Murder in Chinatown (Peyton Brooks' Series Book 5)
Page 28
“This is nothing. I didn’t kill Junior Walker.” He hesitated, then narrowed his eyes on her. “What is this really about?”
“Dr. Ferguson...”
“Dr. Ferguson is an ass.”
Defino slammed her hand down on her desk. “If you interrupt me one more time, D’Angelo, I swear I’ll have you in lock-up.”
Marco briefly closed his eyes. “I’m sorry, Captain.”
“Dr. Ferguson believes Peyton is your Achilles’ heel.”
“My what?”
“Your fatal weakness.”
“She’s a better cop than I am.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about.”
Marco went still. He could hear his heart hammering in his ears, feel the blood rushing to his head.
Defino let out a sigh. “He feels that if I don’t split up the team, your life is in danger.”
“How?”
“Because you are emotionally compromised.”
“What the hell does that mean? Captain, no offense, but I hate psychobabble.”
“Then let me put it to you in plain English, Inspector. Lately you’ve been making mistakes, you’ve been angry and combative, and borderline disrespectful to me as your superior.”
“What mistakes?”
“You went to Meilin Fan’s hotel room.”
“It was one mistake. Everyone makes them.”
“You got into a shouting match in my precinct with your partner.”
“Every partnership goes through rough patches. You know that.” He leaned forward in his chair. “Peyton and I have been partners for eight years. We have never failed you when you needed us. We have always followed your direction...” When Defino glared at him, Marco held up a hand. “Okay, I’ve always followed your direction and I’ve kept Peyton from going off the reservation countless times. We’re your best team. You can’t seriously be considering splitting us up.”
“I’m not sure I have a choice, Marco.”
“Why? Why are you saying this?”
“Sometimes things get confused, especially in a job like this. We have to rely on our partners for our lives, they become integral to us, as close as family.”
Marco looked down. He had to look at anything but Defino right now.
“I’ve seen men broken and lost because their partner has died, and to be honest with you, it’s always a risk pairing a male and female together. Some things are out of our control, some things are beyond our ability to resist.”
Marco swallowed hard. He knew he should stop this before it went any further, but he was afraid to speak.
“I’m going to ask you this one time and one time only, and if you lie to me, D’Angelo, I will pull your badge.”
So many things went through Marco’s mind, buzzing like white noise in his head. He’d been so careful, so damn careful, tamping all of his emotions down, hiding everything from everyone, keeping conversations to a minimum, drinking as little as he could so he wouldn’t slip up and speak off the cuff. And it was all for nothing.
The damn shrink had opened Pandora’s Box and let all manner of tribulation into the open, things that should never have seen the light of day, things that would ruin everything. There was a poetic irony about it. Peyton chided him so for keeping everyone at arm’s distance, but he’d done it for her, he’d done it so he could continue to be her partner, to watch her back and enable her to do her job. The very thing she’d wanted from him, to open up to others, would be their undoing.
“Inspector D’Angelo,” said Defino in a voice heavy with import. “Are you in love with your partner?”
Marco stared at the picture on her desk, the clear acrylic stapler that Peyton always played with, the holder for Defino’s business cards, and the black desk blotter that seemed so out of place on the clear glass surface, and he knew he couldn’t think fast enough to get out of this one.
“Marco!” she said in warning.
He lifted his eyes and met hers directly.
“Yes,” he said.
EPILOGUE
Gabby shifted the package under her arm and pressed the doorbell. Glancing over her shoulder, she gave Billy a quick nod. He smirked at her, something she was beginning to find endearing.
The door opened and Janet Messette peered out. “Detective Acosta,” she said with a smile. “I hear you have good news for me.”
“I do.” She motioned to Billy. “This is my partner, Detective Lucott.”
“Ma’am,” said Billy, holding out his hand.
They shook, then Janet stepped back, motioning them inside. “Please come in. I have some lemonade ready.”
They followed her back to the screened porch and took a seat at the table. She poured out the lemonade. Billy took a sip and gave a shiver of happiness.
“Fresh lemons.”
Janet laughed and pointed into the yard. “Grandma’s lemons.”
“Nice,” said Billy, lifting the glass again.
“Cookie?” She held up the plate with the same shortbread cookies Gabby had the last time she was there.
Billy shot a wry look at Gabby. “This is how you invite someone over.”
Gabby and Janet exchanged an amused look. “Speaking of your grandmother, I wanted to return this to you.” She set the package on the table.
Janet picked it up and tore off the brown paper wrapping. “The scrapbook?”
“It’s a way for you to get to know your aunt.”
