Читать книгу Swerve - Michelle McGriff - Страница 13

“So you were there? Tell me what happened,” the officer from internal affairs barked. He’d been questioning Keliegh for the past hour about what he’d seen and not seen, and then, as if Keliegh hadn’t heard the questions, he asked them again—backward. It was bad enough that it was late and he was tired and not thinking clearly, but then they had further confused him by taking him to an interrogation center outside of his precinct.

“I told you everything. By the time I got outside, Romia was kneeling over some dead guy, or whatever, and it was all circumstantial. The woman was screaming that Romia had shot the guy. But, no, I didn’t see her shoot anybody.”

“But you say she was all bloody.”

“No, I didn’t say she was all bloody. I said her lip was busted, she bleeds easily from the mouth, and—”

“How do you know that?”

Keliegh grimaced at the question. “We were partners. You learn stuff like that about your partner.”

“Did she fight a lot? Get smacked in the chops a lot? What?”

“She never fought in the street. But like in competition, if she took a hit to the face, she bled…a lot. It would usually take her out of a match.”

“I heard she knew the guy she killed.”

That was it. Keliegh stood. “Can I go now? I mean, you’ve accused her of murder enough for one night. Don’t you think you should be out there looking for the person who shot that guy?”

“Who else coulda done it?”

“The woman maybe? Who was she? Nobody seems to know!”

“What woman?” the Internal Affairs officer asked.

Just then, two more IA agents burst into the interrogation room. Keliegh didn’t know them, either. Strangely enough, Keliegh had never met any of the men he’d seen here tonight. He didn’t know these cats from Adam. He was ready to bust one of them in the mouth and get the hell outta there. He’d never been at the office of internal affairs before and he had to admit, they were serving him up every dish from the intimidation café—but he wasn’t shaken. Keliegh wanted nothing more than to get out of there so he could find Romia. She was scared. He’d seen it in her eyes. It was a look he’d never seen before and so it had to be fear…what else? Surely it wasn’t malice. She didn’t kill that guy…there was no way. For what? Feeling her up and causing her to get alcohol spilled on her jacket? Shooting him would have been rather extreme—even for her. Keliegh wasn’t buying it as easily as Aston and Hank were. He’d seen them come from another room while he waited to be called. They avoided eye contact with him, which let him know they’d sold her out. Pricks.

“We’re gonna be watching you, Detective Jack. You have a problem with the directional signal on your loyalty gauge. She killed a cop tonight.”

“What?” Keliegh exploded, standing straight up. The men who came into the room stood as if guarding the door. Keliegh had to wonder if this clown was about to take him on a few rounds. Unconsciously, he puffed up just a little, flexing and breathing a little harder.

“Now calm your ass down. What I’m saying is, you are all ready to hang up your badge for your ex-partner, who is clearly as guilty as sin, and—”

“And you’re crazy.” Keliegh fanned his hand toward Maxwell as if to say, “Bah humbug.” “I don’t know what Hank and that punk Aston told you but, excuse me, Romia is a loyal cop. A good cop.”

“A cop who snapped tonight and killed a fellow officer because he touched her.”

“Oh, my ga…” Keliegh swagged his head in a negative argument. “That is so off base. You are so off base. What, did Aston and Hank tell you that too?”

Maxwell Huntington just looked at Keliegh with an expression that read,

“You can go, Detective Jack,” Maxwell Huntington, the head of IA, barked, dismissing Keliegh without further discussion. “You’re suspended until further notice.”

Keliegh stood his ground for a moment before shaking his head in disgust at this whole matter and walking out. He wasn’t sure what to feel but he knew he had to find Romia.