Baker’s Law (25 page)

Her heart lurched when she spotted his backpack. He’d had it that morning when he’d
left for school.

“Hill? Are you here?” Marissa moved a little closer. “Hill?”

“What are you doing here?” The voice came from her left. Hill stood under an overhang
of branches next to a tall pine. Even in the dark, she could see the bruises on his
face.

“What the hell… Are you okay?” She took a step toward him.

He backed up. “Go away, Marissa.”

“I will not go away. What the hell happened to you?”

“I got in a fight at school.”

“What did the school do about it? Why didn’t you call me?”

“The school didn’t do anything. Why would they?”

“Come on, Hill. Don’t be like that.” Her brothers had gotten in a couple of scrapes
when they were teens but neither of them ever looked like this. She marched over to
him and gently grabbed his chin to examine his face. Both eyes were blacked. His left
cheek was puffed up to nearly the size of a golf ball. There was a small rip in his
T-shirt. “You better start talking right now.”

“Some guys I used to run with jumped me.”

She tried not to panic. This was all new territory for her. “Get your shit and get
your ass in the car. Now.” Luckily Hill did nothing more than nod before he helped
her back up the embankment to her car. She drove him to the urgent care clinic to
get checked out. A few hundred dollars later, he had a needs-time-to-heal assessment
but, thankfully, was otherwise okay.

Back at the house, Marissa walked in without saying word. She set her things on the
table and stopped Hill before he could head to his room. “I want some answers. Now.”

“You’d better start talking.” Marissa stood next to her fireplace. She had her hands
shoved in the back pockets of her jeans, afraid she might shake the truth from him.

Hill stood tall and proud—and silent—his head bent, his eyes cast down, much the same
way she’d found him that first night in her shop.

“Come on. Talk to me. Why would you run off?” She hated the pleading edge in her voice
but she wanted to know what was what. She needed to get him to open up to her. Hadn’t
she given him every reason to trust her? Hadn’t she bent over backward?

“I’ve done all I can do. If you aren’t willing to trust me…” She pulled her hands
from her pockets and ran them over her hair as she leaned against the wall behind
her. Sheer exhaustion leeched her strength.

“I trust you.” The words were spoken in barely more than a whisper.

She shrugged. Cleary he didn’t or he wouldn’t have run off.

“I know who it is.”

Marissa narrowed her eyes. “Who is what?”

“I know who’s breaking into the stores.”

Marissa’s stomach turned. “You what?”

Hill paced the length in front of the sofa for a moment before he dropped down onto
it. He set his elbows on his knees and covered his face with his large hands. “I know
the guys who have been breaking into the stores. They’ve been doing it for a few years
now.”

A shiver crawled down Marissa’s spine but she didn’t want to voice her thoughts.

“You’ve seen them,” he added. “They came by the shop. They’re the ones.”

Marissa frowned, then closed her eyes. The teens who’d been at the shop on Sunday
were responsible for breaking into half the businesses in the downtown area?

“How do you… Have you…” Her knees weakened. She’d defended the boy to Jax. She slid
down the bricked wall until her butt hit the backs of her sneakers. “You’ve done it,
too?”

“The first few times, yeah, I was there. But that was years ago. I still knew how
to get in, though.”

“How?”

“Bryant’s brother.”

“Who’s Bryant?”

“Bryant Travers is a guy I used to go to school with. He dropped out my sophomore
year. His brother went up to the pen about that time. Two years ago or so. Drugs or
something, I don’t even remember. But he’d been breaking and entering around here
and Fort Worth for a while.”

Marissa rolled her hand at him to continue.

“He got his hands on this heavy-duty drill. He’d drill a hole in the doors with a
crossbar latch. Like yours. Then he could go in anytime he wanted. He’d test out a
few and see if they had security systems.”

“And you robbed these places?”

Hill’s head came up. “
I
never took a single thing.”

“But you were there with them, when they did?”

He held her gaze for a long moment, nodded then looked away. “When they started tearing
up the shops they were robbing, I got away from them. I didn’t want any part of that.”
He shrugged. “We’ve been avoiding each other for well over a year. I don’t know why
Bryant started coming around. Him and Cooper, the dark-haired one, they’ve been friends
since they were little. I don’t even know who the other guy is.”

