Chapter 4
FOUR
Since Kennedy’s story about the men arrested out of Carson Parks, things had been buzzing around Center City. Other news agencies had picked it up after WCCN took down her video. But when WCCN had posted it back up, the momentum had already rolled on past its original post and videos with commentary on it that had surged to millions of views.
Walker had toyed with the idea of contacting Kennedy, but he wasn’t sure exactly how she’d receive his call. Since he’d been a total ass to her when he’d seen her downtown.
His sister Kate was constantly giving him looks whenever she saw him at the precinct.
And if he didn’t say something, she’d lift her hand up in the shape of a telephone handset and mouth the word CALL at him.
He really shouldn’t have told her that any of it happened, but it had been a moment of weakness and he’d been desperate for caffeine.
The clashes downtown, the thefts, had become a mountain of pending paperwork to go along with all of the investigations that they’d done.
Jacob Rafferty, another detective at Precinct Four, had just gone out to scrounge up some lunch for the two of them. It was easier for Jacob. He was a more senior detective with CCPD and had someone typing up his notes for him. Walker, well he’d scoffed at the idea of using that service, but as soon as he’d seen how easy things were for Jacob, he’d changed his mind, but there weren’t any other assistants to work with him.
He watched as Henry Jerzek walked up to his desk and tapped on the edge of it.
“You done with your reports, Ashley? I want to see those before the end of shift.”
Jerzek walked on and didn’t see the blazing heat in Walker’s eyes or hear the blistering commentary in Walker’s head.
The fucker.
He had someone typing his notes too, but from what he heard through the grapevine, she didn’t have much to do. Jerzek turned in reports as the de facto lead detective but no one in the department saw any of them. They went up to the Captain.
Walker had a feeling that Jerzek was cribbing some of their reports into his so he didn’t have to do anything. Lord knows that the other detectives always seemed to be busy while Jerzek always seemed to be out to lunch in more ways than one.
The way that the precinct was designed, the bottom floor was the first line of defense. The sergeant at the desk decided who and what went where in the large building.
There were three companies of uniformed officers that worked the streets of their area. Sergeant Addison and Sergeant Ableman, Walker couldn’t seem to remember who was who, had their officers downstairs in their own workrooms, but his sister, Sergeant Kate Turner, had her officers on the second floor, across the floor from the detectives’ bullpen
If he’d been asked to design the perfect blend of old time precinct and modern day ‘cop-shop’ this was exactly what he’d describe. All the way down to the hustle and bustle of the room around him. It felt like things were happening. It felt like things were working.
Suddenly there was a shift of energy in the building, what Kate had often called a ‘disturbance in the force.’
It was a palpable thing that happened from time to time.
It meant that something had entered the precinct on the ground floor, and they’d disturbed the normal hustle of the precinct. It could be any number of things. It could be a victim of a crime with visible injuries, but that was usually followed by a bunch of shouted commands to get assistance.
Walker knew it wasn’t that.
It could be one of the higher ups in the department like the commissioner or someone else in government with enough pull to be known on sight.
Walker didn’t think that was it. If it was, their entrance would be followed by a rush of purposeful bullshit. Officers and other personnel moving like their lives depended on it. And it kind of did. Well, at least their jobs.
This meant that it was likely someone scary.
Someone that made people freeze in place like startled deer in headlights.
And that meant that they’d all know soon enough who it was.
News like that traveled like lightning the moment people broke free of their stupor.
But in this case, it was something new.
Walker heard the distinct clip of heels on the stairs that joined the bottom floor to the second. Stairs that were along the wall of the open atrium that had been designed into the building back in the Thirties. He’d heard Kennedy refer to the design in one of her YouTube videos as Art Deco.
One day he was going to look that up and figure out what it meant.
The heels clicked closer as he kept typing on his computer, entering the information. Curiosity was one thing.
He still had work to do and unlike Jerzek. He did his work.
When their guest reached the top of the stairs, it was hard for him not to stare.
District Attorney Valerie Wielding was in their precinct.
He had only seen her in person a couple of times before she stepped up onto the aged parquet flooring tiles in a set of killer beige heels with an expression to match.
She marched up to his desk and took a quick look at his face instead of the name tag on his desk. “Detective Ashley.”
