Hot as Heller (Aster Valley 3)

“I don’t know you,” Finn said carefully, looking at the well-dressed man. He was very good-looking with dark styled hair and a trendy bit of dark scruff on his cheeks and chin. A little niggle of jealousy wormed its way into my gut.

The man reached out a hand to shake Finn’s. “I know. I’m friends with Tiller and Mikey, who own the property where you’re staying. When they heard you’d been arrested, they sent me to help. I’m a corporate attorney out of Denver, but I was in town visiting Mikey to go over some business contracts. I figured I might be able to help clear this up before you go to the trouble of bringing in the big guns from LA. My name is Julian Thick.”

Finn’s signature smile appeared. “Julian, so nice to meet you. Thank you for coming to help out. I really appreciate it.” He turned to me. “Sheriff, I’d like to meet with my attorney. Alone.”

He was acting like any of this was my fault. I wanted to put him over my fucking knee.

“Right this way. I have an interrogation room you can use.” Two could play at this game.

Once I got them settled in the room and closed the door, I let out a breath and returned to the front where Rolly was helping Janine enter Kix’s information into the system.

“Kenneth Rowe, you say?” Janine asked with a raised eyebrow.

I wanted to laugh at how uncomfortable Kix looked.

“Yes, ma’am. Why did Finn get to see an attorney already? I want an attorney. And I want to make a phone call.”

“His attorney was here waiting for him. I didn’t arrange it for him,” I informed him. “Would you like a public defender? It might take me a couple of hours to get one here, but I’m certainly happy to do that.”

Kix lifted up his hands and stepped backward, away from the counter where Janine was preparing to take his fingerprints.

“Woah. Woah. Wait a minute. I’m the victim here, and I’m the only one being fingerprinted. That’s not right.”

Rolly met his eyes. “You’re under arrest for stealing his car, remember?”

“He loaned me that car!”

Rolly shrugged. “He says he didn’t. You can take it up with the attorneys and the judge. It’s above my pay grade.”

Kix looked between me and Rolly. “He’s playing favorites. The sheriff is sleeping with him, and he’s giving him the cushy attorney and the special meeting room. I’m going to sue your asses for preferential treatment of the man who assaulted me.”

I held up my hands. “All I did was drive him here. Deputy Kepplow arrested him. Deputy, do you have any prior relationship with Finn Heller?”

“No, sir. I do not. And I placed him under arrest the exact same way I did Mr. Rowe here. The only difference as far as I see it was allowing Mr. Heller to meet with his attorney at his own request. We’re not legally allowed to prohibit that at this juncture. The man has rights. You’re welcome to do the same. If you have an attorney, that is.”

I was going to have to reconsider Rolly’s termination. He was impressing me with his cheek.

Kix’s nostrils flared. “Get him out here. I want to talk to him.”

I shook my head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea until we take your statements.”

Before he could argue with me, Julian came out of the interrogation room and joined us at the counter. “I think we can clear this up easily without any charges being made. Is this Mr. Rowe?”

Kix narrowed his eyes at the hot attorney. “I am. Did the film send you? If so, that’s not fair.”

“No, a personal friend of Mr. Heller’s sent me from Denver. I’d like to propose you both drop the charges against each other. You drop the assault charge, and in return, Mr. Heller will drop the first-degree aggravated motor vehicle theft charge, the class three menacing charge, the defamation charge, the perjury charge for bearing false witness, and the—”

Kix couldn’t take it anymore. “Fine! Fucking fine! Jesus. I get it. Finn has more money than I do and can afford a fancy lawyer to pound me into the ground. Typical fucking Finn Heller maneuver. I’ll bet his fucking mother sent you here, didn’t she?”

Julian leveled him with a professional stare. “Do you agree to drop the charges?”

Kix looked suddenly deflated. “Yes. Fine. But that means there’s nothing in the record about this for me either, right?” He looked at me, but Janine was the one who answered.

“No record, sweetie.” She made a few loud clicks on her keyboard that probably did absolutely nothing to the data she’d entered.

Julian dropped his business face and replaced it with a kind smile. “Would you mind handing me the keys to the McLaren, please?” Then he held out his hand to the younger man. Kix looked like he wanted to shank the man, but he handed them over.