by Melody Raven
But then she started asking me about Nico, and the handsome stranger appeared to “rescue me.” My jaw tightened as I saw myself get played so easily. Because as I was paying attention to the blond stranger, someone else came up and dropped something in my drink.
A shiver went up my spine as I saw it. There. That was when I almost died. One second of distraction and that was all it took.
Carter must have seen it too. “Get over here.” He motioned to Cherry. “We need to know who these two men are. Everything you know.”
Cherry obediently got up and walked around to look into the computer screen. I noticed that when she bent over, she happened to aim her ass right for Carter’s crotch, but Boy Scout was in full professional mode and discreetly stepped aside.
Good man, that. Stubborn idiot, but at least he had his eye on the prize.
“I don’t know the blond, but the one slipping you the mickey is Roger.”
She had to know I was looking for more than a first name. “Roger what?”
She shrugged. “I don’t ask for birth certificates when I pour a glass. His name is Roger. That’s all I got.”
“Do you have cameras on the street?” asked Carter.
She reached around me and opened up a new folder. “Here’s the street cams.”
It took a while, but I was able to zero in on Roger getting into a black, beat-up pickup that had been sitting at an expired meter. And there were plates.
“Boom.” I paused it. “Ding dong, mother fucker. I’m coming for you.”
18
Roger Ramsey was forty-eight years old. He had a rap sheet that would be taller than me if printed out. A lot of petty things, but also asshole things. I was a thief for sure, but I wasn’t stealing purses from old ladies.
Roger had no such qualms. There was a variety of violent crimes on his sheet. How he hadn’t gotten more jail time made no sense. He must not have any great magical abilities considering he kept on getting caught, but I was guessing that he knew someone with enough influence to somehow get him out of jail.
And after he had to deal with me, he would need someone to help him get out from six feet under.
“Let me do the talking.” Carter parked the car in front of Roger’s shitbox of a building.
“Okay. Whatever you say,” I lied as I pushed the door open seconds after the car was in park and jumped out. Carter wasn’t going to be the only one talking. All he cared about was clearing his little girlfriend.
I was going to get this done, and I was going to do it right. Carter might not be on the same page as me, but I was doing this to help him.
The apartment building had seen better days. There was crappy graffiti on the walls that actually made the place look better because it detracted from the crumbling bricks and bars on the lower windows. And even though it looked as though safety was the lowest concern for anyone here, the door was locked. Fine. My fingers started to crackle with power as I prepared to blast the door off.
“Would you calm down for half a second,” muttered Carter as he pushed around me and hit the intercom button for Roger Ramsey’s apartment. The numbers weren’t labeled or anything, but when Carter had looked Ramsey up, we’d gotten the apartment number off the address.
He hit the button a few times until a sleepy voice finally came over the speaker. “Who is it?”
“Hey, man. I’ve got a pizza for unit 2A. Do you want it or not?”
I pursed my lips and raised a brow. A pizza? Did he really expect that to—
A loud buzzing alerted us that the door was being open. Well, hell. Carter gave me a smug look as he held the door open for me. I had to hand it to him. He’d won this round.
I took the stairs two at a time, but Carter grabbed my arm before I made it to the second-floor hallway.
“I’m going to need you to keep your cool.”
I tried to pull my arm free, but Carter kept his iron grip on me.
“I have no cool. My cool is long gone. I’m a volcano and I erupted. Nobody is getting away from my lava flow right now. Now let go of my arm.”
“I get it. You’re upset.”
I lost it. Instead of trying to pull my arm away, I shoved all my force into Carter, slamming him up against the wall. “You do not get it. I almost died last night. Someone is fucking with my name, my livelihood, my reputation. And worst of all, she is fucking with you and you don’t even care.”
“I’m a cop,” bit out Carter between clenched teeth. “I can’t let you walk in here and start blowing shit up like a goddamn terrorist. There are procedures we need to follow if you want to get stuff done. And whoever is doing this to you, we’re going to bring them down the right way so they don’t fall through the cracks. Do you get it?”
