Switchblade

by Carsen Taite

  “Who?” She glanced around the room as she asked the question, her eyes on everything except me.

  “Nancy Walters. Young, fairly new vice detective.”

  “Walters…Walters…Walters…”

  She drummed her fingers on the coffee table as she repeated the name, as if she were searching her memory for some sign of recognition, but I knew exactly what she was doing. She was stalling for a lie.

  I urged her along. “Yeah, Walters. Nancy.”

  “Fairly new, you said? Probably why her name doesn’t ring a bell. Is Greg expected to recover?”

  I ignored the abrupt change in subject and flashed Ryan a look that said we’d probably gotten all we were going to get from Lily Reynolds. “I have no idea, but we’ll keep you posted.”

  Back in the car, I waited until we drove out of the complex before I spoke to Ryan. “You thinking what I’m thinking?”

  “That we should pay a visit to Nancy Walters?”

  “Yep. And I just happen to have her address.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Three calls came in to my cell on the drive to Nancy Walter’s place. I glanced at the phone each time, hoping it was someone other than Ronnie, but it was her every time.

  “If you need to take that, let me know,” Ryan said. “We can pull over and I can step out and give you some privacy.”

  “I don’t think so. It’s my client. Or my client’s sister, anyway.”

  “You haven’t told her you discussed the case with me?”

  “Nope.”

  “I doubt she’d approve.”

  “She doesn’t know it yet, but I’m not working on her dime anymore.”

  “I see.”

  Good thing she did, because I wasn’t sure I understood my own motivation anymore. Part of me wanted to pack it in, go get Jess, and head out of town until whatever was going on blew over. But my gut said it wasn’t going to blow over on its own. I don’t think I’d ever been so twisted up about what to do. Ryan’s voice cut into my internal debate.

  “So how do you know Detective Chance?”

  Mind reader with a loaded question. I gave her the easiest answer. “We graduated from the academy together.”

  “You were a cop?”

  “Don’t sound so surprised. Didn’t you used to be a prosecutor?”

  “I was. I was a good one too.”

  “The whole law and order thing’s a little too black and white for me. I’m guessing you found that out for yourself.”

  “I guess you could say that. Anyway, Chance is good people. She was always an excellent witness—not overzealous. Fair and evenhanded.”

  “She’s the best.” Sorry little summary of how I felt, but it was all I could manage under the circumstances. If I started diving into how I really felt, I wasn’t sure I could get the words out. And since we were pulling up in front of Nancy’s house, I wouldn’t have the chance.

  “Someone lives in a nice neighborhood,” Ryan remarked. “And she’s got a whole crew installing Christmas lights. Didn’t you say she got her shield not that long ago?”

  I stared at the front of Nancy’s house. Four guys worked between ladders, hanging lights along the roofline. As I watched them work, all the facts I’d overlooked came roaring back. The Corvette, the nice house, the fancy kitchen. Even after she’d been detective for a few years, Nancy wouldn’t be able to afford all this stuff on her salary. I guessed there could be some other explanation, like family money or a lottery win, but my gut kicked in again to tell me Nancy was deep into whatever was going on with Jackson and his pals.

  “She’s involved in whatever’s going on, but I don’t know how. I think we need to go in there and bluff our way through. This time I’ll take the lead.”

  Ryan stood to the side when we reached the porch, so when Nancy swung the door open, she thought she had me all to herself.

  “Luca, what a nice surprise. Two house calls in one week. People are going to start to talk.”

  “Hey, Nance, I brought a friend along. Hope you don’t mind.” I pushed forward, and she backed into the entry to let me through. When she saw Ryan follow me in, her smile faded. I introduced them. “Ryan Foster, lawyer. Nancy Walters, cop.”

  Nancy cocked her head, an odd smile on her lips as she tried to sort out what Ryan was doing in her house. I helped her along. “I think you’re going to need a lawyer. Ryan can’t represent you, seeing as how she’s suing the police department, but I bet her partner can. Do you have anything to drink?”

