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“Anonymous tip that someone was armed in a Gladiator moving weight.”
“Yeah, that’s Cash,” I said. “He always has somebody else do the dirty work.”
“I’ve had time to think about. I’m guessing Cash planted it to get me arrested. Because then Bartlett would fire me. And of course, you’d dump me because I was a drug dealer, and you’d go back to him.”
“He couldn’t be that stupid,” I said, but I didn’t think it was stupidity. “He’s insane. He’s losing it.”
Vince nodded. “He’s that delusional. He wants you, especially now that you own the factory, and the only thing in his way is me.”
This was high school all over again, except this time with death instead of broken hearts, fought over money instead of a date to prom. “I’ll kill him.”
“Not the best place to say that,” Vince said mildly.
The other cop shrugged. I got the feeling he knew things were on shaky ground, so he was just going to shut up and see what happened next. Smart guy.
The sheriff came back and unlocked the cell door, handing Vince a large plastic bag with his stuff in it, his pistol making it sag. “You’re free to go, Detective Cooper. The county apologizes for its mistake. My guys should have shown some professional courtesy once they saw your ID.”
“Not a problem,” Vince said.
“Say hey to George for me,” the sheriff said. “Tell him I’m sorry.”
“Will do,” Vince said, shaking his hand.
I wanted to scream at somebody, and he was shaking hands.
On the way out of the station, we saw Imani talking to the sheriff and the sheriff smiling at Anemone, who beamed back at him. I think she fluttered her eyelashes, which was just wrong. Her ass belonged to George now, she should stop flaunting in front of the vulnerable.
I also saw the bald guy glaring at us, mad as hell and powerless, which was satisfying. Vince slowed as he walked by the guy, meeting his eyes in some silent manly fuck-you code, and the guy got even more red-faced because there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. He even took a step back.
That, I enjoyed.
Out in the sunlight, Vince paused and looked up. “Give me a second,” he said and walked off to the side of the building and disappeared into the alley.
I went after him. “What’s wrong?”
Vince was leaning forward, his forehead touching the brick wall. His eyes were closed.
“What’s wrong?” I was getting really worried.
He held up a finger, indicating for me to wait as he took several deep breaths.
After about a minute, which is a really long time when you’re scared, he opened his eyes and pulled his head away and turned to face me. "I didn’t like that at all.”
I realized he wasn’t talking about Cash. I put my arms around him, my head on his shoulder.
“I’ve been in bad places,” Vince said in almost a whisper. “Much worse than this. Except for one thing. I could always fight back. This time I was powerless. I didn’t like it.”
“You are never powerless,” I said. “You are the most powerful man I’ve ever met. You’re quiet, but you own every room you walk into. That second guy? The blond kid? He let me talk to you because he knew you were going to get out of that cell and come for him. And the bald guy? He is fucked right now because he messed with the wrong guy.”
“Pretty sure that was because of Imani Coleman,” he said, his voice lightening a little, but he kept his arms around me.
“These people have messed with the wrong guy,” I told him again. “Not just because you are the Quiet Terminator, but because you have backup. George is going to go ballistic about this. Mac will break knees. Anemone just removed the sheriff’s spine. And then there’sme.”
I tried a shaky grin, and he looked down at me and said, “Yeah, there’s you. Thank God there’s you. You scare me, and I’m the most powerful guy you know.”
“Weare powerful,” I told him. “And we are not alone.”
I could feel him relax in my arms.
