loyalty. There can be no compromise or sacrifices now. We all win, or we all lose. All of us. I promise I will stand with you and yours to the last of us so all can be free because I refuse to allow evil to win anything else away from me.”
Cale assessed him and his words. “I’ll hold you to that.”
“I’m counting on it.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
She’d just finished proofreading her report when the call came down. Time for a trip to Atcliff’s office.
“Come in and close the door.”
Cee Cee obeyed her captain’s gruff command, assuming a seat before that broad desk as she’d done so many times before. And got right to it.
“What the hell happened yesterday, Uncle Byron?”
Her use of the honorary title undercut his stiff demeanor. “I’m sure as hell going to find out.”
That angry growl softened her approach. Still, she needed to hear his answers. “What happened to the men assigned to back me?”
“According to their accounts, they were called off to attend what turned out to be a false report.”
Confirming what Boucher and Hammond had said. Cee Cee sagged back in her chair. “Seems to be a lotta that going around lately. Someone inside our house isn’t playing for the good guys anymore.”
Atcliff’s strong jaw ground down tight on that statement. “Ideas?”
“Nothing firm yet.”
Then he blindsided her. “Maybe it’s time for you to step off the streets. Savoie expressed his concern and I share it, both as your superior and your mentor.”
Getting benched in the middle of her case? Not very damned likely. Her reply was a tad more diplomatic. “Not yet.”
“I shouldn’t be surprised but I am, considering the reports I’ve reviewed.” His gruff voice softened. “How’s the civilian doing?”
Blinking fiercely, Cee Cee relayed what she’d learned from Kinesha Jones’s doctors. Atcliff accepted it with a somber nod.
“And you believe it’s tied into the Pomerelli matter.”
“Definitely.”
“Then find out how. And why.”
“On it, sir.”
Both relieved and juiced, Charlotte returned to the squad room where the sight of Alain Babineau on the phone, leaning back with his feet on the desk next to hers, megawatt smile in play as he worked the conversation, brick-walled her to a stop. Dammit! Why the cords of doubt square knotting in her belly? How could she share a ride and her life beside him without trusting him with two of the things most precious to her—her honor and her unborn?
Time for answers.
Distracted by the vibration of her phone, she glanced quickly at the screen. Esterline Coulette. Mother or sister to her witness? Instead of going to her work space, she stepped into the break room.
“Detective Caissie.”
“My boy, DeShawn, he say to call you if I no hear from him.”
The panicked older voice stirred an answering tightness in her gut. “Mrs. Coulette, when was the last you spoke with him?”
“Two day ago. He ne’er misses a day or a call. Ne’er. I call his job. He not been there, neither. You not know my boy. He good boy. He ne’er give his mammon no worries.”
Terribly afraid the only news she’d be able to give the fearful mother was bad, Cee Cee took down a list of student friends and professors before promising, “I’ll look into it, Mrs. Coulette, personally.” After disconnecting, she slumped in her chair. This was not the way she wanted to start her day.
“Dammit!”
She spent morning through midday on campus, talking to roommates, classmates, and teachers. All liked DeShawn. None offered any help except to confirm the last time they’d seen him was two days prior. That left a visit to his workplace.
Glo caught her eye and immediately busied herself with customers at the other end of Pour Boys’ bar. Jerky movements telegraphed fear. Cee Cee planted herself on a barstool, ready to outlast her evasion. Finally, wiping down the already gleaming bar top with her rag, Glo swept past her without making eye contact.
“I ain’t talking to you.”
Encouraged by that low mutter, Cee Cee pretended to study the precisely aligned top shelf selection. “I’ve got nothing but time. Can you say the same?”
Under the pretext of preparing a seltzer water for her, Glo whispered, “I don’t know where DeShawn got to. He don’t come in. He don’t call. I ain’t endin’ up like Val. I gots a wife and little girl at home who needs me.”
“I understand, but that won’t help DeShawn. I thought you were friends.”
“He like a brother to me.”
“Is he alive?”
Gloria’s stare met hers. “I cannot say,” she whispered.
The bartender was hiding him or helping him