Read Jarod's Heart (King Brothers Stories #2) for Free Online Page B

no idea what the hell she was talking about. He glared at her when she laughed outright at his confusion.
    “Never mind, Jarod. I’m flattered all the same.” She turned with her offensive smiley face mug and walked out of the break room.
    Shaking his head, he grabbed his plain mug and poured himself a cup of coffee. The carafe was full, so she must have just made a fresh pot.
    God bless her.
    Brad stopped him on the way back to his office.
    “Avery won’t say who he was cooking for, and any evidence was destroyed in the explosion and subsequent fire.”
    Jarod laughed. “So you don’t believe he’s the ringleader any more than I do?”
    Brad shook his head, “Avery is too stupid to lead anything, Jarod.”
    “I know. Whoever he is, the bastard is too crafty to leave behind any evidence. Hell, we don’t even know if it’s one man or a group of people. We’ve got nothing.”
    Jarod stalked into his office and closed the door. The problem was getting worse, and he had no leads. Nothing pissed him off more than chasing his tail when he was trying to figure out a puzzle. He’d have to start looking at the problem from a different angle.
    Crystal meth was a serious problem in Nevada. Until a few years ago, Timbisha had been a sleepy little community untouched by the problems of the big cities of Las Vegas and Reno. Now the problem was moving into his community, and it was quickly becoming his personal white whale. He’d made several busts in the past five years, swearing to clean up the problem that had forced his wife to leave him, but even though he had put some dealers behind bars, the bigger problem remained. He was missing something. He had to find the source, and none of his busts had led him to any answers. They’d all been dead ends.

    LAUREN DUG IN to her work, ignoring Jarod as much as possible. The attention would embarrass the both of them, especially after the teasing she had received from Brad yesterday, and she didn’t want any rumors floating around for Marguerite to spread. But it was hard to keep her mind on her work with him just a few feet away in his office.
    Her prayer for a distraction was answered when Eli strode in and plopped down in the chair next to her desk. He looked tired. His brown eyes were bloodshot, and his eyelids were at half-mast. It looked like he’d lost a little weight, too. The late shifts and lack of sleep were catching up to him. He’d arrested a teen last night for a Minor In Possession, or MIP. A high-school kegger had gotten out of control, and neighbors had called the cops.
    “Hey, Lauren,” Eli sighed.
    “Hey, Eli. You okay?”
    “Oh, sure. A little tired, though. I hate busting kids as a rule, but it’s especially hard when they are so loaded on whatever they’re using that they don’t even understand that they’re being taken into custody.” He shook his head.
    “Have you contacted his parents yet?”
    “Yeah, they came down and got him last night,” he chuckled. “I don’t think he’ll have much of a social life for a while.”
    “Pretty upset, were they?” she smiled.
    “An understatement. I don’t envy his morning when he sobers up,” he chuckled.
    “That just means they’re good parents,” she confirmed.
    “I don’t know about that. They seemed more upset over the inconvenience of picking him up than the fact that their son was using drugs.”
    Lauren thought about that. The family was a part of Timbisha’s upper echelon, so maybe the partying had been a cry for help.
    Before she could expound upon that thought, Eli said, “God, I hope my child doesn’t rebel too much as a teen.” Eyes bleak, he admitted, “I just don’t know if I could handle it.”
    “Oh, Eli, you and Caroline are going to be wonderful parents, you’ll see.” She gave him a quick pat on the shoulder.
    “I hope you’re right.” He sat in silence for a second before he asked, “What kind of monster would get a child hooked on a lethal narcotic? How do