by Galli, Lynn
“She does not want to pursue that course right now, but we’re keeping her options open.” Yolanda spoke as if Cherise hadn’t said anything.
Cherise slanted a murderous look at me. I kept my eyes trained on Yolanda.
“Go on,” Tanner said.
“My client was confronted on the street by the man responsible for the two burglaries you questioned her about. He did not admit to them directly, but he did reference them in his recruitment chat. He also mentioned that if my client didn’t comply, he would make sure his next action would lead directly to her.”
“There hasn’t been another burglary,” Tanner said, glancing at Cherise for confirmation.
“Yes, there has.” Yolanda paused, letting that sink in. “The apartment of Ms. Shaw’s girlfriend was broken into last night.”
“Girlfriend?” Cherise turned fully toward me. “You’re with Molly now? Oh, no. Not once I have a talk with her, you won’t be.”
“Officer.” Yolanda waited until Cherise brought her attention back. “That is exactly the kind of harassment I’m talking about. You will not abuse your authority to affect my client’s quality of life. Am I understood?”
Cherise huffed, knocking her hand against her partner’s shoulder and gesturing to me. When Tanner didn’t immediately back her up, she slumped down in her seat.
“Now, as I was saying, my client and her girlfriend entered the apartment after being away most of the evening and found it burgled. Here is a list of the items missing from the apartment. Ms. Sokol is available for a statement. You are free to investigate the premises.”
“What does that have to do with this guy you’re saying your client thinks did the others?” Tanner asked.
“Ms. Sokol is a direct link to my client, and there’s this.” She produced the stolen bracelet. “This was left in a place that Ms. Sokol would have checked in front of responding officers. We assume this is a missing item from one of the two burglaries?”
I’d told Yolanda where I’d seen the bracelet, but she thought it was smarter to let the police figure that out. Advice from defense attorneys usually kept most people out of more trouble, so I let her lead the way here.
“This is from one of the homes?” Tanner looked to Cherise, who studied it and nodded.
“And we’re to believe your client didn’t take this?”
“My client didn’t take this. She doesn’t need to be here. She’s offering you her help in closing these cases.”
“Again, what proof do you have that your client didn’t take this?”
“You have no proof that she did.”
Both of them scoffed and pointed at the bracelet in Yolanda’s hand. “She’s in possession of stolen goods.”
“I’m in possession of stolen goods,” she corrected.
“Which you got from your client.”
“Which I got from my client’s girlfriend.” This was like listening to a well scripted rom-com from the forties where characters talked too fast and without breaks.
“Fine, let’s say your client is telling the truth.”
“She is.”
“She can deliver this guy?”
“She doesn’t know how to contact him. It’s presumed he’ll try to contact her again.”
“Presumed,” Cherise snorted.
“And if he doesn’t contact her? What then?” Tanner took over.
“You’ll have the name of the man behind these burglaries. He’s got a record and known associates to start with.”
“Or we’ll find definitive evidence against your client.”
Yolanda chortled, the sound rhythmic and forced. “Not now that we’ve had this meeting. If you decide to bring charges against my client, I get to put you on the stand and ask you about this meeting. That will give me all the reasonable doubt I need.” She smirked but noticed I’d gone pale at the prospect of being tried for something I didn’t do. “But we don’t want it to get that far.”
The detective sighed and adjusted his position, wincing when the effort produced a flare of pain from somewhere. “You propose what?”
“If you get a wiretap for Ms. Shaw’s cellphone, she can record her next conversation with the man. It’ll be admissible in court.” Yolanda paused for no more than two seconds before pushing out a disbelieving breath. “You already have the wiretap? Really, Tanner? Did you forget to tell the judge my client has an alibi? You know I can have it pulled with one appearance, don’t you?” She gestured to Cherise. “This officer is all the talk of defense attorneys over at the courthouse right now. Were you taking the day off when she rushed that bogus search warrant through?”
