A Cop's Promise

by Sharon Hartley

  “No.”

  “Did you know about the steroid rumors?”

  Cindy snapped her gaze to Lana. “Yes.”

  “Was Danny taking steroids?”

  “How the hell do I know?”

  “Did you guys ever talk about the rumors? Did you ask him?”

  “Hell, no. I learned not to ask questions. Your brother was mean, Lana.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Not good enough. I wish I’d never met Dan Lettino,” Cindy said.

  “I don’t blame you. Apparently he wasn’t a particularly nice guy.”

  “No kidding.” Cindy narrowed her eyes. “Did he ever hit you?”

  “Never.”

  “What about your little sister?”

  “No.” But Sandy was afraid of him.

  “Lucky you.”

  “Maybe, but his death changed my mother. I need to find his murderer for her sake.”

  Cindy laughed. “As far as I’m concerned, whoever killed him did the world a favor.” She opened the door, stuck out one foot, but paused and looked back. “Are we done here?”

  “Yes,” Lana said. “Now give me your keys.”

  “My keys?” Cindy leveled a disbelieving look at Lana. “No way.”

  “You can’t drive,” Lana said. “No question you’re over the legal limit.”

  Cindy laughed, a brittle sound. “Are you going to arrest me?”

  “If you get behind the wheel of your car.”

  Cindy slanted her head. “I don’t believe you’d do it.”

  “Try me,” Lana said warningly. “I’ll give you a roadside sobriety test right here. You’ll fail.”

  Their gazes locked and held.

  “Come on, Cindy,” Lana urged. “I’m doing this for your own safety. You can call a ride service.”

  Finally Cindy looked away, cursing viciously. She dug around in her purse and extracted her cell phone.

  “Or I can give you a ride home,” Lana offered. “I’ll even bring you back to get your car tomorrow.”

  “No, thanks. I’ll call a cab. The company will be better.”

  Lana listened while Cindy made the call, confirming she’d truly ordered a ride home. When finished, Cindy exited Lana’s vehicle without comment and stomped over to the meager shade of a palm tree. Lana waited until the taxi drove up. Cindy gave Lana an obscene gesture and then climbed into the back seat.

  “Nice,” Lana murmured as the cab drove away.

  No question she’d lost a friend. No. What was she thinking? Cindy had never been her friend. Just like Danny hadn’t been the guy she’d thought he was and Chip hadn’t told her the truth.

  Lana had been wrong about so much, living in some kind of imaginary world of her own making. She obsessed about finding justice for someone who didn’t deserve it.

  What kind of a cop am I?

  She wanted to do the right thing, to put criminals behind bars, where they belonged. That was why she’d become a police officer, and she loved her job. Helping people in trouble was the best thing in the world. Nothing made her feel better.

  So how had it all gotten so complicated? Maybe she should just forget this whole crazy quest for justice. It was making her life miserable, and no one cared a flying fig about who killed Dan anymore. No one except her and her mother.

  The department hadn’t worked this ice-cold case in years.

  If I walk away, someone will get away with murder.

  Her brother had been a happy little boy until their father had started smacking their mother around. Maybe that had turned Dan into an abusive jerk, but he’d been an immature nineteen-year-old kid whose murder had caused a lot of people pain.

  Lana started her car and backed out of the parking space. She needed to take control of her life and make better decisions. Badging Cindy had been stupid. For sure moving in with Chip hadn’t been the most genius move she’d ever made, either. And now she wanted to tumble into bed with him because he was conveniently available and so smoking hot.

  Exactly the kind of brainless decision her mother would make.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  IT WAS ALMOST dark when Chip heard the key turn in the front door. He closed his eyes briefly. Lana. Finally. He’d been tense while he read, listening for her footstep. Yeah, she was a cop, and maybe it was foolish to worry. She certainly thought so. But she’d been seriously upset when she had fled the house.

  And that was on him. He’d sworn never to tell Lana about her brother. He’d known how much that knowledge would hurt her. Why had he done it?

