On the Case #3
I dipped my head in gratitude thankful that if I didn’t have anyone else I had them. “Just be on standby in case I need you.”
“We’ll be up that way soon for fittings soon so we’ll be able to monitor them for you too. I hope Jada keeps her shit together. You know she is ready to cut up at the first sign of trouble.”
“Jada and Asha having to coexist is something that might kill us both Smoke.” I gave him the warning because I didn’t know how Asha would handle Jada’s personality with planning the wedding.
“Sweets ain’t that bad.”
It was my turn to join them in staring at Smoke like he’d lost his mind. The idea of him thinking his little ball of chaos wasn’t that bad made him just as insane as her.
“Just imagine if Jada was a little less regulated in her impulse control but a lot more stoic and composed in her personality. So she lacks the charm that would normally draw people into her but she still somehow ensnares people. And if they do something wrong, she’s happily handling the wet work instead of waiting on me to run to the rescue. That’s who I’m about to marry.”
Smoke’s face didn’t show emotion but I knew he was worried when he said, “Shit, maybe it’s you we should all be worried about, Ori.”
“Nah. Did you see the way he almost smiled describing her? The way his voice lightened like his soul was speaking about something that it adored? That man isn’t scared.
He’s exactly where he wants to be. He might not even realize it yet but he loves it there.
” Priest’s observation made me feel uneasy but not afraid.
Liam turned around with a bottle of Merrick Reserve in his hand and a grin on his face. “Good. Enough of this. We helped Xerx and now we will get Ori married soon. Cheers to Ori and the Sassenach. May you both be exactly what the other needs.”
“You’re really doing this?”
I barely took my eyes off the road as I headed toward the home of a potential witness. They were one of the last people to see our latest victim and I was hoping this wouldn’t take long. Leave it to my partner to want to strike up a conversation while we should’ve been focused on work.
“Are you trying to gossip or something?”
“Ori, it ain’t like you don’t have a knack for being a hard-nosed motherfucker.”
Alec stopped code-switching almost immediately after we started working together.
Our families had done business for years, his using our ports and mine being paid handsomely for it, and meeting up in the agency was purely coincidental.
It was funny how they’d paired us together because we were too much for our previous partners to handle but since we’d been partners we had the highest case closure rate versus our former partners whose success had dipped dramatically.
I cut my eyes to him since it seemed he’d forgotten himself. “Hard-nosed? Aren’t you the one who assaulted a commanding officer at one point?”
“Damn right. Muthafucka wasn’t about to call me a fucking slur and get away with that shit. Hell, he went for the double slur since I’m Afro-Cubano. He’s lucky I didn’t shoot his ass.”
I laughed at the way he was scowling hard as fuck at the memory like he was pissed all over again.
“Didn’t stop your cousins from handling shit though did it?”
He grinned as I saw him looking at me from the corner of his eye. “What can I say? They appreciate the way I protect the family and they don’t like racists. It’s a family trait.”
“To answer your question, yes, I’m going through with it.”
“I mean she’s fucking stunning so I can’t blame you. If her sister were down—”
“You trying to turn my future sister-in-law into a jump-off?”
Since we’d been working together so much, Asha had naturally discussed her sister.
Alec felt like he was blind not to notice that her sister was the Sasha Avery when he first met her but I understood.
He stopped looking at her with any interest besides platonic and professional the second he knew who she was to me.
And those big ass glasses really obscured some of her features.
I wasn’t even sure if she actually needed them.
“I mean if we both using each other for mutual gratification she’s not a jump off. We just linking.”
I sighed knowing what I was about to say was going to open me up for teasing but I didn’t care. “I might have to slit your throat and deal with the wrath of your people later.”
“Damn we love our wife like that already? She gotta be magical for you to be okay with murder.”
“I protect what’s mine and if your fucking with her sister would give her a second of displeasure I gotta choose her. Her happiness is mine.” The car was silent as I continued to head toward the suspect’s house but I could feel him staring at the side of my head.
“Bruh, how deeply do you feel about this girl that you’re arranged to marry?” He did the sarcastic air quotes around that last part pissing me off.