His chin tucked against his chest. She got him, but I felt sick. A tap on my phone meant someone had been monitoring my calls for a while now. Most were harmless, but I talked to Molly on that phone. We weren’t exactly having phone sex, but they were private conversations. Yet one more thing I’d have to confess to Molly.
“I assume we’ll have cooperation now?” Yolanda stated.
“All we’d get is intent. I doubt this guy is stupid enough to admit to the burglaries if he didn’t before.”
“What if we gave him a bait address?”
Tanner considered this. “We’d want the goods returned.”
“That’s up to you to find. My client can lead him to you and offer a chance for you to catch him in the act. Your cases are closed and you leave my client alone. If I find you’ve been issued another warrant, I’ll pursue that harassment claim with or without my client’s permission.”
Kick. Ass. Damn, Mei sent me to a wolverine. A wolverine who charged a quarter of my monthly salary per hour, but based on this meeting, she earned the steep fee.
“You can remember to record the conversation?” Tanner asked me.
I glanced at Yolanda for a nod. “I’ll try.”
“Will he suspect that you’re setting him up?”
I didn’t think so, but he might. “I’d have to be sent on a job to the address first.”
“That’s how you used to do it?”
Yolanda placed a hand on my arm before I could answer. “This man is trying to coerce her involvement. The easiest way to do that is to burgle a place where she’s worked. He’s done it twice now.”
“Fine, we’ll see if it works.” Tanner started to get up.
Yolanda shook her head. “You’ll get the D.A. to write up a deal first.”
“Your client hasn’t done anything wrong, or so you say.”
“My client will not have the recording or prior knowledge of the bait burglary used against her in court.”
His eyes moved over me and back to Yolanda. He nodded his head once.
“By the end of the day. We don’t know when this guy will contact her again.”
He stood, Cherise standing with him. “It’ll be done.”
35
Every time I took a step, it felt like the ticking from my bike’s wheels could drown out a hard rock band. Cleveland Street was deserted this time of night, projecting the wheel clicks out into the silence. Now on my third circuit through this part of town, I had the smallest hope that Brock had pulled up stakes. I checked my phone again. One more missed call, this one from Cole. I’d already ditched Molly for the night, the last two nights actually. It helped that I’d just moved into Natalie’s old place and still had boxes to unpack, but Molly was probably getting a complex. I really wanted to tell her what was going on, but my new high priced lawyer told me not to say a word to anyone.
I couldn’t figure out what Brock was waiting for. He had three evenings to approach me when I was alone. My gut couldn’t take much more of this tension.
“Falyn!” Tessa waved to me from the bank across the street. A familiar looking woman turned from the ATM machine and slipped her arm around Tessa’s waist. The unyielding glare I received would have been message enough. She didn’t need to throw the possessive arm around Tessa to tell me to back off. “Out for a bike ride?”
I focused on Tess
a, ignoring the back-off vibes I was getting from her companion. “Just cooling down. Where are you off to?” I didn’t want to risk scaring Brock off with a long conversation, but it would look more suspicious to ignore her.
“Have you met my partner, Kathleen?” She smiled sweetly, not sensing the hostility coming from her partner toward me. I should be swelling with pride that I’d guessed right about their boomerang relationship, but I’d actually gotten to know and like Tessa. Based on the little I saw of these two together and Molly’s judgment, I didn’t want her with this creep any more than her good friends did.
“Haven’t had the pleasure. I’m Falyn. I’ve worked on a few of Tessa’s home deals.”
Kathleen plastered on a smile that looked so real I had a hard time believing it wasn’t. No wonder most of Tessa’s friends had been fooled by her. “You work for Natalie? She’s a sweet lady. Thanks for helping out. I know my baby wouldn’t have closed on a couple of those deals without Natalie’s work.”
