Hers to Protect

by Nicole Disney

  “Anytime. Now we better get back out there.” She winked.

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Anna sat at the kitchen table with Kitchen’s list in front of her. Some of it was as specific as a car’s make, model, and number of occupants, some as vague as “two guys in their twenties.”

  “You going to tell me what happened?” Christina was pacing. Her jeans were slung low, and she had fresh ink on her forearm. Anna knew Christina was power hungry, that she wanted to move up the ranks, and now was the prime time to do it. She was trying to look and act harder, whether she was conscious of it or not.

  “We worked it out,” Anna said.

  “How? You killed one of his guys.”

  “He gets what happened. He’s not happy, but he’s not going to torch our business over it. He makes too much money with us.”

  “That’s it?” Christina asked. “I thought he was some vicious big shot.”

  “Marco may have exaggerated. Wanted to look badder than he was.”

  “Why the secrecy then?”

  “He doesn’t want his people knowing he let it go so easy.”

  “What a weak piece of shit. I don’t like this guy.”

  “We don’t have to like him. He has guns and a hookup with the only person who might have seen something the night Gianna was killed.”

  “But if it’s his person how do we know she’s telling the truth? Isn’t that a little convenient? Maybe it really was him and Marco that killed her and that’s why he wants it swept under the rug. I don’t get why we’re just dropping this. You were sure enough to kill Marco and that dude and now what? He says it wasn’t him and you’re like okay, my bad?”

  “His story about the new identity makes sense. Marco did owe me one.”

  “That doesn’t mean he didn’t kill Gianna too.”

  “Well, if he did then we already got him.”

  “But—”

  “I don’t know, Christina! What do you want me to say? I don’t know who killed Gianna and it makes me fucking sick. Right now this stupid list is what I have to work with so I’m working with it. If he turns out to be full of shit we’ll waste him, but in the meantime, we need guns and I need somewhere to start. That okay with you?”

  Christina nodded and sat next to her. “All right, I get it. So what’s on the list?”

  “Two white guys in their twenties, older businessman, a red Honda, a white Tahoe, group of black teens, someone in all red, blue four-door little car, thin girl with dark hair, fat guy in a blue shirt off the bus, a dude with a kid. Shit like that.” Anna got irritated with reading it and tossed it on the table.

  “Wow, great.”

  “Yeah. If we can narrow it down we can meet with her and ask more.”

  “You think he’ll really help us with that?”

  “Fuck him,” Anna said. “I’ll grab the bitch myself. He says she won’t talk to outsiders, but I think she can be persuaded if need be.”

  “Won’t that cause problems with them?”

  “I won’t kill her, but he needs to know I’m not going to let him run me.”

  “You want to ask about the guy in red? Sounds like one of the Forty-fours. He could have had a problem with her.”

  “Yeah, but I’m more interested in blue and the girls.”

  “Really?” Christina leaned over the list. “Who you thinking?”

  “One of ours.”

  “What? No way.”

  “It happens. Gianna wasn’t liked by a lot of members at the end. Things changed after those recruits got shot. A lot of people blamed her. If it really wasn’t Kitchen that’s my next bet.”

  “Maybe family of one of the recruits? And that Carlos kid was kind of mad.”

  “Maybe. Do me a favor, get as many pictures together as you can and we’ll take a trip over.”

  Christina’s phone beeped with a text message.

  “Shit,” she said. “Something happened at Kendra’s. They got shot up.”

  Anna’s heart raced. “They okay?”

  Christina’s phone beeped again, and she looked up slowly. “No, man. Kendra’s dead. She got shot in the head.”

  More messages flooded in, and Anna heard her phone starting to go off too, but she didn’t look.

  “Everyone else is fine,” Christina said. “They didn’t see anyone.”

  “What do you mean?” Anna asked. “How could they not see something?”

  “Came through the window. Someone fucking sniped them. Who does that?”

  Anna’s surprise was genuine. She would have never predicted the style of it. “They saw nothing?”

  Christina’s fingers raced across her phone as she texted back. “Nothing. We should go over there.”

  “I can’t. Cops.”

  “Right. God, this has to be those fucking Hijos. They have the beef; they have the guns.”

  “No, we squashed it.”

  “Who else, Anna? These guys are bad news. We have to hit back.”

  “No.”

  “What?” Christina snapped.

  “I said no!” Anna stood up in a rage. “It wasn’t them, and even if it was that means it’s done now. We’re even. I am not interested in warring with these guys. I want the guns, I want the intel, and I want to go talk to this girl at the gas station and figure out what happened to Gianna. That was our best friend and until that’s handled I don’t give a fuck about anything else. Shootouts mean people die and people go to jail, and I’m not doing either of those until I find out who killed Gianna and make that motherfucker suffer to death. Now get the fucking pictures and let’s go, or put ’em up.”

  Christina’s shock was plain. “I’m not going to fight you, Anna.”

  “Good.”

  “But you could have told me you gave Kendra up.”

  Anna’s cheeks burned. She didn’t know whether to lie or come clean. She wanted to lie, but Christina was confident and she didn’t think there was any fooling her. Lying would just make her look like even more of an ass. Her history with cops gave her the instinct to never come clean about anything, to keep that shred of doubt intact no matter how small it may be, but Christina wasn’t a cop.

