Mind Play (Bennett Sisters Book 3) (27 page)

Detective Berman leaned back in his chair with his elbows resting on the armrest
, H
is fingers steeple
d
in front of his chest
.
“
I’ve been around a long time
,
Butch.
I read the
paper
,
and that was the first thug in a year that
’s
been killed. I assume he has
something to do with it.
Am I right?”

Butch leaned forward with his elbows resting on his knees. “Yep, he does. But we aren’t here to ask you about him. We want to know what you remember about
Detective
Bennett’s last case. There were some notes missing from the file. Specifically about
interrogating
Patricia Clark. She seemed to be a key player
. She
set up the meeting and was an informant for the precinct. Did you guys question her further about her role and what she saw?
”

Detective Berman pushed himself up with his arms and grabbed his walker, pushing it across the room toward a mahogany desk
placed up against the wall.
He leaned on the desk for support and pulled a drawer open, pulling out a file. He shook it at Butch.

Butch stood
,
took the file from the detective’s hand
,
and sat back down next to Claire while the old man made his way back to his recliner.

“Everything you need to know is in there. I made a copy of the file before I retired. There was always something that seemed a bit off about her statement
,
and I didn’t want
it to go to the grave with me, so it’s all in my notes.” He glanced at Claire. “You
r
dad deserved better than that.
He tried to help that young woman.”

“How so?”
Claire wanted to understand why this was so important that he
’d
risked his life over it and why they’d had to live all of these years without him. Her dad
had been
a proud man and would have helped anyone in trouble, but why did it have to be him that died as a result of it?

“Patricia Clark was living with an abusive drug dealer. You
r
dad tried for years to help her get out of the situation and away from the bastard she was
living with
. Rex Simpson was a known drug dealer and all around scumbag. Patricia wouldn’t leave him
though
. Your dad tried to help her and offered her the witness protection program if she’d turn evidence against him.” Detective Berman glanced out the window as if lost in thought. “The poor girl was scared.”

Claire stood to leave. “Thank you for your time
,
d
etective.” She walked toward the door with Butch following. She turned around as Butch opened the door. “One more thing
,
d
etective
.
Do you know where I might be able to find Patricia?”

Detective Berman smiled. “You are a smart girl, aren’t
you?
I picked up where your father left off
and
helped her move ou
t of town
to
start a new life.
She wasn’t in the witness protection program or anything like that. Just a friend, helping a friend out you might say.
”

Claire smiled back at the
d
etective. “And where might we be able to find Mrs. Clark?”

“You won’t.
However,
you can find Ms
. Glenda
Smith in Sexton, the next town over. If I were you, I’d check out the
food at the
local diner while your there.”
Berman winked and a smile tilt on his lips.

Claire nodded. “Good
d
ay
,
d
etective, and thank you for your time.”

That had gone better than she expected. With their luck recently, she was surprised they hadn’t found the detective
had
Alzheimer’s
and
wasn’t able to
remember her father at all. Not only had he remembered specific details, but he’d done them one better
.
H
e’d
told
them
where to look next
,
and that was a major improvement
over
where they’d been only hours before.

Claire climbed up into Butch’s truck contemplating her next options
as she set the file down in
her
lap
. She looked down at her nice pressed pants
,
and a thought struck her. She needed to change
into everyday clothes. Dressed as she was, she doubted Glenda would open up to her.

“Butch, I need to run by my house and change.”

“Why
,
angel
? Y
ou look fine the way you are.”

“I want to throw on some jeans. I don’t want to scare the woman away
. S
he might not want to talk to me if she thinks I’m with some agency. I want to be an everyday average
J
oe.
”

“That’s going to
be difficult for you
,
beautiful. You stick out like a sore thumb everywhere you go. Men can’t take their eyes off you.”

“Butch
,
get serious. I need to run by the house and change. Besides
,
you can give an update to Jake.”

“Okay
,
angel
.”

They rode in virtual silence the rest of the way. The only sounds were coming from the speakers in the car. The melody wasn’t the type of music she’d expect Butch to listen to. But then again, ha
d
anything been what she’d expected when she met him?
Nope
, not at all, even the thought of him being a father didn’t scare her like she’d thought it would.

Butch reached over and linked their fingers together and brought it up to his lips pressing a gentle kiss to the outside of her palm.

Claire smiled. “Butch?”

“Yeah angel.”

“I just wanted you to know that I do believe you about Regina, and I’ll be by your side for as long as you want me there.”

Butch glanced over at Claire and smiled. “You’re an amazing woman, Claire Bennett.” Butch pressed his lips to her palms once more. “I don’t want you to worry about Regina, we’ll deal with her when all of this is over. My main goal is to keep you and your sisters safe and that means we need to be focused on finding answers from Glenda.”

She pe
e
ked under her lashes at the man behind the wheel.
Butch hummed
quietly to the
soft
music.
Claire
smiled
. W
hy hadn’t she paid attention before? Her gaze went back to the window as his humming tickled her ears. She wanted to grin but knew he’d stop if she d
id. It w
ould have been
almost peaceful if the pending confrontation hadn’t been looming over her head. She didn’t know what the woman was going to say. What possible
explanation
would have been good enough for it to warrant taking a father away from his children
?

Claire closed her eyes and pictured her dad. She remembered her mom best, having had more time with her, but she could still picture the man she had looked up to all of those years ago. They were in the garden, and he’d been trying to help her catch a baseball.
It was one of her favorite memories with her dad
.

The truck came to a stop
,
and she was pulled from her precious memory. She opened her eyes to find they were idl
ing
in her driveway.

Butch leaned over and took her hand
,
placing a gentle kiss on her knuckles. “Angel, you don’t have to go. I can do this for you
if it’s too painful.”

In that second Claire
realized
she could love this man for the rest of her life. His constant willingness to make things easier on her, worrying about how it would affect her
cracked what little walls were left guarding her heart.
He’d
been the first
person
in a long time
besides her family
,
getting to know her inside and out.

Claire leaned over and placed a kiss on his lips before she rested her forehead on his
.
“Yes I do. I have to know. She holds the key to what happened all of those years ago
,
and it’s time we finally had the truth.”

Butch grinned. “Angel, you’re stronger than you give yourself credit for
.
I just want you to know that it’s okay to lean on me and let me take care of you.”

Claire pulled the handle on the truck and hopped down
. B
efore she shut the door
,
her gaze met his. “I’ve always been the one to do the
caring;
relying on someone else isn’t
something I’m use
d
to
. J
ust give me some time for all of this to sink in.”

Butch didn’t wait for her to shut the truck door
. H
e stepped out of the driver side and rounded the truck
,
pushing her door shut for her. H
e trapped her by putting h
is hands on the truck on each side of her head. He bent his head and brushed his lips with hers before kissing her neck and whispering in her ear. “
Get use
d
to this
,
baby. Get use
d
to me because I’m always going to be right here.” He
again pressed his
lips
to hers.
“For you.”