My baby? If Molly were here she’d probably ask how a baby was capable of closing real estate deals and why this woman felt she needed to publicly claim Tessa, but she wasn’t and I needed them to move on. Damn. Molly. Did she know these two were together again? She’d be disappointed. She wanted the best for her friend. Kathleen didn’t seem to be that person.
“I go where my boss sends me, but Tessa’s a great client wrangler. Never have to worry about them going renozilla on us with Tessa around.”
Tessa laughed and pushed against my shoulder. “Oh, you.”
Kathleen’s eyes narrowed momentarily before smiling again. “She rocks her talent. Nice meeting you, Falyn. Baby, we’ve got to move if we’re going to make those reservations.”
They hurried off, thankfully, away from my circuit route. Ten seconds later, the feeling of being watched settled over me again. I caught sight of Brock out of the corner of my eye. I lifted my phone to my ear and acted like I was making a quick call. My head swiveled as I talked and let my eyes land on him. He tipped his head toward the alleyway behind him.
I switched on the recorder of my phone, thankful that I’d splurged and gotten a smart phone this time instead of a simple cell. I walked my bike over and turned into the alley between the buildings. Brock was waiting with a welcoming smirk.
“I told you to leave me alone, Brock.” My pulse rate contradicted my threatening tone.
“And I told you that you’d regret trying to make me leave, Shaw. Did you like my last move?”
Smug, evil bastard. “The one where you broke into my girlfriend’s home, trashed her place, and took her portable electronics?”
“Hey, she left her balcony sliders unlocked. I couldn’t not go in. You should talk to her about that.”
“Damn you, Porter. You didn’t have to do that. I said I wouldn’t help you. Find some other spotter.”
“But you were so good. Our take increased forty percent when I brought you in last time.”
I cut him off before he said anything more specific about our criminal acts together. While the statute had expired, I didn’t need the police here knowing I’d actually been part of four more burglaries than they knew about. “I can’t do time again, man. I really can’t. Why would you want to risk that again?”
He scoffed at my concern. “We didn’t get caught, remember? If that asshole hadn’t gotten picked up on something else and offered us up, we never would have been caught. The cops here are small town idiots. Their only lead is an ex-con who didn’t do either job.”
As much as recording that confirmation helped, I still needed an end to this. “They’ll keep harassing me if you continue breaking into places I work on. Christ, Brock, that was our old M.O.”
“Hey, I did you a favor. If they accuse you without evidence again, you can sue their asses for false arrest or something. We’ll find a good lawyer to help. They’ll lay off, and you’re never going to have the take with you.”
He’d really thought this through. Yolanda had made a similar case. One more false accusation could make getting anything to stick in the future impossible. Kind of like crying wolf too many times. Still, I had to convince him that my reluctance was genuine, which it was.
“I’m not doing this.”
“You will, or the next time they search your place, they’ll find everything.”
My chest constricted with his threat. I remembered back to the last three jobs we pulled in Boulder. He came close to giving me a similar ultimatum when I told him that using my jobsites was getting too obvious. He didn’t agree and gave me what he called a pep talk—what I called a warning. This time the ultimatum was clear, but I played dumb for the benefit of the recorder. “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t tell me you’ve lost your touch over the years?” He thumped my back as if we were two buddies reminiscing about old times. “You didn’t find my little surprise?”
“You mean the diamond bracelet you stole from one of those houses I worked in?” I was laying it on pretty thick. The only thing more obvious would be if I used his full name. He’d definitely be tipped off then.
“Ah, good, you haven’t lost everything.” He clapped his hands together. “There’s a lot more from that job and the one before. Imagine what the police will think when an anonymous tip comes in that you’ve got the stuff stashed at your place now.”
“You asshole.” I fisted both hands. I’d only had to use physical violence in prison a few times, always in self-defense, but I felt like going on the offensive this time. “I don’t like being cornered. You know that.”
“I gotta do what I gotta do to get you on the team, Shaw. You’re in the best position to make me rich again. I’ll consider letting you play spotter only. If your leads are good, that is.”
