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“Your gatekeeper has your best interest at heart. Which is a fortunate thing, since you rarely do. Make sure you have lunch, Chief. Keep your strength up. Oh! Before you go,” he adds in a rush, like he somehow knows I’m already stretching toward the phone cradle. “My daughter called me this morning with wonderful news.”
“Oh yeah?” I don’t want to know. I don’t want to care.Don’t make me care!“What news?”
“She’s having another baby!” he gushes, his formerly hard voice turning to goop. “A baby sister for Alina. Janine and I are thrilled.”
“Well… congratulations.” I wish I could fake enthusiasm a little better. I wish I could do the ‘oh my gosh’ I’m certain the mayor wants to hear. But… that’s just not me. I can’t do insincere. “I’m thrilled you’re thrilled,” I tell him instead. “Genuinely. A new baby in a loving family can only be a good thing.”
“Thank you.” He reins in hisgoop, though I still hear the joy in his voice. “It would seem all of my girls are planning a Copeland visit shortly, so I’ll get to see them in person.”
“How wonderful for you.” I glance to my left, and nod when Aubree’s expression turns a little pushier, likelet’s go already!
“I have to hang up now, Mayor. My staff is waiting for me to begin a meeting. But I’m happy for you, and I’m taking my medication on schedule… so that covers everything, right?”
He chuckles. “Don’t forget the budget thing we discussed. Lastly, I should let you know I’ve been made aware of a certain demotion down at the police precinct.”
Thoughts of Archer and Fletch, the vigilante killer, the captain, and all the drama over there leave my muscles locked up. Nerves in my throat. Fire in my belly. But rather than risk incriminating myself, I merely respond with, “Mm?”
“Captain Bower was verbose on the issue. Excessively so,” he mutters. “And he’s made some accusations that are… well, quite concerning.”
“Accusations can be like glitter, Mayor,” I say tersely. “They get everywhere, and stain a man’s clothes.”
“A colorful metaphor,” he counters. “I prefer ‘accusations can be made, but without proof, are nothing but words spouted at convenience’. In the same vein, I would have been a fool to discuss such a sensitive topic without first personally researching the matter.”
“Research?” My stomach flips with an agony that almost takes my breath away. “What research?”
“I come from a legal background, Chief Mayet. One centered on crime.”
Oh god. Oh shit.“Okay?”
“My connections as the former district attorney will always be nurtured. Maintained.” He pauses for dramatic effect, like he knows I’m about to spew up the lunch I’ve yet to consume. “I had some of my contacts do a little digging into the vigilante’s activities since first sighting. Then I had others take a look at Detective Malone.”
“You had men investigating my husband?” I bite out, any affection for Justin Lawrence instantly washed away on a tide of violent repudiation. “Mayor, this is not acceptable.”
“I had to, Chief.” He, too, speaks without his usual tone of friendliness. “His captain came to me with serious allegations, which Malone had, apparently, refuted with alibis.”
“That’s how men remain free when they’re accused of something they didn’t do,” I snarl. “They provide alibis and proof they were somewhere else. Cases are built around such proof.”
“And yet,” he challenges coldly, “I can’t have my chief medical examiner married to such a character, if that proof isn’t solid and said character has been a danger to society.”
My entire body jolts, my psyche and soul stunned into momentary silence.
I frown, so I feel the line form between my brows. “Is your investigation into a cop in your city, Mayor Lawrence? Or into the man married to me?”
“The second is my priority. The first, a solid backup.”
“I’m not married to a killer! I’m not continuing this conversation, and I will not entertain another personal discussion.” I sit tall at my desk, heat flaming in my cheeks and rage burning in my blood. “I will not allow you to oversee my personal relationships, Lawrence. So I suggest you—”
“I can’t fully explain it to you, Minka Mayet. And I don’t plan to delve too deeply into the psychology behind whateverthisis. But I’m telling you now, should I hear my daughters were married to someone who may pose a risk to their well-being, then I’m going to deal with it. Quickly and silently.”
“Which is great for them,” I snap out,knowinghis other daughter, the non-pregnant one, is married toexactlythe kind of character the mayor loathes. He just doesn’t know it. Because those are the kinds of secrets a girl keeps from her daddy. “I am not your daughter, Lawrence. And I do not wish to blur these lines ever again. Please keep all future correspondence with my officein writing. I’m done with this—”
“You get on a roll, Mayet, and you think you can run right over me. But I will not be pushed aside.” The venom in his tone sends my fiery blood cold and the rage in my veins to ice. “I understand you to be an independent, strong-willed woman. But I’ve decided I care, and that is not a switch I can, or would, turn off.”
“Mayor Lawrence!”
“I give a shit about you, Mayet. And I’m well-accustomed to my daughters throwing tantrums because of my protective ways. I’ll keep my work communication via email, which suits me just fine. But if I ring your office and youdon’ttake my call, I can promise you now, just as I did when my girls were teens and thought they could outsmart me, I will come looking for you. I will hunt you down to the ends of this earth and make damn sure you’re in one piece.” His voice comes out on a snarl that makes my eyes widen in surprise. “It’ll be easier for us both if you fold your independent streak and find room for me in your life. Because if you don’t bend that fortitude of yours, I’ll break it.”
My mouth turns dry. His threat, slamming its target home in ways I had no clue to expect today.
