23. Chapter 23
Connor
“What are you doing?” Captain Hoover asked before I was even sure the line had connected. Not even a hello? I closed Grace’s front door, stepping out and heading to my car. I had skipped breakfast to keep her in bed longer, and it took me until almost noon to finally force myself away.
“Just finishing lunch.” I smirked as I opened the car door. I would have Grace for lunch any time she’d let me. Breakfast and dinner too.
When he cleared his throat and spoke again, my amusement dropped. “Meet me at the precinct,” he said, leaving no room for questioning. “Now.”
“No can do, Captain.” I had plans, and I was late enough as it was. The last thing I wanted to do was piss off Mickey—especially more than I already had. And if I was late to this meeting, it was going to do exactly that.
“It wasn’t a question.” Captain Hoover grumbled something at someone else, covering the phone so only his muffled frustration slipped through. “We have what we need. Get here.”
My head spun. What the fuck was that supposed to mean? “Need for what?”
“My guy came through.” What guy? “He found the evidence I needed for the drug shipment.” Drug shipment? “The Morettis are going down.”
My lungs leapt into my throat, and my nerves tried to escape my body through my ribcage. The pieces were falling together, one at a time, until the panic set in. "Absolutely not," I said.
His heavy, disappointed-in-me sigh came through the phone. “I wasn’t asking, Murphy.” The friendliness that often decorated the Captain’s voice was nowhere to be found. “Get your ass here. Now!”
“Captain, you’ve got to listen to me,” I said, bursting into his office without knocking. He wasn’t alone. Both detectives settled in the chairs across from him looked up, and he scowled.
“I don’t have time to listen to you anymore. Rob here got the evidence. There is thirty pounds of powder at their pizza shop. Cocaine from a recent shipment.” He looked satisfied and slightly amused when he turned to the others. “Be careful when you order the special, eh?”
They all laughed, and Captain Hoover looked proud of himself until I interrupted. “You’re wrong.”
“What did you just say?” When he stood, the room around him shrank, but I straightened my spine.
“With all due respect, sir, I said you’re wrong. I know it’s not the Morettis.” I put my hands up in a small gesture of surrender. I wasn’t trying to question his judgment, but when he was wrong, he was wrong. I couldn’t let this happen without putting up a fight.
“You know it’s not the Morettis? Prove it.” He had me there. I couldn’t prove it. Not yet. Not without the meeting I was supposed to be in right this moment.
“That’s what I’ve been trying to do. I was meeting up with Mickey’s source today.
A pick-up. Taxes for what was sold. More.
” I couldn’t frame my frustration as explanation—not while cops geared up to really ruin my day.
And I was having a pretty good one. “If you’d just give me the damn chance, I’ll show you what I was getting my hands on today is the exact same stuff you think belongs to the Morettis. I need a few hours.”
Captain Hoover stared at me with a lack of patience creeping from each wrinkle in his has-seen-too-much-life-to-hear-me-out face. He crossed his arms. All I could feel were three cold stares cutting through the tension in the room. I sucked in a deep breath.
“Listen. The Cassidys are pissed. Giaco and Ronan have been buying and renovating properties, moving into their neighborhood. They’re taking customers, business, and encroaching on space the Cassidys have laid claim to for generations.
To us, it’s just properties and drugs. To them, the Morettis started a war.
” I paused, sighing when he didn’t seem to get it.
“A war the Cassidys will do anything to win.”
“Pshh, a war.” Rob looked up from his too-prideful-for-his-own-good seat, barely even looking at me when he spoke.
With the way he looked at his own hands, you’d think he was checking under his fingernails for any of the bullshit he was getting ready to spew.
“Is it a war, or did I just find the answer before you did?”
The tension snapped like a stale rubber band, and I closed the distance between me and Rob in two large steps. When I towered over him, his smirk stayed solid, but when I leaned close enough that my breath moved his overly dyed hair, the smile dropped. He glared and puffed out his chest.
“Do you understand the severity of what is going to happen here?” I straightened my spine and looked at Captain Hoover and the other officer.
“Do any of you understand? You’re about to go in guns blazing for planted drugs the Morettis have nothing to do with, and when you do, the Cassidys are going to watch from the comfort of their bar, knowing they will get away with having so much more.
This war they’ve got waging is going to get bigger.
While you distract the Morettis, the Cassidys are going to do everything you’re worried about.
They’re going to sell those drugs and hurt innocent people, and they’ll get away with every bit of it because you’re too busy taking down the wrong family. ”
“Why should I believe you now? You’ve had plenty of time.” Captain Hoover eyed me like he was going to remind me exactly how long I’d had, as if I wasn’t aware of every single moment I spent with Mickey and Luca Cassidy for the last decade.
Rob chortled, and I clenched my hands at my sides to prevent myself from smacking him. “Yeah, why should we believe you Murphy?”
“Because choosing to believe this coked out weasel over a detective you’ve trusted for over a decade would be a bad move. When have you ever seen the Morettis with drugs?” I crossed my arms, waiting for an answer I already knew. They hadn’t.
“Everybody gets caught eventually.” Rob was riding his evidence hubris like it would take him to the top of the command chain without an obstacle.
Captain Hoover sighed. “Shut up, Rob.” Rob looked taken aback but closed his mouth and sat back in his seat. “I want to believe you, Connor, but I can’t just overlook something in front of my face. You’re caught up with the Moretti girl, and it’s clouding your judgment. I told you this would—”
“Leave her out of this. She has nothing to do with what I’m saying. I’m telling you, you’re wrong.” My phone started to ring in my pocket; without even looking at the screen, I knew who was calling. Mickey wasn’t happy. I looked at the clock, and my stomach sank when the minute hand moved again.
“I guess we’re going to find out.” Captain Hoover smacked his hand on the desk and stood, looking past my shoulder and out his window to the rest of the precinct. “Get ready. It’s time to go.”
A lack of control flooded me, followed by anger and some panic. “Damn it, Captain! You need to wait,” I demanded, hoping he’d give me the benefit of the doubt while knowing he wouldn’t. He shook his head.
“We don’t have any more time to wait. I’m sorry.
” For half a second, he looked sympathetic, like he meant it.
Like he knew he was doing the wrong thing but was going to give in to the pressure he was getting himself instead of pushing for the right thing.
“We’re moving in now, and you’re coming with me. Let’s go.”
Absolutely not. “I can’t stop you. If you’re going to do it, fine, but I’m not going with you. You don’t need me there.” That was the last place I needed to be, especially with the taste of Grace still on my lips.
“Yes, I do.” Captain Hoover pointed at the door, and Rob and his mini-me stood to leave. “If it gets messy, I need my best guys there. You may be acting stupid, but you’re one of the best I have.” But he won’t believe me.
I sighed, and my heartbeat pounded against my ears. Images of Grace swirled in my head, starting with her smile, filtering through every aroused look I’d tried to memorize, ending with tears and betrayal running through her mascara.
“Oh,” I said, accepting I had no other choice. “It’s definitely going to get messy.”