“Sorry.” She held up a hand. “It’s been a stressful day.”
“Did Marco compromise the Meilin Fan case?” Before she could speak, Defino pointed a finger at her. “Do not lie to me.”
Peyton felt caught. How did she answer without selling Marco out and yet still not lie to her captain? “I don’t believe he did.”
“But?”
“She called him over to her hotel room.”
“And he went?”
“Yes.”
“By himself?”
“Yes.”
Defino turned and looked out her window, or rather, looked at the blinds covering her window. If this were Peyton’s office, the first thing she’d do would be to pull the damn things down and throw them away. She liked natural light and lots of it.
“A good defense lawyer will use that against us.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.”
She turned back to Peyton. “So how do we minimize the damage of this?”
“I’m not sure, but I’ll figure it out, Captain.”
“Damn it. He knew better. He told me himself how manipulative that woman is.” She shook her head. “He’s not thinking straight.”
Peyton chewed on her bottom lip. This was the very thing she feared Defino would see. “It was a mistake, Captain. That’s all.”
“Marco doesn’t make mistakes like this.”
“We’re all under stress with the serial killer case. It won’t happen again.”
The look Defino leveled on her made Peyton want to squirm. “Sometimes, Brooks, things get broken and can’t be fixed.”
She wasn’t sure what Defino meant, but it made her stomach drop. “Captain?”
“You and Marco have been partners for a long time. You’ve been a top notch team, but even the best teams go through rough patches. And the truth is, a lot of times, something happens to shift the dynamics of a team and they can never get back on track again.” She drummed her fingers on her desk, as if this conversation was as hard for her as it was for Peyton. “When that happens, it’s best for all parties involved to make a change.”
Make a change? Her heart felt like it was pounding in her throat. “We don’t need to make any changes, Captain. We aren’t going through a rough patch. It’s more of a speed bump.”
“Brooks...”
Peyton slid forward in the chair. “Captain, please. You’ve always trusted me to be honest with you, to be a professional. Trust me now.”
Defino studied her intently. “I don’t think you realize how serious this is.”
“Believe me, Captain, I do.”
“If one of you isn’t in the best frame of mind, it could be dangerous. More than dangerous, it could be fatal. It’s my job to put the best teams out there on the street.”
“And you are, Captain. I swear it.” Peyton placed her hand over her heart. “No matter what happened out there in the precinct, Captain, when I think of who I trust to be there if I need him, the only person that comes to mind is Marco D’Angelo. I swear to you. And believe me when I tell you that if I had any doubts, any concerns at all about his ability to do his job, I would tell you. I’m not about to risk my life like that.”
Defino continued to study her, but eventually she gave a short nod. “You’d better come up with something for the Meilin Fan case and it better be good, because we need a win right now.”
“I hear you, Captain. Don’t worry. I’ll come up with something.”
“You’d better.”
Peyton nodded and rose to her feet, hurrying to the door and pulling it open. She didn’t want to give Defino a moment to reconsider.
* * *
Peyton climbed out of the shower and quickly toweled off, then wrapped the towel around her hair. Walking into her bedroom, she noticed her phone was vibrating on the nightstand by her bed. Scrambling around the end of it, she snatched the phone off the stand, thumbing it on, hoping it was Marco trying to reach her.
A text message from her mother blinked on the screen. What fresh hell was this? she thought, pressing it.
Come to dinner at 6:00. Cliff and I really want to see you.
She looked at the clock beside her bed. 5:00PM. Damn, just enough time to make it. She could lie and pretend she didn’t get the message, but she would know that she’d lied to her own mother. She texted back, I’ll be there and went into the bathroom to comb out her tangle of curls.
Maria was putting on high heels when she came out of her room.
“Where are you going?” she asked, although she felt she probably knew.
“Nathan’s taking me to dinner.”
“Two dates in three nights. Hm.”
“At least I have a date.” Taking in Peyton’s loose hair and little bit of eye make-up, she frowned. “Where are you off to?”
“My mother’s.”
Jake came down the hallway holding Pickles. “Know where I’m going? My room to eat a TV dinner by myself.”
“You have Pickles, and there’s more of my minestrone in the refrigerator,” said Maria.
Jake lifted Pickles to look in his face. “How about it, pal, let’s get crazy and have a bowl of minestrone. No, wait, let’s get downright wild and eat the minestrone out of a coffee mug!”
Peyton smiled as he carried the little dog into the kitchen. She’d thought to ask him if he wanted to come with her, but she feared that would only fuel her mother’s mad scheme that she and Jake should be a couple.
Walking to the sofa table, she grabbed her wallet and keys. “I shouldn’t be too late,” she called into him.
“Just be careful, okay?” he said, leaning on the counter.
She nodded and turned for the door, but she came to a halt as she saw her gun hanging from the peg. She’d never carried her gun to her mother’s house before, but the events of the day left her a little shaken.
“You okay?” said Maria behind her.
Peyton nodded and reached for the doorknob, determined that she wasn’t going to live in fear, no matter what happened.