It wasn’t a question.
She knew his name.
“Yes, DA Wielding?”
The corner of her mouth tipped up.
“Where’s Jerzek?”
Oh. No title. Just the name.
Walker fought off a smile as he gestured across his body with his right arm. “He has the office back there.”
“Office?” She made a noise that sounded like a snort and a laugh at the same time. “We’ll see about that.”
She walked away without another word, but that didn’t matter to him.
He was able to see her reflection on the screen of his computer as she clicked her way across the floor.
She was a confident woman. She walked like a total boss and owned the air she breathed.
Damn, the woman was incredible.
She didn’t even knock at the other detective’s door. She just gave the knob a twist and pushed it open.
Jerzek almost fell out of his chair with how fast he jumped up from it.
“Valerie-”
“District Attorney Wielding, Detective.”
Oh. Walker kept typing. That had to hurt.
“Sorry. Here, let me close the door.”
Jerzek started around his desk toward the door, but the DA waved him back. “Leave it open.”
She turned her head back to look at the office, but Walker was still looking at the computer monitor on his desk, so he didn’t have to hide his curious gaze from the district attorney.
“I want to know what the hell you think you’re doing, Detective Jerzek!”
Jerzek’s response was barely a couple of words long. He was talking softly so Walker couldn’t hear, but he could see the man’s mouth moving.
“You’re supposed to be getting a handle on this crime spree. I want to know why there’s a whole bunch of men that were dragged in.”
“It’s… it’s part of my fugitive recovery initiative.”
“Initiative?” she scoffed. “I’ve seen the records of the men you pulled out of Carson and at the most, they have low-level drug charges. So, this initiative you’re making-”
“It’s more of a quest that I want to finish before I retire.”
“A quest? Well thanks so much for that Don Quixote!”
“Don who?”
“And no matter how well intentioned your ‘quest’ may be, I haven’t seen evidence that you have recovered even a single fugitive!”
“I’m working on it!”
That, Walker heard.
“Oh? You are? Well, given the amount of time and money you’ve spent on this seemingly ineffective cause, and the information that’s gotten out into the press, you’re giving us a big black eye in the news.”
“Well, ask me if I care what the news thinks. They don’t give a shit about police doing their jobs! They just want to bitch and moan about stupid shit. They don’t care what’s really going on behind the scenes.”
“You should know, Detective, with the many years that you’ve been working for CCPD that people love to see videos of police acting like assholes. It gives them carte blanche to view officers like yourself as the problem and not the criminals.”
“Well, people are stupid.”
That’s the only time Walker had ever seen the tall blonde smile. “That may be, Detective, but the people also vote in the mayor, the governor, and me. I need you to refocus the men and women in your department to find the people responsible for starting the mess downtown.” She turned her head away and then back to his face. “Can I trust you with that?”
“I know my job.” Detective Jerzek’s words were nearly impossible to hear, but Walker had seen the hard set of the man’s jaw and he pieced together the vowels he heard.
Valerie Wielding turned to leave the office, her impressive height making her tower over the older man. “You better do your job or I’ll be back to have another conversation. And you won’t like it.”
She walked out of the office, heading for the elevator this time.
Walker admired the way she wore her clothes. She owned everything about herself. Her job. Her power. Her clothes. The very way she walked.
He wondered what kind of man would be able to take her on and make her happy.
He felt a shadow fall over him at his desk and he gave Jerzek a sideways glance as he stopped beside him.
“That bitch came to talk to me about doing my job. She’d be lost if she tried to do what we do. Right?”
When Walker didn’t answer him, Jerzek smacked him on the shoulder with his hand.
Walker barely resisted the urge to hit him back since he was sitting in his chair, his hand would reach out and smack the asshole in his breadbasket.
There wasn’t a lot of ways he could spin that story and not get in trouble with the boss.
He only had to wait a few months for Jerzek to retire and he could breathe some fresh air.
“You deaf now, Ashley ?”
Walker heard the other detective’s laugh and knew it was because the man was still tickled at his chick surname.
“I’m just doing my work, man. I just don’t have the time to worry about what you’ve got going on with the District Attorney.”
Jerzek’s snort of laughter made him cringe.
“Hell, she could probably benefit from a good, hard boning.”
