not playing the tough guy.
“Well, at any rate, it looks like you two have managed to get at least one person in this city to trust the cops again,” Louie says, lighting a smoke. He puffs and hands it to Ryan.
“Don’t be so sure,” I say, going over to my desk. Arcayos gets another coffee and follows, pulling up a chair and sitting across my desk from me.
Guess I’ll be sharing my desk with him now too.
“Why?” Julie leans toward us.
“Four hours canvassing for witnesses on that rape case last week, and almost everyone either wouldn’t answer the door or refused to talk.” I grab a paper for a report and load it into the typewriter. “I know people are scared to talk when shit like that happens, but I could tell a lot of them wanted to tell us to go fuck ourselves, and it had nothing to do with the rape.”
Arcayos nods his agreement, setting his coffee down on the desk.
He looks incredibly at home, as if he belongs there, even though he’s the only one here who hasn’t covered his desk with pictures of family like Tyrone and Steve, knickknacks like Julie, or nerdy posters with slogans like We are not alone like Ryan and Louie. A knot forms in the pit of my stomach.
“Make yourself useful, Hawk.” I slap half the files we brought back with us on his side of the desk. “You can do the reports on those.”
He gives me a smirk, but loads up his typewriter with paper and starts to type.
“That’ll change,” Ryan says.
“What?” I ask. “What will change?”
“If anyone can get people opening up to us again, it’ll be your ball and chain there.” He nods to Arcayos. “He’s going to change everything. You watch.”
I roll my eyes at him.
“Me? Why do you say that?” Arcayos asks.
I almost believe he doesn’t get it.
“He’s probably right,” Louie says. “You’ve got that thing.”
“What thing?” Arcayos raises a brow.
“You know. You’ve just got this good boy look about you. Like you could rob an old lady blind.”
I almost do a spit take. Little does he know.
“Why would anyone want to rob an old lady?”
It’s impossible to tell if he’s ribbing Louie, playing innocent, or if he really is as confused as he looks.
Everyone chuckles. I give a forced smile. No point in looking like the spoilsport.
“I rest my case,” Louie says.
“Say, where’s the twins, Jules?” I ask.
“They’re still out canvassing too. Down near The Red Fox.”
Arcayos’ fingers halt on the keys. I keep my neutral mask in place.
“You want to talk about people clamming up around cops,” she adds. Her jaw tightens. “They came in earlier to pick up some stuff. I asked how things were going, and Steve looked like he wanted to punch something. Tyrone said no one is saying a word about those killings down there. Apparently, everyone in that neighborhood believes this Hooded Swordsman is doing the world a favor. They don’t want to stop him from cleaning up the streets.”
I glance at Arcayos. His head is down, his eyes focused on his report, but the muscles in his jaw are twitching.
The demons he killed. The rest of the world thinks they were mobsters. With them gone, no doubt the folks down there feel a lot safer. The captain probably didn’t hear about this, or he’d be pissed.
They weren’t human. They were demons. They were.
I’d give anything to see inside Arcayos’ head right now.
The next night, I have a session with Tyrone. We hit the changing rooms and suit up, putting on our padding and wrapping our hands before getting on the mat.
“So, Hawk’s going for one of those computer classes, huh?” Tyrone says, circling me, his fists up.
I snort. “Your brother had to practically drag him. He hates computers.”
“So does Steve. I heard them both grumbling about it on the way down here.”
I watch his movements, my eyes on his as we circle.
“You gonna talk, or are you gonna fight?” I tease.
“All right. Come on, Morgan. Show me what you got.”
I throw a punch at his padded chest. He swats it away. I throw another, and he does it again.
“Really? That’s all you got?” His mustache twitches.
Two more.
“You’re dropping your left elbow. Stop showing me your weak side.”
I toss him a left, and then a right. He catches my arm on the second swing and spins me into him. His arm is suddenly around my neck from behind, his other under my arm, pinning me.
An electrical charge races through