented slip at the marina. To his surprise, his sister and brother waited in Cici’s vehicle and were parked next to his truck. He slid into the backseat of her truck to escape the rain.
Hunter leaned between the seats. “Tough day?”
“You could say that.”
“What the hell happened?” his brother asked.
“I can’t get into all the details now because I need to get to the police station, but of all the dumb luck, I booked a charter with a drug courier.”
“Yeah, that’s what Cici said when she called.”
Cici wouldn’t have known the situation if he hadn’t snuck a quick call to her to let her know what was happening. At the time, he wasn’t sure if he’d get out of the mess alive, and he needed to hear her voice, a family member’s voice.
“You didn’t tell anyone else, did you?” he asked his sister.
The offended look on her sickly pale face made him want to take back his words.
“No, I’m not stupid. I just called Hunter, thinking you might need us.”
“I’m sorry. It’s been a day.”
“I get it,” she replied.
“I need to get to the police station. Hopefully, it won’t take long.”
“My SUV is at your house. I’ll wait for you. We can have a beer when you get done and destress.”
“I’ll stay, too,” Cici said.
“Sounds good, but you kind of look like hell. Maybe you should go home and get some rest.”
She managed a weak giggle. “Nice, real nice.”
Cap hopped out of his sister’s truck and climbed into his. Five minutes later, he pulled into the parking lot at the police station. He dodged the raindrops as he ran to the side door of City Hall, the one leading directly into the police department. Chief Mertz met him at the door to let him in.
“Any word on Preston?” Cap asked.
He’d been worried sick about the kid.
“Captain Tomie called the hospital. He’s in rough shape. They’re treating him for a brain bleed. We’ll check on him again in the morning,” Chief replied.
Cap followed the chief to the small conference room, where Emma, Hailey, and Morgan sat with Investigator Pearson-Hawk and Captain Tomie, who were crowded around the rectangular table. He and Chief Mertz sat. This room wasn’t meant for seven people, more like four or five.
They ran through their story again for the police command staff, repeating exactly what they’d told the chief on the boat.
Across the table, he caught Emma’s yawn. Her exhaustion didn’t surprise him. She’d had quite a long day and an emotional rollercoaster ride. So had he, but he was more accustomed to this sort of thing. Or, at least used to be. Making matters worse, the storm had suspended the search for Jonathan’s body and for Carly. The storm that had rolled in quickly, was supposed to roll out just as fast, but now the forecast said it would linger until late tomorrow morning.
Within an hour, the ladies and he had repeated their consistent stories so many times, there was no point repeating them again.
“We’re finished here. We’ll resume the search for Jonathan once the storm blows over,” Chief Mertz said.
“What about Carly?” Emma asked.
“Yeah,” Morgan and Hailey repeated in unison.
The chief fixed his gaze on Emma. “I suspect Emma will be hearing from the men unless they find the drugs in the meantime, but that is highly unlikely. With this storm and wind, that bag could be anywhere by now. The Michigan shore, the Wisconsin shore, or the bottom of Lake Michigan. Who knows for sure, but most likely, contact will be made.”
