AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He flipped his phone around and showed her the picture.
She snorted indelicately. “Missed his calling. I love that you think that was going to distract me, Q-tip.”
Quinn sighed heavily. “I should have brought Henry,” he muttered.
“I heard that.”
Quinn wished he’d sent Henrywith herand stayed at the office. So many mistakes had been made. He was going to blame it on the earth-shattering kiss that Will had given him before he’d left. It should have come with a warning sign and hazard lights. Even more than eight hours later, he was still thinking about it.
“Were you really making out with a lawyer in his office?”
Quinn was so stunned that he didn’t have a chance to school his features.
“Not just any lawyer. I have a name.” Ange’s tone was puresmug, as was the expression on her face.
Quinn’s mouth flopped open like a fish. “Where did you hear that?” he asked, dreading the answer but needing to know.
“I’m not telling you my sources. Do I look like an amateur to you?”
“Did you get Grady drunk?”
“Grady is a vault,” Ange said. “Haveyoutried to get information out of him? It’s not worth the effort. Though the calibre of alcohol he keeps on hand is impressive.”
Quinn knew that, of course. He didn’t want to know how Ange knew that. He pocketed his phone. “Why are you asking me if you already know?” he asked in resignation.
“I like to confirm that I’m right, of course.”
Of course.
Quinn was saved from having to dignify any of that with a response by their names being called. He was not saved from the sly looks she kept throwing at him as she took her own coffee from the tray, left Quinn with the rest, and sipped it on the short walk back to the station. How she walked in those heels, drank her coffee,andjudged him at the same time he had no idea. She was more impressive than he could ever hope to be.
Grady was on his desk phone when they returned to the station. He grunted at Quinn when he was handed a coffee and one of the chocolate brioche pastries.
Quinn could have sworn the paperwork on both their desks had multiplied since he’d been gone. He and Ange had taken barely half an hour. He needed to put a bubble up around both desks so it didn’t keep happening. Some kind of repellent. A giant circle of fire. Trip wires that made everything explode if someone walked through them.
He settled into his chair and took a bite of his food as he contemplated the growing piles. If they were lucky, they might have it cleared away in fifty years. And that was only if Riley didn’t keep giving them more. That only happened in his wildest dreams. If humans could stop murdering each other, then his job would be a lot easier. In fact, it would make his job redundant. He’d be willing to make that trade. Maybe he’d get a holiday, then.
He moved the other two dozen cases he was working to the side and flipped open the one that contained everything on the drug case that had brought Sebastian back into his orbit.
He thumbed through all the profiles inside, making sure not to get any pastry all over everything, and pulled out the two he wanted to see. Dane Howell and Errol Derrick. He finished his pastry and absently sipped at his coffee as he perused their information. He flicked back to the main page and tapped his fingers on the address for Howell.
Sebastian had been their target because they thought that Jericho—as Warren—had told him something when he’d been in custody, and Sebastian had been representing him.
Sebastian had confirmed that Jericho/Warren hadn’t given him anything during his time as his legal representation. In fact, he’d barely spoken ten words to him.
So what information did they think he had? What was so important they thought it was worth killing over?
DidJericho have that information?
Grady slammed his receiver down with a curse, glaring at it. If looks could cause combustion, it would have been on fire already. He grabbed the last coffee in the tray and pulled the lid off before chugging it.
“That’s Riley’s,” Quinn told him. If Grady still wanted to drink it, Quinn wasn’t going to stop him. But it would be remiss of him not to at least warn his partner. That way if Riley killed him, Quinn could say that he had tried. “Tried” being relative, of course. But he’d spoken the words that should have been a clear warning: what Grady did after that was on him.
Grady licked his lips as he lowered the now-empty takeaway cup. “He left already.”
“What do you mean?” He’d been there when Quinn and Ange had left and responded in the chat. While it was after five now, Riley was usually the last one to leave.
Grady shrugged. “I wasn’t speaking a different language. He’s not here. He said something about an errand, told us not to wait up, and left.”