“Dammit, Hill.”

He stood. “I’ll leave.”

“And what will that solve?” Marissa stood too. “Sit your ass back down.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Marissa paced the length of the floor. “God. I should have realized… I was stupid
not to question you more on how you got in. She set one hand on her forehead and the
other on her hip. “He tried to tell me. But I was too stubborn to listen.” She stopped.
“The fire?”

His face hardened. “I didn’t set it.”

“I don’t think you did.” She rolled her eyes. “Was it those guys, too?”

“I don’t know. If I had to guess, I’d say yes.”

“And the fight.” It wasn’t a question. She motioned to her face indicating all the
bruises he’d gotten. “Why?”

Hill paled and fidgeted.

“Hill.” Marissa sat next to him on the sofa. “What was the fight about?”

“The chief.”

Marissa frowned. “I beg your pardon.”

“Bryant thinks I’m gonna rat him out to the police.”

“But Jax doesn’t even know about him. Or any of this.”

He leaned back and turned his gaze to hers. “But Bryant sees the chief over at your
shop all the time.”

“And this was what, a threat to keep you from talking? To make you leave?”

Hill snorted. “All of the above I guess.”

“I need to tell Jax.”

“You can’t.” Hill fisted his hands.

For the first time, he looked terrified. “He can help you, Hill. He needs to know
what’s going on, otherwise the guys are going to keep breaking into people’s businesses.
This is people’s livelihoods they’re messing with. And what if someone gets hurt?
One of these times someone could be in their store. Not to mention what they’ve done
to you. What if they’d hurt you worse? What if they come after me? Or Lexi?”

“I don’t think—”

“I was there the last time you broke into my shop, remember? What if it had been Bryant?
Do you honestly think he’d be compliant like you were? Do you honestly think he would
not hurt me? Hell if he did set fire to that Dumpster, you do realize it could have
taken out the entire block.”

Hill held her gaze. She could see the indecision warring in him.

“I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise.” She set her hand atop his fists.
“You have to trust me.”

* * *

Jax stood on Marissa’s front porch. When he’d gotten her call half an hour earlier,
he’d expected some kind of apology for sneaking out, but her brusque request that
he come over… Something about her tone made him think it was something else. He hadn’t
even bothered to go home and change, but came straight from the station, still wearing
his uniform. He knocked on the door and stood back.

Only a moment later the door whisked open. Marissa looked over her shoulder into her
house, then stepped out onto the porch, pulling the door nearly closed.

“Um, I need to ask you a huge favor,” she whispered.

Jax’s gut twisted. Something was definitely going on. He gave her a noncommittal grunt.

“I want you to keep an open mind. I want you to hear everything I tell you before
you get all…I don’t know, chiefy.”

Chiefy
? What the hell was going on?

“Can you promise not to overreact?”

“I can’t make any promises when I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”

She frowned. “I think I can help you with the break-ins. But—” she held up her hand
when he started to speak “—you have to hear everything out before you start whipping
out your badge and whatnot. If you can’t promise me that, I won’t let you in.”

He shifted his stance, shoved his hands on his belt. “You’re impeding an ongoing investigation.”

“One that you need info on.” She pulled the door shut the remainder of the way. Then
she held out her wrist to him. “You can arrest me right here and now and take me in,
but I’m gonna tell you, I’ll lawyer up and you’ll get nothing from me.” Marissa looked
up at Jax. “What’ll it be?”

“Fine. Open mind.”

Marissa nodded and opened the door. He followed her into the living room. Paul Hillman
stood at the entrance. The teen’s face was bruised and swollen.

“The fight at the high school?” Jax motioned to the teen.

The teen nodded.

“Sit down, please.” Marissa motioned Jax to the large chair while she and Paul Hillman
sat side-by-side on the sofa. “So here’s the deal.” She looked up at the teen. When
he nodded she continued, “Hill can tell you about the break-ins, tell you who’s been
doing it.”

“Besides him, you mean?” It popped out before Jax could stop himself. Was Marissa
blind? The boy had broken into her shop. Of course he knew about the break-ins.

