His brows shot up.
“Not like that! Jeez.”
“Well, the term ‘gangbanger’ comes from somewhere.”
“Not from me. Sure, I lost my virginity to one of them when I was fifteen, but—”
“Fifteen? That’s statutory rape.”
She snorted. “Ask a gangbanger if he cares.” She walked on in silence.
“I’m sorry. Go ahead. You were saying they used you?”
“My psychic ability. I should have never told them about it. The next thing I knew, I was their lookout. When I said I wanted to finish high school, they tried to entice me to quit school, saying they’d give me a cut of the profits.”
“You weren’t making any money?”
“I got a pittance compared to the others before that. They thought I’d quit school as soon as I learned how easy it was to support myself and my grandmother once I got my hands dirty. I have to admit I thought about it.” She sighed. “It wasn’t an easy time for me.”
“So how did you get out? Most gangs claim you for life—not that it will be a long one.”
“I had to make a deal with the leader.”
“What kind of deal?”
She didn’t want to tell him the rest. He didn’t need to know that “Little Bobo,” who was over six feet and 220 pounds of steroids, made her deal his drugs at school during her senior year.
“Let’s just say I worked for him for a year, and then when he didn’t want to let me go, I had a hissy fit.”
“And what does a hissy fit look like?”
She smirked. “Picture all 110 pounds of me jumping on the back of a guy twice my size, trying to choke him with one arm and beat him black and blue with the other.”
“Wow. And you’re still alive?”
“Yeah. He was laughing the whole time until one of his guys cocked a gun. Then he yelled at him to put it away, and three other guys peeled me off of him.”
“Weren’t you afraid he’d retaliate?”
“At that moment, I was so angry, I didn’t care if he did.”
“Wow. And did the others do anything to you?”
“Mostly just verbal threats, flexing their muscles and that kind of shit.”
Luca shook his head, looking amazed. “You really are a badass.”
She grinned. “Oh yeah. Be afraid. Be very afraid.”
* * *
Friday night. The last night shift of his first week. He’d have a three-day weekend and then switch to day shifts. He didn’t know if he’d like the day shift better than the night, but he did know one thing—his first week went pretty well. Except for the missing little girl and her murdered mom. Even though it wasn’t his case, he knew he could help.
The detectives didn’t have what he had, his paranormal powers and a friend who was psychic. If only he knew a detective on the force he could trust, someone he could confide in who’d let him help solve the case. Well, if he didn’t know anyone now, maybe he could get to know them.
He and Joe were let out of their briefing, and before Joe reached the outside door, Luca grabbed his arm, stopping him.
“Hey, before we take off, do you mind if I talk to the detectives for a minute?”
