"Maybe this isn't a good idea," Mr. Lockhart said.

Casey parked his car in front of the police station. "Dad, come on. We need to show the police that stupid dating profile. Sure, it's harmless enough with Frieda but she honestly believed you guys had a connection. What else could this impersonator do, acting as you? Think about it."

Police cruisers swarmed the parking lot. Casey couldn't deny how much the police station intimidated him, but he needed to help his dad figure all this out. The cops had resources that could possibly trace back where the dating profile originated from and who else might've used it.

"I know you're right." Mr. Lockhart sighed. "But what if they don't believe me? They'll think I've been cheating on your mom, giving me motive to murder her. Even you guys thought I'd cheated."

"It was an honest mistake. I mean, at first glance, we really thought it was you but we realized it couldn't be. By handing this over to the police and explaining it now, I think we can assure them that it's definitely not you. Just an impersonator."

"Alright, let's go then."

The wind shook a flag pole violently in the wind as they crossed the lot to the entrance. Crossing over the NSPD emblem on the floor, Casey hoped they were doing the right thing by turning that profile over to the police.

A young receptionist instructed them to wait off to the side while she fetched Detective Bailey for them. Mr. Lockhart thanked her, pacing around the floor as Casey took a seat. He finally checked his phone and scrolled through the missed text messages from August. Most of them asked if he was doing okay and wanted to meet up again. Not at the Black Viper's hideout.

Sparing a glance at his father, Casey sighed. His thumbs lingered above the screen, considering if he should respond. August had led him back down familiar, addictive habits that he needed to abandon. While he couldn't have known that, Casey knew he was bad news. No matter how kind and helpful he'd been. Severing all ties would be the best decision.

Casey would meet with him one last time and explain how he needed to keep his son his priority. Then, they'd never see each other again.

Soon enough, Detective Bailey rounded the corner near the stairs with his partner, Detective Lindel. Casey sat up when they approached them, hoping they'd made the right choice and be understanding.

"There's something you wanted to show us?" Detective Bailey guided them down the familiar path to their interview room, passing by their desks.

"Yes, my kids actually found it," Mr. Lockhart replied.

Detective Bailey frowned, noticing the laptop bag Casey carried. "What exactly did you find?"

"A dating profile, made like it's my dad, but it's not his. Someone else created it and has been messaging a woman named Frieda," Casey explained. "We figured it was best we brought it to your attention before someone else did. Honestly, we thought it was legit at first too before reaching out to the woman and noticing that the profile had only been accessed once on this computer."

Detective Lindel frowned. "Who would do that? Has anyone else had access to your laptop?"

"Yeah, those gang members who had me do their dirty bidding," Mr. Lockhart replied. "Casey here and my daughter, Lani found it while she was using my computer. I knew nothing about it until they reached out to that Frieda woman and she came down to the bakery."

"You think they created this fake dating profile of you and logged onto it from your computer?" Detective Lindel asked, shaking his head. "Why the hell would they do that?"

"Well, I think it's because they want to frame my dad for Mom's murder," Casey told him. "Look at the evidence, how it keeps piling up toward him. Those gang members knew what they were doing when they sent him on a wild goose chase. They were building evidence against him."

"You're saying this was all premeditated for your father to take the fall?" Detective Lindel asked.

"Yeah, that's exactly what it is," Casey insisted.

While the detectives booted up his dad's laptop, he wondered if they'd made a mistake in turning it over. Did they believe them? They had no reason to lie. Why would someone turn evidence over willingly? They just wanted to get the profile shut down at that point and hope no more popped up.

Detective Lindel scrolled through the chats that Casey pulled up for him. "This is odd. And you've never met this Frieda woman before your kids found the dating profile?"

"No, never. Not until she came to the bakery, confessing her love." Mr. Lockhart scratched the back of his neck, chuckling. "I wasn't quite sure how to respond at first. Took me off guard, that's for sure. I told her she must've been catfished by someone. The times she messaged the profile here I've been working or at home with my kids."

