“I see he’s being cooperative,” Kate said.
“He’s pretending he passed out or something, but he doesn’t know what real dead weight feels like. Besides, his scrawny ass doesn’t weigh much. Fighting him would have been harder. Bet he has some sore arms from being dragged from the house.”
The guy stirred, getting his foot underneath himself, then standing. Guess he hurt too much to pretend to be out of it any longer. And hearing it wasn’t such a hardship for the cops made it less appealing.
“Put him in Dornan’s car. Mine already has a passenger,” Kate said.
Underwood looked at Kate, then back to her car. Kate thought she saw a smile turn up the corners of his mouth.
“You want help getting this guy into your car?” Underwood said.
“I’m good. I can fold him in half easily if need be.” Dornan shoved the guy toward his car.
“Let’s roll,” Kate said. “I don’t want that Angry Betty in my car any longer than need be. She’ll probably do something you’ll have to clean up.”
“Me?” Underwood asked.
“You’re the rookie, not me.” Kate walked around to the driver’s side, then looked across the hood at Underwood.
He tossed her the keys. “Her name is Kim, not Betty.”
Kate didn’t bother to tell him, she knew her name wasn’t Betty, it was just an expression.
Chapter 7
Kim sat in the back of Kate’s cruiser, rocking back and forth, her hair a mask in front of her face. Jake sat in the passenger seat, wanting to reach back and move the hair for her, but the cage was in the way. It wasn’t a good idea, anyway.
Kate called in the transport and drove back to the station. She kept looking at Jake with just her eyes, not even slightly turning her head, as if he wouldn’t notice. Jake turned slightly sideways in the seat, watching Kim.
“You act like we’ve never had a person in the cage,” Kate said with a hint of annoyance.
“It’s not that.” Jake adjusted in the seat to face straight forward, trying to concentrate on anything but Kim. But his brain kept going back.
She was twelve or thirteen the last time he saw her. Tall and skinny, with long straight hair and huge blue eyes. So much hope. Jake remembered she wanted to be a doctor, a nurse, or a dental hygienist. He laughed at her indecision, because he always knew he wanted to be a cop. He just happened to do it by way of the Army.
Everyone told him to get an education first, so he could go into the military as an officer. But if he knew what he wanted to do with his life, why get an education he didn’t need? The military was an excellent education on what he didn’t want for his life. He loved his guys, and loved the travel, but he didn’t love the sandbox. He wanted to be a hero to someone, even if it was for rescuing their cat from a tree. In the sandbox, everyone hated them, even though they needed them. He expected that was why they hated the Americans, because they didn’t want to need them.
He looked back at Kim, and wondered who would get her cat out of the tree, and how it got there in the first place.
Kate socked him hard on the shoulder. “That’s enough! We’ll be having a talk after we get her booked.”
Jake rubbed his shoulder. “Ouch.”
“Well, start acting like a man, and not a lovesick boy, and you won’t get punched.”
He could feel anger radiating off Kate. Nothing he could do. She’d be mad if she wanted to be. He’d do his best to be a good cop. Do his job.
The booking process didn’t take long. Kate and Jake escorted Kim to a holding cell, then Kate took over. She insisted he find something else to do.
The something else he found was running Kim’s arrest record. It was only a matter of seconds before he slumped in the chair.
“Buddy, you should be on cloud nine, not sitting there like you just lost your dog.” Gwilly slapped Jake on the back.
Jake straightened. “It was exciting. Thrilling even. Maybe I’m coming down off the high.”
In truth, once he saw Kim, the high had worn off pretty quickly. Even taking down Numb Nuts, he had Kim’s welfare in his head. Was Numb Nuts her boyfriend? Husband? The person who got her into this mess?
“It happens. Like a drug, only in a good way. If you loved this, you’re in the right career.”
Zane Gwilly had been in the military, too. He’d done his tours in Iraq, or was it Afghanistan? Jake could never remember and wasn’t going to ask. Some guys didn’t like to be reminded of their time there. Last thing he wanted to do was bring it up and get on Gwilly’s bad side, too. Bad enough having Darby mad at him.