Walker’s fingers stilled on the keys. “That’s not okay.”
Jerzek lifted his chin and looked at him. “Why? She obviously needs someone to fuck the bitch right out of her.”
Walker stood up so quickly he didn’t notice how close Jerzek was and almost bumped into the man’s forehead with his shoulder. “I need to get some air.”
Jerzek called after him. “What? You going to go tattle on me to your sister?”
Walker almost smiled when his sister’s head popped out of her office across the floor.
“What did you do now, Jerzek?”
The older man lifted his hand as if he was about to flip Kate off.
Walker tensed, ready to turn around and knock the man into next week.
Then Jerzek switched his gesture, combing his fingers through his thinning hair. “You worry about your side of the floor!” Then he waved her off and headed back to his office.
Walker continued to walk but not toward Kate’s office. The last thing he wanted was Jerzek bitching about his family connections later on.
He really did need to walk.
Kennedy was waiting in the reception area of Precinct Four when Walker Ashley came down the stairs.
She didn’t even need to see all of him to be able to recognize him.
She saw his black boots first. Boots that he could run in with no problems, but more importantly for the moment, he looked like a law-enforcement biker. Was that even a thing?
She clutched her phone in her hand but kept her seat as he reached the ground floor.
What did it say about her that she both wanted him to notice her and wanted him to completely pass her by without notice.
After their last face-to-face meeting, she wasn’t exactly eager for a replay.
Honestly, it would be better for her if he walked out of the precinct building as if she was just a piece of furniture.
As he walked through the crowded reception area, she found herself dragging a breath into her lungs and holding it inside.
Walk on by.
Walk on by.
Walk on-
“Kennedy?”
Dang it.
“What are you doing here?”
She turned her head and lifted her chin so she could see him. She needed to see his face.
He looked happy. Well, maybe that was her interpretation of it. At least he didn’t look angry.
“I’m waiting here for a few of the men who were arrested the other night to be released from holding.”
Walker nodded and gave her a half smile. “I saw your video.”
She fought off a smile. “Oh?”
“Yeah. I was at Roan and Pilar’s place and they had it cued up on YouTube. It was good. Really good. They both think you’re good enough to go to a bigger market than Center City?”
She drew back a little at his words.
That was nice of him to say, but she didn’t want to go to a bigger market.
But she wanted to know more about what he thought instead of his brother, Roan and Pilar Bravo.
She wanted him.
Heat washed over her skin, but she hoped that he couldn’t see it written on her face. She knew she hadn’t answered his question yet. So, she just wanted to get it over with.
“I’m happy right here in Center City. I like the people here.”
The corner of his mouth quirked up and she had to admit that his beard was really sexy. She thought she preferred clean shaven men, but wow.
“So, you like the people?”
She smiled and nodded. “Most of them.”
“What about me? Have you forgiven me for being an ass to you the other day?”
While she felt the smile on her lips, her eyes narrowed on his face, not sure what to say. “Is that your way of saying that you’re sorry for how you treated me?”
Walker moved over a few feet and leaned against the wall. His badge, which always seemed to be hanging around his neck, swung forward a little and she chanced a look at it before her gaze returned to his face.
“I’m not someone who usually apologizes.”
Her brow furrowed a little at his casual comment.
“You mean you don’t usually have a reason to apologize, or you do and you just don’t?”
He leaned in a little more. “Why do I feel like you’re interviewing me?”
“Why,” she echoed, “do I feel like you’re interrogating me?”
That caught him by surprise. “Touché.”
She grinned at his retort. “So, do I get an apology or are you saying that’s as close as I’m going to get.”
“Hey, Ashley!”
Kennedy flinched at the bellow that made the room go silent again.
Walker straightened up and turned around, lifting his gaze to the railing on the second floor. He didn’t respond with his voice, but he must have done something to indicate he was listening because-
“You on break? Or you have work to do? I’m betting it’s work.”
Kennedy didn’t look around but she still saw everyone listening in in the peripheral of her vision.
“I’m taking a lunch, Jerzek. You got a problem with that?” There was no audible reply, but she bet Detective Jerzek was mad. “If you do, you know where to find my union rep.”
Then he turned back around and looked at her. “I’m sorry he’s such an ass. Want to get something to eat with me?”
