Baker’s Law (27 page)

The rest of the afternoon went by in a blur. She helped customers as they came in,
maybe, there were times she wasn’t even sure. When Kya arrived, Marissa hid in her
office. Hid, because she’d caught a glimpse of her reflection in the appliances or
the windows and she hated to see herself. Her dad was right. And Jax was right. Hill
needed more, Hill needed forever, not just while she could. And she had only half-assed
it.

Not that it mattered anymore since Hill had run away.

Her stomach pitched every time she thought of him out there all alone.

Marissa spent the evening looking up agencies online to see what she could do, how
she could take the next step that Hill needed—assuming she could find him and he’d
trust her again.

She’d barely lifted her gaze from her computer when Kya locked up after closing time
and said her goodbyes. When Marissa’s eyes started to cross, she leaned back in her
chair, startled to realize it was close to ten. She groaned and rubbed her neck as
she looked at the old sofa. She had to be back up and out the door early the next
morning for Callie’s bridal shower. She debated staying in the shop and saving some
time, but her comfy bed at home beckoned. That and a shower were more enticing than
the few extra minutes of sleep.

Marissa gathered up her bag and turned out the lights in the back. She had her keys
in her hand as she stepped out the back door. She was poised to lock the back door
when the hair on the back of her neck stood. She froze, unsure of what was off. No
noise sounded out of place, nothing had caught her eye when she’d come out, but dread
and unease rippled through her so much that she had a quick mental flash of calling
Jax.

That thought alone made her reach for the door to go back inside. Before she could
grab it, something slammed into her back. She was pushed up against the door. The
side of her head made harsh contact with the cool metal. Her ears rang and her vision
blurred for a moment. She tried to push away to get her bearings, but something heavy—a
person she realized—held her in place.

“Where is he?”

The whispered question startled her. It took her a moment just to make sense of the
words and acknowledge that someone—a man—was speaking to her. She began to shake.
“Where is who?”

A sharp pain radiated from her upper arm as the man behind her ruthlessly dug his
fingers into her.

“Don’t play stupid, bitch.”

Marissa tried to turn her head to see who was behind her, but the man dug his fingers
into her arm harder and shoved her against the door again. Her bag hung from her other
arm. Her cell was in there, and any number of items she could use to defend herself,
but the way her shoulder pressed into door, there was no way she’d be able to get
into it. She needed to free herself.

God, she needed Jax.

They may be at odds but he wouldn’t let anyone hurt her. Or anyone else, for that
matter. Including a scared teenage boy. He would help Hill. When he found him.

All of a sudden, Jax’s parting words rang in her ears. He’d warned her that Bryant
Travers was on the loose. They had picked up the other guys but hadn’t found him.
But he’d found her. She clenched her eyes shut.

Travers growled in her ear. His warm breath feathered over her cheek and she fought
back a shudder. The sound of a car driving by startled him. He pressed up against
her.

The patrols out front of the shop had increased tenfold. Marissa suspected Jax had
hoped Hill would come back to the shop and he could snap him up. For that alone, she
was glad that Hill hadn’t come looking for her. She’d help him do the right thing,
and they’d face it together.

Now, however, she wished they were watching
her
moves more closely.

When the threat passed, Travers eased back slightly. “Hill.” The hand on her arm tightened.
“Where is he?”

“I don’t know.”

“Don’t lie to me, bitch.”

“I don’t know. We had a fight.”

The man jerked her around and slammed her against the door. Even with the dim light
illuminating the small lot, she recognized the young man from the few times he’d come
by the shop. Travers towered over her.

He grabbed her other arm and pinned her in place. “Do I look stupid to you? I know
you talked him into going to your
boyfriend.
Greg and Cooper’ve already been hauled in.” He shook her.

Before she could stop herself, she gave a sharp cry as the back of her head hit the
door.

Bryant glanced over his shoulder, his gaze darting around the empty lot, then zeroed
back in on her. His pupils were almost as big as the light blue rings around it. He
bared his teeth with a snarl.

