15. Evgeny #3
The urge to take her again is strong, but that would involve me waking her up, and I’m trying my best to avoid that.
I feel guilty enough about sneaking away, but I’m not ready to face her.
I don’t know how to act around her now, and I need some time and space to think.
More importantly, I need to get my focus back on Sasha.
Today is going to be a long one. Lang is sending over more discovery, and Caleb is set to meet me at the office at six.
I also need to squeeze in a visit to the jail and have a talk with my family to see how things are going with their search.
There are so many moving parts with this one, so many things that need to be tied together and so many loose ends and ways it could all go wrong.
Without realizing it, I’ve tightened my grip on Harper.
The hand that’s currently palming her ass is very reluctant to let go, but with Herculean effort, I manage to loosen my grip and slowly start to untangle her body from mine.
She lets out an annoyed grunt, but when I replace my body with a pillow, she grips onto it and sinks back into a deep sleep.
I spend several minutes I don’t have watching her.
Watson, sensing an opening, scoots his large body up the bed, so his back is pressed against hers.
It seems to calm her even more, and I’m hoping he can be my stand-in long enough for me to leave without her noticing.
Being as quiet as I can, I take a quick shower and get dressed.
I stop by the bed on my way out just long enough to make sure she’s still sleeping peacefully, and then I head downstairs.
Deciding to just grab a coffee on the way, I get my briefcase, make sure I still have her phone so she can’t do anything we’ll both regret, and then I get in my car and leave.
Thirty minutes later, I’m sitting in my office with a bagel and a large coffee with butterscotch creamer.
I’ll never be able to drink my favorite drink without thinking of Harper now, and it’s both a blessing and a curse.
Caleb comes in before I’ve even gotten halfway through my breakfast. He yawns before taking a large drink of his own coffee and sitting in the leather chair across from my desk.
“Has Charlie found anything?” I ask, knowing it’s a long shot, but still needing to ask.
“You know I’d tell you if he had, but he said he’d call at eight with an update.
” Caleb stretches out his arm, looking at the expensive watch on his wrist. I know it’s expensive because I bought it for him last Christmas.
“So in two hours.” He gives me a tired look and adds, “It’s almost as if we could’ve slept in a bit more and gotten here just in time for the update. ”
“Yeah, but now we’ll be prepared when he does call,” I tell him. “Just drink your coffee and give it a chance to kick in. How many shots of espresso did you ask them to add to it this time?”
He grins and holds up his drink. “Three.”
“Perfect. You’ll be wide awake in no time. Here,” I say, tossing him the bag on my desk. “I got you a breakfast sandwich.”
“You did?”
He seems so genuinely surprised that I’d do it that it makes me sit back and raise a brow at him.
“I’m not Scrooge, Caleb. I know you didn’t want to wake up early and come in, and I know I’ve been pushing you harder than normal.
This case is important, though. More important than anything we’ve ever done, so I’m not going to apologize for working you harder.
I will, however, try to make it as bearable as possible and give you a nice vacation when it’s all over. ”
He thinks while he takes a bite and chews. After swallowing, he asks, “You going to tell me why this one is the most important case we’ve ever done?”
“An innocent man was arrested,” I tell him. “It’s our job to get him out of jail as quickly as possible. I thought you already knew that’s what we did for a living.”
I get a sarcastic smirk before he takes another bite, wisely choosing to drop the conversation in favor of sustenance.
While he eats, I discreetly check my phone.
Thanks to Niki, I can see Harper in pretty much every room of my house.
I hadn’t been lying about the bathrooms. There aren’t any cameras in there, but that’s the only place she’s safe.
Right now, she’s still cuddled up in bed with Watson wedged against her back.
They both look like they belong there, and I nearly groan when she rolls over just enough for me to see one of her perfect breasts.
Putting my phone away, I take another drink of coffee and force her from my mind, or at least push her far enough away so I can focus on the work before me.
Caleb and I go over every detail of what we know so far, taking notes as we think of things we need to do or check on, and by the time Gertie comes waltzing in, I feel like it should be lunchtime instead of eight in the morning.
