I shrugged. “I don’t know. What does that mean?”
“When it’s reversed like that, it can mean that there’s a breakdown or a crisis looming. And just after I pulled it, the earthquake hit.”
“Oh… wow… that is interesting.”
“Yes, and with the Wheel of Fortune and the Justice cards both reversed as well… it’s troubling.”
Since I had no idea what that meant, I just nodded. She caught my gaze and came to a decision. “I think my work here is done.” She thought, with the turmoil surrounding me, and the pull of chaos it brought, she finally understood that this wasn’t the place for her. Not if I was going to stay.
She realized that she’d been caught up in my circle of influence, and now she was thankful she hadn’t gone through with her plans to tell the chief about my two-faced nature. I must be a Gemini to work for both sides at once. Add that to my ties with the underworld, and it didn’t bode well.
Her use of the word underworld shocked me at first, but then I picked up that she was mostly thinking of it metaphorically as the mob, since underworld encompassed that whole dark-side thing.
She glanced my way, thinking that she had to hand it to me… amid the chaos, I was the great equalizer. I brought the balance. It didn’t make sense to her, but it worked, and she knew better than to interfere, especially after the sign of the earthquake. It didn’t get more powerful than that.
Holy hell. I wasn’t sure what all of that meant, but it sounded like the earthquake had done more for me than I knew. If she was going to accuse me of helping Uncle Joey during the police investigation targeting him, I’d just dodged a bullet.
She met my gaze with a tentative smile, wanting to leave on good terms. “It was nice meeting you, Shelby.”
“Uh… yeah. You too.”
“You’re one of a kind, but I have to warn you…” She glanced around before speaking. “There’s a black cloud of trouble that seems to follow you, so be careful, okay? I think you’re a force for good, but you’re walking a fine line. One false move and it could come back to haunt you.”
Why did she have to say haunt? I’d had enough haunting for one day to last a lifetime. I nodded. “Uh… sure. Thanks for the warning.”
She nodded, and her gaze fell on Dimples. “It looks like Drew is busy. Do you mind telling him goodbye for me?” A heavy urgency to leave washed over her, and she couldn’t wait to get out of the building. Maybe there was an aftershock coming? Whatever it was… she didn’t want to be here when it happened.
“Yes… of course.”
“Thanks.” She turned on her heel and headed straight for the exit.
Whoa. An aftershock? Should I leave too? Dimples sat at his computer, busy writing his report. It didn’t look like he needed me for anything else, so I might as well go.
I stepped toward his desk, but a commotion in the hallway caught my attention. I heard Bates before I saw him. He was arguing with a young man and dragging him into the room by the crook of his arm. As he continued toward the interrogation room, he caught sight of me. “Shelby. We got him. Why don’t you come with me so we can sort this out?”
Crap. It was Xavier. Was this the disaster Willow was worried about? “Uh… sure.”
Filled with misgiving, I followed Bates back into the same room I’d just left. Knowing Brock was gone gave me the courage to go in there, but I still didn’t like it.
Bates shoved the young man into the chair Dex had sat in, and took a seat in front of him, motioning me to do the same. “So Xavier,” Bates began. “Why did you run?”
Xavier shook his head. “You’re a cop. What’d you expect? You have no reason to bring me in. You have no reason at all.”
“Whatever, smartass. What were you doing in the park?”
“Duh. Skateboarding.”
“Fine, but before we’re through, you’re going to tell me about the drugs. More important, you’re going to tell me why you killed Slasher.”
Xavier’s eyes widened, but he smirked to hide it. “I didn’t kill nobody. I don’t even know who that is.”
“Oh yeah? Well that’s too bad, because we have witnesses. Your car… that gray BMW, was seen leaving the scene of the crime right after Slasher was shot. Does any of that ring a bell in that little piece of gray matter you call a brain?”
Xavier sat back in his chair and folded his arms. “I want a lawyer.” He was trying to look tough, but inside, he was scared to death. How had they found him? No one had seen him shoot Slasher, he was sure of it. Why would the cops even care about a low-life drug dealer anyway? Bates didn’t respond, so he spoke louder. “Get me my lawyer.”
“All right kid. You want a lawyer? We’ll get you a lawyer. But it still doesn’t change the fact that you murdered someone. You’re going away for a long time.”
Unable to sit still, Xavier rubbed his hands through his hair. Pursing his lips, he railed against the fact that no one should care so much about a stupid drug-dealer. “I didn’t do it.”
“I tell you what. We’ll go easy on you. Just tell us who put you up to it. Who do you sell for? I’m sure we can get you a deal… maybe even a reduced sentence.”
“Put me up to what? I didn’t do anything.” Then the words hit him. Did the cop want him to rat out the person Slasher got the drugs from? Slasher had told him he used to work for the mob. Was that what the cop wanted?
He could give up the health-and-nutrition
