Surprised that he’d voiced his feelings… out loud… I nodded and sent him a smile. “How could I not? You’re my uncle, right?”
He flashed me a grin, and I hurried out the door.
CHAPTER 5
On the way to the precinct, I couldn’t get over the fact that I’d basically agreed to be Uncle Joey’s successor. What was wrong with me? That was the absolute last thing I’d ever want. But he thought of me as family, and I’d even given in to the whole family thing.
After what had happened in New York, it was an undeniable part of my life now, along with Chris and my kids. We were part of the Manetto clan whether I liked it or not. That gave Uncle Joey every right to name me as his successor, but I never thought he’d actually do it.
Crap. Why did this have to happen now? And, to top it off, it was most likely my fault. I’d been calling him Uncle Joey since the beginning, mostly to bug him. But now I realized there was a reason behind it. I’d counted on that family designation to keep him from killing me. Well… it had certainly worked… and backfired in a big way.
Of course, how could I complain? Being involved with a mob boss had consequences. Good or bad, it was time to pay up. Still, it wasn’t all gloom and doom. Hadn’t he just said he was giving up the mob boss part? That was huge, so maybe things weren’t all that bad, right?
I pulled into the precinct parking lot and slipped my lanyard over my head. Inside, I glanced over the detectives’ offices, looking for Dimples. Not finding him, I decided that maybe it was a good thing. Now I could look up the information I needed on my computer without those pesky explanations.
In fact, most of the desks were empty, and the blinds were shut in the chief’s office. Maybe they were all in there for a briefing?
With no time to lose, I hurried to my desk in the far corner, noticing a stack of files sitting on my desktop. Because it had been nearly two weeks since I’d been there, I could understand that someone had used my empty desk for storage. Still, I couldn’t shake the suspicion that crawled through my mind. Had Willow taken over my desk, too? If she had…
Letting out a breath, I shoved down my anger and pulled out the chair, checking to make sure it wasn’t the broken one Bates had saddled me with earlier. Finding it in good condition, I sat down and turned on my computer, glancing at the files while I waited for it to boot up.
The top file had “Jane Doe” on the front. I opened it to find a photo of a woman with a vacant stare on her face and her clothes covered in blood. This had to be the amnesia case Dimples had told me about.
The second file had the name “Sophie Blackwell” on the tab. I opened it to see the same woman, only this photo was from her driver’s license. The intake form listed all of her pertinent information, along with a summary of the incident.
The third folder had the name “Brock Blackwell” on the cover. Inside, I found a crime scene photo, with the man lying on a bed, covered in blood. Unsurprisingly, the report listed Sophie Blackwell as the deceased’s wife, along with the place, time, and date of his death, including that he’d been stabbed multiple times.
Oh man… this looked bad. Had she killed her husband? Did she still have amnesia?
“Shelby.”
I glanced up to see Dimples coming toward me. Behind him, most of the detectives were leaving the chief’s office. Willow followed them out. Seeing me, her brows drew together, and she wondered why I was sitting at her desk.
Anger rushed over me. My instincts were spot on. Dimples stopped beside me, and I raised my brows. Instant guilt came off him in waves. Holy hell! It was him? He’d put her here at my desk? How could he do that to me?
“I didn’t expect you back today,” he said, scrambling for an excuse. The hurt accusation in my eyes cut him to the quick. After a few heated swear words came to his mind, he mentally apologized, thinking sorry, over and over.
Swallowing an angry retort, I glanced between him and Willow, who now stood at his side. “This must be the case you guys are working on.” I leaned back in my chair and folded my arms. “Made any progress?”
“Some,” Dimples said. “But I’m actually glad you’re here. Maybe you could help us out.” Dread churned his stomach, just like that of a cheating husband who’d been caught, and he wasn’t sure what to do, or how to make it up to me. “We haven’t had any luck with Sophie, but maybe if you spoke with her, we could learn more. It might be worth a try.”
Not ready to let him off the hook yet, I focused on Willow. She furrowed her brow, knowing that Drew usually worked with me, but this was her case now. Why was he so intent on including me? There was more than enough work to go around. Still, she easily picked up on Drew’s guilt, and getting on his bad side, or mine, wasn’t something she wanted to do. She decided a little damage control was in order.
“Hi Shelby.” She tilted her lips in a friendly smile. “Drew didn’t think you’d be coming into work for a while, so he told me I could use your desk. But now that you’re here, I’m happy to move my stuff.”
She reached for the files, so I handed them over, not about to give up my chair or my desk. I still had work to do on my computer, and, since it was mine, she would just have to find someplace