While she hands us both a fresh coffee and a bag of muffins, my office phone rings. I pick it up, already knowing it’s Charlie with his update.
“What have you got?” I ask him, putting him on speaker.
Charlie never wastes time with pleasantries. He just jumps right in with, “This doesn’t make any sense. The CCTV footage for the area is gone. I’m not sure what happened, but it’s nowhere to be found.”
“Think the cops have it?” Caleb asks. “And what’s not making sense beyond that?”
“The cops don’t have it. No one has it. And what’s odd is that if Sasha wanted her dead, he could’ve done it at any time.
Why wait and do it like this? Anyway, I did what you asked, and I’ve been focusing on Rosie.
From everything I can find, she was a good kid, just fell into the wrong crowd and got her ass into some serious trouble.
DeMarco’s men were holding her, trafficking her out, and she escaped. ”
I give Caleb an I told you so look while I say, “Sounds to me like a pretty good motive. Letting a girl escape is very bad for business.”
“It is,” Charlie agrees. “Want me to keep digging?”
“I do,” I tell him. “Let me know the second you find something I can use.”
After he hangs up, Caleb says, “He could’ve still done it.”
“But he didn’t. We need to prove DeMarco’s men did. If we can present enough evidence, they’ll have to let our client go.” I can’t help but grin. “God, that’s going to piss the police off.”
“Yeah, you’re not making any friends with this one,” Caleb says. “Not that it matters. They already hate you.”
“The entire police force is oddly immune to my charm,” I say.
“Discovery just arrived,” Gertie hollers from the front. Her hands must be full because she’s chosen to bypass the phone and use her voice instead.
Sure enough, when Caleb and I walk out, meeting her in the conference room, her arms are full of boxes. Reaching out, I take them from her, momentarily surprised that she was able to carry them all. She must see my shock, because she looks at me and says, “I do water aerobics three times a week.”
“It’s paying off,” I tell her, returning the smile she gives me.
Caleb takes one of the boxes from me, and the rest of the morning and early afternoon are spent going through every single piece of paper, line by line, word by word.
There are witness statements from neighbors agreeing to testify that they saw Sasha entering Rosie’s apartment, a toxicology report showing the young woman was clean and sober at the time of her death, the autopsy report, more crime scene photos, and a million other items that need to be documented, checked, and filed away.
It sometimes feels like my job is to constantly put together giant jigsaw puzzles with half the pieces missing.
When it gets close to my appointment at the jail, I gather up what I need and tell Caleb to call me if anything new shows up.
Detective Alvarez asked if I could meet him.
He and Detective Bronson want to question Sasha again, and my cousin wisely told them he wouldn’t say a word without my presence.
He still won’t be saying a word even with my presence, but at least I’ll be there so I can get an idea of what angle they’re trying to play.
This isn’t the local police station, so it takes me a lot longer to park and get cleared to enter.
Once I’m buzzed through, an officer escorts me through the maze of concrete and metal until we arrive at an interview room.
Looking through the small window, I see the back of my cousin’s head and the orange correctional uniform they have him in.
I will never get used to seeing him wearing that or the silver chain I see stretching between his cuffed ankles.
“So good you could find time in your busy schedule, Mr. Nikitin.”
I turn at the sound of Detective Alvarez’s voice, giving him and Detective Bronson a stiff nod. “I’m always happy to waste time for the NYPD,” I tell him.
Alvarez scowls at me while Bronson arranges the files in his hand and refuses to look at either of us.
“Let’s get this over with,” Alvarez barks out, opening the door and leading the way in.
When Sasha lifts his head and sees me, a sharp burst of rage shoots through me when I see the bloody, swollen lip he has. Hiding my rage from everyone but him, he says in Russian, “I’m going crazy in this fucking place, and I really hate these two tiny-dicked assholes.”
“What the fuck did he say?” Alvarez asks, looking over at me.
“How the hell should I know?” I tell him. “I don’t speak Russian.”
Sasha laughs and tells Alvarez in Russian that his wife probably has to get a microscope anytime she wants to give him a blowjob. “Like sucking on a mini Tootsie Roll,” he says with another laugh.