21. Louise
Chapter 21
Louise
I pause on the steps that lead up to my precinct, with my eyes on the entrance I’ve walked through a thousand times and never batted an eyelid. Today is different. I’d rather sleep on a bed of nails for the rest of my life than go inside. The thought of all those knowing looks and quiet murmurings, the gossip train in full flow, and me knowing I have to keep my mouth shut and nose clean if I stand a chance of having this decision overturned.
Come on, Lou. Woman up.
Sucking in a deep lungful of cool air, I put one foot in front of the other and enter the building. After flashing my badge at the security barrier, I breathe a sigh of relief when it buzzes, letting me through. I take the stairs instead of the elevator, arriving on my floor with my shoulders thrown back, my jaw set, and a look in my eyes that dares anyone to take me on.
“Hey, look who’s back,” Allan, one of my coworkers says, his mouth full of what had once been a muffin. Chocolate chip, for sure. Allan thinks indulging in any other flavor is tantamount to burning his firstborn at the stake.
“Hey, Allan.” I drop my purse on the floor and kick it under my desk. “You’ve got half that muffin on your chin, and the other half down your shirt.”
He grins, giving me a front row seat to the residue of his first snack of the day. More will follow. Many more.
“You know me, Rhodes,” he says, brushing the crumbs to the floor. “Boss told me to tell you to get your ass into his office the second you arrive.”
“That so?” I say, pulling up the intranet and searching for the number for Kevan Birch, our union rep. I wish Draven was with me, bolstering my confidence, reassuring me I’m doing the right thing.
“I’m sorry about your sister.”
A stabbing pain shoots through my chest, grief stealing my ability to respond. Thankfully, Allan doesn’t probe any further. Instead, he rises from his chair, hoists up his pants, and comes around my side of the desk. He pats my shoulder, mutters, “Coffee, black, no sugar, coming right up,” then ambles to the vending machine tucked away at the end of the office.
God bless Allan. That’s the first time he’s ever picked up on a subtle hint, at least to my knowledge. Usually, subtle and Allan are like oil and water.
I find Kevan’s number and make the call. Pick up, pick up.
He answers with a curt, “Birch.”
“Hi. This is Louise Rhodes. You won’t know me. I’m a detective here at the Camden precinct, and I need some advice. I wondered if you had five minutes.” I’m not a detective any longer, but there’s no point in over-complicating it on the phone. If he can see me, I’ll have plenty of time to explain.
“I’ve got ten,” he says, a prevalent Southern drawl indicating he isn’t a Jersey boy. “And they’re all yours, providing you come to my office right now.”
“I’m on my way.”
Praying my boss doesn’t emerge as I dart past his office, I slip into the stairwell and jog up two floors. In all my time on the force, I’ve never had any reason to engage my union rep, and I hope that after today, I’ll never have to again. But Draven’s right. I can’t let this lie. Dammit, I won’t . If the powers that be are wanting to take me down the disciplinary route, then fine, but I won’t make it easy for them. I’ll force them to cross every t, dot every i, and jump through a thousand hoops before I let them score a red line through nine years of damn hard work.
After rapping once on Kevan’s door, I enter, then close it behind me. “Louise Rhodes,” I say, thrusting out my hand.
Kevan half rises from his chair and shakes it, then gestures to the seat opposite. “Kevan Birch.” He picks up a pen and a notebook, and resting his ankle over his opposing knee, he points the pen in my direction. “Let’s hear it.”
Comforted by his direct approach, I tell him everything from beginning to end, my ten minutes soon turning into twenty and then thirty. Kevan listens, makes notes, asks the odd question, but mostly remains silent. Once I finish, he sets the pen and paper on his desk and sits up straight.
“Okay, first, they can’t just demote you—not without a proper hearing. Second, to tell you that right after you buried your sister is a fucking joke. What kind of unfeeling assholes act in that manner?”
I murmur my agreement. “I was told my boss wanted to see me as soon as I arrived this morning, but I came to see you instead.”
“Good move.” He rises from his chair. “Let’s go, Rhodes.”
I stand, too. “Go where?”
“To see your boss.” He grins. “Some days, I fucking love my job.”
I trail alongside Kevan as he strides down the hallway. He pauses outside Shelton’s office and motions for me to go in. “After you.”
With my heart hammering against my ribcage, I rap once, wait for Shelton to invite me to enter, then push open the door.
Shelton raises his head. “Rhodes. About goddamn ti—” He trails off the moment he spots Kevan behind me. Frowning, he snaps, “What’s this, Rhodes?”
“Procedure, Sergeant Shelton,” Kevan replies on my behalf, closing the door behind him. “Procedure. Y’know, since y’all are incapable of following it and all.” He throws his arms out to the side. “I’m here to make sure you do.”
I like this guy. A lot. The knot in my gut unwinds, and for the first time this morning, I relax my shoulders.
Kevan doesn’t wait for Shelton to invite him to sit when he flops onto a chair, leaving the second one free for me. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way, Sergeant. I’d suggest the easy way. Reinstate Ms. Rhodes to her position of detective immediately, carry out a proper investigation into her alleged offenses, and I’ll have no need to go see the captain.”
