Devlin and Garrick by Cameron Dane (short story to read txt) 📕

“Me too,” Garrick murmured.

“Thank you. Matt was another one of the good ones.” A wistful smile that reached her chocolate-brown eyes transformed her into a lovely woman.

The first shoots of dawn fought against the darkness outside, and to Devlin it felt as if the battle for daylight lifted the weight of the house too. As the shadows slowly started to recede, Grace watched her children with a returning sparkle in her gaze. “There’s a lot of Matt in Chloe,” she shared. “And I know it’s not biologically possible, but I see him in Shawnee sometimes too.”

Garrick followed her stare to the children. “Maybe it’s Chloe rubbing off on Shawn, and the osmosis is happening that way.”

“Probably,” Grace replied.

Wyn returned, and Devlin almost asked the man if someone had sucker punched him.

“You’re not going to believe this,” Wyn said. He looked at his phone, still in his hand, as if it had sprouted horns, a tail, and wings. “We don’t even have an official BOLO out yet, but a patrol car just responded to the preliminary information that our dispatcher shared over the radio. I can’t confirm it this second, but a car matching Garrick’s description of Randy’s plowed into a garbage truck at full speed a bit ago. The driver flew through the windshield. The guys on the scene say it doesn’t look good.”

The fire trucks I heard.

“Call Aidan,” Devlin told Wyn. “He’s on duty right now. His emergency crew would be called to the scene of an accident like that.”

Wyn raised a finger as he stepped away, his phone already once again at his ear. A murmur of unrecognizable words floated to Devlin as the man moved into another room.

Grace looked back and forth between Garrick and Devlin. She stared at the wall that had Wyn on the other side, and then back to Garrick. She started sawing down on a thumbnail with her teeth. “I know it’s not right to wish someone dead...”

“I don’t think anyone would judge you in this situation,” Garrick said. “We’re all hoping we hear the same thing when Wyn hangs up that phone.”

“Agreed,” Devlin said in a hushed voice.

All three of them sat in strained silence, listening to indecipherable murmurs coming from Wyn in the kitchen. When he returned, they all leapt out of their seats in unison like jack-in-the-boxes.

“Take a seat.” Wyn gestured them down with his hand. “I talked to Ethan. I thought he was doing his overnight last evening, and he was. I figured I’d have a better shot getting through to him than I would Aidan.” Ethan was part of the volunteer fire brigade; twice a week he was part of the volunteer rotation that slept at the firehouse as part of the official crew.

“Ethan was still at the scene doing cleanup,” Wyn told them. “He confirms the make and model of the car Garrick described. While I waited on the line, he took a look at the plate and confirmed the first three numbers too.” Wyn took a seat and focused solely on Grace. “It was Randy. The physical description and the clothing of the driver is what you gave me. They didn’t find any identification on the victim or in the car, but it has to be him. A coincidence in this situation wouldn’t jive. He’s DOA, Grace.” Wyn nodded, as if to help her believe it. “He wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. The speed with which he was driving propelled him out of the car and into the back of the garbage truck. He died instantly. You don’t have to worry about him hurting you or your children ever again.”

Grace covered her mouth and stifled a moan. She started to tilt to the side, and Devlin and Garrick grabbed her arms to situate her upright.

A minute passed in silence, in which Grace gathered herself and blinked away tears. “I can’t believe it’s over,” she whispered, clearly dazed as hell.

“It’ll take some time to sink in,” Garrick said. “That’s natural.”

“I already put a hold on the BOLO when Shue called to let me know about the accident,” Wyn offered. “Here’s the deal. I’ve canceled it. As far as I’m concerned, I never came here.” He kept his attention on Grace. “Unless there’s some reason you want me to file a report, I’ll just say the BOLO was in reference to something illegal I got a tip on, and I’ll leave it at that.”

“No need for a report,” Grace answered. “If that really is Randy in that car then there’s no reason to file anything.” Grace pushed her hair off her face and twisted it into a knot. “I’d just like to go back to my life and try to get my kids past what happened tonight.”

“I understand that,” Wyn said.

“Thank you so much for coming here in the middle of the night.” Grace reached across the table and shook Wyn’s hand. “You’ve been very kind. I don’t know what we would have done without your willingness to help.”

Wyn dipped his head. “It’s all right. Just so you’re aware, when the victim is formally identified, it’s possible an eager reporter with the local paper will connect the dots and come ask some questions. How much or little you say is up to you.” His gaze slid to Garrick. “There’s definitely no reason to mention anything about your tenant. Which is a damned good thing,” Wyn narrowed a stare at Devlin, “because I would have had a hard time ignoring a kicked-in back door in my report when I already had a broken bathroom window as my perp’s point of entry.” The stare turned to a full-on glare. “You didn’t mention that little detail when we talked, Morgan.”

“It wasn’t deliberate.” Devlin held up his hands. “I honest-to-God didn’t even think about it.”

Open worry shone in Grace’s eyes. “Are you sure someone won’t get nosy and put Garrick’s picture in the paper, should they come questioning me?”

“Highly unlikely,” Wyn answered. “It’s a sad statement