I shook my head and breathed out my anger. In prison, I’d learned to deflect feelings of anger before things got too unbearable. I’d do two hundred more sit-ups or pushups to get past it. Right now, I let the anger flow through me. It helped me feel less guilty that I was setting him up. We’d both gone to prison because someone else on our team turned on us. It didn’t feel good, but watching Molly’s reaction to her home being broken into felt a hell of a lot worse.
“Fine,” I agreed. “But I want Molly’s stuff back.”
“There’s the Shaw I remember. We’re gonna be rich in a town like this.”
“Molly’s things,” I insisted.
“Yeah, sure, whatever. It’s not worth anything anyway. Gotta say, Shaw, she’s a far cry from the last chick you were doing.”
“Shut up, Porter. We’re not going to be friends this time. You’re forcing me to do this. You don’t get to say anything about how I live. Got it?” I growled but should have hit him. I knew exactly what he was trying to say about Molly. He had no idea how beautiful Molly was. How good she was to me. No idea.
His hands came up but his expression was smug. “Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say. Here’s my cell. Call me when you have an address. Oh, and bring the bracelet back.”
I scoffed at his cavalier tone. “Call it a recruitment bonus.” And exhibit A, but he didn’t need to know that.
“Not a chance. I need something to live on while I get everyone back together.”
“Pull another job.”
“Ooh, aren’t you the eager beaver.” His face showed amusement. “You have someplace in mind already?”
I pretended to consider. “I just worked a place that could be good.” Tessa’s house with the tricked-out media room. The buyers hadn’t moved in yet.
“The empty house?” He smirked and scoffed. “Right. I’m not an idiot.”
“They close escrow next Tuesday. That’ll be moving day, and from what the realtor says, the stuff always moves in before the homeowners.”
His eyes sparkled. “Sounds promising. Let me check the entry points, and I’ll get back to you.”
“Spotter only, remember? I’m telling you it’s a good job, and it’s the only one I’ll have for months.�
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He jerked forward, not liking the sound of that. “What?”
I shrugged helplessly. “My boss has another massive project coming up. We won’t be going out on any small jobs like my old crew used to.”
“Shit. What’s wrong with her?” Like it was Natalie’s place to provide for his burglaries.
“I was trying to tell you that things won’t be the same here. It’s not too late to head back to Boulder and start up there again. You already know the right neighborhoods.”
“I’ll risk it. I can always double up on the other two. They’ll have replaced their shit by now.”
I held in the disgusted snort. Every time I thought about what I used to do, I felt the shame well up inside me. Seeing how it affected Molly made me sick to my stomach. What had I been thinking? That those rich assholes wouldn’t care about being ripped off? Monetarily? No. But they had been harmed. I couldn’t have been thinking of anyone other than myself.
Brock let me know he’d be in touch and sauntered away. I seethed at his back, dying to run up and tackle him or side swipe him with my bike. Since neither would happen, I reached into my pocket to stop the recording on my phone.
Spinning the bike in the direction of home, I was about to step onto the pedal when I saw Molly glaring over my shoulder before shifting her glower to me.
36
The scowl on Molly’s face wasn’t nearly as disheartening as the look of distrust. She stormed down the sidewalk, nearly knocking over a tipsy man who spilled out of the bar in front of her. When she reached me, her eyes bored into mine then flicked over my shoulder to watch Brock turn the corner out of sight.
“You said you were working.” Her voice was calm but steely.
“I said I couldn’t hang out tonight.” It was a trivial distinction but the truth, which was more important to Molly than anyone I’d ever dated. I would always respect that.
She swallowed hard, uncertainty clouding her gaze. “Who was that?”
“Molly,” I began, but her hand came up.
“That was him, wasn’t it? You described him pretty well.” She swiveled and marched four steps away, clenching and unclenching her hands to help relieve the strain I heard in her voice. “He didn’t leave then? Even after you told him to, even after he got back at you by breaking into my place!”