“Artie Sims gave her some sort of package,” Linc piped up knowingly. “But she wouldn’t tell me what it was. She gave it to him though.” He nodded his head at Dom, whose face had transformed into a marble statue.
“Not telling you shit, Linc. She’s your sister-in-law. You’re too close to the case to be helpful as anything other than a witness. You too, Remy. I’m not gonna have all the work we do get thrown out on a technicality. If you want to know what it was, you have to talk to Parker.”
With that, Dom turned and stomped down the hall and away from us.
“He’s taking this harder than you two are, you know.” Stryker mused from his spot opposite me. “I don’t know how either of you are calm.”
“We’re not,” Linc answered for me. “Remy installed security cameras all over her house, both inside and out. I got an electronic security fence put in this week, too. We’re not touching the investigation.”
“But that doesn’t mean we’re not doing everything we can to protect her. Them,” I added, thinking of Nox, and the way he’d made me smile all morning. “Speaking of which, I gotta go. I promised him I’d bring Daisy to his class today.”
Stryker snorted. “Perks of being the only K-9 officer in the department, I guess.”
“Don’t hate me cause I’m beautiful,” I teased, then whistled for Daisy.
Before leaving, I glared at him. “I’m not going to forget what you said, Stryker. You want to fix us, you better talk to her.”
He nodded solemnly. “I will.”
“Good,” Linc added. “I’d hate to have to gut you in your sleep for hurting her.”
I would have laughed, but I knew Linc was very serious. He’d do anything for Parker, even before she married his brother. To be honest, all three of us would have.
I thought about her the entire drive to Birch Elementary. After parking, I finally decided to send her a text.
Remy: I know you’re pissed and upset. Don’t shut me out.
Parker: …
Parker: I won’t.
I could breathe easy for the first time since she had walked out of BPD, and the hope I felt at those two little words hit me in the gut. She wasn’t shutting me out. If I wouldn’t look like an idiot, I probably would have thrown a fist in the air. Instead, I smiled like a loon down at my phone and put it back into the holster at my side.
“Come on, Daisy,” I said while I opened the back door for her. “Let’s go see your favorite human.”
Her ears perked up, and her tail started to wag, even though she was technically working. There was something about her connection to Nox that I couldn’t deny or turn away from.
Together we walked through the halls of Birch Elementary. I took Daisy the long way to Nox’s classroom so that technically we were working. She sniffed along, searching for any sign of drugs or weapons, and I felt a sliver of unease fill my heart at what we were doing. After one of the students’ mothers had gone batshit crazy and tried to kill a teacher, though, the department didn’t take any chances.
It helped that Daisy had been specially trained by the military. Not only was she a bomb dog, but she’d been trained to seek out weapons like guns, and drugs. After the bombing where Danny died, she wasn’t up to military standards. She’d come home, thankfully with family, and started working with BPD.
“Anything?” I didn’t really need to ask, though. If Daisy had even the hint of something, she’d alert me immediately.
We finished our round and then made a beeline for Nox’s class.
“Knock, knock.” I opened the door to see Casper standing there with a broad smile on her face as she saw me. “Do you have time for us?”
Casper rolled her eyes dramatically. “Do I have time for my big brother? Of course I do.”
I laughed, and Daisy pushed by me into the room, pulling on her lead until I ended up just dropping it.
“Miss T, can we pet Daisy?” Nox asked his question with his hand stuck in the air respectfully, but I could see the blatant desire to pet the dog now sitting directly next to him written all over his face.
I raised an eyebrow at my sister and marveled at the iron hold she had over her kindergarten class. Casper, still smiling, nodded to her class. “Go ahead, kids. We’ll take a ten-minute break so you can all spend a little bit of time with Daisy.”
Before she even finished speaking, Nox was out of his chair and petting Daisy behind the ear, telling the rest of the kids in his class exactly where Daisy liked to be touched.
“I need your help,” I told her bluntly once everyone’s attention was off the adults.
Casper rubbed her stomach, where she hadn’t yet started to show, and rolled her eyes again.
“I figured. If it was important enough for you to interrupt my class.”
I rubbed the back of my neck absently with a sharp intake of air. “Actually. I promised Nox after our run that I’d bring Daisy by to see him.”
Casper laughed, a short barking laugh, and I had to admit that I never thought I’d see her smile again. Not after Cassie, our other sister, died.
“Figures. He’s just like his momma. Twisting you up in knots longer than anyone could possibly know.”
“That’s what I need your help with, Casper.” I cleared my throat and then lowered my voice. “Stryker told me—”
“Stryker’s an idiot,” she cut me off.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “But he’s right about this. Apparently, there are people in Birch who hold a grudge against her. All because they think that Parker, I don’t know, cheated on me with Danny or something.”
Casper eyed me speculatively. “You’re telling me she didn’t?” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Remy, even Cassie, Kennedy, and I thought she broke your heart. You can’t tell me that you didn’t see it.”
Clearly, the expression on my face gave her the answer she needed. “You’re flippin’ kidding me. You did something to her, didn’t you?” She didn’t curse, being in teacher mode.
I nodded, realizing exactly what I’d done to Parker. How my actions had created something so much worse than I ever thought possible.
“I’ve got to fix it. The things I said to her, I didn’t mean them, but I destroyed her, Casper. I took every single one of the things she loved, and I crushed them in the palm of my hand. You don’t understand.”
I couldn’t exactly tell her, or anyone else, why it was so important. It burned, deep in my soul, that on top of everything I’d done, Parker continued to suffer at the hands of our community and friends.
Casper stared at me, openmouthed, and I could see the anger simmering under the surface. Her face turned almost as red as her hair, and my sister’s eyes flashed with an emotion that I don’t think I’d ever seen in them—disappointment.
“She never told me.” The excuse felt cheap and disgusting even as I said it.
“Why would she?” Casper countered with a question. “You weren’t anything to her, Remy. And honestly, I’m really flippin’ angry at you right now. You left and never came home. It was clear to everyone that you were staying away because of Parker. And now you’re telling me that you let her take the blame for everything. People hated her, Remy. She's lived on the outside of this community the entire time. The only reason she ever had friends was because of Danny's family.” Her voice started to rise, and we’d drawn the attention of some of the children in her class, but Casper didn’t stop. “You better fix it, Remy. Because if you don’t, I wouldn’t blame Parker for never giving you a chance.”