Mag said nothing.
“And anyway, it wasn’t that kind of kidnapping,” I told him.
“What kind of kidnapping was it?”
The kind where the bad guy, maybe not bad guy listened, played therapist, shared truths and generally was a pretty decent dude, notwithstanding the gun-to-the-head part, which wasn’t his fault.
“The friendly kind?” I asked as answer.
“Ryn—”
“Mag, he told me he didn’t kill Tony Crowley,” I declared. “He said he’s been framed.”
“Of course he said that shit, Ryn.”
“Well, call me crazy, but honestly, I believed him.”
Mag again said nothing, and I visualized him standing in the condo he shared with Evie working really hard not to call me crazy.
I lowered my voice like someone could hear me when I shared, “He says there are dirty cops behind this.”
“Fucking fuck,” Mag bit off.
Ohmigod.
“Are there dirty cops?” I asked hesitantly. “Do you know?”
“No, I don’t, but that shit is dark and even if there’s zero-point-one percent possibility it’s true, this is not good.”
“I thought the same thing,” I agreed. Then I went on, “He said the cop who got killed, Crowley, was getting close to something. He said Crowley was investigating the bad cops. Brett definitely shared it was a cop who killed him, though not which one. He also wanted me to be sure Hawk knew all of this. He wants you guys looking into it. But now I’m not thinking that’s a good idea.”
“Hawk isn’t in the practice of doing favors for felons.”
“Yeah,” I muttered.
“So, why are you the go-between on this?” he asked.
“Well, because we have a mutual acquaintance, I suppose. I didn’t…” I blew out a breath. “Okay, at first, I was freaked way the fuck out. But he was actually very cool and when it was all done, he gave me a…”
I couldn’t believe I was going to say my next like I couldn’t believe it was happening when it happened.
But it happened.
And when it happened, Brett proved he was good at it.
“Hug.”
“Christ,” Mag clipped.
“It was very strange, but it was also kinda nice because I’d had a really bad day,” I shared.
“Danny,” I heard Evie in the background. “What’s going on? Is everything okay with Ryn?”
“She’s fine, honey, let me get what I need from her and I’ll fill you in,” Mag said to Evie. Then to me, “You said the person who set this up was his attorney?”
“Yeah.”
“Privilege,” he muttered.
“You wanna go after him,” I deduced.
“Ryn, he’s kidnapped you, now twice, and Evie and the others once.”
It was about Evie.
Brett had kidnapped Evie and it had nearly sent Mag over the edge.
He didn’t care that Brett was innocent (maybe) of this (particular) crime.
He wanted him caught.
“Well, her name is Corinne Morton and I can send you her address,” I offered.
“I can find it,” he said. “Is that all?”
He wants me to say hey to your girlfriend from him.
“Yup.”
He paused then asked, “You sure you’re okay? You need us to come around?”
Such a good dude.
“I’ll call Evie later, set up some girl time. I haven’t seen her in a while. Catch her up with life. But other than that, all cool.”
“Sure?”
No.
But that wasn’t Mag’s sitch.
“Yeah,” I lied.
“You said you had a bad day.”
And there it was. More envy.
I mean, what guy heard that and remembered it and asked about it?
Mag did.
I wondered if Boone would.
I’d never find out.
But in the now, I had to rest in the knowledge that my friend had a guy like that.
So that was what I did.
“That was yesterday, today is today. And odds are slim I’ll get kidnapped again so it’s already destined to be better.”
“You wanna set something up with Evie now?” he asked.
“Later, babe,” I said. “I’m wiped. Danced last night. Then there was the semi-kidnapping. I need sleep.”
“Right, I’ll tell her you’ll call. May have some follow-up questions, Ryn. But if they come, I’ll wait until later to get in touch.”
“That’d be appreciated.”
“Later, Ryn.”
“Later, Mag. Tell Evie I said hello and give her a hug from me.”
“Done.”
We hung up and I studied my phone for a second before I set it on the charging pad on my nightstand.
Then I took my Taser with me when I got up to change into a nightie.
I also took my Taser with me when I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth.
And I still had my Taser with me when I returned to my bedroom, drew all the blinds, closed the door, turned on my fan (gotta have my white noise to sleep), got under the covers and pulled them up to my chin.
I knew sleep wasn’t going to come easy, so there was a lot of tossing and turning (all with my fingers clenched around the Taser).
But sooner than I would have imagined, I felt sleep overwhelming me.
This right when there was a great thundering at my front door.
I jerked awake, prickles forming over my skin, thoughts crashing through my head of Brett having more to impart or dirty cops thinking I knew something and coming after me, when I heard shouted, “Kathryn! Open this fucking door!”