When Perfect Meets Crazy novel Chapter 26

I perched at the edge on of Parker’s desk, stretching my legs out in front of me as my eyes did a quick sweep of our surroundings. No one seemed to be listening or paying any attention to me. Not even Parker himself who had his attention buried in the case file in front of him.

“Hey.” I tapped his shoulder for good measure.

He was known for his laser-like focus. It rivalled mine even. He once read through a fight that broke out between a criminal and another cop right in front of his desk and didn’t know at all even though it got so heated a shot was almost fired. He was that good at tuning out background noise.

I tapped him again. He raised his head up slowly, eyeing me up, then down.

“What are you doing here?”

Although his tone was less than friendly, I didn’t mind. I understood where he was coming from. I also hated being pulled out of studying. Or worse, reading a novel.

“Stopped by to drop off the Sheriff’s jacket,” I lied.

After Masked Idiot ran off without confirming my theory, I decided if I had to wait, my brain would explode and engineered this trip to drop off a jacket that was in fact sitting in the basement back home, waiting to be washed. If anyone but my dad asked though, that was my cover story. As for my dad, I lied I was looking for a paper, an assignment, that might’ve gotten mixed up with his documents. I hadn’t expected him to be around since he mentioned having to meet the mayor today but, apparently, the meeting was a short one. I had to improvise the lie on the spot when I ran into him on the way in. He wasn’t pleased but he allowed me to search his office. When I came up emptyhanded –as expected-, he curtly showed me out of his office, ordering me to ‘be more organized next time.’

And now, I was finally at Parker’s desk. The entire reason I had engineered the trip to begin with.

Parker nodded distractedly, gathering up the papers in front of him into the file.

“What do you need?” He went straight to the point.

It was one of the main things I liked about him. I wasn’t one for small talk unless my mom was present and expected it of me. It was why I didn’t have so many close female friends. The come-over-and-hang-at-my-place type. Such hangouts were usually full of small talk and it was a character trait I didn’t seem to have been born with. Well, that and I never knew when my dad would start acting up nor could I trust them not to do something my mom would find ill-mannered like not hang their coats properly or leave their shoes lying around haphazardly were the reasons I rarely ever had friends over. Compartmentalizing was much safer. Keeping my school life separate from my home life was just better.

“This guy,” I showed him the picture of Masked Idiot on my phone, “could you help me look into him?”

“What did you do?” He stopped, dropped everything and gave me his full attention.

I stiffened, watching raptly as a frown blossomed on his face.

“Nothing.” I shook my head.

“Nothing? Then, why do you want me looking into a Fed for you?”

“You know him?” My eyes widened. Fed? My guess was actually correct?

“I ran into him a couple of times at the... hold on a sec, how do you know him? And why the hell are you looking into him?”

“We... just met. He seemed a bit sketchy, that’s all.” I shrugged innocently.

His eyes narrowed, his lips pursing with disapproval.

Parker, unfortunately, happened to be one of the two people on earth that I couldn’t successfully bullshit. Not without effort, at least. My mom was at the top of that very short list and that was all.

“Try again,” he said flatly.

“Fine.” I huffed. Bending the truth would have to suffice. “I thought he was criminal. You know, he’s... big and brawny and he kept popping up and disappearing randomly. I just wanted to be sure I wasn’t keeping the wrong kind of company.”

“A Fed is the wrong kind of company,” he chastised.

“You were a Fed.” I rolled my eyes. “And before that...” I trailed off, letting the implication hang between us.

Rumor had it that before becoming a Fed, Parker had been part of a drug cartel or some brutal gang. Normally, I would’ve written it off as exaggerated gossip but I believed this particular tidbit. It fit. Parker didn’t have any family as far as anyone knew and for someone on his second job, he was too young and too infamous in the law enforcement world for there not to be something fishy going on behind the scenes. Plus, he reeked of a dark tormented past. I once caught him having a PSTD induced panic attack and apparently, no one else knows he gets them.

“And now I’m a cop,” he said flatly. “Feel free to befriend this guy if he decides to become one too.”

I refrained from rolling my eyes.

“Are you ever going to tell me why you quit being a Fed only to still work in law enforcement? It’s so dumb it screams ‘there’s dark twisted reason here’.”

Another thing I liked about Parker was that I could be blunt to the extent of being borderline rude and he wouldn’t bat an eyelash. I didn’t have to watch my wording or say only the socially and politically correct things. I could just say whatever I wanted and it’d be okay.

“Never.”

“Not today,” I amended, mentally reminding myself to stay on track.

I came for Masked Idiot. Parker’s sketchy past could wait.

He wisely refrained from objecting, knowing fully well that it would only spur an argument. He knew me so well. I couldn’t help but smile. He mirrored the expression, throwing in an eye roll for the sake of his pride.

“That all?” he inquired.

“I’d love it if you could make a call and tell me whatever I’m allowed to know about this guy.”

I threw in my most innocent wide-toothed smile to seal the deal. He took it in and arched an eyebrow as though to say, 'Nice try.'

“Only the barest basics,” he said flatly.

“I know.” I rolled my eyes, giving up on the smile. “What I want is just basic information. ‘Is he working on something right now? Is he trustworthy? How long has he been an agent?’ That kind of stuff.”

Parker’s expression fully communicated distrust. He knew me well enough to know there was more I wasn’t telling him but it also meant he knew I’d be smart about whatever was going on and wouldn't reveal any sensitive information I got from him. I found it hard to disclose even trivial things like what I had for lunch. My first thought was always ‘why do you want to know? What’s it to you?’ I wasn’t a very trusting person. Not by nature and definitely not by nurture.

“Be careful,” he muttered a few beats later.

“Always.”

He pushed away from the desk and got to his feet. The phone was pressed against his ear, already dialling before he even started walking away. He was a lifesaver.

I sighed, relief washing over me as I waited for him to return. It felt really good to know for sure that I was right. That Masked Idiot wasn’t a threat but one of the good guys. That I wasn’t putting myself in danger by having him around. Knots I hadn’t previously noticed loosened in my shoulders.

Thank God for small miracles, my dad’s bag of tricks, and Parker and his informative contacts.

I took out my phone, busying myself with reading new texts, replying those that warranted replies and ignoring the rest. Mae, my closest friend, was going to Finch’s party and wanted me to come along. To be a bridge between her and her current crush.

I heaved a sigh.

He was never going to be interested. Zach was too hung up on conditioning and keeping up with the division one college he had gotten into but what was reason and common sense in the face of a burgeoning crush. Mae was stubbornly remaining blind to all reason where Zach was concerned.

I had nothing better to do anyway. Masked Idiot was unlikely to show up for the rest of the day. I had finished the series I was reading last night and nothing really appealed to me on TV these days.

Sure, I texted back.

Her reply was instant; a thumbs-up emoji, the dancing lady emoji and a party face emoji. I smiled inwardly, pocketing my phone as Parker came striding back.

“So?” I urged. “What did you find out?”