Was all of this true? Camera footage was a heck of a lot better than someone’s word. I could kiss Benny right now.
The officer kept his hand on his holster as he looked at the footage Benny offered up, making faces at the screen until he lifted his eyes and stared at my father. “Well, now. This is getting interesting...”
My father shook his head. “Whatever you’re seeing, they’re twisting things. I didn’t lock her that room.”
“Sir, I’m going to need you to put your hands up where I can see them,” the older officer said, flicking open his holster. “Don’t make me take this out.”
My father held up his hands, and hope rose inside me. If the Wags could just get out of this mess without being arrested, I’d be relieved. But if I could take my father down and avenge my family in the process... ?
I’d be happier than a bird with a french fry.
Seb pointed at Paul. “While you’re at it, Officer,thatguy is helping his father try to rob my girlfriend, here”—Seb’s eyes flicked toward mine—“but his father is on house arrest, and he’s on probation himself, so he shouldn’t be in possession of a weapon. You might want to frisk him. Last time we saw him he pulled a handgun on us—a real one, in case that wasn’t clear...”
“Fuck you, Jansen,” Paul said. “You’re dead.”
The officer’s brow lifted again. He glanced at Jazmine. “What about you? You got anything to say?”
She shrugged. “My daddy called the Haven Beach sheriff to ask y’all to come out here because we were all afraid Mr. Lee might do something bad to her.”
“Mr. Lee thinks we know where some priceless treasure is,” Benny added. “Maybe you’ve heard of Wyrd Jack, and the pirate museum in Haven Beach?Thattreasure.”
“Anddoyou know where this ‘treasure’ is?” the police officer asked, almost amused.
“Nope,” Seb said. “We do not. But Paul and Lulu there are working with Mr. Lee to try to find it. They’ve robbed us, threatened us, and kidnapped one of us—”
“She’s my daughter,” my father called out. “Why would I kidnap my own daughter?”
“He robbed all the money out of my mother’s bank account when she died,” I said. “So he’s basically a piece of trash, and I hope he spends the rest of his life in a jail cell.”
The older cop couldn’t look more discombobulated if he tried. He handed Benny’s phone back to him, looking dazedly at both him and Jazmine, then at Paul and Lulu... then at me and Seb in our wet clothing. Finally, he squinted at my father and sighed deeply. He mumbled something into his shoulder speaker that started with his badge number and ended with “requesting backup.”
“Want me to cuff any of them, Sarge?” the younger cop asked.
The older officer glanced toward the house and said, “You might want to start with him.”
We all turned to see my father running as fast as he could across the lawn, until the sprinkler came on, and his bare feet slipped in the grass. He landed flat on his back and didn’t move until the younger officer came to cuff him.
“Dreams really do come true,” Seb said, eyes twinkling. “All hail Calico Jack.”
“All hail Benny for hacking into the security system,” Jaz said under her breath.
“All hail Mr. Neely for listening when his daughter said this was a five-alarm emergency,” Benny added.
All hail the Wags, the best friends anyone could ever ask for.
Chapter 31
We spent hours at the police station in Grand Rapids giving our statements. It was nearly dusk by the time we got back into town, all of us climbing out of the Land Rover in my driveway like we’d been sapped of our vital life energy.
“Food,” Jazmine said. “Any food. I could demolish an apple right now.”
“Weed first,” Benny said. “Then apple.”
“My stash is depleted,” Seb told him.
“Backup stash?”
“Yeah, that’s possible, if we can find it...” Seb turned his key in the cottage’s front door and pushed it open. Punkin darted outside and circled us, tail wagging in greeting.
