Chapter 24 #3
Javi licked his lips and leaned forward, his elbows braced against the edge of the desk. “I don’t like you much.”
“People keep saying that,” Kincaid murmured, pursing his mouth around the idea.
“But you’re good at what you do.” Javi ignored the interruption as he pushed on.
“And you had a huge head start on the Horvats. You knew the timeline, the basic area, you knew Saul…even if not as well as you thought. Like you said, you underestimated how sentimental he was or you’d have found Eric sooner.
But the Horvats had none of that to work with.
They’d no reason to even be looking in Plenty to find Miles.
There’s no way they tracked him down before you did. ”
Kincaid clicked his tongue and leaned forward. “They had a lot more money.”
“You had plenty,” Javi said. “The Horvats only found out where Eric was when someone leaked the information.”
“Yes, someone in the Plenty Sheriff’s Department,” Kincaid said. “It wouldn’t be for the first time.”
Javi shook his head. “No. I talked to Gene, the office manager at the local ESPN affiliate. He said the tip-off wasn’t a local, and he’d recorded the call. Only part of it, but…you got Benson to do your dirty work?”
Kincaid put his hand to his chest. “Javi, no one…no one…could be more shocked than me at both Benson and the lack of journalistic integrity in this town.”
Javi smiled thinly at him. “Do you know Dolores Hartley set up a veterinary and retirement fund for the sheriff’s department’s K-9s after we saved her grandson? And that she owns a controlling share in that affiliate?”
The corners of Kincaid’s mouth sucked in sourly. He sat back.
“And do you know Deputy Sebastiano?” Javi asked. “He used to be an undercover cop in New York. I was able to get him to tap a few old contacts, chase up some gossip.”
“That sounds off-the-books.”
“Extremely,” Javi said. “It’s nothing we could take to court anyhow, but they confirmed that Vesna Horvat got a direct call just before the media circus dropped. No one knows what it was, but apparently it kicked the wasp’s nest.”
Silence. Kincaid flicked at his nails absently.
“It looks like you know everything,” he said quietly. Then he squinted his eyes as he craned his neck forward. “But, like you said, you can’t prove it.”
“I don’t need to,” Javi said. He pushed the chair back and stood up. “Mud sticks, Kincaid. We both know that.”
He walked around the desk to head for the door. Kincaid got up out of his chair to block him as he scoffed.
“My mud sticks, Javier,” he said, rolling the word over his tongue like it was something dirty.
“Because I’ve earned the right to throw it.
I’m an SAC. I’m Organized Crimes’ golden son.
Do you know what would happen if one—just one—member of any oversight committee in the agency gave your accusations credence?
It would be shut down. Do you know how many criminals I’ve put away?
How many investigations and operations my good character and untarnished reputation were integral to?
They aren’t going to risk all that being called into question on the word of a diversity hire with a big black mark already on his record. You’re nothing—”
Cloister grabbed Kincaid’s shoulder and yanked him back.
“You’re—” he started to say, then stopped and shook his head. His lip curled. “You’re not worth the breath.”
Then he punched him. His cast cracked against Kincaid’s face and sent him staggering backward. He tripped over the chair and ended up on the floor, one hand up to cradle his jaw.
“The fuck?” Javi blurted out in shock as he stared at Cloister. His usually easy-going, steady-natured boyfriend shook his hand gingerly and muttered a “fuck” of his own under his breath. The white plaster of his cast was cracked and peeling from the impact.
“It felt right,” he said with a shrug. “I’m not proud of it.”
On the floor, Kincaid rolled over and propped himself on his elbow. He spat a mouthful of blood onto Joel’s neat, griege carpet-tiles.
“I hope you enjoyed it,” he said as he wiped his mouth on the back of his hand and looked up at Cloister. “I’ll have your badge for this, Witte. You thought it was bad last time? By the time I’m done with you, I’ll have that fucking dog of yours put out of her misery.”
Cloister grimaced and shook his head. He reached down to offer Kincaid a hand.
“Look,” he said as he pulled Kincaid back up. “Don’t threaten my dog.”
He hit him again. In the gut this time. Kincaid’s eyes bulged as he doubled over. Cloister grabbed his shoulder to keep him from going down and shoved him back against the desk.
“And in the future, don’t threaten people while they can still reach you,” he said. “It’s stupid.”
Cloister had always said Wittes had a mean streak. This was the first time Javi had seen any evidence of it. He bit his lower lip as he wrestled with the fact that it was kind of hot.
Still sprawled back against the desk, Kincaid gave a spluttering laugh.
“You two aren’t even going to end up flipping burgers,” he snarled. “You’ll be cleaning out the grease—”
The door swung open.
“Why?” Joel asked as she stalked into her office. Her hair was still short, growing into a fuzz of mouse-brown, but otherwise she looked like her old self. She looked Kincaid over and smiled thinly at him. “You fell down, Everett. I saw it. Don’t be embarrassed.”
Kincaid started to say something, stopped, and deliberately spat on the floor.
“Et tu, Tracy?” he said, then shrugged as he pushed himself upright. “Fine. We’ll call this the cost of doing business, but it changes nothing. You can’t touch me, Javier. Neither can your ape.”
He twitched a smile and limped toward the door. Joel stepped to the side and held it open for him. She waited until he was halfway out the door before she stopped him.
“Maybe he can’t,” she said, “but I will.”
Kincaid looked at her and snorted, “You?”
“I’m no thoroughbred,” Joel admitted. “But people like me, and everyone knows I’m not smart enough to play the game.
You made sure of that, over the years. You might be right that no one wants to tarnish your past accomplishments, but I’ll make sure they think twice before giving you new ones. Now get out of my office.”
There was a pause, and then Kincaid smiled, crooked and somehow still cocky.
“We’ll see,” he said through bloody teeth and left.
Joel watched him go, then turned to look at Javi.
“Now I need to deal with you,” she remarked.
The sunset made Cloister squint.
“Your transfer came through?” he asked.