Zane looked over his shoulder. “What are you researching?”
He couldn’t cover it up, so he told him. “The chick we arrested, I knew her when I was a kid. I was just looking up her arrest record.”
“Coulda looked that up in the car,” Gwilly said.
“Yeah, I didn’t think about it,” Jake lied.
He leaned in closer. “Kim Vega. She’s a regular ‘round these parts. Soliciting, resisting, assault on an officer, you name it. I don't even have to look at the list. I’ve arrested her at least four times in the last five years.”
“I don’t see any drug charges, though. And she’s definitely a junkie.” Jake kept scrolling.
“Those charges get dropped when they help us out,” Zane half-smiled.
“She’s a narc?” He wanted to be surprised, but wasn’t.
“She’s just looking out for herself. Problem is, there comes a point where she has nothing more to give in return for the charges. She's about at that point now. She’s going to be transported to the jail to await trial, and she’ll stay there this time, because I bet your bottom dollar she doesn't have money to make bail, and definitely doesn’t have collateral.”
“What about family?”
“As in parents? She’s your age, Jake, she shouldn’t need her parents. She’s been on this road for a very long time. Some of those theft charges you see? She broke into her grandmother’s house and robbed her. I’m sure that family washed their hands of her a long time ago.”
“What happened to her?” He knew everything else, Jake assumed he’d know this, too.
“Who the hell knows? Life? She’s a junkie. If she doesn’t go to prison and die there, she’ll die on the streets soon. Or end up killing someone. It’s a shit life, but they know that before they choose it, and yet they still stick that needle in.” He shook his head and walked away.
Jake thought he was callous, but then he probably would feel the same if she hadn’t been the girl of his wet dreams as a kid.
He imagined she’d gone to college and become a nurse, doctor or whatever. He hoped she’d met a nice guy. Sometimes he even wished they had crossed paths and maybe ended up together. The crazy thoughts of a teen driven by testosterone.
Jake closed the file and logged off the computer, then went to see if Kate had finished processing Kim.
She locked Kim back in the holding cell as he walked up.
“Outside. Now.” She pointed to the prisoner transport door.
Jake walked, she followed. As soon as they were in the parking area, she pointed to the lawn. It was dark, and Jake stood under the streetlamp looking at Kate. The light made her skin look blue.
“What is going on with you? And don’t tell me nothing. I saw the way you looked at that girl.”
“I knew her once upon a time. That’s all.” Jake looked at the grass and moved the blades with the toe of his boot.
“Bullshit. There’s more and you know it. Don’t lie to me, little boy.” Kate face turned reddish purple in the light, and she looked as if her head might explode.
“Fine, she was my childhood crush. I’m in shock, that’s all.” He looked her in the eyes when he responded. Telling the truth was easier, because Kate was the queen of weeding out bullshit.
“Heaven help me.” Kate put her hands on her hips.
“I was just in shock at seeing her like that. I don’t know why
it bothers me so much.”
Kate walked around in a small circle, looking up at the light. “If you lived here as a kid, you’re going to run into people from your past on a regular basis. Some good, some bad, maybe many bad. And I’m not being negative, I’m being realistic. We don’t exactly hang out with the folks of high society in this job. Well, not that kind of high society anyway.”
Jake appreciated her trying to lighten the moment, but he barely mustered a smile. “I know. And I only spent summers here, you know. But this one hit me hard.” Jake couldn’t watch her crazy circle walking anymore and looked back to the building. “I guess, one day, I expected we’d end up together. At twelve, I was enamored.”
“That’s so sweet.” Kate stopped walking and stuck her finger down her throat as if to puke. “But you need to shove that to the side. Remove your personal feelings. Someday you might have to arrest your brother, and it’ll suck, but you’ll do it for the greater good.”
“I have a sister.”
“You know what I meant.” She kicked Jake with her boot.
“Is it wrong that I want to talk to her? To help her?”
