“Yeah, that’s perfect. I’ll get ready and come down. In the meantime, can you do me a favor?”
“Sure, what?”
“Will you tell Bates that I had a premonition about the case he’s working on, and I’ll explain all about it when I get there?”
“Uh… sure. I didn’t realize you were helping him. Which case is it?”
“The murdered drug dealer.” Dimples didn’t respond, so I continued. “I did some digging, and I have a pretty good idea about who did it, but I won’t know for sure until they bring him in, so I have to make it sound like a premonition… you know?”
“Oh… yeah, right. Okay… I’ll let him know.”
“Thanks. See you soon.” I hung up before he could ask me any more questions. I could tell from his tone that he wasn’t happy I was helping Bates. But seriously? Why should it bother him? Willow was helping him so we were even, right? I knew that wasn’t nice of me, but I was done being nice where she was concerned.
I showered and dressed, deciding to look more professional and wear a blue blazer with my dark jeans. I didn’t carry a gun, but it looked like I could have one tucked away somewhere, so the blazer was just as effective.
Savannah was awake, so I told her I had to go to the police station, but to call me if she needed anything. It was Josh’s day off from lifeguarding, so I decided to let him sleep in. I gave Coco a pat on the head, and hurried out the door.
I arrived at the precinct and headed straight for the detectives’ offices. Before I got to Dimples’s desk, Bates waved me over. He was hoping that I could clear up something, and it was a good thing I’d already called to volunteer information. It made Grizzo’s comments seem less accusatory if I had something to offer.
Grizzo? That had to be the undercover cop, and I picked up that he’d told Bates he wasn’t so sure they could trust me. At least it didn’t sound like he’d mentioned seeing me last night, but he might bring it up now. Damn. What was I going to tell Bates if he did? I’d just have to stick with my cover story that I was talking to an informant, and hope to keep Ramos out of it.
But with Grizzo’s involvement, that might not be a possibility. I was pretty sure Bates already knew I had ties to the mob because of a case involving an escaped convict a few months ago. But if he knew I was still involved with them… I didn’t even want to think about it.
Now, I had to make sure I solved the case before Grizzo insisted I might have something to do with passing information to Uncle Joey, and had me fired.
“Hey there,” I said. “Did Dim… uh… Harris tell you I called?”
“Yeah. He said you had a premonition about the case.”
“I did, and I think it will help.”
“Good. I want to hear all about it. Why don’t you wait for me in the conference room? I have to make a quick phone call, and I’ll be right in.” He was thinking that Grizzo wanted to be in on it. Luckily, he was in his office on the fourth floor and could come right down.
Damn. An acute desire to walk past the conference room and right out of the building washed over me. As I neared the room, I took a deep breath and stepped inside. I could handle this. I’d been in a lot worse situations. How bad could this be?
I sat down at the oblong table and Bates hurried in, holding the case file. He had no idea why Grizzo had wanted to be included, but, if he had to guess, he’d say it was because of my awesome psychic ability that he’d witnessed yesterday. Or maybe he had some new information that would be useful?
That calmed me down. At least Grizzo hadn’t said anything about last night, but that was probably going to change if I didn’t take matters into my own hands. “Are we waiting for someone?”
“Uh… yeah. The guy who works with the gang unit asked me to call him. I think he’s got some information for us.”
The door opened, and Grizzo walked in.
“There he is,” Bates said. “Shelby this is Grizzo. Grizzo, Shelby Nichols.”
Grizzo wasn’t too happy Bates had told me he was coming to the meeting. He’d wanted to catch me unaware and gauge my reaction, but now I was just sitting there with a congenial smile on my face.
In an effort to be nice, he stuck out his hand. “Hi. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Likewise,” I said, since it seemed we were going with the ‘we’re pretending we don’t know each other’ charade. “Is Grizzo a nickname?”
“Uh… yeah.”
I picked up that his real name was Greg and, since it didn’t fit the persona he liked to project, he never used it. Smiling, I stored that little nugget away for future use.
Bates cleared his throat, thinking we were wasting time. “Shelby called about a premonition she had with the case.” He glanced at Grizzo. “You know she’s a psychic, right?”
“I’d heard.”
“Good. Then let’s get right to it.” Bates glanced at me with a hopeful smile. “Tell us what you’ve got.”
Grizzo studied me with narrowed eyes, wondering just how much of last night I was willing to share. The Tiki Tabu bar was crawling with some of the baddest gang members in town, and they’d made him the second he’d walked in. In fact, he’d barely made it out of there in one piece.
So what was I doing there? How come they treated me like one of their own? Showing up at the bar right after my visit to that health-and-nutrition store must have
