Chapter Ten

 

Chief Solomon Finn.

As he walked into his old station, he slid back into the persona as comfortably as he’d fit into his old uniform. It was familiar. Consistent.

It felt right.

This had been his house. He’d grown up here. The men and women that worked here, the ones watching him walk through the station with shocked smiles, were all his family. It was the one place he’d understood the rules and all of the players.

And someone had tried to burn it down.

The sense of purpose the knowledge gave him was gratifying. It felt good to be needed again. To keep the peace.

“Enjoying your trip down memory lane, Finn? I heard you were poking around where you don’t belong anymore. A visit with the mayor, an unannounced stroll into my office. Want a tour of the prison next? I’d be more than happy to arrange it personally.”

Chief Miller was a barrel chested man with silver hair, narrow eyes and an expression of superiority that needed adjusting. “I think we should talk in private.”

They were already drawing a crowd and Miller knew it. His laugh was a little too loud. Too cheerful. “We’ve changed a few policies since your family ran this place, Finn. We don’t mess around with subordinates in dark corners anymore, and we don’t keep secrets from each other. If you have something to say to me, you can say it to all of us.”

Solomon’s jaw tightened and the cops around them moved uncertainly. “No secrets at all, Miller? So they know about Jill Linus? Doug Raster? Do these law abiding men and women know about your private…entertainment needs?”

“In my office. Now. Get to work, people.”

Solomon followed him into the room he’d practically been raised in. Miller had made a lot of changes. It was sterile, devoid of character. Even the old chair was gone. It was a blank slate now. He’d erased all the memories.

He’d thank him for that later.

Solomon leaned against the closed door and watched Miller squirm. “What are you doing here?” He grumbled irritably. “Last I heard you were picking some prick to try and replace me.”

“If you heard that, then you know they offered me first run at the job.”

“You wouldn’t.” Miller’s smirk was back in place. “You know better.”

“Do I? Why’s that?”

“I knew your daddy well. Sol was old school, the real thing. Man’s man and all that. Didn’t hesitate to uphold the law, no matter whose sensitive feelings got hurt.”

Sadly, he could imagine Elder and Miller chatting over a beer. Of course, he reminded himself, Elder would have buried him neck deep in mud if he’d known about Miller’s proclivities. Even his father had his limits.

“I’m a man’s man too,” he said with a suggestive smile.

Miller’s expected disgust came on cue and nearly made him laugh. “No need to be nasty, boy. I know you tried to follow in your old man’s footsteps, but you got smart and did the right thing by stepping down. You had no idea what you were doing and your unnatural behavior made you incompetent as well. This place was a mess when I got here. No discipline. No leadership. The mayor should thank me. You should thank me.”

“Thank you,” Solomon said agreeably, chuckling when Miller frowned in suspicion. “No, I mean that. Thank you for being such a corrupt, obvious bag of shit that I was forced to rethink my retirement. I’m not sure I would have if there’d been a halfway decent, semi-qualified human being in this position. Oh, and thank you for being so arrogant that you got sloppy.”

“No one talks to me like that.”

“Get used to it. I imagine you’ll hear worse before this is over.”

Miller placed his hands on the desk, his own smile ugly and mercenary. “You may have the mayor spurting in his pants to connect himself to the Finn name again, and you may have heard unsubstantiated rumors about a few civilians from another state. But you aren’t the only one with connections. I know people on the council and in state that hate what your family stands for as much as I do. I’ve got things on you and your father that could change how the good citizens view your happy little family. Trust me when I say you don’t want it getting out.”

He’d had a feeling, based on Tanaka’s digging, that the man was connected. “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”

That suggestive comment, more than anything else, set him off. Solomon had known it would. It was disappointing how easy it was.

“Depravity really does run in your family, doesn’t it? You grandfather was a killer, your father aided and abetted a pedophile by concealing his crimes with one transfer and you? You’re the worst of the bunch. You think taking your perversions across state lines meant no one knew about you?”