  Maybe it was time for all the secrets to come out. Lana needed to face the truth. And so did he. He needed to figure out his overwhelming need to protect her.

  Chip closed his textbook and went to greet her, unsure what her attitude would be. Was she still pissed? Hurt? Whichever she was, they needed to clear the air. They couldn’t live under the same roof with anger and hostility simmering between them.

  She entered backward, with several plastic bags of groceries dripping from both arms. He hurried toward her.

  “Let me help,” he said. So, she’d gone to the grocery store. But she couldn’t have been shopping all this time.

  Their gazes locked as he took the bags from her arms. She gave him a faint smile, which released some of the tension in his gut.

  “Thanks,” she said.

  “Are you okay?” He placed the bags on the kitchen counter and turned to face her. “You were gone a long time.”

  She nodded. “I went to Moe’s and Joe’s.”

  “The bar in Coconut Grove?”

  Lana made a face. “Cindy’s favorite hangout.”

  Stunned, he leaned against the counter. “You saw Cindy?”

  “I did.”

  He searched her face. “You didn’t believe me?”

  “Oh, I believed you,” Lana said. “But in light of the new information, I needed to question her again.”

  Chip stared at her. “I guess you are one badass cop.”

  “Hardly.” She shook her head. “I shouldn’t have gone.”

  “Did you learn anything new?”

  “Not about Dan’s murder.”

  “So, what happened?”

  Lana tucked hair behind an ear and looked away. She reached inside a plastic bag, extracted a loaf of bread and then placed it on the counter. “She told me to go away and called me a bitch, which pissed me off. So I badged her.”

  Definitely not what he’d expected Lana to report. “You mean you showed her your police badge?”

  “Yes, I did,” she said. “Big mistake.”

  Chip laughed, imagining Cindy’s reaction as Lana had flashed her police credentials. “I’ll bet that went over well.”

  Another tiny smile appeared on Lana’s face. “She was a little surprised.”

  “Don’t tell me you Mirandized her, too?” Chip crossed his arms, trying to picture that scenario.

  “No. We don’t have to read a suspect their rights unless they’re in custody, and Cindy was free to leave at any time.”

  “Did she know that?”

  Lana began putting groceries inside a cabinet. “She didn’t ask.”

  “But now she knows you’re a cop.”

  “Yes.” Lana leaned against the counter to face him. “I hope she doesn’t tell Gary.”

  “I doubt if they travel in the same circles these days.”

  “You’re probably right.” Lana looked at her feet and said, “She admitted Dan hit her. What you witnessed wasn’t the only occasion.”

  Chip allowed a second to drag out. “I’m sorry, Lana.”

  “Yeah. Me, too. She was under the influence, so I wouldn’t let her drive home.”

  “Good Lord. You took her keys?”

  “I offered to drive her
home, but she refused and called a cab.”

  She turned, reached into one of the bags and then finished putting away the groceries. Then she leaned against the counter and eyed him. Did she want an apology? She didn’t act mad.

  “Listen, Lana, I’m sorry about—”

  “Stop.” She held up a hand to shut him down. “I’m glad you told me. I wish you’d told me in high school.”

  “Would you have believed me?”

  She sighed. “I don’t know. Maybe not. He was my older brother. I guess I thought he was perfect.”

  “No one is perfect.”

  “Oh, I’m aware of that now.” She made a face. “It’s just so hard to believe he beat up on Cindy, or that she let him.”

  “He was everyone’s high school hero, the star quarterback.”

  “I thought he loved her, but I guess love is one big, fat myth.”

  “Come on. Not all men are like Dan.”

  “Really? You could’ve fooled me,” she said.

  Chip wanted to protest, tell her he was nothing like her brother, but she didn’t want to hear that right now. Besides, no doubt Lana was now thinking about her father, probably the cruelest man he’d ever known. He’d noticed the frequent bruises on her mother. Everyone in the neighborhood had.