Shelton snorts a laugh. “Go ahead,” he says. “It was the captain who gave the order to demote her.”
My eyes widen. Shelton hadn’t divulged that nugget of information at Kiera’s funeral. Then again, I shouldn’t be surprised. I’ve always sensed the captain’s dislike of me, although I haven’t a clue what I might have done to earn that accolade.
Kevan doesn’t even blink at Shelton’s comment. “Not a problem. I’ll have a chat with the deputy police chief next time I see him. My wife plays bridge with his wife, so I’m sure I’ll bump into him this week when we’re playing cab driver for our better halves.”
This guy’s good. I have no clue whether or not he’s telling the truth. For all I know he could be full of shit, but none of that matters because Shelton clearly believes him if his blotched cheeks are anything to go by. Not to mention he’s fidgeting as if someone has tipped a bucket of ants down his pants.
“I-I’ll need to talk to the captain,” Shelton stutters.
If he hadn’t behaved like an asshole, I’d feel sorry for him, but he crossed a line when he came to Kiera’s funeral and told me that my career’s in the shitter. My head had been so all over the place, I hadn’t even thought about how they’d broken protocol by demoting me without a proper hearing. Thank God for Draven—and Kevan.
Kevan’s slow smile curves the edges of his lips. “You do that, Sergeant Shelton. I’ll look forward to an update in due course.”
He rises, cocks his head at me, and opens the door, waiting for me to walk through before following. Once we’re outside Shelton’s office, I sag against the wall, the adrenaline running through my veins making my knees wobbly. Living a life entrenched in duty and following the rules has made what just happened a difficult experience—one I might not have had the balls to follow through on if Kevan hadn’t supported me, or without Draven urging me to fight back.
“Thank you,” I say.
“Don’t thank me yet,” he replies. “They will hold an investigation, and they will expect you to explain yourself. There’s no saying how that will go. You could still end up rank stripped. It all depends how much fuss the FBI makes. In the meantime, keep your nose clean.” He playfully shoulder-bumps me.
“I will.”
“I’ll be in touch.”
He walks away. As he disappears into the elevator, the door behind me opens, and Shelton marches out, his face beet-red, his jaw clenched so tightly, it’s likely to give him a toothache. He stops when he sees me loitering.
“What the fuck was that, Rhodes?” he hisses. “You couldn’t come and talk to me first before getting the union involved?”
I channel my outrage and stand up straight, squaring up to him, my gaze locked on his. “If you’d asked me that a couple of weeks ago, sir, I’d have said that, yes, of course I would have spoken to you rather than involve my union rep. But things have changed. You were wrong to come to my sister’s funeral, the worst day of my…” Tears threaten to fall. I blink rapidly and swallow past a lump in my throat. “The worst day of my life, and tell me I’d been demoted without following protocol. It was cruel and unnecessary, regardless of the wrongs you think I’ve committed. So, no, sir, you weren’t my first thought when I walked through the doors this morning. I may not have gone about things the right way with the trafficking case, but you have no idea of the pain me and my family have gone through since Kiera was snatched. You have no clue about the sense of desperation we felt, or of how it drove me to do anything to save her. And if that makes me a bad person in the eyes of you, of the captain, of the FBI, of the goddamn president, then so be it. If I had to do it all again, I wouldn’t change a single thing. My sister died in a hospital bed with those she loved close by. If it had been left up to you and the FBI, she’d have passed away lying on a dirty, semen-stained mattress, in a cold, damp warehouse.”
I don’t give Shelton the chance to reply. Instead, I spin on my heel and stride off with pride swelling my chest and hardening my resolve.
Back in my office, a crowd has gathered. Clearly, the news of my return to work has spread. I flop onto my chair and wake up my computer, ignoring the stares and furtive glances around me, as well as the whispers and murmurings. But when the gossiping doesn’t abate, I snatch a glass and a dime from my desk and tap the coin on the side of the vessel, drawing everyone’s attention.
A hush comes over the room.
“Guys, let me make this real easy for you. You don’t have to offer condolences for my sister, and I’m not expecting you to put your own careers on the line to help me save mine. I’m perfectly capable of fighting my own corner. But what I do expect is for you to treat me exactly the same as you did before any of this happened. I’m still the same person. I’m still your coworker. We all have a job to do. Let’s get on and do it.”
Allan is the first to act. He rises from his desk and begins to clap. Soon, the whole room joins in. One by one, my coworkers come up to me, shake my hand, or give me a friendly pat on the shoulder, welcoming me back into the fold.
As the normal buzz of a busy office surrounds me, I sit at my desk and set about catching up on what has happened during my absence. While diligently working, I barely notice the passage of time until Shelton appears by my desk. I bring my head up and wait for him to speak.
“You’re reinstated pending a full investigation. You’ll receive an invitation to a hearing in due course.”
“Yes, sir.”
Shelton hesitates as though he wants to say something else, then he nods curtly and leaves.
I briefly close my eyes. The war may not be over, but that battle goes to me. I’m still in the fight.
And I won’t go down easily.