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I couldn’t see the officers behind the flashlight, but I was quick to comply. I let my handbag slip to the ground and raised my hands. My cell still gripped in one fist, I stood stock still, one foot in the pool of blood.
The current of air from the AC cooled the nervous sweat that covered my body, and I shivered. More cops encircled me and Charles while others secured the room, calling out to each other and turning on lights that illuminated the gruesome scene.
I looked away from the bloody mess on the floor and fixed my gaze on a set of three candlesticks resting on a narrow shelf near the ceiling. Monkeys portrayed the hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil adage. The middle one had a chipped tail—a shame. They were precious.
I was so going to jail. The terrifying thought obliterated all else. I hadn’t been to jail since a cop caught me shoplifting in Oklahoma when I was sixteen.
There shouldn’t be anything to fear. I hadn’t killed Charles. I was an innocent criminal. But as the officers approached, guns raised and loathing painted on their faces, fear’s long, cold fingers wrapped tightly around me. I resolved to do as my little monkey friend advised and not say anything because to these cops, I was guilty.
Chapter 31
Derek
Ishovedafewcoins into the vending machine and stabbed the button for black coffee. After midnight, you’d think the Miami PD would offer complimentary coffee.
My Monday hadn’t gotten better, but it had gotten busy. As John predicted, the shit hit the fan about five o’clock.
I glanced at the two other vending machines along the beige wall, hoping one offered Risk Energy. I suppressed a shudder at the thought of drinking the chemical-laced lime-green liquid. But if the owner of Risk Energy and our client Arthur “L” Leck wanted one, I’d find one. The Smith Agency prided itself on giving our clients everything they asked for.
Leck looked shell-shocked sitting across the squad room, holding onto Sydney O’Connor’s hand with a death grip. He was waiting to speak with a Detective Brentwood about what went down tonight at the marina. I never thought a billionaire computer guy like Leck would have the stomach for the sort of physical altercation he’d gotten into tonight. But fuck, people surprised me every day.
Hopefully, the wait for Brentwood wouldn’t be long. The last few nights of shitty sleep combined with coming down off the adrenaline rush of a job were kicking my ass. I reached for the much-needed coffee and took a swig that burned the shit out of my tongue.
Cursing my stupidity, I juggled the hot paper cup while fishing more money from my pocket to pay for Sydney’s drink. I’d just dropped the last quarter in the slot when a screech of indignation echoed through the sparsely populated station. The unmistakable sound of a palm cracking across someone’s face followed. I whirled toward the sound. This should be entertaining at least.
What I saw chased every rational thought from my mind.
Lee.
What the hell!
A cop, the one she’d slapped, was spinning her toward a wall, a set of cuffs in hand. My heartbeat kicked into overdrive; I was ready to fight. Adrenaline flooded my veins, and the angry beat of my pulse echoed in my ears, blocking out the sounds in the station. I never, ever wanted to see Lee in handcuffs. Ever.
I dropped the coffee and bolted across the bullpen. Leck, Sydney, and everything else took a back seat to my desire to protect Lee at any cost.
She was mine. The note she left didn’t change how I felt.
I skidded past the last desk between me and Lee. Every detail of the situation imprinted on my brain like a high-resolution photograph. The cop, the same one whose cruiser I’d followed to the station, had shoved Lee against a wall. He held her wrist and was crushing her into the concrete. She had her eyes squeezed closed and her lips pulled tight in a painful grimace. The cop cranked her arm behind her back at such an awkward angle, the seams of her white suit jacket looked ready to pop.
When he tried to clamp the cuff around her wrist, I couldn’t take it. I took a hold of his shoulder and jerked him away.
“What’s going on here?” My words dripped with restrained violence.
The cop blanched, and his hand hovered over his weapon, Lee forgotten. I posed a bigger threat. Fine with me.
I stepped around him and reached for Lee. The cop was telling me to back off. I didn’t care.
She opened her eyes, gasped my name, and lurched toward me before she collapsed. I caught her wrists and managed to keep her on her feet. She was frighteningly pale, her tan skin almost the same ashen white as her clothing. I pulled her to my chest. She was trembling like she had hypothermia; I had to hold her upright.
I skewered the cop with my eyes over her head. “Explain.”
“She is a person of interest in a homicide. And now she is under arrest for assaulting a police officer.” The little shit pointed at his cheek.
“Why did she hit you?”
The guy looked away; his gaze slid around the room, anywhere but on me.
“Why?” I repeated.