  “I’ll get some pictures.” Christina sighed. “I have a lot on my computer.”

  “Christina.”

  “Yeah?”

  “I was Gianna’s right hand. She could tell me anything. I had her back no matter what she got into, no matter how dangerous or dirty it was.”

  “I know.”

  “If you want to know this shit, I’ll tell you, but that’s what I expect back.”

  Christina turned back around. “Gianna got pissed at you sometimes. You even fought sometimes, but people still always knew you were not to be messed with unless they wanted to face her too and all the heat she had. They knew she’d go down swinging for you if she had to. I expect that back.”

  Anna nodded. “Of course.”

  Christina came over and hugged her. “All right, what really happened with Kendra?”

  “He was going to kill one of us no matter what. Everything I just said was true. I don’t want to go to war. We did owe him a life, and by doing it this way I could make sure it wasn’t yours, or Celeste’s. I still would have said no under normal circumstances, but he offered the info on Gianna and…” She paused. “Christina, I have to know and I have to kill them. Then we can hit them back. You know I’d die for you guys.”

  Christina nodded. “Our people can never know.”

  “They won’t.”

  “Let’s go chat with your clerk.” Christina grabbed her laptop and brought the whole thing with.

  They parked in front of the gas station. Anna spotted the clerk looking nervous and dialing the phone.

  “Must be her,” Christina said. “She knows who we are.”

  “Good.”

  Christina tucked her gun in her waistband and got out. Anna led the way inside. The clerk was probably in her forties, older than Anna expected, short and plump. She w
as radiating nervous energy. Anna leaned on the counter.

  “No need to be alarmed,” she said. “We’re not going to hurt you.”

  “What do you want?”

  “Did Kitchen or Eduardo tell you why they needed to know who came through here? Did they tell you they gave it to me?”

  “They said it was for you, but I wasn’t expecting you.”

  “We’re friends with them. Don’t worry. Honest.”

  “What do you want?”

  “I have some pictures for you to look at. I just want to know if you recognize anyone, if they were here that night.”

  “I don’t know,” she said. “We should wait for Eduardo.”

  “The girl who was killed in your bathroom was my best friend. I just want to know what happened. No tricks.”

  “But there are so many gangs around here,” the clerk said. “I get left alone because I don’t talk.”

  “You want to keep your peaceful little life here you need to cooperate,” Christina said.

  “We’re asking about our own members,” Anna jumped in before she got too spooked. “There’s no war, no blowback. This isn’t even our part of town. Help me and we’re out.”

  The woman was still hesitant. “I don’t even remember much. I already gave you all I know.”

  Christina opened the laptop and clicked into the pictures. “Just try your best.” She pulled up a picture of Celeste.

  The clerk shook her head. “No.”

  Christina clicked through the members; some were in groups of three, some alone. She kept urging the clerk to look carefully, but she kept shaking her head. Christina pulled up a group picture from a party with at least fifteen people, many of them repeats from other pictures. The clerk shook her head again. “No.”

  “You’re sure?” Anna asked. “There are a lot of faces there. Look carefully. Please.”

  The clerk’s eyes pulled away to someone trying to approach the counter to make a purchase.

  “We’re busy,” Anna said.

  “Come on,” he whined in exasperation. He was a young, clean-cut white guy.

  Christina lifted her shirt to expose her gun. “Hey, she said fuck off.” He stumbled backward and hurried out of the store.

  The clerk leaned forward and studied the picture. “Wait.”

  Anna’s heart jumped. She desperately wanted to know, but she also hated this idea that it could be one of her own friends.

  “Maybe this one.”

  “Who?” Anna and Christina both leaned forward.

  “I’m not positive,” she said.

  “Who?” Anna fought down the urge to get angry.

  “This one.” She pointed. “But I don’t know. Don’t hurt her unless you find something else, please. I wasn’t paying that close of attention.”

  Anna looked where she pointed. Christina glanced at her. “Adrienne?”

  “Was she alone?”

  “No, she was with someone, but only she came in the store. Didn’t get a look at the other one.”

  “They were in a car?” Christina asked.

  “Yeah. It’s on the list.”

  “Which one?”

  “The blue one.”

  “What kind?” Anna asked.

  “I don’t know cars,” the woman said. “Small, blue, unmemorable.”

  “Definitely blue?”

  “Yes.”

  “Definitely four doors?”

  “I think, but not definitely. Definitely blue.”

  “What time did they come by?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Think,” Anna said.

  “I don’t fucking know,” the clerk snapped. “I just work at a shitty gas station. I play games and text all night. I barely look up.”

  “All right, all right.”

  “Look at another picture,” Christina said and pulled up another shot of Adrienne, this one with Gianna. Anna felt sick to her stomach seeing Gianna’s face, seeing her arm wrapped around Adrienne, who may very well have ended her life.

  The clerk nodded and quietly muttered, “I think so.”

  Anna dropped a hundred on the counter and headed for the door. Christina was on her heels.