  The non sequitur threw her off balance, and I took full advantage. “Ryan, you should see Nancy’s kitchen.” I started walking that direction and motioned for Ryan to join me. “I bet she has five or six different kinds of glassware for you to choose from. She definitely has room for it in all these fancy cabinets.” I made a big show of pointing out the features in the kitchen and Ryan made the appropriate I’m impressed noises. Nancy, meanwhile, looked back and forth between us like we’d lost our minds.

  “Luca, I think you need to tell me what you’re doing here. For real.”

  “Happy to, but first I have a question.” I paused to let her squirm for a bit longer. She was already jacked up, but I wanted her completely off guard for what I was about to ask. While she stood there waiting, I looked around the room, taking in way more than I had before she’d become suspect in my eyes. I’m no decorator, but I know high-end when I see it. From the wide-planked wood floors to the granite countertops, to the double-sized appliances, it had taken some serious cash to buy all this. I watched her watching me. Her jangling foot and shifting eyes signaled she had some hint of what I was thinking, but I waited for her to ask.

  “What, Luca? What do you want?”

  “I want to know who arranged the hit on Jackson.”

  The nervousness flooded out of her. She thought she had this one down pat. “How would I know? In case you don’t remember, I got shot too.”

  “Barely.”

  “What do you think happened?”

  “No, we’re not playing that game. I’m the one asking the questions.”

  “I think you should leave.”

  “If I leave, I’m going to tell everyone I know that you gave up the shooters. Won’t matter if you did or not. Good thing you have such a nice house, because you’re not going to want to leave it.”

  Nancy shot a look at Ryan like she thought maybe she would bail her out. Ryan shrugged and said, “She means what she says.”

  Defeated, Nancy said, “Can we sit down?”

  We followed her into the living room and Nancy slumped into a chair while Ryan and I took a seat on the couch across from her. We all sat there for a minute. Nancy had apparently decided that if we sat here long enough, I’d forget my original question. No such luck.

  “Start talking.”

  “I don’t know who arranged the hit.”

  I started to stand, but she waved me back into place. “Please, Luca, I’ll tell you what I know, but I don’t know that.”

  I settled back into my seat. “Let’s hear it.”

  She crossed and uncrossed her legs, flicked at an invisible speck of lint on the chair, and then, having exhausted all her delay tactics, said, “It’s complicated. I took you to see Jackson because Teresa Perez asked me to. Other than that, I don’t know what happened.”

  “How did Perez know I wanted to talk to Jackson in the first place?”

  “I might have mentioned it to her in passing.”

  “And she said ‘hey, let me make the arrangements because I love Luca Bennett and want to do whatever I can to accommodate her.’ Yeah, right. Try again.”

  “Seriously, Luca, she and Jackson are tight. I told you that. I don’t have a clue who else knew about the meeting. Maybe Jackson told someone else. If he ever wakes up, we can ask him.”

  I took a stab in a different direction. “How much does a place like this cost?”

  “What does that have to do with anything?”

  I leaned forwar
d. “Here’s what I think. I think you don’t make enough money as a cop to live like this. I think you have another source of income, and I think that’s what got you shot.”

  That got her riled and she couldn’t wait to fire back. “I think Ronnie Moreno has you wrapped around her little finger. And look, now you’re here with another lawyer who has it in for cops.” She turned to Ryan. “Yes, Foster, I know who you are. And you, Luca, I think your client comes from a long line of lawbreakers and he thought having a badge gave him a license to carry on the family tradition without consequence.”

  I started to reply, but Ryan spoke first. “Detective Walters, you and I both know reputation isn’t everything. If you ask some people, all you’ll ever hear about me is I was a ball-busting prosecutor who never came across a defendant that wasn’t guilty, even if a jury said otherwise.

