“I’ll check into a hotel or something.”
“Bullshit. You can bunk at my place with Isis and me.”
He glances over at me. “Isis is your sister?”
Smoke billows from my nose as I smile at him. “Well, I guess you can call her my four-legged sister. Isis is my cat. So how about it?”
He shrugs. “Sure, whatever.”
“Okay, I have a couple of rules in my apartment. Treat my cat with respect. Don’t burn the place down, and you drink all my booze you’re replenishing my stock.”
“Simple enough.” His voice monotone.
I smile. “And don’t walk around my house in your birthday suit.” My smile disappears as I exhale smoke.
“Look, don’t worry, we’ll get this fucker, you hear me?”
He wipes his eyes. “Yes. I hear you.”
My cell rings. “Go ahead, boss.”
“Hey, Lobos. I heard about Sadir’s family. Is he okay?”
“As good as anyone who just lost their family.”
“This sucks. Look, give Sadir my condolences, but I got more bad news for him. Internal Affairs is breathing down my neck about departmental procedures. I have to pull him off this case and put him on administrative leave.”
Jason is going to lose his shit for sure now.
“Sir, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“I have no choice on the matter. IA is telling me to pull him off the case. So collect his badge and gun. It’s an order, Lobos.”
I let out a sigh. “Alright, fine.” I hang up the phone. I feel the sickness rising in my stomach as I’m prepping myself to do the bidding of the Rat Squad. “Jason, Frank has ordered me to order you to hand over your badge and gun. Internal Affairs is placing you on temporary administrative leave.”
“What the fuck!”
“I know it blows chunks, but the LT’s hands are tied, and so are mine. Now hand them over. It’s an order.” He tosses his badge in my lap and slams his gun on my dash. “You know what, stop the car. I’ll find a hotel.”
“No, you’re bunking with me.”
“Stop the goddamn car!” he yells, slamming his fist against my window. I pull into the parking lot of a brightly lit gas station. Tears pour out of his eyes. “I don’t want to stay with you. I don’t want to see any cops right now. I need to be alone with my thoughts. Please!”
“Okay, I get that, but can I at least take you back to the station to get your car. Or would you rather walk in the damp cold.”
“Sure. Fine. Whatever,” he says, slamming the door.
On my way back to the station, he stays quiet, staring blankly out the window, likely replaying the images of seeing his family lying dead on the floor in that bloody pool. I was a wreck just like him after seeing the life slip out of my partner’s eyes, replaying those moments like my mind was a DVR box.
***
I pull up next to his car in the parking garage. “Don’t make me regret leaving you alone.”
He doesn’t say anything, he gets out, slamming my door.
Poor guy. His first case gets his family killed, and now the case was snatched out from under him. His career as a detective really started off on a high note.
He gets into his car and speeds away in protest.
“I can’t believe this bullshit.” I grab Jason’s badge and gun and head upstairs to the LT’s office. Entering his large office, I place the badge and gun on his desk. “Here ya go, sir. His badge and gun like the parasites requested.”
He glances up from the crime scene photos and pulls off his glasses. “Thanks, Devi. I know that was hard for you to do that to a partner, but you must know this was not my doing. I fought with them on this until I was blue in the face.”
Internal Affairs has always been pricks; nothing will ever change.
I let out a sigh. “I figured as much, Frank. So are they really going to sideline him till this case is over?”
“I’m not. This was all a show for the IA I’m putting him with Detective Costigan to help him with that case of murdered Syrian immigrants that came in a week ago. Have him call me ASAP if he feels able to work, of course. Speaking of Jason, where is he?”
“He said he needed some time alone.”
He frowns and nods. “Understandable. Tell him, don’t be afraid to ask for time off.”
“I’ll tell him. So did Clearwater PD get back to us on the bullets pulled from the children’s skulls or DNA in the house?” I ask.
“Yes, both bullets came from a 9mm Heckler& Koch and no prints, and no DNA was found, except for Jason and his family. However, the gun is a new lead I would start checking gun stores in the morning. See if they sold an H&K 9mm within the past week. Also, see if you can find some prints on those casings you found. Lastly, see if you can get a fix on David Drake. Find out where he got off to. He may or may not be the killer, but he’s definitely a person of interest.”
“Yeah, I’m not holding my breath on the prints. We found no prints in the house, so why would he get sloppy with the bullets.”
He grins. “I swear you’re such a goddamn optimist, you really are. I mean, you should be one of those damn motivational speakers.”
I smirk. “Maybe I should. I could wake people up and show them life is not sunshine and lollipops.”
He chuckles and clears his throat. “It’s weird he changed his MO like this. All this time, he used strangulation devices and blades, now a gun?”
I shrug. “Well, they’re called psychopaths for a reason.