She started shaking. “He ran off.” It was the truth, whether Travers believed her
or not. But even if she had known where Hill was, she sure as hell wouldn’t tell Travers.
“I haven’t seen him in days.”

Bryant narrowed his gaze. “He should come sniffing around here before too long.” He
released her arms and jerked his chin toward the shop. “Let’s go inside and wait.”

* * *

Jax rubbed the bridge of his nose. It was half past ten and he’d been at it since
just after dawn. He’d been going over all the old case files for break-ins over the
past few years. Every single one of them were as Hill, and then Cooper had laid out,
and he could tie the small gang to them all. It was more than a relief in one way.
He’d be able to close the majority of their open cases going back several years. At
the same time, he hated the trouble that would heap down on Hill. He’d been young
when he committed the break-ins with Travers, so that would go in his favor. And he
had stopped—which Cooper corroborated.

Bryant Travers had a juvie record. Jax couldn’t get it without a warrant, but he asked
around, made some calls to people who might know what he’d been in trouble for. Most
of it was typical pain-in-the-ass teen stunts. Graffiti. Vandalism. Nothing that would
indicate he’d start breaking into businesses. But with his older brother in jail and
two parents who hadn’t bothered to help him in any way, what chances did he have?

His mind flashed to Hill. The boy had been dealt nearly the same exact hand, had even
admitted to being at the first few break-ins, but then he’d realized what he was doing,
where his life was headed and backed away. Somehow Hill had maintained his grades
in school, despite his living arrangements for well over a year. He was on track to
be in the top five percent of his class, even. His teachers couldn’t say enough good
things about him. When pressed, though, they admitted they assumed
someone else
was on top of his living situation, passing the buck off to the next person. He couldn’t
imagine how Hill could have gotten by for so long, all by himself. All the while he’d
been on the street.

Jax admired the boy.

And now, Jax needed to find him. As Jax had told Marissa, Hill needed to stand accountable
for what he’d done wrong, but there was a lot that could be done to help him, as well.
Jax had found several options open to Hill. Several avenues that Marissa could pursue
if she wanted to become his legal guardian, make it official. And a few other ways
if not. Hell, he was tempted to do it himself. Hill needed a break. Deserved a break.

If they could find him.

A knock at Jax’s door pulled him from his thoughts.

Ada’s shift had ended at least an hour earlier but she’d hung around and filed some
paperwork for him. Said she was racking up some brownie points for raise time. “Chief?”
she said when he glanced over at her.

Jax rolled his shoulders. “Yeah?”

“There’s a young man here to see you.”

Who would be looking for him so late on a Friday? She moved aside and Hill stepped
through the doorway. “We’ve been looking for you.” Jax got to his feet, tried not
to make the moves too jerky. “Marissa’s been…” Jax shook his head. Marissa would be
torn. She wanted the boy found, but with him walking into the police station, Jax
had to take him into custody.

“I came to turn myself in.” Hill held his gaze steady, stood straight.

Jax let out a breath. “You did the right thing.”

Hill shrugged. “I did what Marissa would want me to do.”

“She’s been torn up looking for you.” Jax couldn’t hide the emotion in his voice.
He’d nearly been floored when he’d seen how haggard Marissa looked earlier that morning.
He wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms and comfort her. To tell her everything
would be okay. At the time, he hadn’t been one hundred percent sure it would. A lot
hinged on finding Hill. Hearing his side of the story again as the case unfolded.
“Sit.” Jax motioned to the chair on the other side of his desk.

“Yes, sir.” Keeping his shoulders square, Hill took a seat. He didn’t slouch as the
other guys had when they’d been hauled in. He held Jax’s gaze, kept a respectful attitude.
“I was wondering…” His gaze fell for the first time. He swallowed heavily.

“Yes?”

Hill threaded his fingers together in his lap. “How is Marissa?”

It said a lot to Jax that the boy was here in his office, probably looking at a sentence—even
if only probation—for his participation in the crimes, and his thoughts weren’t how
he could get out or deny anything, but he was concerned for the woman who’d taken
him in. The boy had character. And Marissa had been a good judge of it.