Mentioning what Elder had done with Rory’s abuser made Solomon momentarily see red. It was his father’s unforgivable sin. Sending his youngest son off with a police officer who had a history of violence and inappropriate behavior in order to straighten him out. When he’d seen the evidence of the rape of his child—his own child—he’d told Rory to keep his mouth shut and transferred the asshole to another precinct instead of placing him under arrest. The few punches he’d delivered would never absolve him of that crime.

Because of his selfish decisions, Rory had suffered in silence for years.

And Miller knew. He was threatening to give that information to the press. If he had all the details, Rory would be in the spotlight and everyone would know, whether he was emotionally ready for that or not.

Solomon pulled out his phone and glanced at the text that was waiting for him to hit send.

“What are you doing?” Miller asked, his voice rising in a note of panic.

C&C. It stood for Copy and Crash. If Tanaka got the message, he would grab all the incriminating information from Miller’s phone and personal computers and then send a virus to erase the rest. If he had any hard copies, there were ways to get rid of those as well.

But Miller wasn’t the only one who knew and, more importantly, Solomon wasn’t his father.

He cared more about justice than his reputation.

 

Solomon slid the phone back into his pocket, the message unsent. “I got a little ahead of myself. I should have informed you that a warrant was obtained to search your house this morning based on witness statements alleging you illegally procured state’s evidence for obstruction of the law as well as personal use.”

“That’s a lie!”

He was backing away, rounding the desk. “I’m not sure why you restricted the use of body cams here, since you used to have such a hard-on for video collection.”

The tables had turned in Miller’s mind. He saw it happening. The man paled so swiftly Solomon wondered if he’d pass out. “I protected my men. They’d been forced by the state to wear those things like leashes for so long they forgot—”

“To turn them off while they accosted Jill Linus on the side of the road? Or when they shot Doug Raster’s brother right in front of him for reaching for his identification? And those aren’t the only cases you’ve obstructed, Miller.”

Solomon lowered his voice dangerously. “We both know what they’ll find when they go digging in your computer, don’t we? How many times would you say you sat alone and replayed them for your own entertainment? Were you protecting those state troopers, or getting off on it? Even encouraging their behavior? I’m betting the prosecutor will wonder the same thing.”

“Blackmail? What did you think I’d give you? The names of my contacts? Did you want me to agree to resign without protest? It’s not going to happen.”

“You’ve already been relieved of duty, Miller. And I’ve been reappointed. We decided to hold off on the announcement until we could get a sign off from the judge. In another minute or two, you’ll be taken into custody, and then we’ll start to talk about what you’ll give me.”

Miller shook his head in denial. “You were… Then why? Why this charade? Are you wired? If so, you fucked up. I didn’t give you anything.”

Solomon shrugged easily, his smile razor sharp. “I kept hearing about you and wanted to meet you for myself. Your reputation made you sound like a Bond villain. You’ve made people I respect and admire, people I trained, shake in their boots. You’ve had half the community protesting you in the streets. Seeing you now just makes me sad. You’re nothing but hot air. And you don’t deserve that uniform.” Miller would give up those names, every fucking one, before Solomon left for the day.

He opened the door and whistled, watching as the two young men smiled in recognition and entered the room, cuffing the idiot while he watched.

“There’s more than hot air here and you know it,” Miller called as he was led down the hall. “You won’t last a year this time. Not after the media gets wind of it. You might as well change your name. It won’t protect any of you anymore.”

He closed the door and sat down in the stiff, uncomfortable chair Miller had brought in when he took over the office.

The mayor would be expecting an update. He’d agreed to keep things quiet for another day, so Solomon could verify the information Tanaka had discovered, but he was anxious to make an announcement.

Some insurance.

Leave it to Ken to downplay his contribution. He’d come into their lives by saving his cousin Stephen from a potential scandal, and he’d fallen in love with Brady. Over the last few years, he’d helped all of them at one time or another. Now he’d given Solomon all the evidence he needed to have Miller run out of town on a rail. At the very least.

He’d questioned the computer hacker’s motives when they’d first met, wanting to protect his brother from heartache. But Ken Tanaka was a Finn. So were the others his brothers and cousins had brought into the fold. Tasha, Bellamy, Trick and Declan, Jeremy, Rig and David.