  “Of course,” Anna said. “Adrienne. Of fucking course. How did we miss it?”

  Christina hurried to keep up. “Because she’s a stick who’s probably never fought a day in her life and Gianna was a beast. She couldn’t have pulled that off, could she? No gunshots. It was a brawl.”

  “Maybe whoever was with her then.”

  “The cop?”

  “Bet money.”

  “Why is it unsolved, then? Cops have license to kill. She would shoot her and say she was attacked.”

  “I don’t know,” Anna said. “But Gianna was after Adrienne for snitching. Come to think of it, I don’t know what else could have lured her up here with everything that’s been going down. Shit, I can’t believe I didn’t think of it. I never thought Adrienne could or would put up much of a fight, but obviously she did. Or her bitch did.”

  “Now what?”

  “I know where the cop lives.”

  “Okay,” Christina said, full of doubt. “And?”

  “We look for the blue car. Make sure they have one. I know the cop drove one at one point, but she was in a different car every day for a while. Let’s see what she has now.”

  “And if we find it?”

  “Then we handle them.”

  “The cop too?”

  “Yes.”

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Kaia crossed the parking lot. She could tell from a distance her car had been broken into. It didn’t happen often in this area, but it wasn’t unheard of either. She was irritated more than anything. She knew better than to leave valuables in it and the car itself hadn’t been taken. Her door was open a crack. She looked inside. The steering column looked fine. Her glove compartment was open, the papers inside had obviously been rifled through. She also knew better than to leave the registration or anything with too much personal information on it inside. All they could have seen were car repair and oil change receipts. They had her name on them, but nothing sensitive.

  She considered calling out the lab to take fingerprints, but it was her first day as a detective and she didn’t want to be late. She drove in to work and asked the officer at the desk to call them out, then hurried on to roll call.

  “Hey, there she is,” Davis greeted her. When the room filled, he made her get up. “Everyone, I know you already know Sorano, but it’s official now. Let’s all welcome her to the team.”

  They clapped and whooped enthusiastically. Kaia playfully bowed and took a seat.

  “With no further ado, Kaia, I have you partnered with Detective Jack Collins over here.”

  Kaia found the man who raised his hand and nodded at him with a smile. He was in his thirties, had light brown hair and a round face that had a shiny quality to it like he’d been in the sun too long.

  “Kaia, Jack, I’ve got you on the WAKs still. There’s plenty yet to be done. Seems like we’re still dealing with the aftereffects of Hernandez’s homicide. We’ve got another body. Kendra Wilkes.”

  “Suspects?” Collins asked.

  “None as usual. Family says they didn’t see anything. Might be true this time. They said they were sniped.”

  A chuckle went around the room.

  “Yeah, not something you hear every day, but it’s actually lining up with the scene, so take a look at that.”

  Kaia started flipping through the file she’d been handed while Davis moved on to other assignments for the rest of the detectives, giving out some new ones and simply getting updates on others. The first photo in Kaia’s file was of Kendra Wilkes, alive and well. The next was of her lying facedown on the floor with a bullet entry wound in the back of her head. It was an accurate and deadly shot. She would have died instantly. Kaia always got the creeps when she thought too long about an instant death, the idea of life as usual one moment and then gone
forever the next, with no inkling it ever happened.

  When the meeting let out Jack made his way over to her and shook her hand.

  “Glad to have you,” he said. “I’ve seen you around working on this, but it’s nice to be official.”

  “Glad to be here. I’ve wanted this for a long time.”

  “Great. Let’s go check this place out. We’ll chat on the way.”

  Kaia loved getting straight to business. Jack seemed nice enough, but she already knew she wasn’t going to click with him the way she had with Reid. They’d been instant friends, and Jack had near impossible shoes to fill. She realized she was probably filling someone’s shoes too, and that he might not be thrilled either. She resolved to give him a fair chance. It wasn’t necessary to be friends with her partner, but it certainly made things easier and often downright fun.

  “So it’s Kendra’s family’s house,” Kaia said, reading the details in the file while Jack drove. Men loved to be the drivers, and while many female officers resisted the stereotype, Kaia enjoyed reading through the calls and being the one to bail out and chase if someone took off on foot.

  “Mom?”

  “Yeah, mom and two little brothers.”

  “That’s too bad. They were there?”

  “Yeah.”

  Jack pulled up to the house and parked. It was a small brick house. The front yard was littered with sports equipment and Halloween decorations. Kaia led the way to the door and knocked. A woman in her forties answered with tear stains down her face.

  “Ms. Wilkes, I’m Detective Sorano. We’re investigating the incident that happened here yesterday. May we come in?”

  She silently opened the door wider and walked away. It was hardly friendly, but it was an invitation. Jack went straight to examining the window that’d been shot through.

  “We’re here to find out who did this,” Kaia said. “Did you see anything that might be helpful?”

  “No. No one.”

  “Did Kendra have enemies?”

  “Of course she did. She was a gang member. That’s all they do is make enemies.” She fished a cigarette out of a crushed pack and put it between her lips while she searched for a lighter.

  “Anyone specific?”

  “She didn’t tell me her business. She knew I hated it.”