Chapter Five
Miles
Higgins offered to pick me up from my last job and drive me over to the station, but I refused and drove my Carry A Faerie truck there myself. I didn’t want to be trapped there, so having my own vehicle so I could escape if I needed to seemed like a good idea.
Sola trilled in the passenger seat, and I said, “Hold on a sec. I’ll come around and get you from that side.”
I got out of the truck, shut the door, and glanced down at my coveralls. Shit. I probably shouldn’t wear them in there, huh?
I opened my door again and asked Sola, “Actually, you want to come out on this side? I have to change my clothes, and I don’t want you stuck in there while I do it.”
She did a little hopping dance across the seat that made me smile—even though I was nervous as hell, her cuteness still affected me—and when she was within reach, I held out my arm for her. She climbed up, balancing on my arm as I shut the door.
With a sigh, I walked to the back of my truck, opened the hatch, kissed the top of Sola’s head, set her on the truck’s tailgate, then glanced around the parking lot.
There were a few people far down the aisle, but no one close by, so I quickly pulled my coveralls off, rolled them up, and tossed them into the back.
Then I glanced down at myself again and let my chin fall to my chest with a groan.
I really should’ve gone home to change before coming here.
I wasn’t sure my ripped-up jeans—from use, not stylishly ripped because why the hell would I ever have something stylish—and t-shirt that was probably a decade old were much better than the coveralls, but I didn’t have any nice clothes in my truck. Why would I?
I was a faerie exterminator, not a detective anymore. I waded around in attics, basements, and crawl spaces, and got covered in disgusting gunk every day. Having nice clothes in my work truck was unnecessary.
It wasn’t like I went out after work, and even if I did, I’d likely go home to shower first, depending on whether I’d been covered in goo or not that day.
But uuuggghhhhh. I hated walking into that building looking like this.
Since there was nothing I could do about it now—I was almost late as it was—I shrugged off my discomfort, ensured my gloves were on tight, put Sola on my shoulder, locked up my truck, and headed inside.
I hadn’t been back here since the day I cleared my desk out, but the smell, sights, and sounds were as familiar to me as my own home. When I’d worked here, I’d spent more time in the office than I did at home, pretty much every week.
But now I was here as a guest, as a consultant, and nothing more.
So I signed in—luckily, all I had to say about Sola was that she was my familiar, and the receptionist shrugged it off; I really needed to send in my registration for her—pinned a guest pass to my shirt, and headed for the elevator to take me up to the fifth floor.
Luckily, Higgins had given the secretary my name and asked to send me straight up, noting that I didn’t need an escort—aka, a chaperone—to take me up, so I was able to go up there alone.
Which meant I was a wiggling, fidgety mess in the elevator. Hopefully, I could get all my nerves out before anyone else saw me.
Sola obviously noticed because she kept trilling and rubbing my cheek with hers, clearly trying to comfort me.
When the elevator stopped on the fifth floor, I took a deep breath, pulling a calm mask over my face and body—one I didn’t feel—and stepped through the doors to a floor I knew like the back of my hand.
A few people looked over at me, although most were too engrossed in their work to notice. I recognized a few of the detectives, some I’d worked with while here, others from other departments, having transferred over, I assumed.
“Curbelo?” an old colleague named Warren said, standing from his desk and rushing around to greet me.
“Hey, Warren.” I offered as much of a smile as I could muster.
The man, probably ten years older than me, held out his hand to shake.
I hesitated because I didn’t like touching people.
But thank goodness I had my gloves on because the man stepped closer and grabbed my hand without waiting for me.
I tensed and did everything in my power to ignore his emotions.
Sure, they weren’t flying at me through my hand, hence the gloves, but he was close enough now that it would be easy as pie to catch his emotions if I didn’t keep my empath magic at bay.
Hm. Maybe I should’ve taken Winter up on his offer to come with me. With him here, I wouldn’t have to block with so much force.
“It’s good to see you, man.” He offered a smile, dropped my hand—thank god—and pointed. “Who’s this?”
“This is Sola. She’s my familiar.”
His eyebrows rose. “You’ve got a familiar now?”
“Yep.” I had no idea what else to say to the man. This was weird. Even weirder than I’d expected coming here would be.
“That’s awesome.” He flashed a smile. “I hear you’re helping Higgins with a new case?”