The drive to her mother’s house gave her time to worry over everything – the case, her mother’s boyfriend, Junior Walker, and most importantly Marco. Defino’s comment about making a change scared her to no end. She just couldn’t envision doing this job with anyone else. She didn’t want to do this job with anyone else. Marco was and would always be her partner.
Parking in the driveway next to Cliff’s Ford F150, she set the brake and climbed out, walking to the front door. She pressed the doorbell and waited, staring out at the street that had been her home growing up.
Alice Brooks answered. “What are you doing ringing the bell, sweetheart? This is still your house.”
It wasn’t, but Peyton didn’t feel she needed to tell her that. “I didn’t want to scare you,” she answered instead.
Alice hugged her and for a moment, Peyton laid her head on her mother’s shoulder, enjoying her familiar smell and touch. Sometimes there just wasn’t anything as good as a mother’s embrace.
“There she is,” came a loud, male voice. “I can’t believe you came. It’s been so long I figured you’d gotten knocked up and were afraid to show yourself around here.”
“Cliff!” said Alice in shock.
Peyton released her mother and forced a smile for him. “Nice to see you too, Cliff.”
Instead of hugging her, a fact that made Peyton immensely grateful, he socked her in the shoulder. The same shoulder that had taken the brunt of Junior Walker’s kick. Peyton fought a grimace, not willing to show him any weakness.
“Cliff, knock it off,” said her mother, swatting at him. “You don’t punch girls.”
Peyton sighed. God, it was going to be the longest freakin’ night of her life.
“Come on,” said Alice, putting her arm around Peyton’s shoulders, “I made your favorite – beefaroni.”
Her favorite when she was ten.
“How ‘bout a shot of tequila?” said Cliff, following behind them.
>
“I’m driving, Cliff,” she said.
“So? You’re a cop, right? All you gotta do is show your badge and you can do whatever the hell you want, right?”
“Wrong,” said Peyton, trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice. “It doesn’t work that way.”
“The hell it doesn’t. I know all about the Blue Wall.”
Peyton sighed. “I’m sure you do.”
“Damn straight. So tell me about this serial killer case.”
The rest of the evening passed like molasses through a sieve. Alice tried to draw Peyton out, but the minute Peyton tried to answer her mother honestly, Cliff would make some comment that set her back on her heels. And the things the man thought were acceptable conversations – whether she’d ever thought of using a straightener on her hair like some black women did, whether she thought the government was listening to his cell phone calls, whether she was a lesbian because damn girl, you ain’t never bringing no boy to the house. And her favorite of all, whether she could talk to that Jew parking cop Officer Adelstein about taking care of (wink, wink) his latest parking ticket.
Alice walked her to the door and kissed her on the forehead like she had when she was a little girl. “I’m glad you came,” she said, smiling at her. Glancing over her shoulder, she whispered, “He’s really a good guy, Peyton. You just gotta get to know him. He’s all piss and vinegar, but he’s a good, solid chap.”
Piss and vinegar? Who the hell made a diet of such things, but instead, she just smiled at her mother and kissed her cheek. “All that matters is that he makes you happy, Mom. The rest is just noise.”
Alice pulled her in for a hug. “I love you,” she said in Peyton’s ear, and Peyton again relished the rarity of the moment, then she gently pulled away.
“I’ll call you in a few days,” she said, walking down to her car and climbing inside.
She was surprised to find Marco sitting on her steps when she got back to her house. Taking a seat beside him on the stairs, she let their shoulders touch.
“How was dinner?” he asked.
“Cliff is very educational,” she said, staring down at the traffic. “Did you know some black women use this relaxer shit to straighten their hair?”
“You’re kidding, and here most people are crazy for your curls.”
She leaned her head on her hand and looked up at him. “Jake tell you I was at dinner?”
“Yep.”
“But you figured you’d sit out here in the dark rather than wait inside?”
“Jake’s inside.”
Peyton smiled. “He isn’t that bad.”
“He’s just dandy when his mouth is shut. Problem is that don’t happen much.” He looked away from her, giving her a view of his nearly perfect profile. “Look, Brooks, I was out of line today.”
“Yes, you were.”
“I’m sorry. I had no business saying that.”
She drew a deep breath and held it. She wanted to tell him about Defino’s concern, but she didn’t want to ruin the moment, and the truth was, lately his moods were unpredictable.
He didn’t seem to notice her hesitation. “It’s just this thing with Junior Walker has me on edge and everything else that’s happened lately...”
“I know.”
He looked back at her. “You know I respect the hell out of you as a cop, right?”
“I know,” she repeated.
He nudged her shoulder with his. “Fact is, you’re a better cop than I am.”
“Now you’re just trying to win me over, D’Angelo.”
“Damn straight. Holmes told me what you did to Walker.”
She laughed, then shifted so she could lay her head on his shoulder. “Why does everything have to be so damn complicated now?”
He leaned his head against hers. “I don’t know, Brooks, I freakin’ don’t know.”
She sighed and closed her eyes. “It makes me tired,” she said, trying to let the tension of the day slip away.
And sitting there in the dark with her partner, she almost achieved it.
CHAPTER 14
Gabby shoved her carry-on case into the trunk of the Magnum and passed Billy the keys. He spun them around on his finger, then caught them in his fist.