"I see. Interesting." Detective Lindel rubbed his chin, gazing over at his red-head partner. "What do you think of this?"

"It's very peculiar," Detective Bailey said. "I don't understand the motives behind this. Maybe they thought we'd confiscate Mr. Lockhart's laptop and wanted us to find the chats?"

"Do you bring your laptop to work with you?" Detective Lindel asked.

"Sometimes," Mr. Lockhart answered. "My wife would use it a lot too. Usually for checking the news and Twitter."

"I see." Detective Lindel closed the top. "If you don't mind, we'd like our computer forensic to take a look. See if we can pinpoint where the account might've been used from, aside from just your computer."

Mr. Lockhart glanced over at Casey, who shrugged. It wasn't like they'd find anything incriminating or illegal on the laptop, but he wasn't sure if letting the police keep it in their custody was smart. In the end, Casey let his dad decide.

"I'd rather take it back home with me, if that's alright. I have a lot of important business records on there that I need to keep updated. I can't afford to get behind, you understand?"

"We understand," Detective Bailey told him. "You brought this here of your own accord, but if there's any evidence that emerges with that profile connecting to your wife's murder, we'll get a subpoena to collect it."

Mr. Lockhart nodded. "That's fine. Thank you for your time, but we need to get going." He rose from the table, stowing his laptop back in its carry-on bag. "Come on, Casey. We've got to get prepared to open the bakery. Xavier should already be there."

"Alright."

As they walked out of the interview room, Casey felt the detectives glare behind them, as if they desired to burn a hole right through him. With each step out of the precinct, nerves churned in his stomach, yet his father held his head up high. Wasn't he worried about everything too?

The subpoena threw Casey for a loop, as he hadn't expected them to mention anything like that. If that profile had any indication of who killed Mrs. Lockhart, they'd hand it over in a heartbeat. But Casey was relieved that his father didn't put all his faith in the police. His mom might've seen them as her second family, but Casey knew better.

🧁

Casey piped his remaining chocolate cupcakes in baby blue icing, then added some snowmen ring toppers. They were a preordered batch for a customer, who'd be there within the next thirty or so minutes to bring to his kid's class. It reminded him of when his dad did the same for his school parties growing up. He'd be sure to do the same for Wyatt when he got a bit older.

After visiting the police station earlier that morning, Casey got a hold of August to update him on everything. While he knew he should've ignored the gang member, he just couldn't bring it in himself to delete his contact information. As he expected, August didn't think confiding in the cops had been a wise decision on their end, and Casey couldn't deny he second-guessed doing it, but he thought it was for the best. What if they'd found it on their own? It would've been easy evidence to pin against his dad.

"Almost done with this batch," Casey said as his dad came around the corner, into the kitchen.

"Great, that's the last preordered batch this morning," Mr. Lockhart replied.

"Yep. There's something else I wanna talk to you about." Casey laid his piping bag down on the counter. "I've been talking to August."

Mr. Lockhart groaned, rubbing his temples. "Casey, you shouldn't trust him. He's dangerous and working with Veronica."

"I know that." Casey sighed. "But he's not a horrible guy. He's been a good friend to me lately, and yeah, we might've gotten too caught up that one night and lost track of time... but that was my fault. Not his.

"You never should've reached out to him," Mr. Lockhart said. "I trust you to make the right choices here."

Casey hung his head low. "I know."

There wasn't much else to say about it, so Casey dropped the conversation and went back to work. He only had a short shift today, courtesy of Lani, who offered to split a shift with him to spend the rest of the evening with Wyatt.

He just didn't mention how he'd be meeting up with August today. While Casey didn't trust August entirely, he knew the guy would never hurt him or his son. Not unless he had a death wish. Veronica would have his ass killed in a heartbeat for that.

The day went by rather slowly. Casey spent his time at the counter, occasionally taking customers' orders. While an old couple dined in, Casey served them a carafe of coffee then went back into the kitchen to message August. His shift ended soon, and Lani would be in to take over for him. He planned to take Wyatt out for supper, and decided to invite August along. Casey hoped that wouldn't be a mistake.