“I told you—” Hill shifted and tried to stand, but Marissa put a staying hand on his
arm.

“Open mind, Jax. Remember?”

Jax eyed her for a long moment, then rolled his hand for them to go on.

The teen explained to Jax about the break-ins going back at least three years. How
they’d gained entry, how they’d started off with petty items and how when it wasn’t
noticed at first they ratcheted up their burglary. One of the boys’ older brothers
had been the one to drill into the doors.

Everything he said meshed with what Jax had uncovered in the old case files. “And
your face?”

“They were trying to make him back off. They thought he was talking to you.”

“So that’s why you decided to come forward?”

Marissa’s mouth turned down. “Does it matter why he tells you as long as he tells
you? He could’ve kept his mouth shut altogether and no one would have been any the
wiser.”

Jax ignored the whole, “unlawfulness of withholding information” thing. For that matter,
Marissa could be just as culpable depending on how long she’d known. “I need names.”
He pulled out his little notebook.

Hill looked at Marissa. She gave him a quick nod and then he rattled off two names.
“I don’t know the third guy.”

“These guys—” he tapped his pen to the pad “—beat you up and you’re saying they’re
responsible for all the break-ins.”

“Yes, sir.”

“How do I know you’re not turning them in now because they turned on you?”

“Jax.” Marissa leaned forward from her perch on the sofa.

“It’s a valid question. This has been going on for years. So why now have you decided
to come forward?”

Hill sat quiet for a moment. He squirmed under Jax’s scrutiny. “Bryant threatened
Marissa.”

“What?” Jax’s heart sped up.

“What?” Marissa paled. “You didn’t tell me…”

Hill stood and turned his back on the pair. “He said that if I didn’t back off you
would be next.”

Sweat beaded at Jax’s temple. He reached for his cell and called in to the station.
“Ada, hi, I need you to get APBs out.” He read off the two names he had. “Get Collins
to pick up the Travers boy first.”

“On what grounds?”

“Let’s start with assault.” Jax shifted his gaze to Hill, ended the call, then stood.
He wanted nothing more than to take Marissa in his arms, to comfort her, but he had
a duty first. “Where’s your family, Hill?”

Marissa stood and got between Jax and Hill. “His mother died. His father ran off.”

“Okay, so who’s the guardian?”

“He doesn’t have one.”

Jax signed. “He needs one. How old are you?”

“He’s seventeen.”

“Marissa, you need to let him speak for himself.” Jax shifted his gaze to Hill’s.
“When did your father run off?”

“September.”

“That’s a long time to be alone.”

“September a year ago,” Hill continued.

Jax shot his gaze to Marissa. For well over a year this kid had been alone and fending
for himself. No one should be alone. Hill had Marissa now, but it wasn’t enough and
it wasn’t legal. “You should have gone for help.”

“So he could become some statistic?”

“It’s not like that, Marissa. There are good homes and good people who could have
taken care of him.”

“Where were they when he was living under the bridge out west of town?”

“They didn’t know about him.” Jax tucked his notebook back into his pocket. “But now
that I know, we can get him help.”

“He doesn’t need help. He has me.” She puffed up her chest.

“And that’s great, but he needs more. He needs stability.” When she started to argue,
he continued, “He was living out of the back of your store, wasn’t he? I’m guessing
up until the fire.”

That knocked some of the wind from her sails.

“Plus I need to get some more information from him about the break-ins.”

Hill and Marissa both had startled looks on their faces. He didn’t necessarily mean
it as a threat, but Hill had admitted he’d participated in a couple, and for that
alone, Jax could arrest him on the spot. Instead he was trying to be reasonable.

“I don’t think so.” Hill started backing up. “I am not going to jail for this.”

Marissa turned to the teen. “It’ll be okay. I’ll…I’ll get a lawyer. We can get this
worked out.”

“Just like you said it would work out if I talked to your
boyfriend.
He wants to arrest me.” Hill backed up farther.

The teen was about to bolt. Jax set his hand on Marissa’s arm so he could get past
her and get control of the situation. The slight movement, though, was enough for
Hill. He turned and darted for the front door.