Kate stepped in front of Jake and gripped his shoulders. She stopped short of shaking him. “You can’t save them unless they want to be saved. And believe me, this girl, she don’t want anyone’s help.”
“You don’t know that,” Jake argued.
“Officer Underwood, I grew up in the foster system. My mother was a junkie. Believe me, I know a lifetime loser when I see one. And I’ve seen my share.”
“Sure,” he said, wondering if she really grew up in the foster system.
“I’m not talking about on the job. I got moved from foster home to foster home, and even though I was a deviant, I never did drugs. But I sure did see my share of foster brothers and sisters get hooked, OD, and even die. And she’s one of them, I’m telling you. She’s gonna be that OD call we get in the next six months.”
“But she’s not a foster kid. She had a family.” He didn’t know why he kept arguing with her.
“Doesn’t make a bit of difference. Even the richest, most pampered kids get hooked. And heroin has a powerful pull, my friend. So get over it.”
Jake couldn’t believe it. No one wanted to live the way Kim was living. Not forever. Not looking forward to anything other than the next fix. And always looking over her shoulder. It had to get old. The paranoia alone would be exhausting.
“Can I at least talk to her?” Jake asked.
“There’s no law against you talking to her as a friend, but don’t talk to her about tonight. Nothing. Nada. Got it?”
“Yeah, I got it.” Jake needed to understand how this happened to Kim. Something he couldn’t explain to Kate.
Hell, he wasn’t a bad looking guy, and he’d had his share of girls over the years, but something about Kim stuck with him. Jake could easily say he’d never been in love. He’d heard the words from girls, and that would be the beginning of the end. He had no desire for attachment. He just wanted to get laid. But when he thought about Kim, it was something more.
“But you’ll have to wait until she’s transported to County. You aren’t going to rehash old times on my watch.” She looked at her watch. “Speaking of which, I’m going to check and see how Zane is doing with Danny Boyd.”
“Boyd? The guy who ran from you?” Jake asked.
“One and the same. They found him hiding in the bushes. Now he’s in our house, and I want to have a chat with him.”
Chapter 8
Boyd got to stew in a holding cell until his attorney arrived at seven the next morning. Kate watched Jake as he wrote up his reports and filed them. His typing skills sucked, but at least he’d gotten down the exact template the captain wanted for reports fairly quickly.
“Punctuation is important. You don’t want people thinking you’re an illiterate cop,” Kate said.
“I heard you the first three times,” Jake said, then looked over his shoulder, smiling.
Half a dozen times, Kate wanted to roll his chair aside and finish the reports herself. Instead, she paced behind him and chewed her fingernails. She wanted to get back out on the streets, so she wouldn’t think about Boyd and not being able to talk to him.
When Jake finally finished, she read over his report and made him make a few changes. Then she practically dragged him back out of the station. She should let him drive, but then she’d have too much time to think about Boyd, and how she wanted a confession. He wasn’t smart enough to get away with this. If he was, they wouldn’t have him in a holding cell.
She had a few of her own reports to write, but they’d have to wait until the end of the shift after her rookie left. And she hoped Boyd’s attorney would arrive early.
She dropped everything and trailed behind Zane like a puppy when they moved Boyd to the interview room.
“Is his attorney here?” she asked.
Zane nodded and walked into the interview room.
Kate followed behind him. Like Zane had said, they’d be working this one together. She didn’t think she needed to ask permission.
A tall, skinny guy with a mullet, Boyd looked like trouble. Goodness, when did mullets come back in style? Or was it just for the fringe set? Kate wanted to hand him a bottle of shampoo and a pair of scissors, but she worried if she got too close, she might get lice. She shivered at the thought. Then her head started to itch, and she scratched just behind her ear.
Boyd liked to think he was rolling in the big time, but alas, he was less than small time. Small time would soon be doing big time, Kate thought. Little guys like this didn’t kill people, not usually anyway. They did lie, cheat, and steal without a second thought, though.