The new family they were building together was strong enough to handle whatever was thrown their way. They had to be, because if Solomon were going to decide to do something for himself, it would be to move forward without any more skeletons or secrets. Without shame.

Hugo may have broken off a large piece of his heart when he sent him away, but some of what he’d said made sense. Solomon had spent so long being what his father expected, what his brother’s and then the people of this city needed, that he’d never taken the time to decide what he wanted. And because of that, he doubted everything he’d earned on his own.

He flexed his arm, recently freed from that damn inconvenient cast. If it hadn’t been for bad plumbing, he might not have had his second chance to get the first thing he’d ever wanted for himself. Just because he screwed that up didn’t mean he couldn’t learn from his mistakes.

He wanted this job. He’d earned it. No one would care about it as much as he did, and no one could do it better. And this time he was taking on the responsibility for the right reasons. Not because of his name or because it was expected, but because this was where he belonged.

And if he was going to do this right, he needed to face something else he’d been avoiding for a year.

Solomon sighed and sent a text to his Uncle Shawn.

Meet me for lunch at the diner near the station. We need to talk.

After that he called the mayor to apprise him of his first arrest of the morning.

He was ready to get back to work.

 

***

 

Sitting next to the podium a few days later, Solomon was attempting to politely listen to the youth center’s counselor speak about upcoming programs, but his mind kept wandering, remembering the lunch he’d had with his uncle on his first day back to work.

 

Uncle Shawn was staring at his Reuben as if it held the answers to the universe. “Have you talked to Rory about this yet? The story getting out?”

Solomon rubbed the back of his neck and nodded. “We talked on the phone a little. If it comes out, it won’t be fun, but he’s got a good support system in place now.” He’d even gone to a few therapy sessions after Elder died.

Hell, maybe they all needed a visit.

Shawn pushed his plate away and stared at Solomon with Elder’s face. There were differences. There always had been. Shawn looked younger, more content, like he smiled more than he scowled, because he had. But they’d still been nearly identical.

“I’m ready now,” Shawn said, his knuckles white from clenching the edge of the table.

“Ready?”

“For the whole story. That’s why I’m here, isn’t it? You’ve all given me small pieces of it. What I overheard at the hospital and after. But you want to prepare me in case this leaks to the news, so you’re going to tell me everything.”

Solomon reached for his uncle’s hand and gripped it tight. “It’s not going to leak. We’re making sure of that. In a few days I’m going to share it with the press myself.”

Shawn’s blue eyes were wide with surprise. “Why?”

“Because I’m tired of holding on to the past. It isn’t mine to regret. I won’t clean up after him or punish myself for his crimes anymore. And Rory deserves to know this family will stand with him. Fight for him.”

“Of course we will. Does he doubt it?”

“It happened on my watch, and I didn’t see it. I’d rather come out swinging for him now then hunkering down and hoping to avoid the news cycle. I want to make sure that other kids, kids like him, know that it’s okay to come forward, that I won’t shirk my responsibilities or transfer my problems away because they’re personally inconvenient.”

Uncle Shawn’s smile was genuine, if a little sad. “You have a lot more to say than you used to.”

“Maybe it’s the hair.”

“Maybe it is.” He chuckled. “But Samson or Solomon, you’ve always been stronger and wiser than you’ve given yourself credit for.”

He shrugged self-consciously. “Yeah, well, we all know we got that from you.”

“If I’d known how bad it was, I would have taken all of you away from him and damn the consequences. I hope all of you know that. It took me a long time to stop feeling guilty that my happiness with Ellen came at his expense, and I let that blind me. I’ll never be able to apologize enough.”

They squeezed each other’s hands so tightly they cut off blood flow, then Solomon pulled away before he got emotional. “None of us ever blamed you. We might have envied our cousins from time to time, but you always made us feel welcome.”

“You always have been. I’m proud of you, Younger. And when you tell me what you’re planning, your aunt and I will make sure to be there, front and center so you won’t doubt it for a minute.”

Solomon shook his head. “I’d never ask—”

“Luckily you never have to.” Shawn nodded as if coming to some sort of resolution in his head. “We’ll make sure to stand next to your Hugo, so you won’t miss us.”