  “The truth is nothing’s ever that easy, that black and white. I think you know that very well and that you’ve been living in the gray for a while now, but here’s what I know beyond a shadow of doubt: the truth, whatever it is, will always come out. If you tell us, maybe we can help you, but rest assured, we’re not going to quit looking. If we find it elsewhere, heaven help you.”

  Nancy was instantly out of her chair, pointing her finger in Ryan’s face. “Nice speech. Save it for your loser clients. You think they’re any less guilty because they had fake drugs? You think they got ripped off? Oh yeah, they’re real sad victims of the terrible justice system. They’ll never see a dime from the city and neither will you.”

  I caught Ryan’s eye and pointed to the door. Time to go. Nancy was responding like a caged animal. Time to let her out of the cage and watch to see what happened next.

  *

  I dropped Ryan at her office and we agreed to meet there again in the morning. We were close to a break, but we agreed we needed to know more about the connection between Perez and Jackson. Hard to do when we couldn’t get any cops to talk to us. Ryan said she’d kick around some ideas with her wife and maybe a good night’s sleep would bring clarity.

  Sleep wasn’t on my agenda. I wanted to check on Jess, but I needed to figure out how I was going to do that without driving the Bronco by her house every hour on the hour. I went through a Sonic drive-through and ordered four hotdogs and a Route 44 Coke and then headed home to the man in my life.

  Cash was glad to see me, but I had a feeling his affection was mostly for the hotdogs. We settled onto the couch and shared the take. After we ate, I checked my phone. Ronnie had finally stopped at four voice messages, each escalating in impatience. The last one said something disparaging about my upbringing, which was true, but not for her to say. I sent her a simple text. Working on leads. Will call you when I know more. Out of touch for now. A text message wasn’t the way to let her know that I wasn’t working for her anymore, and I planned to do whatever I wanted and not report to her. I’d get around to that part later. Or never. I turned off the ringer so I could ignore her reply and leaned back on the couch intending to give my current predicament careful thought.

  The knock at the door sounded like gunshots, and I sprang off the couch, nearly knocking Cash in the head in the process. The noise and the near miss started him barking his damn head off, which only added to my just woken up state of confusion. I stumbled to the kitchen counter where I’d left my gun and I grabbed it and whirled around the apartment. The knocking started again, and I realized it was someone at the door and I’d slept the rest of the afternoon away.

  “Luca, I know you’re in there. Open up.”

  No amount of confusion could cloud the memory of her voice, but I hadn’t expected her to show up here now or ever again. I swung the door wide. Jess was never more beautiful than when she was angry.

  “Put that damn gun away. I’m coming in.” She pushed past me and shut the door. Cash ran to her and started weaving between her legs as she made her way to the couch. I vowed that when she left, he was going with her. See how many hotdogs he got then.

  “What are you doing here?” I kept my voice gruff to hide my happiness. She shouldn’t be here. She couldn’t be here.

  “Getting some answers.” She pointed to the space beside her on the couch. “Sit down.” She waited until I was settled before delivering her lecture. “You think you can show up on my doorstep and pick a fight and say we’re done? You don’t get to decide that. Not for both of us. You can be as scared as you want, but you’re not running away from me. You get that?”

  I pulled her into my arms and kissed her. Rough at first, angry at the risk she was taking, but then gently when I realized she didn’t know. “I did it for your own good.”

  “I know. John called. Besides, you’d make a lousy actress.”

  “Then why did you wait a whole day to come around? You coulda called me, sent a text?”

  “Right. After your dramatic sendoff, I was going to send you a text and everything would be all right? Besides, it took me a little while to come up with a cover.”

  While I sorted through her words, I noticed she was wearing a baseball cap and shades. I’d seen Jess wear a ball cap plenty of times, but only while actually playing ball. She always complained they were uncomfortable, and she always took off her hat the minute she left the field. And the shades? It was dark outside. “What’s up with the disguise?”

  “Just a precaution. I’m hoping that anyone who’s been watching will think I’m well on my way to Ohio.”