“It’s not like she hasn’t been vetted. Besides, I told you I already met her.”
“Right. So we blaming one night at Explicit for the reason you’re getting married?”
I glanced at him giving him a look like he had me fucked up. “You know that I wouldn’t do something I didn’t want to no matter who was asking.”
Alec smirked not believing anything I said. “I’ve seen your abuelo. He looks like he could still beat your ass, Nakoa.”
“He could damn well try. I’d end up with some bruising for sure.
I can’t lie and say that he isn’t a formidable opponent.
But the choice was between not helping an entire country of people or ruining my brother’s happiness to save myself.
Neither of those options was viable for me. So the choice was simple.”
“Especially since you already knew who she was.”
“That part was something the others didn’t know.”
Alec smirked and shook his head. “Trying to look like a hero and shit.”
“My motives weren’t purely selfish. I didn’t want my brother to give up on someone he clearly loves simply because of a declaration I made years ago.” And I’d be damned if Xerxes slept with Asha.
“But I know you well enough to know that big-ass brain of yours would’ve found an alternative if you didn’t truly want to do it.”
I glared at him quickly as I turned into the driveway. “You think they didn’t know that? As soon as I agreed, the old man started with his shit.”
Alec cackled in his seat as I put the car in park. The only reason I even bothered with government vehicles was because Dom had the ability to scan this bitch before I stepped foot into it. That way I could speak freely and my people had access to my location at all times.
“You think they’re going to tell us anything?” Alec nodded toward the house that we’d parked in front of to see about gathering additional information on our victim.
“Hell no. They’re more worried about their reputation in the community and people thinking that they let a murderer in their club. Which they might have. Luckily, the police have already gotten all the surrounding footage and the techs are reviewing it.”
“You gonna let it end with that?”
“Of course not. I’ll either view it myself or run it through our system.” Alec knew all about the Consortium because we’d needed his people’s assistance a few times. That’s why it was no surprise when we linked up as partners.
“Let’s get this over with.”
We both climbed out of the car and headed up the walkway.
We knew we were going to catch this suspect by surprise and that’s exactly the way we wanted it.
Asha felt that our search was too broad and that whoever did this had the type of free time to move around at all hours of the day and night.
Given how her body was found, she was fairly sure the person had to be young and fit enough to take Natalie’s body down to the water.
So we were back to running down classmates and one that Asha had narrowed it down to was Christopher Clancy.
This interview was going to be tricky as hell because Clancy was the son of a congressional representative and I was sure he was going to give us shit.
I knocked on the door and Vega and I were wearing suits to look less intimidating. Showing up in FBI jackets would immediately put anyone on high alert.
When the door opened a young woman answered and looked at us curiously.
“Can I help you?”
“We’re looking for Christopher Clancy.”
“Are you cops?” She looked between the two of us her nerves ratcheting up with every passing second.
“Who are you?”
“I’m Amelia, his girlfriend. He’s in the shower.”
“Do you mind if we come in?” I was thankful that Vega will cajole her because kissing her ass wasn’t on my list of things to do today. For Amelia to be standing in front of us wearing her boyfriend’s clothing she was far too focused at staring at the two of us like we were oddities.
She looked over her shoulder before she turned back to us. “I’m not sure if he would want me to let you in. This isn’t my place so I can’t give you that access.”
Alec smiled as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his card, holding it out to her. The way she bit her lip made it clear she wasn’t thinking about Christopher but I kept my mouth shut and let Alec work.
“My card in case he doesn’t come out of the shower before we can get his permission.”
She took the card and read over his information before smiling at him.
“Alejandro?”
He nodded and I was sure he was building rapport but I was irritated that she was so comfortable chatting with him not bothering to use his last name.
“At your service.”
“Millie what the fuck is going on?”
The door was snatched open further and the man we’d identified as Christopher Clancy from his driver’s license photo stood there angrily clad only in basketball shorts.
“Alejandro here is an agent with—”
“Why the fuck are you calling him by his first name?” The way he leaned into her had me ready to step in but she didn’t look afraid.
“Because I can’t say his last name, duh. Besides, they’re here for you. I was trying to wait for you to get out of the shower.”