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“Come here, Delilah. As me and you. For the love of God, let me hold you.”
“I don’t want to tell.” I offer up my end of the bargain and that’s exactly what this is.
“Let me hold you.” Cody repeats his, his brow lifting and his arms opening.
With my feet planted I tell him, “We aren’t telling anyone anything and we need to see what’s on that flash drive.”
After a short pause of consideration, Cody agrees and pulls me in, telling me he’s sorry he wasn’t here. Murmuring all the right things and it’s in his arms that I feel right again. My mind right and sound. But he can’t hold me forever.
Cody
“I saw your APB. Figured you’d want to come see this.” Officer Brady nods his head as I walk carefully across the street while avoiding piles of litter and head to the back of the convenience store.
“Just put it in last night,” I call out over the loud drone of traffic behind us. The APB for Herman Jackson went out the second I got his name from the flash drive Marcus sent. The fucker was as good as dead. Apparently someone else thought the same.
The city is bright and lively against the stark yellow tape I know so well, draping the crime scene and bringing in onlookers.
Brady lifts the tape and the two of us duck under. With my watch telling me it’s 9:00 a.m., I know it’s been an hour since the body was found. It took that long for me to get through morning traffic so I could see it for myself.
Someone offed Herman Jackson before I could. The rage that boils inside of me, knowing I can’t question him, isn’t unexpected.
“You sure it’s him?” I question, keeping my pace with his as we avoid the trash bags and stand over the body. With his dark beard, height, and evidence of a long-ago broken nose, I know this is him. Herman’s dead on the street in front of me.
Fuck. I stare to my right, hands on my hips as Brady pulls out the victim’s wallet from an evidence bag to check for ID. The crowd doesn’t try to hide their curiosity, but from this angle, I know they can’t see a damn thing.
After I hired Evan’s crew, we did a full sweep, we checked the camera footage. Bastard must’ve had Delilah’s phone tapped when I told her the code. He was there before she even got there, turning off the cameras. I won’t make that mistake again.
She’s not allowed to be by herself. Whether she likes it or not. Dread eats me alive at the thought of Delilah and him being left alone together. She knows damn well what he’s capable of; we both do.
It’s not going to happen. It can’t happen.
“Yeah well, judging by the body, he was already dead, probably forty-eight hours at most.” Brady’s voice brings me back to now. Back to the fact that this fucker was dead before Marcus even told Delilah about him.
I give Brady a nod, short and to the point. “You have any idea who did it?” Brady questions. He’s a street cop who I’ve seen a handful of times. Enough that I know his name. I know he has a wife and kids, two, I think. Running a hand over the back of his head he adds, “If you’ve got any leads, I’ll take them. Unless the FBI is taking this case from me?”
Clicking the side button to my phone with irritation, I note Marcus hasn’t written back.
My own message to him sits there. You crossed a line going to her. If you touch her, I’ll kill you. I won’t think twice about it.
“This one’s yours. He was only wanted for questioning. I put it out for a friend,” I answer Brady, feeling a tightness linger in my chest.
“All right,” he concedes, and another cop calls him over, back to the street side, her hand covering a phone and telling him someone needs him.
“You good here?” he asks me and I nod, patting his back for good measure. “Thanks, Brady.”
Again I drift back to the texts, hating that he’s one step ahead of me. Pain lingers in the message. Acts done in fear are harmful and lack intelligence. He told me that once and it stuck with me, because it’s so fucking true. I never should have sent it. I gave him the edge. I can’t deny that his willingness to approach Delilah scares me. What Marcus is capable of, terrifies me. Even if I feel pity for him. Even if I brought all this on…
“Walsh, you hear me?” Officer Brady questions, staring up at me from where he’s now crouched on the ground next to the body.
“No, what’s that?”
“There’s a note if you want to take a look at it. Just in case it has to do with your case.”
