Tied Up in Knots (Marshals 3)

“Are you going?”

“No, man, I work for a living.”

Kage grunted.

“Why are you calling me at work?”

“I have two of my marshals here with me, Jones and Doyle, and they’re looking for Doyle’s stepbrother—” He tipped his head toward us.

“Lorcan Doyle,” Ian supplied.

“His folks say he was picked up, but there’s no record,” Kage continued.

Deep sigh from Stiel. “Hold on.”

It was silent a few moments, and then we heard keyboard tapping.

“Hey, weren’t Doyle and Jones the ones who found Hannah right before Thanksgiving last year? Am I remembering that right?”

“Yes,” Kage said irritably, probably not wanting to be reminded that his daughter was kidnapped for a good half an hour the year before. She got away because she was very smart and very brave. With Kage as her father, it hadn’t been a surprise.

“Doyle’s first name is Ian, right?”

“It is.”

“Ian’s a good name,” Stiel said wistfully, and I had to wonder what that was about. “Okay, here we go. Lorcan Colin Doyle, twenty-five, of Marynook…. oh, he’s out.”

“Out?”

“Yeah, looks like the sister posted bail, and he’s being charged with drug possession with intent to sell.”

“Which was?”

“Uh… oh, pot.”

“Pot?”

“I’m just reading, don’t judge me. Marijuana is still illegal here.”

Kage groaned.

“And it looks like he was carrying an unlicensed firearm as well,” Stiel added. “If he doesn’t do any time, I’d be surprised.”

“But like you said, at the moment, he’s free.”

“Yep.”

“Thank you.”

“I’d say it was my pleasure,” he said, chuckling, “but I’d be lying.”

“Glad to see your promotion hasn’t gone to your head.”

He chuckled. “Oh, so you know, we’ll be there tomorrow around one, all right? You need us to bring anything?”

“No,” Kage said adamantly. “Please, no.”

“You said bring dessert last time.”

“There was a catering van in my driveway just to unload plates and napkins. Just… no.”

Stiel laughed and hung up, and Kage hit the button on his phone, killing the line.

“Okay, so go tell them he’s out.”

“I wonder why the processing isn’t in our system.”

“Probably because the judge accepted a plea and that’s public record, but I doubt CPD’s system will update until after the holiday. You would have found it if you’d known he was bailed out already. You were just looking in the wrong place.”

“Thank you.”

“Yep. Have a good weekend, gentlemen. I’ll see you Monday.”

He was taking the day after the holiday off. The rest of us were all in on Friday.

I prodded Ian to go talk to his father and stepmother alone, which gave me time to check in on Aruna.

“Do you have the package?” I teased.

“I do.” Aruna giggled. “And the package is in deep shit.”

“What?”

I heard sounds of a struggle: smacking, slapping, and then Janet was calling Aruna a narc, and Aruna called Janet fat—which drew a gasp of outrage—before the phone got dropped.

“I’m not fat, you witch, I’m pregnant!”

“You’re three months pregnant,” Aruna said in her superior tone. “If you keep eating like you are, you’ll be as big as a house.”

Second gasp of profound outrage.

“Hello!” I yelled into my phone. “Why are you in deep shit, Powell?”

“I’m sorry, what?”

Oh crap, I thought. “Oh crap,” I said. “You didn’t tell Ned you came here.”

“I think we have a bad connection,” she said, and then she was gone.

I was so dead. Janet’s husband was going to think I kidnapped her, or worse, was in on her plan from the start.

“Hey.”

I turned to Kohn, and he tipped his head. I looked where he was directing to see Ian standing with Colin and Linda, and he was motioning me to him.

Crossing the room quickly, I was surprised to see Linda holding Ian’s hand. It was just as odd when she reached for me.

“Thank you.” She was adamant.

“We didn’t do anything,” I told her with a shrug. “Your daughter bailed him out.”

“But we had no idea where he was, and now we don’t have to wait to hear from either of them. We can call and find out what’s going on.”

“We can help,” Colin said.

Linda turned to me. “Ian says that you have plans tomorrow, but if anything changes, please come by and—”

“You should come by our place,” I said before my brain kicked in. “We have tons of friends coming by, so please feel free. We’re gonna have people in and out all day—it’s like a Thanksgiving open house.” I smiled at them. “We’d love to have you.”

“I’ll be stuck home cooking all day, but—”

“I’ll be by,” Colin said, taking hold of Ian’s shoulder. “I wouldn’t miss it.”

Linda inhaled sharply. “What am I thinking? Things are going to be strange this year and—I’ll be by as well,” she finished, putting a hand on Ian’s cheek and patting it gently.

If looks could kill, the one Ian shot me should have dropped me dead where I stood.

“HAVE YOU lost your fuckin’ mind?” he railed as we walked downstairs to the garage together.