“Wish you’d let me go with you. Let me have a crack at that Witan bitch.”
Gabby gave him a patient smile as she walked around the car and climbed into the passenger’s seat. “Budget only allows for one plane ticket, pup,” she said as he slid behind the wheel. “If anyone’s going to ‘Frisco, it’s me.”
“They hate it when you call it that.”
“What?”
“‘Frisco. You better not let them hear you call it that. I think they take you out and toss you in their cold ass ocean. A Puerto Rican babe like you wouldn’t survive it.”
She gave him a glare. “Knock it off.”
He shrugged and started the car, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “Why?”
“I’m your partner and I’m old enough to be your mother.”
He pulled into traffic. “Well, if you had me at 13 or something, yeah. If you let your hair grow, you wouldn’t be bad. You should get you a man.”
“Yeah, that’s what I need, all right. A man.”
“Or a woman. You could probably find one of them in ‘Frisco.”
Once again, he had Gabby smiling despite herself. “You better not go looking for trouble while I’m gone.”
“Me? Shit, girl. Trouble finds me.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.”
“You got everything you need?”
Gabby held up the accordion file with the letters. “This and the gun should be enough.”
“Freaky ass shit, them letters.” He gave a shiver. “Too bad homeboy was so gullible.”
“Yeah, too bad.”
“What’s Sanderson going to do?”
“Couldn’t tell you. He dropped the talk about suing when we showed him the letters. Andrea Sanderson has me worried though. She looked sick last time we saw her, as if she couldn’t accept the truth.”
“She seemed to guess it before we found the gun.”
“Yeah, but I think she’s been living in denial all these years.”
“Twenty years is a long time to be in denial, Gabs.”
She shrugged, watching the palm trees swaying in the wind. “You do whatever you do to survive, even if it means pretending you don’t know what’s really going on.”
“Sounds like you got experience at that.”
She glanced over at him, realizing she’d never told him much about her life. She liked to keep the two separate, but Billy was becoming more than a partner. He was her friend. “My husband died three years ago of cancer. Neither one of us would admit he was dying until it actually happened. We didn’t make any plans, write a will, nothing.”
“What type of cancer?”
“Testicular.”
“Damn.”
“Yep.”
“Is that why...” His voice trailed off.
She leaned forward a little to see his face behind his dark sunglasses. “Why what?”
“Why you didn’t have kids?”
“Exactly. And that’s how they found it. We went through all these fertility tests. We wanted a baby and we got cancer.”
“Shit, Gabs, that’s a bitch.”
She smiled at him. “It was a bitch.”
“You still miss him?”
“Yep.”
He drummed his hands on the steering wheel. “Don’t get a man. Get a dog.”
She thought about that one for a minute. “A dog?”
“I like dogs.”
“Who doesn’t?”
“Cats.”
She laughed. “Okay. When I get back, I’ll get a dog.”
“A police dog.”
“I was thinking more of a poodle.”
He looked over at her, horrified. “Oh, God no. Poodle? Shit, Gabs, that ain’t no dog. That’s a wool s
weater that shits and yaps. Get a real dog. A butch ass German shepherd.”
“I don’t need a butch ass dog.”
“Tell you what,” he said, ignoring her. “While you’re gone, I’ll look for a German shepherd breeder and when you return, we’ll go pick out two puppies – brothers or something. Then we can take them to obedience school together.”
Gabby didn’t know what to say. She didn’t want a German shepherd and she definitely didn’t want a male one. Most importantly, she didn’t want to take the puppy to obedience school with Billy.
“Obedience school, huh?”
He grinned over at her. “Yep, and while we’re there, maybe I’ll pick up a pointer or two.”
And Gabby knew she was getting a German shepherd puppy whether she wanted one or not.
* * *
“Holy shit!” said Jake, staring at his newspaper.
Peyton paused in pouring a cup of coffee and looked over at him where he sat at her counter. “What? Giants lost again?’
He gave her a glare. “No, this.” He turned the paper around and pointed to an article on the back of the front page.
Peyton walked over to it, carrying her mug. The headline read San Francisco Police Detective Assaulted and the by-line read Genevieve Lake. Peyton set down the mug and grabbed the paper, reading it.
San Francisco police detective, Peyton Brooks, was attacked by an assailant during her morning run near 19th Avenue and Golden Gate Park. Brooks confronted the assailant and using her police training, disabled him until backup could arrive. The assailant, Junior Walker, is currently being held on charges of assaulting an officer. No bail has been set at this time. This is Walker’s second arrest for assaulting an officer.
“That bitch.”
“That’s not good, Mighty Mouse.”
“Ya think?” She slammed the paper on the counter. “Someone needs to send that bitch packing. Why the hell does she have it in for us?”
“She’s trying to make a name for herself.”
“Yeah, well, she’s gonna get someone killed.” She reached for her phone and thumbed it on, dialing.
“Who you calling?”
“Captain. She needs to know what’s going on.”
“What can you do about it?”
Murder in Chinatown (Peyton Brooks' Series Book 5) Page 25
