Chapter 12 ARCHER #2
“A savvy businessman knows when a deal feels off. And this one—” She comes to a stop on my left, the warmth of her too-fucking-casual self prickling against my arm. “—Suspecting Archer of killing a man last night? That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”
Fuck. Me.
Gritting my teeth, I tilt my head to the side and wrap my hand around her wrist. “I’d have preferred if you stayed seated, Minnnka.”
“Yeah? Well, I’d prefer not to damage the friendly relationship we have.” She brushes my hand aside and takes his instead. “I thought we shared trust, Mr. Cordoza? An affiliation of open communication and mutual respect.”
“We do.” He presses a leisurely, tormenting kiss to her knuckles. “But I have a city to run and a dead associate who was, twenty-four hours ago, as alive as you and me. I cannot ignore what may have been a breach in the trust and respect you speak of. Certainly, you understand that.”
“Sure, I do. But Archer didn’t touch that man. Respectfully, I suggest you look elsewhere.”
“Minka.” I grab the loop of her shorts and drag her back, forcing her hand from Cordoza’s grip and stashing her half a foot behind me.
I’ll be damned if she dies on the front lines of a war that began long before she and I ever met.
Blood pounds in my ears, and a tangy lead taste settles on my tongue. I meet Cordoza’s determined stare and set my jaw. “I’m led to believe Agosti died by suicide.”
Unperturbed, he rests both hands on his cane and merely flattens his lips.
“Is there a reason you don’t accept the situation as it’s been presented?”
“As a homicide detective, would you assume such a scene tells a complete story? Or would you wonder… consider… investigate?”
“There’s a saying in my line of work, Mr. Cordoza.” Infuriatingly, Minka steps forward again, peeling my hand from her arm and staring the man down, chest forward and eyes set. “When you hear hoofbeats, look for horses, not zebras.”
“Succinct. Yet, there are beliefs in my line of work, too, Chief Mayet. When a man has already tasted the acrid earth at rock bottom, and now, he’s on his way up again, he’s not likely to end his life.”
“But—”
“Not this man. Not in these circumstances.”
“Do you have evidence to the contrary?” she pushes. “What was discovered? Who discovered him?”
“My evidence?” He slides his tongue forward, wetting his bottom lip.
Behind me, my family remains still. Careful. Ready, but silent.
Fuck knows, if they move too fast, Cordoza’s men are apt to start shooting.
“Anthony has suffered greatly in recent years. Professionally. Personally. He was a rich man with rich tastes, living off a beggar’s coffers. His entrepreneurial conquests had failed, time and time again. His pride, shattered. His self-respect, destroyed.”
“All the more reason to self-harm, don’t you think?”
“Unquestionably. If he’d turned up dead three years ago—or even three months ago—I would have accepted what appears to be a choice he made and moved forward.
But that’s not what has happened. He has come into significant financial luck, Doctor Mayet, and his professional relationships appear to be flourishing.
I find it difficult to consider this the point he would end his life.
Money is, after all, the only language he was fluent in. ”
Minka’s eyes flash with hunger. She’s a hunter, and she’s staring down her prey. “What business relationships? What did he do to secure this money?”
“Careful now, Chief.” He smiles that way he does that typically sets my wife at ease. “The day I consider myself beholden to you or anyone else is the day I retire. I enjoy knowing you, but you shouldn’t interfere where you’re not needed.”
“I’ll interfere from now until I’m six feet under anytime my husband’s name is being dragged into someone else’s mess.
I like you, too, Mr. Cordoza, and I assume your affection for me is because of how I conduct myself in situations you don’t typically invite the wives of your associates.
I doubt my sparkling personality won you over. ”
His chest bounces with soft laughter. “You got me there, Chief. It’s rare that I run into a woman who challenges me in such a way that I wish to know her better. As opposed to the alternative, that is.” Stony, he glowers. “I’m certain you understand my meaning.”
“Mm. Six feet under, I suppose. I’m honored to be on the right side of your graces, Mr. Cordoza.
Because now, I call upon your affections as you consider what I’m telling you.
Archer had nothing to do with Anthony’s demise.
In fact, none of the Malone brothers did.
I see no reason, no past infraction or altercation between us, that would lead you to any other conclusion but to take me at my word. ”
“A romantic notion, Chief. However…” He gestures my way. “Would your husband accept such a statement throughout the course of an investigation?”
“No, I wouldn’t,” I grit out, gently tugging Minka back again.
Away from the front line. Out of firing range.
“A case must be run from start to finish. To collate available information and present our findings to the best of our ability, I would insist on doing things properly. It’s for these reasons that Detective Fletcher and I are suggesting we—”
“You and Detective Fletcher?” Bewildered, Cordoza looks from me to Fletch.
From the determination in my eyes, to the resolve in Fletch’s.
He considers us with curiosity and cunning.
And then he shatters our tentative wings of reconciliation with a barking laugh.
“You and Detective Fletcher? No. But Chief Mayet.”
I grip her by the back of her neck and drag her away. Roughly. Probably painfully. She releases a gasp of surprise and stumbles when her feet tangle. But I step in front of her and stare down the barrels of Cordoza’s guards’ quickly drawn guns.
“Chief Mayet nothing,” I snarl. With adrenaline zinging in my blood and fire burning the tips of my fingers, I look past the guns and meet Cordoza’s dancing eyes. “No.”