Both of them in full police uniform. My stomach rolls.
Roamyn’s a cop.
“Ali,” I call out, heading out of the bathroom, tucking my towel around my hips. The silence of an empty apartment is my only response. The hair on the back of my neck rises and I pull open my side drawer for my spare gun.
Gripping it in my hand, I search the room before heading out to check the rest of my one bedroom apartment.
“Ali. You there?”
My heart smacks against my ribs and when everything is clear, I sigh, dropping my Glock onto the counter.
I slam a hand down. “Shit.”
She fucking left. At least this time, I know where to find her.
I straighten up the tie around my neck, checking it in the mirror on the inside of my locker before shoving it closed with a bang, louder than intended.
“Damn, Roam. What’s got you in a mood?”
I frown beside me and find Elias combing his long hair into a bun on top of his head while admiring himself in the mirror. Cocky bastard. He knows me well, my whole squad do. He knows something’s wrong if I’m moody and pissed off and since we both walked into the precinct at the same time, I’ve been nothing but a moody asshole. We’ve worked alongside each other long enough now for him to have noticed I’m not an over-sharer and I hide my emotions well. I shake off all thoughts of Ali, and the irritation of her leaving. Again. I turn my lips up into a smile and get ready for work.
“Nothin’ man. I’m all good. We better get in there before Mason chews our asses out for being late again.” I slap Elias’s back and we both head for the door.
The smell of coffee and a Monday morning hits my nose, the moment I push open the squad room doors.
Cassidy’s blonde head pops up and her eyes widen behind her dark rimmed glasses.
“Finally. Where have you two been?”
I frown at the only female member of our squad who also happens to be Elias’s partner and cousin. I look down to my watch. “What do you mean? We’re late but we’re not that late.”
Why me being late is still a shock to anyone here amazes me. It happens often enough.
Mason shoves open the door to his office at the back of the room. He walks out, phone to his ear, furious expression plastered on his face. “No. It can’t wait until later. I want it now. And when I say now, what I mean is, when I sit my ass down at my desk in five minutes, I want to open my emails and find it there. Got it? Good.”
He clicks off and I raise my eyebrows at the moody bastard who’s not only my best friend but also the chief detective of our squad. The Organized Crime Control Bureau.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
He runs a hand through his hair and grabs the coffee sitting in the coffee machine to the left of us. He takes a sip and responds, “There was a shooting last night.” He turns to Cassidy. “Can you pull up the file for me?”
“Sure.” Cassidy nods and types away at her computer. The next minute images appear onto the giant ass computer monitor on the side wall in our office. The screen is nearly the entire length of the wall and as it lights up, three dead bodies appear. All of them laid out on a sidewalk. Bullet wounds, a gun, a bag of coke and a whole lot of blood stand out on the crime scene photo.
“Shit. What the hell happened?” Elias asks before I get the chance to speak.
Cassidy reads from the screen in front of her while filling us in. “These three were shot and killed in a drive-by last night. Two males, both been identified as investment bankers… fathers… husbands. You know the type. Both live in the city. The female… her I.D said she was twenty-one but it’s fake. According to the Missing Person’s Database, she’s actually one Jessica Parks from North Carolina, seventeen years of age.” With a vacant look in her eyes, Cassidy turns toward the big screen as she pulls up a photo of a younger version of the girl now deceased. “She went missing three years ago from here in Manhattan while holidaying with her parents.” I stare between the photo of the girl as a young teen and her photo on the right. Recognition hits and a