Chapter 2
chapter two
easton
I tried not so stare too hard as I watched Patrice walk out of Nesto’s restaurant and get into a black SUV before driving up the hill to campus.
He’d been wearing gray slacks and a navy jacket with some navy and gray oxfords.
He even had a dark brown bowtie on. His locs in a half-knot.
He looked dapper and professorial, and it suited him.
As his car disappeared from my line of sight, I thought about how there was something almost regal about the way Patrice carried himself.
Like we were all supposed to bow when he walked by.
“He certainly has your attention.” My boss Cindy’s voice ripped me out of my musings, the amused tone in her voice promising questions about my staring.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen that particular puppy face on you before.
It takes a lot for me to notice a man, but even I have to admit, he’s gorgeous.
Did you hit it and quit it or was he too smart to fall for your bullshit? ”
I rolled my eyes at Cindy because she thought she was hilarious.
“First of all, please stop using expressions like ‘hit it and quit it.’ You’re my mom’s age and that just creeps me out.
Second, I’m not talking about it.” I forced myself to make eye contact and smiled.
Totally casual. “He’s a friend of Nesto’s, OuNYe’s owner. ”
Cindy threw up her arms while rolling her eyes at me. “Like I don’t know who Nesto is. He and Jude are the Gay Power Couple in town these days. I must say it’s nice to see that us old Ithaca gays will be passing the torch to such good young people. Present company excluded, of course.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not good at being part of cabals. I tend to get twitchy.”Cindy shook her head like I was hopeless, then pointed in the direction Patrice had driven off. “Don’t change the subject. What’s up with you and that beautiful man you were just staring at?”
Cindy and I weren’t new at this game. I’d known her since she came to work for my father over twenty years ago. Teasing me about my love life was one of her favorite pastimes.
I looked at her more closely and saw that she was wearing jeans and a flannel shirt, her usual “out in town” look, but she was carrying something that looked suspiciously like a laptop bag. I pointed at it with as disapproving a look as I could manage.
“A better question, Cindy Brooks, is what are you doing here?”
Cindy was probably my closest friend in Ithaca other than Priscilla, Nesto’s cousin.
She was also my boss and was supposed to be on leave recovering from major heart surgery right now.
I shook my head thinking that her wife, also a dear friend, would not be happy to know I was letting Cindy sneak into the office.
“Lorraine will skin me if she finds out you’re coming here to work when you should be at home resting.”
Cindy and Lorraine had kept me sane through a lot of ups and downs with my parents over the years, including when I came out.
My parents hadn’t been awful, but they hadn’t been the most supportive either, and Cindy and Lorraine became confidantes over the years.
That’s why when I finished law school, instead of going with the family business, I joined Cindy in the DA’s office.
That still didn’t mean that she got to pry into every inch of my sex life.
After engaging in a stare-off, Cindy shook her head and grinned as she patted her bag. “I’m just dropping this off. I’ll leave…as soon as you tell me who that was.”
I sighed as we walked into the county courthouse where our offices were located, resigned to the fact I was not going to get her to go home.
“We had a thing last summer when he was out here helping Nesto with the truck. We just hooked up a few times, which was nowhere near enough for me.” I was very focused on not making eye contact with Cindy as I spoke.
“He took a faculty job at Cornell. I was hoping we could pick up where we’d left off.
” I lifted a shoulder, trying for a lightness I did not feel.
“I ran into him last night and he didn’t seem interested. ”
She clicked her tongue, genuinely sad my hopes for a booty call had gone up in flames.
“That’s too bad, hon. I’ve never seen you look at someone like that.
You know you’re the kid Lorraine and I never got around to having.
” She paused, holding up a finger and winking at me.
“Actually, no, more like you’re the kid Lorraine always wanted, but you grew on me.
” I laughed as she came closer to squeeze my arm.
When she spoke, she sounded wistful. “We’d like to see you happy, with someonewho can appreciate that big heart of yours, no matter how hard you work to keep it hidden underneath the ‘too busy for love’ facade.
I think I failed you as a mentor in the work and life balance department. ”
I gave her a rueful smile and turned around.
