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“I’ve heard enough,” Murphy said and rose to his flip-flopped feet. The blank expression on his face showed that he had absolutely no interest whatsoever in any of this. If he was invested in any way, he was damn good at hiding it.
Everybody else rose to their feet, except me. Murphy glanced at me then walked to the door. He stopped. “Cut the last minute from the tape and add the part back about Carter risking his life. We need this to look like a Hollywood movie about a good cop bringing down an evil monster, not a sad, messy romance story.”
Nobody said anything. Murphy turned and walked out the door.
I rubbed my palms on my pants. “Well, looks like we’re all done here?” My gaze found the chief. He seemed to be thinking about it for a moment, then nodded in silence. I rose.
“Glad I could be of help,” I said, smirking at Robert as I left.
This was deeply satisfying. Not the fact that everybody except for the chief hated me. All I’d needed to do to help put Andrei behind bars was lie. I could’ve made something up about how Andrei had made certain suggestions about killing or how Mila had confessed he was a killer—which actually was the honest truth. But I’d rather spend life in prison myself than get Mila in trouble, even if that meant Andrei would walk free. Or, in this case, on the run with a warrant on him that he could probably clear if he confirmed the statements his lawyer had made. Mila was as clean as white snow, so there was nothing to worry about on that end. She was simply his sweet, vet-student sister, who was simply living off her brother’s Wall Street investments. That’s all we had on her. And we didn’t have much more on him. At least not as far as I knew, which might not be much considering how deep the government seemed to have been involved with this. There must be a reason why Andrei wasn’t confronting these weak charges. But what the hell was it? What was really going on here? But then, did I really care if some pissed-off corrupt politicians were able to take down Andrei to avoid landing on his hit list?
The simple answer to that was: nope!
Determined to spend the rest of my day in the garden, even in this rain, I strode down the hallway of the attorney general’s office and noticed Murphy leaning against the wall. I threw him a quick nod as I passed.
“You a gardener or something?” His low voice churned like gravel.
Shit. Of course he didn’t want to talk about gardening.
I stopped and turned. “Something like that.”
His blue eyes studied me.
“And you?" I asked. “Haven’t seen you before, but you show up in swim pants at a meeting with the attorney general, the head of the Boston police, and the FBI?”
The corner of his mouth twitched up. “Funny, coming from a man with garden gloves hanging out his back pocket.”
I nodded again as a sign that I was done with this conversation. I started to turn away, but Murphy pushed off the wall.
“I can offer you immunity from this mess,” he said.
I laughed. “Nice try, but I don’t need it. As far as I know, this operation is off all records and will remain so until you find Andrei. And even then, it’s unlikely that’ll turn into a highly publicized court battle. He knows too much. And, as Robert has already elaborated so elegantly, once you have enough dirt to hold Andrei in a cell for a while, he’ll most likely quietly disappear.”
Murphy frowned. “For what it’s worth, I didn’t agree with how Robert ran this mission. Every blind man could see that a cop like you wouldn’t like the idea of hiding some perverted senators’ dirty secrets. I did, however, think the funding for the men risking their lives at your side every day would push you a little further than this.”
I sighed and ran my hand through my hair. “The whole funding thing sucks. If I’d just made up some stuff, my fellow cops at the station would get what they deserve and so desperately need.”
Murphy narrowed his eyes. “So why don’t you? I mean, make us all happy. Is it because of some made-up personal code of integrity, law, and order? You think that’s how this country is run?”
A sarcastic laugh escaped my lips. “Integrity, law, and order?”
Murphy crossed his arms. “It’s not too late, you know. I can make things happen. Lots of things. Anything, to be precise.”
I tilted my head. “Anything, huh? Thanks for the offer, but no thanks.”
Murphy remained cool. “Think of your station. Forget your pride and integrity for a day.”
“That’s exactly what I’m doing.”
The first sign of real curiosity blinked in Murphy’s eyes.
“If you think I live under some fairytale code of integrity, you’re wrong. Most people don’t. The real world isn’t black and white but gray as fuck. So yeah, I wouldn’t mind helping you out and get that funding for the station as long as it won’t hurt Andrei’s sister. But the problem is,” I took a step forward, getting close to his face, “I can’t stand the thought that you are most likely here for some perverted senators trying to get rid of Andrei to hide their secrets and get off his list of targets. And I’m absolutely positive that my fellow officers at the station would rather take a bullet than wear a new bulletproof vest sponsored by powerful sex traffickers or pedophiles. So thanks, but no thanks.” I turned on my heel and walked away.
“Come find me if you change your mind. The secrets have only just begun,” Murphy hollered after me, his voice calm and cool.
I ignored him and made my way to my car in the rainy parking lot. By the time I got to it, I was drenched. But I didn’t care. Nothing mattered to me right now. The thought of her eyes and smile forced itself into my brain again, no matter how hard I tried to stop it.
I love you. I could still hear her voice whispering while I was on top of her, inside her, one with her.