“By the time I’m done, their bodies will be cut up into small enough pieces that they’ll be able to fit through any crack.” I did understand what he was saying. I wasn’t happy about it. I wasn’t happy in general. But if Amy was going to be arrested, I would have to try to at least play by some of the rules.
That still didn’t mean I was going to let Carter do all the talking. I approached Ramsey’s door, but remembered that Carter was the one who’d done the talking on the intercom. So he was expecting a man. I stayed away from the peephole and let Carter knock on the door. Carter did not have a pizza, nor did he look like any pizza delivery boy I’d ever seen before. But Ramsey opened the door immediately. God bless morons.
Carter stuck his foot in the door before Ramsey could close it. “Hey, man. I’m Carter Blackburn with Homeland Security. This is my partner, Sonia Shaw. We have reason to believe you might be a witness for a thing that happened at Delirium last night. You mind coming with us to answer a few questions?”
Ramsey might as well have the word “guilty” tattooed across his forehead. His shifty eyes couldn’t settle on either of us. He had sunken-in cheeks and deep circles under his eyes along with thinning brown hair on his head and probably week-old stubble on his jaw. All in all, he looked shady. There was a reason he wasn’t the one doing the distracting last night. I tried to keep my face neutral and hide the rage I was feeling. Maybe it was good I wasn’t saying anything. I was pretty sure I couldn't keep my normal polite and happy demeanor under the circumstances.
Besides, Carter’s line about him being a witness was a really good strategy. I wasn’t trying to get Ramsey; I was trying to get Amy. If Ramsey had seen her, or talked to her, he was a witness. And if we came across like we weren’t actually after him, then he’d be much more likely to help us. And throw somebody under the bus. Considering Carter didn’t want anybody thrown under the bus, that made his cooperation all the more impressive.
“I don’t know anything about no Delirium, man. Sorry.”
He started to shut the door, but Carter’s reached out and slammed his hand into the wood. The bang reverberated through the hallway. “I know you don’t want to talk to cops or anything, but we saw you on camera. You might’ve seen somebody slip their drug in my partner’s drink last night. It’s not a big deal. It was just a tiny amount of Solaris. Barely anything, from what the tests show. But that doesn’t change that it happened. So if you could come with us and take a look at a few pictures of the people who were at the club last night, we’d really appreciate it.”
Damn, Boy Scout was being shaaady. And I loved it. Yes. You get that little rat into our station. We can have him trapped and cornered and at our will.
“I guess that would be fine. Can I grab a few things?”
“Yeah. We’ll be right here.” Carter noticeably didn’t take his foot away from the door as we waited for Ramsey to return. I was still tense. We weren’t out of the woods yet. Who knew if he was going to come back with some crazy spell or gun or something.
But a few minutes later, he had an oversized denim jacket on and a smile. “I’m ready.”
It wasn’t until we were downstairs and in the car that I finally relaxed a bit. Because now I knew for sure that I was going to c
rack Roger Ramsey like an egg.
19
When we brought Roger Ramsey into the station, the entire team was rife with questions. Apparently Melanie hadn’t briefed them. I had no idea how much Carter had admitted to. And I really didn’t want to tell everyone Amy was an evil bitch.
At least not right now. I was going to have her in handcuffs soon enough. It could wait for a little bit. We walked Ramsey right past all their questioning faces, all while trying to look as though there was nothing wrong because we weren’t trying to freak Ramsey out.
We got him into one of the interrogation rooms. Very similar to one I was in that very morning. Once he was alone, I finally got a chance to breathe.
“Let me take point on this,” said Carter.
“You sound like a broken record. You got him here—I appreciate that. But this is my investigation, and you’re kidding yourself if you think it isn’t.”
“And if you think this isn’t high stakes for me, you’re kidding yourself.”
