Chapter 74

I hated leaving CJ and Jake, I had wanted to stick around and just hang out with them and to assure our little man that he wouldn't be alone ever again. I was looking forward to just sitting in the rocking chair or stool next to it and watching her sing to Jake. It was a balm to my soul watching the joy on her face. I knew she was beyond happy that we were given the opportunity to continue caring for Jake and even the possibility of taking him home with us. That was mind blowing. Bringing the little guy to live with his new family was the icing on the cake. Thinking of me and CJ taking care of him like a couple. In our home I could picture that but didn't want to think too far ahead, afraid I'd jinx the whole thing.

If only things were easy. With what was still looming over us it needed to be dealt with, this threat was too close to home and I needed to ensure that CJ and now Jake were safe.

Luca and Popeye were in agreement. We needed to find this jackass and deal with him, I would like nothing better but to wipe him off the face of the earth. No one threatened what was mine and right now I was feeling a little possessive.

Before leaving the hospital I had called Hoyt and told him of the newest development at Popeye's bar. He said he was on his way and he'd met us there. Popeye said he wasn't too happy that Hoyt was coming but I reassured him that he was on our side and that he would be an asset to get the police to help out as much as possible.

Two things were on my mind, one we were already going to find out about but the other the lead on Jake's mom that was a welcomed surprise.

I asked Luca to tell me again exactly what he had found out. He said that Tiny had called Momma at my house Roy was still there and said one of Stars contacts said they had seen a pregnant person running towards the bottom of the pier that same night he hadn't thought much about it and would not have thought anything about it but she had bumped into him and had felt her belly and asked if she was okay. She hadn't answered but kept running. Luca said that the buildings around that area had cameras and Momma was going to make a trip to see if they would be willing to give us the footage.

"We might have footage so we need to call Momma once we get to the Bar."

We were on our way back to the bar. Popeye was beyond pissed off. Sarah, one of the bartenders, had come in on her day off to pick up a text book that she had left the night before and had walked in on the jackass leaving CJ a message. She set off the alarm and ran out of the bar, she said he had not come out the front so he must have left from the back door. The police had showed up and were still there with Sarah from what the officer said she was shook up but unharmed.

"Are you sure she is okay Luca? I don't know how many times I've told that girl to make sure she has all her books and notes with her and if she needed to go back to the bar to have one of us there. I swear if her head wasn't attached to her head she'd lose that too."

Luca looked over to him, "Dev, I know you're mad but I can't have you going off on her. She is an innocent bystander in this. We're going to have to tell everyone what's going on. I'm just grateful she did what she did, if he had been in the back or she was behind the bar while he came in the outcome might have been different and I don't want to go there."

Popeye banged his hand on the car dashboard a couple of times. "I wasn't going to go off on her, she's family, they all are. You know me better than that, I just don't like this asshole messing with my stuff. And when we find him I will teach him a lesson he won't forget. I'm sorry Cowboy this just got very personal with me so if I get to him before you, sorry but not sorry."

I knew exactly how Popeye felt. I wanted to punch the animal till there was nothing left to punch, for putting CJ through the hell she had been through, for being the cause of me almost losing the woman in my heart, I got where he was coming from. I just felt bad that now they had been dragged into our mess.

We got to the bar and Popeye didn't even wait for Luca to park. He jumped out of the car and headed straight to Sarah who was sitting on the curb in front of the bar. The officers standing by their car saw him walking towards them. We followed and saw him holding Sarah in his arms. She was crying and said she was sorry for forgetting her book and she knew he was mad at her for coming to the bar alone after telling her countless times to have one of them there for safety reasons. He whispered he was mad but not at her but at the jackass that broke into his bar.

He looked over to the officers, "Why was she sitting alone? Why didn't you offer her a seat in your car?"

The officers raised their hands, "Whoa sir you need to calm down. Are you the owner? If so then we want you to come inside to see what is missing since she has not been cooperative and is lucky we didn't arrest her. She decided she was not going to say anything to us. We did ask if she wanted paramedics to check on her and she said what for and she didn't have the money to pay for it."

I looked surprised and stepped forward and Luca blocked Popeye and Sarah as she was whispering why she wasn't cooperating.

"Hello, Officer I'm Matt Houston and yes that is the owner of the bar, Devin King. I'm sure we will be able to assist you. Me and Luca here. He's just a little pissed off that Sarah almost got hurt and the reason she isn't cooperating is that she might be in shock. Did that ever cross your mind? Stepping into a situation like that."

They stood their ground as did we. Something wasn't right and if I knew my two new friends they were going to get to the bottom of it.

"What trouble are you in now Houston?"

I looked over. Hoyt was making his way over to us and I took a deep breath, this would be the buffer we needed.

I motioned to the officers and he came to talk to them.

"Lt. Hoyt?" One of the officers was surprised by Michael's sudden appearance. "Sir we got called for a break in and are just trying to tie up the loose ends we didn't call for any other investigators. Why are you here? Are you friends with the owner."

They were acting nervous and Michael caught on.

"Just investigating to see if this has a connection to another case from this morning. Officer Evans? That is your name correct and is this your boot?"

"Yes sir, this is Harris."

Michael nodded, "This might have a connection to the infant that was found on the boardwalk the other day, and Mr. Houston is a private investigator and is part of the task force. I'll vouch for them so if your superiors give you a hard time have them call me. Okay?"

They nodded and started to walk back to their car.

"Thanks Lieutenant, I appreciate you vouching for us, Sarah here has not had a good experience with the law in the past. She doesn't trust anyone, and barely tolerates me. So it's nothing personal right Sarah."

I could see she was very young and if she was like Star, any type of authority was not welcomed.

