School of Fish (Fish Out of Water #6) - Amy Lane Page 0,70

Jackson’s eyes grew huge—and knew his own were probably just as big.

Pink pills again. Goddammit.

Jackson took a deep breath, and nodded, as though knocking the information into its rightful place. “So, this Schroeder,” Jackson asked finally, nodding at Christie to tell him this was important. “Does he have a thick accent?”

“No,” Mayer said, frowning. “A slight one, but not thick. What in the hell does that have to do with anything?”

“A lead,” Jackson said mildly. “If you’ll excuse me….”

He ducked out of the room, leaving Ellery there for the rest of the questioning.

In the end, Arizona allowed Mayer to call her union, and Ellery called Ambrose Pfeist and told him that Mayer had been cooperative. Christie read Mayer her rights and led her out of the office to central booking at District One.

Ellery watched them go and then looked at Arizona and Siren, shaking his head. “I am actually really glad that the rest of that mess is in your hands,” he said.

“She’ll lose her job at the very least,” Arizona told him. “Her husband too. He might even see jail time, since his offense was violent.”

Ellery scrubbed at his face with his hands. “So was all that enough to get Tage Dobrevk and his family protective custody?”

Arizona’s eyes went wide. “Holy crap yes!”

“Oh my God,” Siren chimed in. “Where did you stash that poor kid?”

Ellery tried to contain his smile. Jackson had filled him in while they’d waited for Christie. It only figured that an old lover had been the paralegal when Jackson had gone to the human trafficking division; he really had slept with half the state before Ellery had come along.

“Nearby,” he said, keeping his voice mild. “You get the order to the judge, and we’ll have him in your office in the next ten minutes.” He remembered what Jackson had said about napping in the break room. “You, uh, may want to let him sleep on your couch.”

Siren nodded, and Ellery actually saw the youth in her eyes, in her voice, which she was always so careful to hide with her ruthless professionalism. “Oh yeah, if any kid needs a safe place to sleep, it’s that one.”

“Alrighty, then.” Arizona let out a breath. “Siren, I’m going to run that request to a judge personally. Could you, perhaps—”

“Do paperwork next to a sleeping teenager?” She sounded almost eager. “Because if you were the world’s best boss, that’s what you’d be asking me, right?”

Arizona chuckled. “And I am the world’s best boss,” she said.

Watching Siren Herrera do a playful fist-pump was one of the most delightful things Ellery had ever seen.

HALF AN hour later, Ellery and Jackson were on their way to the office after leaving Tage asleep on yet another couch, Siren working diligently on her laptop at his feet. They’d exacted a promise from Siren and Arizona not to leave the boy alone for so much as a second until the marshals got there.

“We hear you, Ellery,” Arizona said. “We’re taking this seriously.”

“This kid has been through a lot,” Ellery said. “And you need to listen to him. His parents are going to be hard to convince. You understand that, right?”

“We understand. But this is a matter for the DA now.”

“The kid has rights.”

Arizona crossed her arms and gave him one of those stares that he could have sworn she’d learned from his mother. “Ellery, I will not question your client nor put anything on the record without you in the room. That is a promise. He’s a witness for my house now, and we’re going to keep him safe.”

Ellery took a deep breath. “Okay. Good. I… you saw his face.”

She nodded soberly. “Yes. The system has let him down, and you and Rivers jumped in and took care of him. Now trust us a little, okay? I swear, I’m not the bad guy.”

Ellery gave her a sardonic look. “Not this time.”

She laughed shortly. “You know, you and Rivers do a lot of good, keeping us in check. Just remember that nobody signs up for the DA’s office going ‘Oh boy, I want to put innocent teenagers in prison so they can get beaten to death!’ okay?”

Ellery snorted. “I’ll try to keep that in mind.”

“Then we’re going to do fine. I’ll call you as soon as he’s in custody.”

“Thank you.”

And that was about all he could do. Arizona was right. Tage was her boy now, and Ellery and Jackson had to let go.

He was mulling all of this over, the silence in the car thoughtful, when