  As the headlights of a car flashed through their front window, she turned. The vehicle pulled into Gary’s driveway. Their neighbor had a visitor, likely the first of many on a Sunday night.

  She glanced at Chip. “Hey, don’t you have to study?”

  “Yeah, I’ve got more work to do, but it can wait if you need to talk.” He spread his arms. “About anything.”

  “I think I’ve done enough talking for one day. I’m going to make myself a cup of tea, pull up a chair and record the license plates of Gary’s customers.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Definitely.” She turned her back on him. “Go become a lawyer.”

  Chip hesitated, watching her fill the teakettle with water from the faucet. “Do you want me to call your sister?”

  “Why?” She looked over her shoulder at him. “Don’t be silly. I’m fine, Chip.”

  But was she? He knew the signs for when she was hiding her feelings. As a kid, Lana had never wanted to talk about the subject that upset her most. When she was ten, it was the violent behavior of her dad. He’d been her best friend, and she hadn’t mentioned her parents’ divorce. She hadn’t even told him about her move until he confronted her about the U-Haul truck in her driveway.

  Fine. Just effing fine. If she wanted to hide her feelings, then so be it. If she didn’t want to talk, he couldn’t make her.

  If Lana wanted to behave like a hard-nosed cop, he’d let her. The woman was clueless and always had been.

  And maybe he’d read her wrong. Maybe she wanted him to keep his hands off her. Well, that was fine by him, too.

  * * *

  “OFFICER LETTINO, REMAIN BEHIND, please,” Sergeant McFadden barked after the pre-shift briefing. “I need a word.”

  Standing next to her, Patrice shot her a questioning look.

  Lana swallowed hard. Shit. Even Trice didn’t know what was up.

  With her heart galloping at least two hundred beats per minute, Lana moved toward her sergeant’s desk. Rudy might have uttered a sarcastic “please,” but he’d issued an order, not a request.

  She stood at attention before the desk where Rudy shuffled through papers, deliberately making her sweat the reason for this command performance. But she knew the drill.

  She’d done something wrong.

  Rudy pushed back in his chair and leveled his glare on her. He didn’t give her the courtesy of allowing her to stand at ease. Was she in hot water for digging through the department’s database, checking out her suspects in Danny’s murder? Every keystroke left a record, but she had a plausible excuse ready to offer when asked.

  “Officer Lettino, there’s been a civilian complaint about your conduct,” Rudy said.

  Lana frowned, caught off guard by Rudy’s opening salvo. She searched her memory for any incident on the job that would cause someone to complain about her performance. Nothing sprang to mind.

  “Who filed the beef, sir?”

  Rudy glanced at his papers. “A Ms. Cynthia Arroyo.”

  Oh, shit. Cindy had filed a complaint?

  “Ms. Arroyo alleges you accosted her in a bar, demanding she answer questions about an eight-year-old homicide.”

  Lana made fists of her hands and dug her fingernails into her palms.

  “Of course, I’m certain that report couldn’t be accurate since you are not a homicide detective, are you, Officer Lettino?”

  She stiffened. “No, sir.”

  “So Ms. Arroyo filed a false police report?” Rudy’s voice was like granite.

  “No, sir.” Lana swallowed hard. “The report was accurate.”

  “I see. What the hell were you thinking, Officer Lettino?”

  “That I could solve an old homicide.” Damn. Badging Cindy had been a serious error, but she’d never imagined the woman would file a complaint.

  Rudy nodded and glanced again at the papers on his desk, which she realized had to be the write-up of Cindy’s grievance. She’d probably called the minute she got home last night. Or maybe she’d made the report in the taxi. If so, she’d still been drunk.

  Lana’s stomach roiled. Would an Internal Affairs file be opened on her because she had questioned Cindy?

  Why had Lana gone to Moe’s and Joe’s? Why the hell had she been so stupid to pull out her badge?

