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Moving from the bed and striding across the room, I say nothing when Cato skitters to his feet and follows me out.
With my youngest brother on my heels, I stop in the middle of the hall, and search. For a nurse. Or a doctor. Or a really big needle with Minka’s name on the side.
“What did she do that pissed Fletch off?”
“I’m not talking about it. Hey.” I stop in front of a nurse and absorb her feral hatred for interrupting her flow. “Minka Mayet is awake. She’s in room eight-oh-three and needs pain relief.”
“Great.” She flashes a dangerous grin and keeps on walking. “I’ll get to her shortly.”
“Arch!” Cato growls when I take off to find someone else. “What did she do?”
I walk through the doors at the end of the hall and keep going. “I already gave you my answer. Doctor!” I grab a white coat and feel a mild stab of guilt when the dude skids to a stop. “Minka Mayet is in room eight-oh-three and needs pain relief. She just woke up.”
“Then I suggest you find her medical practitioner, son.”
Angry, I hold my badge up between us.
But he only laughs and continues on his way. “Then I suggest you find her medical practitioner,Detective.”
“Fuck!” I spin in search of someone else. Anyone else.
“Is it the stuff in New York?” Cato shoves me against the wall, and pins me with a glare when his bold move stuns me. “It’s illegal associating with Cordoza and Solomon and them, and Mayet just waltzed in, acting like their best friend. Is Fletch struggling with all that?”
“No! Fletch doesn’t have a problem with most of the illegal shit we do.”Just this one thing. “I’m not discussing this with you, Cato. So drop it.”
My phone trills in my pocket and sends fresh anger racing under my skin. “I just want a fucking doctor!”
I pull out my phone and find Charlie Fletcher’s name flashing on the screen.Speak of the fuckin’ devil. So I swipe to answer and bring the device to my ear. “What?”
Silence hangs for a beat. Probably to allow his temper to settle. His mood to calm.
“The captain wants to see us both in his office,” he grits out. “Oh-nine-hundred.”
“Well, I’m fucking busy right now, Charlie!” I scrub my hand through my hair in frustration. “So how about you go to that fucking meeting without me?”
“I’ve already had my meeting with him,” he snarls. “I’ve made my statement, asshole.”
A sheet of icy cold slides along my spine and leaves me breathless. “Statement?” I turn back to study the door of Minka’s room. “What statement?”
“I’m not tel—”
“What statement, Fletch?!”
“Garzman went to the captain,” he says almost too calmly. “He said that you’re throwing the vigilante case and he knows why. He knows who killed those men.”
My knees shake, and my blood pressure drops out through my asshole. I scan the corridors for cops, because surely, they’re coming for her. “H-he said that?”
“Yeah. So the captain pulled me in first, to see where I stood with it all.”
“And, uh…” I swallow down the dread that lodges in my throat. “Where do you stand?”
“I don’t. I told him I had nothing to do with any of that bullshit, but that I wouldn’t protect the killer.”
“You’d toss her away that easily?” I whisper-hiss. “Charlie! Tell me this is some twisted fucking joke.”
“The captain has a name,” he says instead. “And he asked me point-blank if I agree they’re the perp. He offered me a promotion, a raise, he hung my entire fucking career over my head for this, Arch.”
“Wh-what did you say?”
