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It’s a simple matter to keep the spotlight on me, literally and metaphorically. Yes, that’s right, I’m the lead in this case. No, I’m working it alone for personal reasons. I’m the only one following leads connected to the senator’s son. What about my partner? Bogged down on other cases. Too busy to help me with this.
A flick of my hand has several of the other officers ringing the stage stepping into place to keep Devan from swooping in from where he watches, struggling to understand.
“Detective Sinclair!” One of the reporters fights his way out of the crowd with his hand raised. “Are you having trouble managing this case on your own? Considering the high-profile nature of your latest victim, it stands to reason you’d want as much help as you can get.”
I harden my heart, shake my head. “I’m having absolutely no trouble. I’ll bring in resources when necessary, but at this point it’s all procedure. There is a step by step process to gathering and examining evidence. Rest assured the killer will be captured and brought to justice. Our hearts go out to the friends and family of Senator Wilson. Empire Bay has suffered a devastating loss.”
I refuse to give Devan any credit in this case for one simple reason: There’s a murderer out there and I can’t let another person die. I need to make sure when the gun points at someone, it’s me alone. If I keep his name out of the media, we might have a chance of making it out alive.
Devan is waiting in the wings by the time I conclude the press conference and leave Captain Ashcroft to answer any further questions. My partner takes one look at my face before falling silently into step at my side.
“I know what you’re doing.” His voice is gruff, pained. “And why you didn’t run it by me before you went out there.”
I shake my head. “I’m sorry.”
I’ve been apologizing a lot lately. And it’s never really bothered me before, when I take the lead this way, but it does now.
“You’re lucky I don’t care about any of that shit.”
He seems to get it. I hope he gets it.
“Good.”
“What I care about is what you just did to yourself. You’re staring down the barrel of a gun alone, Layla. I know things are bad, but are they bad enough to make you want to die?” He asks the question simply.
My cell suddenly weighs a thousand pounds in my pocket. Rather than going through Taney’s messages again, I head to the computer and gesture for Devan to sit down beside me.
“Right before someone shot her, Taney told me not to go to the club anymore. Gabriel is on his way there right now, but it’s all connected. She found something, learned something. I think we might be headed for a big break.”
Devan pulls up close to me, our voices dropped low so none of the others will overhear. “You’ve been going to those clubs for ages. You ever suspect anything fishy?”
I’ve never appreciated his all-business attitude more than I do now.
I shoot him a look. “Do you think I would have let Taney stay there if I thought she’d get hurt? She was a Momma Bear to the end.”
“I remember when the Velvet Underground used to be a strip club. Back when you were a kid.”
Sure, like he’s so much older than me.
“Who ran it then?”
Devan scratches his scalp. “Same woman, I think. Jade something?”
My stomach does a nasty flip. “Well, then she’s much older than she lets on. And has been doing this a long time.”
So what am I missing?
“Did you have any run-ins with her?” Devan asks. He retrieves his pad and pen from the pocket of his coat and starts to jot down notes on an empty page.
“Nothing. Not from anyone there.” I type the name of the club into our encrypted browsers but nothing comes up. No records, no news articles. Which is shocking to me. There should be something on here if she’s been in business so long.
I grab the cell to shoot off a quick text to Gabriel, only to stop, a little gob-smacked at how natural it feels to want his opinion on this.
He’s always at the club.
He’s got to know more about Jade than any of the other people working there. He’s one of their star performers. And I’ve seen the way she looks at him: She wants him. If anyone will be able to dig up dirt on the bitch, it’s Gabriel.
Devan is eyeing me sharply, as though he knows more about what’s going on than I do. “You need to keep digging,” he tells me.