  “Does this so-called homicide investigation have anything to do with the information you gave to the vice lieutenant last week?” Rudy demanded.

  Lana blinked. But of course her sergeant would learn about her report to Vice. She needed to remember there were no secrets in this police department. Dirty cops were even being outed by the local newspaper. Thanks to the stink of fraud swirling around a few of her fellow officers, she’d get more than a slap on the wrist for pursuing her hobby case.

  “It is connected, sir,” she said.

  “Explain. I understand you’re doing surveillance on your neighbor?”

  “I suspect he’s selling illegal substances out of his home. I thought Vice should check it out.”

  “How is that connected to the murder?”

  Lana swallowed. “I consider the neighbor good for the murder.”

  “I see.” Rudy shook his head. “Remind me of your current assignment, Officer Lettino.”

  “Patrol officer, sir.”

  “Not vice detective?”

  “No, sir.”

  “Not homicide detective?”

  “No, sir.”

  Rudy placed his arms on his desk and leaned forward. “Ms. Arroyo also alleges that you wouldn’t allow her to drive home, that you accused her of being intoxicated.”

  “Ms. Arroyo exhibited all the signs of intoxication,” Lana explained, on solid ground with this part of her defense. “I believed she would be a danger to others if she drove. I offered to do a roadside sobriety test, and she opted to call a taxi.”

  “You witnessed her drinking inside the bar?”

  “Yes, sir,” Lana said. “Ms. Arroyo walked unsteadily, slurred her words, and she reeked of alcohol. I couldn’t let her drive, sir.”

  Rudy nodded and sat back in his chair, which squeaked in protest. “Did you have a drink at the bar?”

  “No, sir, I did not. I went there specifically to ask her what she knew about the homicide.”

  “Did you learn anything new?”

  “Not really, sir.”

  “I see.” Rudy sighed. “You have exhibited extremely poor judgment, Officer Lettino. Do you understand that?”

  “Yes, sir. And I’m sorry, sir. It won’t happen aga
in.” But isn’t that the story of my life? Why do I keep making bad choices?

  Lana squared her shoulders, certain Rudy was about to give her bad news. Surely he wouldn’t fire her over an incident as trivial as this. And she’d kept a woman who was too drunk to drive off this county’s streets. That should count for something.

  Shaking his head, her sergeant scribbled furiously on the paper before him. Lana’s stomach knotted. The paper looked like some kind of departmental form. Could it be a termination?

  Rudy continued to flip papers and sign them.

  She closed her eyes. So many forms. Had she lost her job? Oh God. No. She loved being a cop, assisting people in trouble, even when it got messy, working to put criminals behind bars. Police work was the only thing that she’d ever wanted to do with her life.

  “Starting tonight, you’re reassigned,” he said without looking at her.

  “Reassigned, sir?”

  “You’re now on the three to eleven shift.” Rudy looked up and pointed the pen at her. “Go home and try to get some sleep.”

  Lana nodded, unable to speak. At least she hadn’t been fired.

  “And, Officer Lettino?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Try to remember that you are a patrol officer, not a detective. I’m ordering you to stick to that assignment. You don’t have the experience to investigate drug trafficking or a homicide.”

  * * *

  THE NEXT SATURDAY NIGHT, lights and siren blaring, Lana stopped her cruiser in front of a residence in Overtown at 10:07 p.m. She terminated the siren but left the lights circulating, creating a disorienting sequence of blue flashes in the dark.

  Illuminated by a porch light, a thin black woman in her late twenties sat on the steps with a bloody cloth pressed to her forehead.

  Another siren approached fast as Lana checked in with Dispatch, alerting them that she’d arrived at the scene of the call to a domestic disturbance. She narrowed her eyes on the woman on the porch. How bad was her injury? Would she need to summon paramedics?

  Per departmental policy, she waited in her patrol for backup, wondering whose siren she heard, wishing for Luis, a fifteen-year veteran who loved patrol and had no intentions of ever moving to any other position.