The public defender, Bob Cook, didn’t seem happy to be representing Boyd again, and scooted his chair away from him before sitting down. Maybe he was afraid of getting lice, too. Leaning back, with his arms crossed, he looked at Kate, then at Zane, like, “Let’s get on with this.”
“Daniel Boyd, the current charges against you are; evading, driving while suspended, reckless driving, grand theft auto, and first-degree murder, not to mention the warrant for failure to appear on an earlier charge,” Zane read from the file in front of him.
Kate looked over to see he had photos of Marco Lopez ready to show Boyd.
“That’s not including the drug charges from the raid last night, which adds possession with intent to distribute,” Kate added.
Boyd leaned forward, his hands flat on the table. “Murder? I dunno what you’re talking about. You said something about Marco Lopez last night. I been thinking, and I don’t know how you think I offed the guy.”
“But you knew he was dead?” Kate asked.
“Hell, no, I didn’t know. I ain’t seen him in weeks. He comes and goes, you know?”
“If you didn’t kill him, what were you doing driving his car?” Zane asked.
Boyd shook his head. “I ain’t gonna lie to you, I don’t even know what kind of car Marco drives. And I don’t drive. You know, suspended license and all.”
Boyd looked at Bob, who looked bored, but said nothing.
“Danny, you want me to show my chest camera footage to you? I got you fleeing the scene,” Kate said.
“Don’t mind you showing me your chest, long as you’re offering,” Boyd winked.
Kate sucked in a breath. She wasn’t going to let his sexist remarks get under her skin.
“Better yet, I’ll show you my photos.” She reached into the file and slid one of the photos of Marco in the trunk across the table, turning it around for Boyd to see upright.
“Recognize this guy?” Zane asked. “You were driving his car when Corporal Darby pulled you over yesterday.”
“I told you, man, I wasn’t driving no car,” Boyd protested too much.
“Cut the crap, Boyd. We know it was you. Your fingerprints were all over the steering wheel, and the driver side door. You can’t lie your way out of this one. But, right now, grand theft aut
o is the least of your worries.”
Boyd leaned in close. “That guy’s missing part of his head.”
No shit, Sherlock, Kate thought.
“That guy is Marco Lopez,” Zane said.
He leaned in and got an even closer look, not at all repulsed by the photo. “Well, I’ll be. It is.” He looked up. “Who done this to him?”
Kate sat up straight, then leaned forward, her hands on the table, mimicking Boyd. “You tell us, Danny. He was in the trunk of the car you were driving when you ran from me.”
“I’m not much for running,” Boyd said, thinking he was funny.
Zane slammed his hands on the table. “You think this is funny, Boyd? You’re here because your fingerprints were all over the car we found Lopez in. And only your fingerprints.” He pushed off the table. “We’re done here. Call a deputy and have him escorted to County. He can talk to the judge tomorrow.”
Boyd waved his hands, clanking the cuffs on the table. “No, wait. Fine. Look, I was in the Kroger parking lot, and I saw this sweet ride. White Mercedes.” He looked from Kate to Zane and back. “It was running, I tell you. Like God had put it there for me. And when I checked the door, God unlocked it for me. He wanted me to go for a ride. I didn’t check the trunk before I started rolling.”
“God just put that car there for you? Like you deserved a Mercedes?” Kate’s voice dripped with sarcasm.
“Right? Like he’d been hearing my prayers.” Boyd missing the sarcasm altogether.
“So you jacked the car?” Zane said. He looked at Bob, who still hadn’t said a word.
The man was scribbling copious notes, though.
“Yeah, fine, I jacked the car. But I was going to bring it back. I just wanted to feel how smooth it rode, you know? I was bringin’ it back, I swear.”
“Sure you were,” Kate said.
Boyd cocked his head and glared at Kate. “Well, if you hadn’t been such a hard ass bitch, I’d have taken the car back. But, no, you had to pull me over for a simple California roll.”
Bob looked up. “She pulled you over for sushi?”
Angry Betty Page 6
