“Oh, um, yeah.”She wiped sleep out of the corner of her eye with one finger.“It was…they’d found out I’d been vaping and acted like it was a big deal.Like, the only reason I had it was because they brought me here, and half the kids in my class vape.And I know he smoked when he was my age, so what’s the big deal?But they told me to go to my room and cool down.So I did, popped a melatonin, and that wasituntil you jump-scared me.”
“What time was that?”Javi asked.
Tommy pulled an elastic, baffled face.“I dunno,” she said.“Before midnight?”
As timelines went, it didn’t narrow it down much.It was something, though.
Javi handed her the water.
“We’ll let you know as soon as your dad is on his way,” he said.
He nodded at a nearby deputy to take over babysitting duties and left Tommy looking forlornly at the water as he turned to head back into the house.As he approached Collins, a stocky, acne-scarred deputy whose name Javi only knew because of Cloister, hooked his arm under the police tape that cordoned off the front of the house.He lifted it so Javi could stoop under it.
“Witte’s still in the kitchen,” Collins provided with a tip of his head in that direction.“Lieutenant Frome is up in San Diego today, but he told us to provide any support your office needed.”
He looked pleased with himself, as if that support was the direct result of his negotiations.Javi gave him a tight smile and a dip of his chin in acknowledgement.
“The FBI appreciates that,” he said.
Collins beamed at him as he let the tape, slack from the stretch, drop again.It reminded Javi not to underestimate his boyfriend, who would have gotten the sarcasm even if he didn’t engage with it.Cloister was easy-going, not stupid.There was a difference.
He probably didn’t need reminders not to dismiss Javi as stupid either, but that was a different set of qualities.
And I’m also a qualified lawyer,Javi reminded himself tartly as he crossed the lawn,so no one is going to think I’m stupid.
Thin-skinned, maybe.Since apparently, he couldn’t even take criticism from himself.
While Collins fended off any incoming nosy neighbors, Javi went into the house.The smell of burned coffee had faded, but the bitterness still lingered in the air.Javi followed Collins’s instructions and headed toward the kitchen.
Javi felt the countdown click on in his head as he patted his pockets down for a pair of gloves.There was a limited window of opportunity that he could pass off as “building a full picture” before he had to loop in Kincaid.Once he did…it wasn’t that far from here to LA, and Kincaid drove like a lunatic.If he wanted to take advantage of this opportunity, he needed to move fast.
And not refer to it as an ‘opportunity’ out loud.
He snapped the thin black gloves on as he pushed the kitchen door open with one shoulder.Bourneville was sprawled on the floor, chewing meditatively on a knotted-up T-shirt, while Cloister stood in his most loose-jointed slouch and recounted his version of events in his thickest Montana accent.The one he only dragged out when hewantedpeople to dismiss his input.
Javi felt a twinge of annoyance that he tried to keep to himself.If Cloister was treating the deputy to his best cowpoke impression, Javi didn’t need to check the badge to know it was Gardner.And if Professional Standardswasdoing Kincaid’s dirty work, that made his narrow window even tighter.
“Witte,” he interrupted shortly.“Walk me through it.Any sign of foul play?”
Chapter Five
Gardnerlookedsouratthe interruption.
It might be that he didn’t appreciate the Feds stepping on local toes.Or Javi might have cut in on whatever Gardner was trying to build for Professional Standards.
Cloister couldn’t tell, and it made his skinitch.
This was why he didn’t do politics.Dogs were simpler.
“Your scene, SA Merlo,” Gardner said.
He pointedly clicked his pen, traded a look that said “these fuckers” with Cloister, and stepped aside to finish photographing and recording the evidence in the kitchen.
His background presence made Cloister weigh his words, acutely conscious that anything he said could end up in a report.He didn’t have anything to hide or be ashamed of, but…he didn’t want anythingnon-case-relatedmemorialized.Not when there was a good chance it would end up crossing Kincaid’s desk at some point.
Because, sure, Cloister knew how to capitalize on people thinking he was dumb and willing to fight.It was useful.But the idea of Kincaid smirking over something Cloister said or did, as if it somehow confirmed that Javi’s exwasthe better man, did not feel good.
“Depute Witte?”Javi prodded.“I asked about your read on the scene?”