There was a not-so-subtle hint of desperation to his voice. I knew this wouldn’t be easy for him. And I felt for Carter. I really did. But I was doing him a favor. Even if he didn’t see that now, he’d see it down the road. If Amy did go down in flames today, wouldn’t he be grateful that he wasn’t the one who sent her on her path to hell?
“I’m your boss,” he reminded me. But he was out of his mind if he thought that held any weight with me at the moment.
I turned and got right up in his face. “Going forward, you’re my boss. I get it. I respect it. But right now, with this, you can’t be my boss. You’re too involved. You’ve got too much to lose. I’ve got your back on this one, whether you get it or not.”
A muscle ticked in his jaw. He knew I was right. All he had to do was admit it. “I’m not the type to step back. Ever.”
I reached out, touching his arm. He was practically vibrating with tension. It was the first time I’d ever touched Carter without the intention of doing him some bodily harm. But it was the only way I could think to communicate to him. “That’s what makes you good at your job. But in this case, you need to let me take care of it.”
He shook his head. “I can’t. I can’t do it. I can’t let you take this from me. Do you have any idea what I’ve lost this year? I can’t lose anything else.”
My hand fell away from him at the mention of Ian. What was I supposed to say to that? How could I make it better? “It’s not fair,” I said. “Nothing about this is fair. But Ian would want you to know who you’re really in bed with.”
He finally shook his head and wordlessly walked down the hall. It was hard to feel happy about this victory. I went in the other direction. I needed to get back to Ramsey as soon as possible so he didn’t get antsy, but I wanted to do it right. Carter had a good point. I needed to act like a cop, not a street thug.
As I was collecting a few items that I’d need, I heard the click-clacking of Melanie’s heels behind me. “I thought we had until the end of the day,” I said, not looking up at her.
She leaned a hip against the side of my desk. “I come bearing presents. Follow me.”
I kept on doing what I was doing. “I’m in the middle of something.”
Melanie closed the top of my laptop. “When I say things like ‘follow me,’ it’s not a suggestion.”
Well then. I picked up the pieces I’d collected and followed Melanie as she led me back to the hallway of interrogation rooms. She took me into the observation section for Interrogation Room B. My jaw dropped when I looked through the one-way mirror.
Amy sat there, scrolling through her phone.
“How? Did you arrest her?”
“Of course not. I told her we’re working on honoring Carter, and I wanted her help planning a party. She was overjoyed. I snuck her in here and told her it was so Carter wouldn’t see her. But time is ticking until she gets suspicious. So I’d make use of this as soon as possible.”
Melanie walked out before I could lift my mouth up off the floor to yell a thanks. I bit my lip as I started to shake with excitement. Hell yes. I turned on my heel and jogged back to my desk. Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Once I had everything together, I ran right back to Ramsey’s room. I could see that Carter, Gabbie, Nico, Flora, and Melanie were in the observation room and were watching everything I was doing. The pressure was on, but I wasn’t worried. I was going to get this done. Before I walked in, I tugged on my hair tie, letting my black hair fall around my shoulders. Whatever I could do to make myself nonthreatening.
I walked into the room, making sure I wasn’t breathing or sweating like a crazy woman. Ramsey still thought he was a witness for a low-level crime and not a suspect. I didn’t want to freak him out.
“Thanks for waiting.” I sat across from him and set my paperwork down. “The printer is running so slow today and I swear sometimes I feel like this office is in the dark ages.” I smiled at him with all the charm I could manage. “So I went ahead and printed out some screenshots of other guests at Delirium last night. I just want you to look through these and tell me if any of them stood out to you last night.”
“Sure.” He smiled as he reached for the folder. “You know, when you knocked on my door, I thought I was in trouble. I don’t have a great past with the po-po.”
“You don’t say. Well, I hope this will give you some warmer memories.” I had to think like a cop here. I wanted him to tell me what I wanted to know. But he wouldn’t do it for me. He’d only do it if he thought there would be some benefit to him.
