23. That wasn’t quite right. #4
My husband heaved a sigh. “I don’t think so.
I know so. Cops aren’t infallible, Bailey.
My station weeds out the bad seeds early; I can’t abide by those types nearby.
I sense them like a hot poker against my skin.
And once I’m aware of them, it’s my nature to discover their sins.
Justice for all is the oath I swore, not justice for only those who are rich enough, white enough, magical enough, vanilla enough, or what have you.
For all. Even if it means I discover one of my cops beats his wife and I must stand trial against him for learning the truth.
Or if it means I have to answer a call because a cop’s wife called another cop fearing for her life, knowing it would get back to me so I might help her and her children.
We have a hard job, and some forget why we do as we do.
And sometimes, it’s a matter of absolute power corrupting absolutely. We aren’t perfect.”
“You are,” I whispered.
Quinn shook his head. “No, I’m not. It took me a long time to learn what those odd feelings meant.
People have suffered because of my ignorance.
I do my best. But I’m not perfect. I have no doubt that there are men in the world who would do anything to protect the power they have—or reach for more of it because they’re unhappy with where they are in their lives.
Someone who is friends with the Gardeners isn’t someone who would be satisfied with what he has.
And you would have been a threat to that.
Targeting Janet makes sense if his goal was to get rid of you.
You would put everything, especially your life, on the line to protect her. And you did.”
I had. “They just didn’t know it’s useless to target me with ambrosia.”
“Let’s just say I’m rather happy you’re ridiculously durable.”
I was. “What happens now? What other questions do you need to ask us? What can we do to determine if he’s guilty?”
The FBI agent shook his head. “While we do need to get to the bottom of this, the archangel has all of the evidence we need to move forward with the case. We have sufficient ties to file charges with what we have. We need to build a case from this, we need to get more information on the gorgon dust and rabies cases, but I’m confident in saying we have enough evidence to prove this whole mess is somehow connected.
With luck, we’ll be able to piece together how and why. Sam if you remember anything, call me.”
“What about me?” I demanded.
The FBI agent grinned at me. “You heard the archangel. He’s taken that burden from you. I look forward to grilling an archangel. It’s not every day I get to be a dick to a divine and he has to put up with it. I’m considering it a Christmas present.”
I changed my mind about not caring who the FBI agent was, and I thrust out my hand. “Hi. I’m Bailey, and I think we should be friends.”
“Chuck Levenger. You’ll be seeing a lot of me, although you’ll dodge the questioning sessions. You’ll just have to deal with us questioning your husband.”
“I’m counting that as a Christmas present.”
He shot me a salute. “Excellent. This changes how we’re going to move forward with this investigation.
Honestly, I’m expecting this to be a bunch of dead ends, but we’re better off than we were a few days ago.
We’ll be in touch, but I doubt we’ll make much progress over the holidays, outside of filing charges and preliminary hearings.
The holidays will delay things. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the charges, I expect Chief Morriston will be released on bail. ”
Quinn stiffened. “What if he runs?”
Everyone else in the room sighed, and Chuck held his hands up in a gesture of hopeless surrender.
“I’ll be recommending to the judge to deny bail, but I’m not going to hold my breath.
But, stranger things have happened, and our side will have two archangels and the Devil verifying the truth of the situation.
Maybe justice will be served quicker than I think—and without a fight. ”
My husband lifted his hand and rubbed the bridge of his nose before pinching it. “This sounds like a disaster in the making.”
“If he’s wise, he’ll run and disappear, never to be seen again. If he gets out on bail and decides to run. If he is never seen again, I can live with that, you can live with that, and most importantly, your wife can live with that.”
I could? I thought about it, and upon reflection, realized he was right.
I could live with the man running off and never surfacing or bothering me again.
“It wouldn’t bother me very much,” I admitted.
“I wouldn’t be happy about knowing an asshole is out there that might target some other teen, but if he cleans up his act and acts like an angel for fear of having his memory wiped and his magic taken, that’s punishment enough, right? ”
My husband didn’t look convinced, but I’d figured him out better since we’d been married.
He’d never be convinced everything would work out unless there was no longer even a shadow of a doubt he’d secured my safety. I got to my feet, circled the table, and took up residence on his lap, grabbing hold of his wrists and wrapping his arms around me. “That’s punishment enough, Sam.”
“If you’re certain,” he conceded with a sigh.
“I’m certain.”