Janet ran her hand over the leather cover. “I felt a little hurt when you told me about it. I couldn’t understand why she would have one for my aunt and completely ignore my father, so I went back up into the attic.”
Gabby nodded in memory of their trek through that hot, confined space.
“I found one for him. She made one.” Janet’s eyes filled with tears. “It had my birth announcement in it and some of my baby pictures. She kept in touch with my father even after my grandfather disowned him.”
“From everything you told me about her, I thought she might have.”
“Where’s Lily now?”
“She’s being extradited to us this week. We’ll try her here for your parents’ murders.”
“And California?”
“They’ve released her to us. We have the stronger case.”
Janet sighed. “Good.”
“Do you want to see her? I can arrange it.”
Janet shook her head. “No, I would have nothing to say.” She poured more lemonade in Billy’s glass. “I did go talk to the Sandersons.”
“You did?”
“I wanted to make peace. They lost their son and I can’t even imagine how they feel now. In some ways, he was a victim too.”
“He was.” Gabby reached over and touched Janet’s hand. “It’s been a pleasure working with you, Janet.”
“You too, Detective Acosta. Thank you for your help.”
Billy quickly downed the rest of his drink and they rose to their feet. Janet led them back toward the front door and thanked them again as they stepped outside.
As Billy and Gabby made their way to the Magnum, Billy danced around in front of her, walking backward to the car. “What’s our next case?”
“Ours? I thought you wanted out of Cold Case?”
“Me? Pssht.” He waved her away. “I still haven’t found the buried treasure yet.”
“Or the severed body parts.”
“Or the severed body parts. There will definitely be severed body parts in one of our cases.”
“Joy.” She walked around the Magnum to the driver’s side door and glanced at him over the roof. “So, I was wondering if you’d like to come to dinner some night this week.”
Billy’s eyes widened. “Really?”
“Easy, pup!”
“Will you serve lemonade?”
“Sure.” She unlocked the door and pulled it open.
“And cookies. I liked those cookies,” he said, sliding in beside her.
“Fine.”
“And no take-out. I want a home cooked meal like my mom used to make.”
Gabby put the key in the ignition, starting the car. “You’re making me regret asking you already.”
“And ice cream. Vanilla ice cream to go with the cookies.”
Gabby laughed and wheeled out onto the street.
* * *
He set the newspaper down, but he continued to stare at the headline. San Francisco Police Detective Assaulted. Nothing like giving away too much information. The stupid reporter had actually written the route the little detective took on her daily run.
This modern age with its social media sites and electronic spying. Wherever you went there was a camera trained on you and no one thought anything of it. They sacrificed privacy for a misbegotten sense of belonging, but it was all noise, all pathetic attempts to be part of something.
Humans were so tortured by their own insignificance. The more the scientist discovered about the infinite universe, the more humans tried to demonstrate their own importance, and it was all for nothing.
Beat and kick and thrash each other, fighting for their scrap of nothing, but the minute you put a gun to their heads, they piss themselves. They whine and cry and beg you to spare them. It was like squashing insects, really. And no matter how many you squashed, there was another one to take its place.
It made him tired. It made him wonder why he bothered.
Probably because there were a few decent ones. A few who swam against the current of corruption and fraud. Like the little detective. She made him smile, but even she was flawed. She thought she could take the world into her own home and protect it, but it just got crowded. She made herself a target and that wasn’t smart. Still, she didn’t seem to see the flaw in her method. She had this compulsion to save people, to see the good in those few souls worth saving, but eventually they would get her too. Humanity would eat her up and spit her out.
She wasn’t tough enough, wary enough. She was like one of those wild animals that people take into their homes and teach to trust humanity, then they shove it back into the wild and tell it to fend for itself. Those animals always died. They always came to a bad end.
And unfortunately, he feared, so would she.
THE END
Now that you’ve finished, visit ML Hamilton at her website: authormlhamilton.com for more information on her novels.
Then check out her fantasy series, The World of Samar, at worldofsamar.com.
All ML Hamilton titles available at Amazon in Kindle and paperback formats.
The Complete Peyton Brooks’ Mysteries Collection:
Murder on Potrero Hill Volume 1
Murder in the Tenderloin Volume 2
Murder on Russian Hill Volume 3
Murder on Alcatraz Volume 4
Murder in Chinatown, Volume 5
Murder in the Presidio, Volume 6
Murder on Treasure Island, Volume 7
The Complete World of Samar Collection:
Emerald Volume 1
The Heirs of Eldon Volume 2
The Star of Eldon Volume 3
The Spirit of Eldon Volume 4
Contemporary Fiction:
Ravensong