Shocking no one, he finished going through the series of printouts I’d provided and started to shake his head, the motion noticeably overdramatic. “Nope. I don’t recognize any of these.”
Destined for an Oscar, he was not. “Darn. That’s a shame. Can you hang around a bit longer? I should have some better pictures soon.”
“Better pictures?”
I didn’t answer as I let him connect the dots on how that wouldn’t be good for him.
“I mean, I can’t stay long. I have to get to work, you know.”
“Oh no! I don’t want to make you late for work. Let me see if I can make a call to speed up the techs downstairs. There’s no reason it should take this long. After all, it’s an attempted murder case.”
Ramsey flinched at that. I kind of felt like a cat playing with my prey, but really he was making this too easy. “I thought your partner said it wasn’t a big deal. I mean, I thought he said there was hardly nothing slipped in your drink.”
I let out a little laugh. “Yeah, but since I’m allergic, I almost died. And that would be murder.” I took out my phone and called my voicemail. Ignoring the random messages, I said, “Hey, Tommy. Is there any way I can get a rush on that digital enhancement? Yeah, I know, but I’ve got a witness who needs to get to work on time. Come on, Tommy. I’m not going to let this punk see one more free sunset. This is personal, and I’m going to string the bastard up. That’s fantastic. I appreciate you!” I put my phone down and looked into Ramsey’s terrified eyes. “Great news! Tommy says it should only be another fifteen minutes. You can make that work, right? If not, I’m more than willing to call your boss for you and tell him exactly how personal and important this investigation is to me.”
“I… uhhhh….”
Poor guy. I really wasn’t giving him a chance. But now that I’d scared the crap out of him, I needed to start corralling him into the corner I needed him to exit out of. “I need to get this sorted out. This is the easy part of the investigation. Once I figure out who slipped me the drugs, I can start on finding the mastermind.”
“Ma-mastermind?”
“I’m sure whoever really drugged me was just working for someone else. And that’s the real criminal, after all.” I paused and let him make his own conclusions out of that. I made sure to give him extra time because I was sure he’d need it. “Actually, maybe we can let you go home. Tommy just said the images actually showed the person slipping the drugs into
my drink. I imagine video evidence would work better in a court than eyewitness testimony, anyway. Juries usually assume witnesses are getting something out of testifying. Like immunity or something.” Damn, I was good at this.
“Witnesses can get immunity?”
“Well, yes. Depending on what they have to offer.” I frowned. “Why don’t you come with me? We’ll check on Tommy together and see if you can head home.” I got up and got to the door before I saw Ramsey was still sitting. “Come on.” I motioned for him to follow me.
Once in the hallway, it was a short walk to the observation room for Interrogation Room B. “I have to stop in here for one second. I hope that’s okay. Follow me.”
I walked right to the back of the room and leaned against the brick wall. I took my phone out and acted as though I were scrolling through something like emails as I turned on the recorder.
Ramsey took two steps into the room and paled when he saw Amy sitting on the other side of the one-way mirror. “Wh-what’s— What’s going on?”
I didn’t say anything as I continued giving Ramsey enough rope to hang himself.
Carter appeared in the doorway, and we both waited to see whether the other shoe was going to drop.
And then it did. “She was behind it all.” Ramsey pointed through the glass. “She hired me to drug you. But I just thought it was a prank. I didn’t know anything about no murder. I ain’t a killer. I’m helping you out. I get one of those immunity things, right?”
I blinked a few times as though I were shocked by what he was saying, even as I made sure my phone was recording it all. “That woman in there? Do you know her name? How do I know you’re not just trying to blame anyone but yourself?”
“Her name is Amy Craster. I have the number she called me from. I can tell you the time and everything. But I’m not giving you anything until I have that immunity thing.”
I looked past Ramsey and met Carter’s eyes. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but what I saw was unadulterated fury staring back at me. My heart actually leapt into my throat. For a moment, I thought he was going to come after me. But then he turned on his heel, and a second later, he stormed into the interrogation room with Amy. Shit.