Michael came over to Sarah and Popeye. She looked up and whispered her thanks and apologized for giving the officers a hard time.

But said they had thought she had been the one that broke in, not the person that had triggered the alarm to scare the burglar off.

"When I ran outside the officers had their guns out. I've never been so scared in my whole life I froze. I had my backpack and book in my hands and wasn't listening to them telling me to put my hands up. I tried to tell them what had happened but instead they took me down and were not gentle about it. I was face down on the sidewalk, till they finally listened to me and I showed them the keys to the place. They got me up, handcuffed me and escorted me back inside with them to turn off the alarm and call Popeye. They had just removed the handcuffs and asked if I wanted to see the paramedics but by then I was done cooperating with them."

They had pulled their guns on her and expected her to cooperate?

"Sorry for being a little upset but yeah I get they have to do their jobs but also give me the benefit of the doubt that I wasn't the bad guy yeah I look a little rough around the edges but so does half the people on this side of the pier"

Luca grabbed Popeye as he started to walk to the police car. Michael was upset he turned and called the officers back and motioned them to get out of the car.

Once they were by Michael the screaming started.

"You pulled your weapons on this young lady? Did you just forget to mention this? I understand the protocol." He went to Sarah. "Did they apologize for their mistake?"

She got close to Popeye and shook her head. Luca grabbed Popeye again and murmured to not make it worse.

"We did follow protocol. She ran out of the building while the alarm was going off and we did draw our weapons. She looked like she had something in her backpack and she wasn't listening when we told her to raise her arms. We might have been a little strong handed but we didn't know that she was the victim. We assumed she was the perpetrator. This is not a good part of the boardwalk, everyone is suspect so we are extra cautious here, lots of runaways and other undesirables."

"So you decided to victimize her again?" You know what, give me your commanding officer's name. I will be putting a report on this, go back to the station and the report you turn in better be truthful or there will be hell to pay."

Michael was in their faces and I had to pull him back. The lead officer knew Hoyt was not going to let this slide and gave him his CO's name and told his recruit to get in the car and left.

Sarah's eyes were wide as I looked over to them. Michael shrugged my hand off his arm.

"Miss I wish to apologize for this, not all law enforcement is like this please I would like if you would put a complaint in to the station they should not get away with this it gives the good guys a bad name."

He outstretched his hand waiting for her to take it and she looked at Luca and Popeye and took it and shook it and thanked him.

"This is a day for firsts. Thank you, I never thought I'd ever believe any law enforcement would ever do anything like that and that Popeye would actually comfort me after me being scared senseless."

I smiled, "thanks Michael."

"Don't thank me yet, what happened at the hospital? If you're here it must be good news."

We all walked over to the bar and I filled him in on the meeting and what was discussed and how we were allowed to resume taking care of Jake. He was happy for us and said to add him and his family to the background checks, he had talked to his wife yesterday and said she was in.

Sarah stopped at the entrance and looked over to Luca and Popeye. "It's a mess. I didn't check to see what was taken. I'm sorry I was startled by what I saw and the person that was still there."

We all nodded. Michael spoke up.

"I hope I've earned your trust, Devin and Luca but I think I've been kept in the dark long enough. Houston I think it's time to let me know what exactly is going on."

I looked over to Popeye and Luca and they nodded their heads. "We are going inside, Sarah you don't have to go in, Houston can she stay out here with you two? I really don't want you to go just yet. Luca is having someone shadow you okay just in case."

"No I'm coming in with you two I… Um, I want to help. I already missed my class and I hope my professor will give me a break."

"If it will help, I'll call him and vouch for why you missed class. It's the least I could do to remedy this."

She smiled and walked in the bar with the guys.

I gave Michael the short version on what had been happening these last couple of days minus the Star situation once we got the paperwork started then I'd tell him I didn't want him to get into any trouble because of this.

"That's quite a story and I understand they needed to see if I was trustworthy and I hope I've proven that I am. I'm happy you two have decided to get your heads out of the sand."

He looked at his watch, "I need to get back to the hospital, let's go inside and check out the damage and what message this jackass left. We will catch him Houston."

"Damn right we will need to keep her safe Michael. She will never go through that type of pain ever again."

We walked in and it was a mess. The tables and chairs we had used were overturned and in a pile it smelled like alcohol. He was going to burn it down. Sarah was behind the bar picking up broken bottles and was trying not to cry. The message he left was on the wall opposite the bar.

You can run but you can't hide. I will find you and you will pay!

There was clothing strewn around as were the pictures that used to hang on the wall. Luca was on the phone and Popeye was also on the phone and slammed it down and let out a string of curses then closed his eyes.

Michael went to him and said he would have two of his best detectives here in a matter of minutes they needed to stop and leave so they could brush for prints. He looked at him and then me and nodded and told Sarah to leave it and to climb over the bar he didn't want her to cut herself with all the glass around her.

Michael went outside to call reinforcements. I went to stand next to Popeye.

"I am so sorry this happened to you, I'll help out with whatever you need. Our family is here for you."

Luca looked at Popeye and Sarah came over and put her arm around him.

"Mr. Houston, I did leave something out, something I didn't tell the officers. I saw who did this."

"What! You did great, we can get a description and catch this bastard, this is good news."

Popeye shook his head. "Sorry Cowboy, hate to burst your bubble this message wasn't for Beautiful."

I was confused, "What do you mean?"

Sarah blurted out, "It was Boyd, he's the one that broke in and did all this."

Luca stepped up, "Houston the message was for Star and they aren't answering the phone at your house."

Chapter 75

"Come on Tiny we need to get going, I want to stop at the café to pick up some breakfast sandwiches for the masses. Boss man opened a tab for me there and the best way to get information