Apparently, my old partner was telling everyone about me. Lovely. “Just taking a look today. No big deal.”
He snorted. “If you say so. Higgins seems to think he’s pulled you in for the long haul.”
Of course he freaking did. Asshat. I rolled my eyes at that. “Nope. Just helping today, and then I’m out of here.”
He gave a nod. “Head on back. You know where you’re going.”
I nodded and walked past him, getting a new greeting from an old colleague every other second.
I avoided the captain’s office like the plague. There was no way in hell I ever wanted to lay eyes on that man again. If I did, I feared I’d strangle that absolute piece of shit.
Finally, I made it to Higgins’s desk—it was the same desk he’d had when I’d worked here—and found a stranger at the desk across from it… at my old desk.
A man around my age glanced up at me, a pen pressed to the corner of his mouth as he eyed me up and down.
He had dark hair cut in the standard cop cut, black-framed glasses with blue eyes—much darker than Winter’s and not as pretty, if I do say so myself—a thick body that made it look like the guy worked out, although I couldn’t be sure since he was wearing a suit.
He was… handsome, I’d give him that, but I didn’t like the look in his eyes.
Was he weighing me up or was he checking me out? I couldn’t tell, and I didn’t like that at all. His mask was too… good.
So I did the natural thing and opened up my empath magic, focusing on the guy’s emotions.
I always heard and felt a million different emotions coming at me—that was what happened when you lived in a busy city—but I pushed them all away until they were nothing but static in the back of my mind.
But that didn’t mean I couldn’t concentrate on someone and feel their emotions, even if I wasn’t touching them.
Without much thought, I drew on my empathic magic, aiming it at this strange man, and was immediately hit with insecurity, jealousy, annoyance, animosity, and maybe a hint of envy. The strange mix took me aback for a few beats.
Why the hell was this guy feeling so many things toward me when we hadn’t even spoken yet? I’d never met him in my life. Why would he feel anything at all toward me?
“You must be Miles,” the man said, his voice deeper than expected. “I’m Joel Cunningham, Gerard’s partner.”
The way he said Higgins’s first name, like he was claiming him and making sure I knew they were close, made me uncomfortable.
I gave him a nod, pulling my empath magic back in so I didn’t have to feel this guy’s emotions anymore. “Nice to meet you. I’m here for Higgins—”
“I know what you’re here for.” The guy’s jaw clenched. “You want to take over my case.”
“Your…” My breath hitched. “I’m not here to take over anyone’s case. I’m not even interested in being a detective again. Higgins asked for my help, so I’m helping him.” I dropped the envelope with the case file inside on Higgins’s desk. “I’ll see myself out, then.”
If I was going to cause problems with Higgins and his new partner, I wasn’t going to stay. The last thing I needed was drama in my life. I had enough going on without my ex-work partner adding to it.
Even though I’d tried to avoid Higgins over the last few years, he’d insisted on keeping me up to date on things, including his partner status. He’d gone through four other partners before this guy. None of the others had worked out and had been either given a different partner or transferred.
As far as I knew, Higgins liked this guy better than any of the previous options, so I supposed I should try to give him the benefit of the doubt. Didn’t mean I had to stand here and take his animosity, though.
Before I could walk away, Cunningham held up his hand. “No. Don’t. I didn’t mean anything by it. Higgins is waiting for me to bring you back.”
Even though I really wanted to make my escape, I sighed, absently petted Sola, and asked, “Bring me back where?”
“To interview room one. Well, to the observation room, to be exact. His suspect is already here.”
I checked my phone. I wasn’t late. “Already?”
He shrugged as he stood, eyeing Sola for a brief moment. “Came early. Said he wanted to get it over with. Follow me.”
I didn’t actually need him to show me where the room was, but I bit my lip to keep myself from saying that out loud and followed the jerk to the observation room.
To my despair, Cunningham decided to stay in the room with me. So I found myself standing in front of a one-way mirror, staring at Higgins sitting at a table with the suspect, Paul Ferguson, with his asshole partner standing beside me.
I was beyond uncomfortable, and again, in this moment, I really wished I would’ve taken Winter up on his offer to accompany me here.
Why the hell had I told him no? What had I been thinking?
Cunningham sent Higgins a text, and I saw my old partner discreetly check his phone. The look of relief on his face was obvious to someone who knew him well, but I doubted Paul Ferguson noticed.