“No,” Nolan said pointedly. “He stuck around until Braker started bleeding from the goddamneyeballs.”
Shit.
“He’s two seconds away from an arrest,” said Nolan.
Jamey tried to push down her concerns enough to deal with Nolan. “For what? You said he got close. Did he actually touch the witness?”
“Just because there was no contact—”
“No contact means no empathy, no Fifth Amendment violation, and forget assault or battery—empaths are incapable of even self-defense,” Jamey said. “All flight, no fight.”
Behind her, Taylor was sipping from the coffee as his gaze went back and forth between them.
“Don’t worry,” said Nolan. “I’ve got a bone to pick with you too. Did it slip your mind to tell me that one of Seattle’s two empaths happens to be your brother?”
“Reece can’t help with violent crime.”
She turned away but Nolan got back in front of her. “Why the fuck not? Maybe you’re sweating your DA throwing a fit, but the empathy laws can be interpreted a little more loosely than you might be used to. Your brother just pulls the witness out from catatonia, then leaves. He doesn’t read the witness’s emotions, we don’t write it down, our evidence stays nice and admissible, see?”
“This isn’t about trials and fruit of the poisonous tree,” she said, because maybe Nolan was cavalier about bending the law, but she wasn’t, and that wasn’t the problem anyway. “We have to keep the empaths away from this investigation.”
Nolan went a deep shade of red. “You don’t have the authority to make that call.”
“Andyoudon’t have the authority to force Reece to use empathy. He’s still a person and he’s still got rights, no matter how much Senator Hathaway wanted to change that.”
Nolan went even deeper red. “So you’d rather let a murderer run loose in Seattle than inconvenience your brother?” His lip curled. “Don’t be surprised when the press quotes me saying you’re a disgrace to the force.”
On Jamey’s priority list, her own reputation fell somewhere below finding jeans with a decent inseam. She’d lost her chance to catch up to Reece by car, so she turned away from Nolan and quickened her steps toward the tent.
Taylor scrambled after her. “For the record,” she told him, as she slowed enough he could catch up beside her, “Reece won’t touch caffeine.” Between the empathy and the anxiety, he said his blood pressure didn’t need any help rising. She plucked the half-full coffee out of Taylor’ hands and took a long sip. “And you owe me one for losing him.”
“Worth it to see you go head-to-head with Agent Jackass.”
“Great, because I need a favor.” She passed him back the cup. “Off the record.” Taylor paused, tilting his head. “Can you get a fake driver’s license made in a couple hours?” she said. “A good one?”
“You thinking of doing undercover work?”
“Not for me.”
“But then—oh!” he said, understanding flashing on his face. “You thinking of hiding Reece from the empath controversy on this case? Probably a good idea; the press would lose their shit if we had an empath working Hathaway’s murder. And, well.” He coughed. “Considering what happened the last time Reece talked to the press...”
Ugh, even Taylor knew about that. But while having Reece on the case would be a public relations nightmare in more ways than one, having him on Evan Grayson’s radar was worse. “There’s a lot to hide him from.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Taylor promised.
Speaking of the press. Jamey stopped just outside the tent, pulling out her phone and turning to shield the screen as she sent a text. It wasn’t strictly against the rules for an SPD detective to date their public relations manager, but it didn’t mean they were advertising it to the force.
Did you mean it when you said your dad’s charter was mine anytime?
Liam probably wouldn’t be able to reply yet—they had a dead senator, his phone was probably ringing off the hook with reporters and politicians and conspiracy theorists—
But his answer came almost instantly.
Always
And despite her worries, Jamey felt the tiniest pang of hope. Maybe she really could put Reece out of Grayson’s reach.
A second text came in from Liam:please tell me Reece isn’t working this case.