  I shook my head. “Help me out here. What’s going on?”

  She explained the scheme she’d concocted with John. She’d notified her captain she needed a few days off for an illness in the family, purchased a ticket for Ohio where a few distant cousins lived, and had John drive her to the airport. Once he dropped her off, she’d gone through the motions of going through security, but then snuck out of the airport and caught a cab to Maggie’s where she’d hidden out until it was dark to make an appearance.

  “I’ve been thinking,” she said. “Perez has to be wrapped up in all this. I think if we figure out why she and Jackson are so tight, we’ll get some answers. I have some ideas we can look into.”

  I liked what I heard, and we’d worked well as a team before, but I was still cautious. “What’s with the ‘we’? I thought you were staying on your side of the thin blue line?”

  “When it was a safe place to be. Now I don’t know who I can trust besides John. And you. Luca, I trust you.”

  We both knew the words extended beyond this case, this moment. She was telling me she’d take my side even when it might cost her everything she knew, everything she believed in. What she offered came without conditions. She was all in, no matter what.

  She should’ve questioned my loyalty first. Quizzed me about what I had to offer in return. Tested whether I was trustworthy. But she didn’t, and because she didn’t, I knew with complete certainty exactly what I felt. Exactly what I wanted to say back to her.

  “I love you, Jessica Chance.”

  Chapter Twenty-one

  When I woke up the next morning, Jess lay on her stomach beside me. She’d pushed the sheet down or it had slipped, leaving her body bare except for her legs tangled in the sheets. The sun streamed in, and shadowed lines from the window shade crisscrossed her naked back. I didn’t recall ever taking the time to watch her like this, completely relaxed. Completely mine.

  I’d lost count of how many times we’d made love the night before, but each time had been different. Deeper, closer. As tired as I was, watching her now, I felt even more aroused, and I wondered if we could get closer still.

  Cash started to rouse from his pallet on the floor. He raised his head slightly, but then shut his eyes as if to say, do what you need to do, I’ll wait.

  I started with light, soft kisses along her side. I kept my hands to myself and trailed my tongue from the side of her breast down to the small of her back. She opened her mouth and groaned in response to each touch. I groaned back. Not loud enough to wake her up, but the inte
nsity left me wet and writhing for more.

  I slipped my right hand between her legs, and she drew them apart, welcoming, wanting. She was awake now. I could tell by the way she rocked in place, hungry for my touch. With her back to me, I could fuck her any way I chose, enjoying nothing more than the way her body felt as it reacted to mine.

  Once upon a time, that would have been perfect, preferable even, but not anymore. I wanted to see her eyes when she climaxed. I wanted to know she was thinking of me. I wanted her to know every touch from my hands, from my mouth, was meant just for her. I moved my hand away and gently rolled her over.

  “Good morning,” she mumbled. Her barely open eyes were dark and sultry.

  “Good morning.”

  “Don’t stop. Okay?”

  “I don’t plan on it.” I propped her up on pillows and then slid between her legs. I massaged her breasts while I drew soft, slow circles around her clit with my tongue. She bucked in place, but our eyes were locked and the message passing between us was clear. We belonged together.

  *

  I took Cash down the block while Jess showered. After a night full of the best kind of exercise, I didn’t need my morning run. Cash would have to do with a day off.

  The corner store didn’t have the fancy coffee Jess liked. I bought a pint of half-and-half to make up for the lack of foamy topping Jess was used to, and added half a dozen donuts for good measure. There were four of them left when we got back to the apartment.

  She was still in the bathroom, naked and wet from the shower. Going to Ryan’s office suddenly seemed like torture. I handed her the coffee and left the room to keep from forgetting the more pressing business. From the bedroom, I called out the morning plans. “We need to leave in fifteen minutes. Cash and I’ll head to the car first and make sure no one’s around. I’ll text you and then we’ll pick you up on the other side of the complex. If I think anyone’s watching, we’ll drive on by and make another plan.”