“She’ll be better now that she knows you’re okay.”

“Am I? Okay?”

Jax gave him a long considering look and nodded. “You will be.” Jax stood. “Sit tight
for just a moment. You want a soda or something?”

When the boy shook his head, Jax went out into the hall and pulled out his cell phone.
It might be against procedure, but he called Marissa. She’d want to know.

The phone rang and rang until finally the voice message came on. “Marissa, Hill came
in. Please call me as soon as you can.”

When he hung up, he called one of his sister’s friends next. At Callie’s engagement
party, he’d spoken to one of her bridesmaids, Susie Quatrain. She’d been a year ahead
of Callie in school and now she worked for a big law firm in Fort Worth. It wouldn’t
hurt to give her a call on Hill’s behalf.

He returned to his office. Hill hadn’t so much as twitched, it looked like.

“What do we do now, sir?” Hill asked when Jax say back in his seat.

Jax fought back a smile. The boy was a good kid. “We’ll call in CPS—they’ll need to
be here since you don’t have a guardian.”

Panic flared in Hill’s eyes.

Jax leaned forward and held up his hand. “It will be okay. I’ve got it taken care
of. You’re going to have to trust me.”

Jax had looked into emergency guardianship if Marissa was interested. He had a few
favors he could pull in—one of the few times he’d been thankful for growing up a part
of the Oak Hollow Country Club. Fellow members were in all branches of the local and
state government. Some were old friends of his parents, some were guys he’d gone to
school with, or close kin. He’d made some discreet inquiries early on for Marissa’s
sake. With her willing—and he’d stake everything he considered holy she would be—he
could have Hill under her guardianship in a matter of days.

When CPS arrived, he ushered everyone into his office. He and Hill went over his statement
on the burglaries several times. It was exhausting but it had to be done.

“Marissa will want to keep helping you. And she will. She went out on a limb for you.
When no one else would.”

“I know.” Hill slumped down in his chair. “Have you ever had nothing, Chief? I mean
absolutely nothing.”

“Not really.”

“It makes it hard to trust a good thing when it comes along. But at some point, you
have to take a chance. Marissa was willing to take a chance on me. I know it was because
of her mom, but I’m still just as thankful for the opportunity.”

“And that’s why you turned yourself in? For Marissa.”

Hill nodded. “And for me. I owe it to her, to me, to get this squared away.” He straightened
back up. “She’s worth it. I’m worth it. She made me see that.”

Jax’s heart was close to bursting. The kid saw Marissa the same way he did. She was
remarkable and Jax was ready to kick himself because he hadn’t told her so. He planned
to rectify that as soon as he could. Which would have to wait. His office was buzzing
between Hill’s confession and searching for Travers.

It was several hours later when he dragged his tired ass into his cruiser. Several
times throughout the night, he’d tried calling Marissa. He couldn’t blame her for
not answering. She was pissed. If the roles were reversed he’d probably react the
same way, but he’d hoped once she’d listened to a couple of messages, knowing Hill
was at the station, she’d have called to check on him.

On his way home, though it was in the opposite direction, he drove past her house.
All the lights were off. He thought of knocking on her door and waking her, but truth
be told, other than lending moral support there was little she could do until Hill
had been processed. Letting her get as much rest now was the last little bit he could
do for her.

At home, he’d let Solider out, then all but collapsed onto his bed. It wasn’t until
the phone blared that he even realized he’d gone to sleep.

He sat up, scratched his head, then snatched up the receiver. “‘Lo?”

“What the hell, Jackson Buford Carlisle?” Callie was truly pissed if she was using
his full name.

Jax sat up and scrubbed his hand over his face. “What did I do?”

“Why did you have to go and piss off Marissa?”

His spine straightened. “Beg pardon?” A gnawing in the pit of his stomach manifested.

“Susie just told me all about—”

“She’s not supposed to divulge—” Jax stood and paced the small space next to his bed.

“She didn’t
divulge
anything, but telling me about the players she was up all night dealing with, I’m
not stupid. You couldn’t have waited one day to pull your police chief crap?”