“He’s not my Hugo. Not anymore.” It hurt to say it. Like an open wound in his chest. “I screwed up, more than once. I’m not sure I’m as good at the relationship thing as you and my cousins.”

“Do you know your family?” Shawn shook his head. “None of us are good at it, not at the start. Owen had spoiled, jealous fits all the time. Stephen was so repressed I was worried he’d implode and Seamus was too busy doing for others, and too scared to trust when something good came along.” He smiled. “You two are a lot alike that way.”

He noticed he left his daughter out of his critique. Jen would always be Daddy’s girl, and rightfully so. “What about you and Ellen?”

Shawn sent him a baleful look. Everyone in the family knew how they started. Twin brothers Shawn and Sol seducing Ellen into a threesome and both men falling in love. Her choosing his brother instead of him had set Sol on his path to multiple marriages, multiple sons and decades of bitter regret.

“How did you move on from that?” he asked softly. “How did you make it last?”

“Love is the reason,” Shawn said with a shrug. “Sounds simple, but it’s true. We make sure to tell each other every day. To show each other every day. You can’t take something like love for granted. You can’t horde it and dole it out on holidays or when you’re in trouble for forgetting an anniversary. It’s every day, for the rest of your days. That’s the commitment. So my most important job is to make sure each one of them counts, and she never has to wonder how I feel.”

He paused and studied Solomon. “Did you tell him you love him?”

“No.” Solomon swallowed hard. “I was waiting for him to trust me.”

Waiting for him to love me back.

Shawn sighed. “And why would he trust a man who was keeping that kind of secret in his heart? If you love someone you tell them. Even if you’re not sure they’ll say it back. You shout it from the rooftops and make an ass of yourself if that’s what it takes. As your brother says, you go all in.”

“It’s more complicated than that, Uncle Shawn.”

“Not really, but I’ll let you think about it for a while. Now tell me about this speech you’re giving. And I want to know about Miller too. Did I tell you Ellen and I signed that petition to get you back?”

 

Hearing his name being spoken into the microphone brought him back to the present, and he glanced down at his aunt and uncle who were standing, as promised, in the front of the crowd.

The event he and the mayor had put together had taken some string pulling on such short notice. They were announcing his reinstatement as chief of police as well as the city’s new youth center expansion.

Thank God for Bellamy Demir and his bottomless wallet. He’d been generous to a fault, as usual. In fact, he’d insisted on doing almost all of the donating himself. Which was why his name was going to be on the new building the city was constructing to offer shelter and protection to victims of sexual abuse.

“He hasn’t been vacationing on a tropical island for the last year, though he deserved to be.” The counselor smiled as the audience chortled in agreement.

“Instead, he’s been spending a lot of his days at our center. Talking to the kids, asking about their aspirations and teaching them how to build—in the words of a few of the boys that follow him around—badass zombie apocalypse shelters.”

“Tents,” he muttered as the crowd laughed again. “I showed them how to put up tents.”

Rory, who’d been quietly sitting beside him in support, along with his cousin Stephen, leaned closer. “Go with it, brother. They think you’re cool.”

“And you?” Solomon still wasn’t sure if Rory was really okay with this or just doing it for him. “What do you think?”

They’d had forty-eight hours to hold Miller without formally charging him, and they’d used every one of them. Not only to control the release of information, but to find out all they could about the people who’d been protecting Miller from being formally charged when he worked with the state troopers.

The mayor would have his own briefing about it in time for the evening news, but today wasn’t about Miller. It was about being honest with these people he still wanted to protect and serve.

“What do I think?” Rory repeated, his full lips quirking at the question. “I think I still want to be you when I grow up. I also think you tricked me into doing volunteer work, but I’ll forgive you just this once.”

Stephen tapped his shoulder with a grin. “I don’t mean to interrupt, but I think they’re done with your introductions.”

Solomon stood up so fast he nearly knocked over his chair. Unlike Stephen, he hated public speaking, but this was his idea. His way of proving to Hugo, and to himself, that he could face his past and move beyond it.

