The Bad Boy of Butterfly Harbor(41)

“It’s a charter school about twenty miles north. TrueLane Academy. They cater to gifted kids. Beyond gifted, actually. And they do specialized curriculums for each student, playing to their strengths and interests. It’s costing me a small fortune, but what else are second mortgages for, right?”

Luke’s amusement faded. Holly taking out a second mortgage for her son’s education shifted her son’s potentially criminal situation into an entirely different arena. “I’m guessing they have a pretty strict behavior policy.”

“Kids like Simon are part of the reason they have a behavior policy. He steps one foot out of line, ends up in any kind of trouble, and he’ll be kicked out in a heartbeat. No three strikes and you’re out. It’s one and gone. And in Simon’s case he’s already had his one. This school is the best chance of finally getting him focused on something for his future. If I have to sit on him every hour he’s not in school, I’ll do it.”

And abandon the rest of her life in the process. When did Holly do anything for herself? Not that Luke was an expert, but there had to be more to life than work, home and playing warden to an eight-year-old. “I appreciate you filling me in.” Luke wasn’t one to hope for much, but right now, he really, really wanted to be wrong about who had declared war on the sheriff’s station—and him. “If he has done anything recently, I’ll do what I can to intervene.”

“I appreciate that. To be honest—” she laughed “—I’m a little relieved. I thought for sure given how he feels about his grandfather he might have done something to you. He can be overprotective of people he likes. He even got into a fight last year defending one of his classmates from a bully. Granted, he could have gotten suspended for two days for punching the little creep in the gut but—” Holly shrugged. “I was able to convince the principal to keep it out of his record.”

That meant Simon had never really been made to pay for his extracurricular activities, save for being stuck to his mother’s side for weeks on end. Not good. Not that it was his place to criticize. It wasn’t as if he had a kid or kids of his own. But if he could help steer Simon in a better direction...

“Hey, boss.” Fletch knocked on the door and poked his head in. “Ozzy thinks he’s found a way to retrieve the emails, but it’s going to take a call from you to smooth things over with the server. And the mayor called. He heard about Winters. Asked for you to call him back.”

“Okay, thanks.”

“I have to go anyway. I’m... Um.” Holly picked up her purse and stopped at the door. “I’m glad you’re okay. I hope Kyle will be when all this shakes out.”

“Assaulting a police officer isn’t the best idea in the world,” Luke said, trying to keep his tone light.

“Oh, that’s right. Any idea why he did it?”

“I know exactly why he did it,” Luke said. “Which is why I didn’t arrest him for it. I’ll walk you out.”

* * *

LUKE WAITED UNTIL after sunset before setting the alarm and closing up the station. He and Ozzy had been particular in what cameras and sensors they set up and where, and had even gone so far as to have the camera feed stored directly on their new off-site server. Luke would be able to pull up footage or a live feed from his laptop at any time.

Driving down Monarch Lane with Cash riding shotgun, he thought about his revelatory conversation with Holly. She would not be thrilled to know she’d given him information he could use against Simon. It was both disturbing and comforting to think Simon was probably the one behind all the shenanigans at the station.

The fact an eight-year-old was capable of the hacking? Luke didn’t want to think what the kid would be able to pull off after going to that gifted school of his.

But whatever the circumstances, Simon needed to be given a chance to redeem himself.

And chances—first, second or otherwise—were why Luke was alive today.

Streetlamps blinked on as he pulled his truck into Jake Gordon’s driveway. He unloaded Gert the coffeemaker out of the truck bed, lugged it to the front door, set it on the brick patio and rang the doorbell.

The porch light burst on before the door opened.

“Luke.” Jake looked surprised but happy to see him. “What brings you by?” He scrubbed a hand over his scraggly face.

“I brought you something.” He stepped to the side.

“I heard you got a new machine,” Jake said as he looked down at Gert. “Along with an earful from my daughter because of it.”

“I thought maybe you’d like it back.”