To say she was stunned would be a huge understatement, but she didn’t waste any time getting up and heading for the door. She was nearly there when she looked over her shoulder and smiled. “Yes, if it wasn’t already obvious, I’d love to get something to eat… with you.”
Kennedy was curious when they passed a couple of food carts, but she followed along as Walker’s ground eating strides threatened to leave her behind.
The only time he slowed was to let a woman pushing a carriage step out of a store along the street. Then he was back at it again.
She caught up to him, breathing as if she was back in High School P.E. “Hey? Are you trying to lose me? Or did you seriously want to get something to eat.
She saw the tension that sprung up into his shoulders. When he slowed down, she was able to keep up and stay at his side.
“I really am being an ass, sorry.”
She smiled but didn’t comment on his apology. She didn’t want him to feel uncomfortable and stop.
“We’re stopping up here, but I never asked you what you like to eat.”
She looked at where he’d gestured to up ahead and smiled at the bright white and blue awning with letters glittering in the sun. GYRO ONE.
“Oh, I love Greek food.” She clasped her phone to her chest. “I didn’t peg you for a Greek food kind of guy.”
Walker stepped forward and pushed open the door with his hand.
Chuckling to herself, Kennedy ducked under his arm and into the cool environs of the little Greek restaurant.
The tables all had white cloth covering them and all the wooden chairs were painted blue while the white cushions were stenciled with dolphins.
“Mama!” Walker called out in the closed space and a head peeked out from the kitchen doorway through its long blue curtains. “Two for lunch, please.”
The grey-haired woman nodded and pointed at the counter. “Go get her a menu. I’ll bring out water.”
Walker, halfway to the counter called after her. “One sweet tea, please.”
Laughter from behind the curtain was his only answer.
Kennedy watched him come back to the table with a grin firmly on her face. “Please? You’re so polite.”
“Well,” he placed the menu down in front of her and then turned his chair, putting the back of the chair up against the table so he could straddle the seat, “she makes the best Greek food in town, so the last thing I want to do is seem rude.”
“You? Rude?” Kennedy tried to keep from smiling, but it didn’t work. One corner of her mouth lifted up before she looked down at her menu.
When she looked up, Walker had his arms folded over the back of his chair and his chin was laid on his forearm.
Kennedy tried not to stare at the veins and muscles in his forearms.
If she did, it would only make her look like a woman hungry for…
“Here’s your water, Walker.” Mama leaned in and ruffled his hair after she set down his glass. “And you, lovely friend of this handsome man, your sweet tea.”
Kennedy held out her hand to greet the older woman. “I’m Kennedy Heart, Miss-”
“Oh yes! You’re that woman with all of the stories about people! I don’t know why I didn’t recognize you at first!”
After she shook Kennedy’s hand enthusiastically, she leaned back over to Walker and smacked him on the arm. “Why didn’t you introduce her to me when you first came in.” Mama lifted her hands to touch her hair. “Now I’ve made a horrible impression.”
Kennedy gently shook her head. “Quite the contrary, Mama- May I call you that?”
“Of course!” The older woman clapped her hands before her. “Of course you can!”
Walker leaned away from Mama, probably to keep himself out of her reach. “Gyro One is the oldest restaurant in this area. She and Papa opened it in the Sixties.”
Kennedy gave them both a broad grin. “Let’s not say ‘oldest,’ she gave a one-shoulder shrug. “Let’s say… The landmark of delicious food and hospitality in the outskirts of downtown Center City. Gyro One has been a favorite of families since the Sixties and continues on serving heart and belly warming Greek food for the foreseeable future.”
She saw Mama’s wide-eyed expression and the soft part of her lips. “That’s… that’s lovely, but you haven’t even tasted my food!”
Kennedy lowered her chin an inch and looked up at the sweet silver-haired woman. “I can smell something amazing in the kitchen and my nose is never wrong.”
Mama slipped the menu out of Kennedy’s hands. “I’ll be right back.”
She wasn’t kidding about the ‘right’ part.
Mama was back in seconds with a wide mouthed crockery bowl with steam rising above it and a plate of bread that looked like it had just come out of the oven.
