Page 62 of Rogue Wave

“Don’t care. Back up and put your hands where I can see them,” I commanded as I moved in front of Hazel.

He wasn’t visibly armed, but I wasn’t taking chances…yet. I didn’t holster my gun, but I did lower it. I stuck my arm out to signal Hazel to back away behind me so I could focus my attention on Wesson.

Begrudgingly, she did as I asked.

“Sheriff McAllister,” Deputy Bitterman said from the doorway, his gun also drawn.

Wesson’s gaze shifted to the newcomer, and his rage only intensified.

“If you want to talk to Hazel, you can do it down at the station,” I informed him, even though I had no intention of letting him near her. “But you entered a restricted area, and we need to escort you out…now.”

He exhaled in defeat. “Fine, but I need to finish talking to her. It’s important.”

I nodded noncommittally and turned to Bitterman. “Deputy, take him to the station, and I’ll meet you there.”

Deputy Kingston arrived just as Bitterman was cuffing Wesson.

I planned to throw the book at him—trespassing, harassment, disorderly conduct. Hell, I’d even throw in endangerment of animals if I thought it would increase the punishment. Whatever I could do to make the message clear that he was not to come back and bother her.

The scene de-escalated quickly with Wesson gone, and I turned my attention to Hazel.

“Are you okay?”

She nodded but didn’t say anything, which only made me more pissed at Wesson. Hazel was a talker, so when she was quiet, it was because she was focused or she was upset.

“How did he get in here?” I asked her, nodding to Deputy Kingston who had stepped up beside me.

“I’m not sure,” she replied, shaking her head. “I was talking to you on the phone, so I didn’t notice him until he was only a few feet from me.”

“What access points would he need to go through to get here?”

“I can help with that,” a female voice chimed in from behind us. “I’m Dr. Kri Marcie, the aquarium director,” she said, holding out her hand. “Except for your deputy and the suspect, the entire building is still on lockdown until we can find out where the intrusion point occurred.”

As much as I wanted to stay with Hazel, it was a conflict of interest for me to be the one to officially interview her, so I assigned Kingston to talk with her and find out what happened while I walked with Dr. Marcie and Allen, the security guard, to assess all points of entry for Wesson.

Thirty minutes later, we had looked at every possible option, and there was no visible sign of forced entry. We walked back to where Kingston and Hazel were, and I filled him in on what we’d found.

“Hazel, is it possible you left a door propped open or it didn’t lock securely?” I asked.

She shook her head vehemently and then turned to Dr. Marcie. “But there is the possibility that he took my badge.”

There was a look between the two of them as if they were putting pieces together.

“Can you explain?” Kingston asked.

“The day after I broke up with Rourke, I couldn’t find my access badge,” she explained. “I thought maybe I’d left it at his place, but he swore up and down he didn’t have it.”

She let out a deep sigh, her head falling forward. “But now I wonder if he lied and took it so that he could get in here to see me if he wanted to, especially since I stopped returning his calls.”

“Do the badges not get deactivated if lost?” I asked.

“Usually, yes,” Dr. Marcie answered. “But the badges don’t gain you entry into the building, only access into restricted areas within the aquarium. In order to get into the building itself, you have to be let in by a security guard.”

“Or buy a ticket to get in,” Kingston said next to me, reading my mind.

“What did he want when he came here?” I asked, trying to put the pieces together.

“He asked about what I’d told you and other cops,” she replied. “Then, oddly, he started asking me about the animals. He was never aggressive. It was really weird because he acted like we were just having a chat about the new animals at the aquarium, like we used to when we dated.”