Free Bombshell (Devlin Haskell 4) by Mike Faricy Page A

payment. By close to eight that evening, if everyone mailed in what they promised, I’d make about a hundred-and-thirty-seven dollars. That wasn’t going to happen, by the way, and I left the office to drown my sorrows at The Spot. I ended up closing the place and took a back route home.

Chapter Twenty-One
    I woke up a little after the noon hour to a pounding head, at least that was my first thought. Turned out most of the pounding was coming from the patrolmen at my front door, two o f them. Another two were stationed at my back door, just in case.
    “Devlin Haskell?” The cop asked when I opened the front door. I was in a grungy bathrobe and barefoot. There seemed no point in saying Devlin was upstairs and they could just go upstairs and get the man while I ran down the street “Yes, sir, that’s me.”
    “Mister Haskell, we have a warra nt for your arrest …”
    He stood about six foot three, black, maybe two-hundred-and-thirty pounds. The Kevlar vest he wore beneath his blue uniform shirt made him look even more solid, not that he needed it. The name stitched in gold above the flap on his shirt pocket rea d Tyler , M.
    A pa rtner stood off to the side of Officer Tyler, hands resting on his holster belt. His right hand fluttered close to his Taser. He wore a Kevlar vest , too, had almost no neck and biceps that looked to have been blown up to the size of my thighs. He was a white guy with a baby face, I pegged him for about fourteen years old.
    I ’d been in this position a couple of times before. I knew enough to know I wasn’t going to talk them out of tak ing me in. I t struck me as a wise idea to address both officers as sir.
    “You are Devlin Haskell?”
    “Yes sir. I’ll go with you, could I take a moment and get dressed.”
    They nodded in agreement then followed me inside and upstairs to my bedroom.
    “Mister Haskell, if you could just tell us where your clothes are we’ ll retrieve them for you, ” Tyler said.
    I nodded across my bed to the closet and my dresser. I was tempted to tell him to go up into the attic and get th e Santa Claus suit I wore to The Spot at Christmas , but thought better of the idea.
    “I’ve got jeans right there hanging on the hook. Third drawer down on the dresser is a shirt, top drawer right is socks, top drawer left is boxers.”
    Tyler walked around the bed, retrieved the various items and tossed them my way . I caught a half smile when he handed me my boxers. A yellow sign that looked like it came from the Highway Department imprinted just above the fly stated ‘Open at your own Risk.’
    “Cute,” Baby Face said, but didn’t smile.
    Tyler searched the pockets of my jeans before throwing them across the bed . B aby F ace kept a hand close to his Taser. I caught him out of the corner of my eye glancing up at the mirror on my bedroom ceiling. As I buttoned my jeans I said, “It’s been awhile since I had a three way in here,” which got zero reaction from either one.
    “In that closet behind you, there’s a shoe rack,” I nodded to the closet door, “If you could j ust grab a pair of shoes from there, please.”
    Tyler opened the closet door and tossed a pair of shoes to me. I thought for just a nanosecond about making a joke along the lines of having a butler, but figured it might be better to take the stairs back down rather than being thrown out the window.
    “Could you hand me my wallet and cell phone, there on top of the dresser?”
    “You really think you’ll need them?”
    “Just in case,” I smiled.
    Tyler grunted and tossed them on my bed.
    “ Okay, all set I guess,” I said, shoving the wallet and phone in my pockets, attempting to sound agreeable.
    “Not quite, just one more accessory, ” Baby F ace said, and pulled his handcuffs off his belt .
    “Hey look, guys, that isn’ t necessary.”
    “Procedure,” Tyler said, sort of putting an end to any further discussion.
    Baby Face turned me around and pulled my hands behind my back