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“So call her.” I bring the phone away from my ear and hang up.
It’s a mini defiance. Stupid, really, because only thirty seconds after cutting him off, my second and I stop in front of Archer while he waits with both hands in his pockets.
Charlie Fletcher finishes up his call, flirts with whoever he’s flirting with, then hangs up and turns to us with a wicked smirk. “This is cozy.”
Rolling my eyes, I turn away from the cop duo and start toward the revolving doors of the George Stanley. “I assume you’re here for Louisa?”
“Tell us you’ve got something concrete.” It’s Charlie’s voice I hear at my back, when I was so sure it would be Archer asking the questions. “Thoma got to sleep in that house last night, and it makes me sick he could hurt another of those girls.”
“Couldn’t you have arrested him or something?”
I cross the stark lobby and stop in front of the elevators. Hitting the button, I turn back to find Archer watching me in silence, his eyes blazing with heat and unspoken words, while Aubree and Charlie stand side by side and grin.
Tim’s brush-off is long forgotten now that Aubree has the cops to pay attention to.
“There are surely a million different options available to you both that didn’t end with Garry Thoma sleeping in his house last night, right?” I press.
“We can’t remove people from their homes based on a hunch,” Archer finally inserts. “We can’t toss people into a cage based purely on our opinions and dislike for a man.”
“Don’t see why not.”
The moment the elevator arrives, I step in and force space between me and Archer when he follows. He stops behind me, Charlie moves into place beside him, while Aubree takes her place on my left and hits the button for our floor.
“You can pull a guy in for twenty-four hours without making an arrest, no?” I challenge. “Get him in there and away from his family. The worst thing that could happen is we’re wrong and the douchebag got a shitty sleep. Leaving him in that house, all alone with those kids, is the far greater risk.”
“Once again,” Archer murmurs. “You’re wanting to toss a guy in a cage based on opinion and gut instinct.” His fingertips touch the warm spot behind my right ear, startling me so I jump in place, but then he squeezes and steals the oxygen from my lungs.
He’s not hurting me, not at all, but he’s letting me know that it’s him who is touching, and he’s in control.
“I’m not saying your instincts are wrong, Mayet, and I would never tell you to dismiss your intuition. But that doesn’t mean you can remove a guy from his home without proof.”
“Especially not a guy whose cousin is the mayor,” Charlie adds.
Stunned, I spin and pin the lesser intimidating cop with a glare. “Come again.”
“Garry Thoma’s mother and Mayor Tribble’s mother are sisters. Garry and the mayor are first cousins, and they both fuckin’ know it.”
“You’re telling me I essentially have the mayor’s niece in my autopsy room?” I look to Archer. “And no one told me?”
“Mayor Tribble’s a fucking asswipe. Not worth the paper his check is written on.”
“So why is he the mayor?”
When the doors open on my floor, I twist and push out. I act like I know the way to my office, like I know where the hell I’m going, but I still change course when Archer’s fingers discreetly tap my elbow and steer me another way.
“What is their relationship, Garry and Tribble? Friendly?” I push through my office door, only to skid to a stop when I find a man I don’t know sitting at my desk.
My heart thunders in my chest; first, because this man caught me off guard, and second, because who the hell is he, thinking he can be in my office?
He’s balding and uses a combover to pretend he’s not. His shirt is strained, the buttons on the front threatening to quit. His tie is tight enough that his rounded face is red, and his eyes match.
Let me guess: Mayor Tribble.
“Hello?” I step forward while my cowardly friends remain back. “Can I help you?”
“Chief Medical Examiner Minka Mayet, I suppose?” The guy pushes up to stand, ignoring the way my chair groans in protest, and offers his hand acrossmydesk.
Like I’m the visitor. Like I’m the intruder.