He was his own man, doing what he thought was best. And even if this didn’t go the way he wanted it to, he wouldn’t regret his decision.

Aunt Ellen waved as he got to the microphone and he tried to smile. Then he looked out over the large crowd and forgot his nerves. There were reporters, of course, but there were also signs with his name on them. College students and kids from the center were clapping and whistling as they waited for him to speak.

How did they get so many people to show up this quickly? And could he really say what he needed to say without losing his nerve?

He leaned toward the microphone, wincing at the momentary feedback. “I heard something about a petition?”

The crowd went crazy at that until he lifted his hand. “First of all, I wanted to say thank you. Thank you for caring about the community you live in. For demanding transparency and excellence in the public servants you place your safety and faith in on a daily basis.” He curled his fingers around his damp palms. “I also want to thank you for believing in my ability to do the job, even after my sudden and unexplained resignation.”

“We’re glad you’re back!” Someone yelled, and other people cheered again in response.

“If you’ll have me, but before you sign on the dotted line, let me tell you why I’m here to support this new construction, and the tireless volunteers and counselors at the center.” He glanced back at Rory, who nodded, his expression grim.

“We forget sometimes that famous people and politicians are human. That a title or name recognition doesn’t make them infallible. Lately, it’s not even guaranteed they’ll be decent. The same can be said about men in blue, as you’ve all been recently made aware. It’s ingrained in the public to respect the badge and the person who wields it, but sometimes, despite our best efforts, someone who doesn’t have the public’s best interest at heart slips through the cracks. This time, there was no denying the flagrant abuse of justice. But there are times when things aren’t so black and white.”

Solomon took a bracing breath. “The first Chief Finn died almost a year ago, and it was around that time I discovered that he’d made an error in judgment. A fellow man in uniform had abused a child, and instead of placing him under arrest, he had him transferred out of the city to another precinct.”

He heard the gasps, but he kept his eyes focused on his Aunt’s winter hat so he wouldn’t see the judgment. “Looking back, I want to believe he did it to protect the boy, his son, from scandal and further abuse. But since he never discussed it, I can only judge him by his actions. That complicity, that silence, is not the right action. It’s not the justice a child in pain deserves. Not the justice I was raised to believe in. It’s why my family and I are determined to make Bellamy House a safe haven.”

He spared a glance for the flashing cameras. “And that’s what I’ll be focused on, even if you change your mind about my appointment. But if you still want me, know that I won’t rest unless every member of this community feels safe again. Especially our kids.”

The roar of approval was so unexpected, so deafening, that Solomon took a step back, nearly running into his brother.

Rory hugged him. “I love you, Younger. And Stephen just said he’s really glad you hate politics.”

Solomon chuckled in relief and turned back toward the crowd in time for the reporters to start shouting out questions.

“Did Miller resign?”

“The mayor will be making a statement in a few hours.”

“Is your brother’s abuser still a member of the police force?”

Solomon tensed. “He was until five years ago when, according to reports, he died in a car accident three states over.”

“Is there any truth to the rumor of you being involved with a man who also resigned from the force over a year ago?”

Rory, who was still on his feet a few steps behind him, started to chuckle at the reporter. “Did our brother Wyatt tell you that? You know fireman love to gossip.”

A wave of laughter followed.

Thank God for Rory.

“My private life isn’t up for discussion.”

Uncle Shawn caught his eyes and shook his head so vigorously his hat came off. He was staring at him hard enough to leave a brand on his forehead.

If you love someone you tell them, even if you’re not sure they’ll say it back. You shout it from the rooftops.

Before another reporter could ask him a question he held up his hand. “But if it was up for discussion, I’d say I’ve discovered in my year away that I suck at dating.”

The reporter smiled.

“I’d also say that even though things might not have worked out, he deserves to know that I love him. He’s the only one I’ve ever been in love with, and despite the circumstances, I don’t see that changing in this lifetime.”

He saw a group of college girls fan their faces as his audience tried to decide whether to clap or feel sorry for him.

Uncle Shawn and Aunt Ellen were beaming and giving him matching thumbs up.

His cheeks heated, despite the chill in the air. “Next question.”