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Sawyer’s already chipper face brightens a shade lighter than the sun, and his grip on her shoulders intensifies. “That’s my woman, boys,” he boasts in a hillbilly accent. “Back off naw, ya hear?” He kisses her on the cheek, then in his regular voice whispers loud enough for everyone to hear, “Nice impression, princess. Two thumbs up, and one peniswaaayup.”
Sammy sputters on her drink in reaction to the last bit, and everyone breaks out in hysterics.
Once we’ve calmed down, Sammy redirects us to the case. “You guys keep talking about pictures. What pictures?”
“In order to find the guys who took Lettie, I dug up a friggin’ ton of social media photos and videos. One of Lettie being led out of the club by Yev and Davidov. She was stumbling all over the place, so it’s clear she wasn’t consensually leaving with them. Another picture clearly shows her drink being spiked.”
Sammy wobbles her head in a lazy arc, mouth hanging open. “Holy shit, woman. That’s impressive.”
Shep tips his beer in my direction. “Ghost is still a badass.”
My cheeks warm.
“Back off, Shep. She’s mine,” Kri growls at him, then shoots me a wink.
I get such a kick out of watching her rile him up. Couple goals.
Cal’s hand on my knee pulses. I spare him a quick glance, awed by the adoration shining at me in his bubbling smile. Fondness radiates from every line and smooth pane of his striking face.
I turn warm and gooey inside looking at him. Just like a molten lava cake.
Mmm.Wonder what they have on the dessert menu.
Kri grows serious, her game face snapping back into place. “Since Yev is on the run and we didn’t hand over the other dude… the one with the girl we rescued.” She snaps her fingers a few times. “What’s his name?”
“Savin,” I answer.
She flashes a grateful nod. “Right, so if Yev and Savin aren’t included in the arrests, who were the other three people arrested? You said there were four, right?”
It’s painfully obvious she’s sick of being on medical leave. Poor thing. I can imagine how frustrating that must be. But she’s doing so well with her recovery. I’m sure she’ll be back on the job in no time.
“Jonesy snapped pictures of the six tangos at the trafficking house, which I discreetly fed to Detective Patterson. So far, they’ve caught three of them. It’s up to him to make sure the charges stick without those photos coming up in court because they’re inadmissible. Lettie gave him enough to make an arrest by picking them out of a lineup like she did with the first guy. Fortunately, they also have a few other rescued girls brave enough to be witnesses. The shitty part is the FBI could fuck it all to hell. The chief is trying to keep jurisdiction over the smaller fish like these guys, but ultimately, if the feds want the case, they can take it.”
“How can the FBI destroy a case when they have the victims willing to testify? How do they manage to do that?” Sammy asks, irritation wafting off her.
“They can manage my dick; Fucking assholes,” Kri grumbles, getting a few chuckles from the group.
Sammy’s question sends my thoughts spiraling down unpleasant paths. Memories of what happened right before I left the task force press against my breastbone. “If the evidence gets tainted or something happens to violate the rights of the accused, then the case could get thrown out. That happened with some of the cases we worked on the task force.”
The frequency of those cases getting dogged caused a huge blow-up with my on-again, off-again bang buddy.
Tony. That fucker.
“FBI involvement aside, how do we go after the bigger fish?” Sawyer asks, then resumes his careful observation of everyone around us, searching for trouble.
I need to chug my cocktail…or caketail… to quash the discomfort at Tony’s memory jumping into my mind uninvited.
His words march across my memory as vividly as if they happened yesterday.
“Why do you care so much?” he said.
“Why don’t you care enough?” I pushed back.
“We can’t catch them all,” he started, but I got in his face and refused to back down.
“But we had them, Tony. We fucking had them. We know someone on the team is dirty. Help me find them or fuck off out of my life!”
“You’re obsessed, Mia. It’s consumed you. That’s why we aren’t more than what we are. Fuck buddies. We could be so much more.”