“This is Bouyiourdi. It comes from the town where my grandmother lived, Thessaloniki. It’s perfect for bread, to dip.” She gestured at the plate of bread. “Please. Please.”
Kennedy, already ravenously hungry from the smell, took a piece of bread and swiped it through the top of the dish and watched as strings of cheese stretched between the bread and the bowl.
“Feta, banana peppers, ripe tomato, olive oil, flakes of chili and Kasseri cheese.”
“Kasseri?” Kennedy blew over the steaming hot cheese on her bread. “I’ve never heard of that before.” She took a bite, and as soon as the cheese mixture touched her tongue she sighed with joy. Covering her mouth so she could try and talk, Kennedy moaned. “So delicious!”
“See?” She looked at Mama and saw her wagging her finger at Walker. “This is a woman who enjoys her food. You bring her back, often.”
“Oh, but-”
Walker cut her off. “Yes, Mama.”
Mama gave him a reassuring pat on his shoulder. “Good boy. Now I get you some food, too.”
When she disappeared into the kitchen behind the blue curtain, Walker gave Kennedy a look that bordered on pitiful. “Are you going to share?”
Kennedy stuffed another bite into her mouth and started to chew. After a few moments, she covered her mouth so she could talk to him. “I can, if you’re a good boy, Detective Ashley.”
He shook his head. “What are the chances of that?”
Kennedy nudged the plate toward him. “Go ahead. You can make it up to me.”
Walker froze with his hand halfway to a piece of bread. “How?”
She nodded at the piece of bread and he picked it up between his fingers and dipped it into the cheese mixture.
Kennedy made a breathless little groan and his eyes darkened a moment later.
Lifting it to his mouth, Walker took a big bite, chewing it as if he was eating something sweet and delicious.
Kennedy would have been okay if that had been all she was looking at, but a thin strand of melted cheese was on his lower lip and extended down to just above his beard. She found it hard to breathe as she kept herself planted in her chair so that she wouldn’t lean across and remove it.
With her teeth.
She swallowed and felt heat climb up the back of her neck to match the slight heat of the peppers in the cheese mixture.
“Kennedy?”
She watched him lick at his lip, drawing the cheese into his mouth.
Holy Moly.
“Miss Heart? Are you still there?”
Startled, she sat back and forced a smile on her face. “Yeah. Sure. Absolutely.”
“Me thinks,” he had a growling accent that sounded like Sean Connery from Indiana Jones, “the lady doth protest too much.”
Clapping her hands on her cheeks, she struggled to get her hormones back in check. “What was I saying? Ah, yes. Paying me back for some of my food.”
He turned the bread around and swiped the other part of the crust through the cheese mix. “Okay?”
“I need your help with a story I’m working on.”
“The story?” He raised a brow and took another bite.
“Yes, the one about the men who were picked up from Carson Parks. I doubt I’m going to get a chance to ask Detective Jerzek about it-”
“And I don’t want you anywhere near him.”
Shocked at his sudden vehement declaration, she paused.
“So, I’m hoping that you’ll keep your eyes and ears open at the precinct and tell me if there’s any information about it.”
He picked up his napkin and wiped at one side of his mouth and then the other before he set it down. “You know that there are going to be things that I can’t tell you about active cases, right?”
She nodded. “Obviously. But I’m talking about things that aren’t right. Things that would probably upset you on a righteous level.”
He raised a brow at that. “This isn’t some kind of crusade, is it?”
She shook her head. “Sorry. I think I went too far with that, but really, I’m talking about things happening to innocent people. Wouldn’t that bother you on a righteous level?”
He nodded, slowly.
“That bothers me at any time,” he told her, looking deeper at her yet again. “So this is something new for you? Delving into these issues to change things instead of reporting on them after the fact?”
Her heart stuttered strangely in her chest.
“Are you saying that you think I’m… that what I do is… is just-”
Walker reached across the table and touched his fingertips to the back of her hand. “What you do is awesome. There’s nothing ‘just’ about it.” Mama burst through the blue curtains with a whole tray of food and Walker sat back, trailing the tip of his finger along her skin. “If I made you think that for a minute, I am sorry. I don’t mean to be an ass around you.”
Before she could say anything or even think of what to say, Mama lowered the tray against the edge of their table and proceeded to explain the awesome smells and tastes they were about to share.