“Now I really am worried you need to be in bed,” I teased.
“You were an excellent mentor. As for Patrice, it doesn’t matter, because he’s just not that into me.
” I hoped that my comment didn’t get her thinking of some scheme to get Patrice and me together.
Cindy had a tendency of pushing me when she thought I needed a nudge.
I knew it came from a good place, but it got old fast.
She opened her mouth with what I was sure was another question when Ron Vogler, our investigator, walked up to us. “Did you hear about last night?” he asked, and I noticed his usually relaxed demeanor was replaced with a thunderous expression.
Ron had been with the Ithaca Police Department for over twenty years before coming to work with us, and he was in the know about everything happening in the county when it came to law enforcement. He usually wasn’t the type to gossip, so whatever this was, it wasn’t good.
I shook my head at his question, already pulling my phone out of my pocket to see if there was anything I’d missed.
“Amber was on last night, so I didn’t hear.
” The ADAs took turns being on call, so that there would always be someone available to handle whatever came up in the middle of the night or the weekends.
I’d been off, so I had no idea about whatever fresh hell had Ron brooding.
He pursed his lips before answering as I braced myself.
“One of the new deputies from the sheriff’s department stopped two Ithaca College students on Route 79.
They were black, of course. Going maybe five miles over the limit.
One of them recorded the whole thing and posted it on Tik Tok, and it does not look good.
The deputy was so fucking aggressive and his whole attitude was, frankly, shit. ”
“Shit.” I bit out the curse as I walked through the metal detector, Ron on my heels, continuing his recount of the incident.
“Neither of them got hurt, but he did make them get out of the car and made a big show of patting them down. I saw in the Ithaca Star that they’re filing a complaint claiming he was excessively aggressive.”
I heard Cindy sigh heavily from behind me as we made our way to the elevator. “Cindy, you really need to go home, this is going to get you worked up, seriously.” She waved me off as I turned to Ron, who was looking more pissed by the second.
“Which deputy was it?”
Ron just shook his head, his face grim. “Chief Cooker’s youngest.” Fuck.
“Son of a bitch.” Cindy’s curse rang out in the hallway outside the DA’s office.
Cooker had been the head of the Ithaca Police Department for almost twenty years and had only recently retired. For the most part, he had run his department well, and was respected… Unfortunately, his children seemed to only be interested in ruining their father’s legacy.
I shook my head in disgust as we walked into my office, because no matter what, this was going to be a shit show.
“Awesome,” I said, my voice heavy with sarcasm. “I went to elementary school with his brothers and they were assholes even back then. Seems like the youngest one is trying to emulate his older siblings. I’m going to call Sheriff Day.”
Cindy’s eyes widened at that and I held up my hand. “Cindy, I know that it’s hard for you to be hands off, but I am interim DA and you need to be resting. I will handle this.” I took my phone out and sighed.
Ron scoffed as I fiddled with it. “Cooker’s kids are not the only ones that could use a talking to in that department,” Ron said, frustrated.
Ron’s wife was black and they were raising two biracial teenage boys. Of course, this type of bullshit was going to rattle him. “Nothing is going to change until people start being held accountable and there’s an honest conversation about biases in that department.”
“Agreed,” I said, wondering how Day was taking this.
He was a friend, but since he’d barely secured his last run for sheriff after coming out as gay during the campaign, I knew he’d been walking a very thin line.
“Day’s a reasonable guy, we can talk to him about this frankly, but we need to know how to approach it. ”
Ron shoved his hands in his pockets and looked between Cindy and me.
“I want to burn shit down.” Cindy balked at that and Ron held his hands up.
“I know my role here, and I will defer to you.” His conciliatory tone did little to mask how pissed off he was.
I could barely control my own anger. We had made a lot of progress in this town, but there were always some dipshits ready to fuck it all up.
“Stuff like this is becoming a common occurrence again, and I don’t like it. ”
Cindy groaned wordlessly as I called Day’s personal number. This was not the first time I’d checked in with him about issues happening in our jurisdiction, so when he practically barked that he couldn’t talk right then, I was taken aback.