Gone Too Far (Devlin & Falco #2) - Debra Webb Page 0,13

she knew who had landed the double homicide at Leo’s Tobacconist.

“Shit.”

She would have been far happier if it had been anyone else. Luke Falco she liked, sort of. It would be harder to lie to him with a good degree of success.

She needed to lie. Not that it was anything new.

She lied a lot.

It was necessary. Or, at least, less complicated.

Equally troubling, Falco and Devlin were good. By far the best of the lot at the BPD.

The knock came. Knock. Knock. Pause. Knock. Sadie stared at Falco’s face on the screen. She might as well get this over with. Even if they went away, they’d only come back again later.

At the door she disengaged the multiple dead bolts. Heaved a massive sigh and opened the door.

“What do you want?” She never minced words. Ask the question, get the answer. Done.

“We need to talk.”

Falco was usually direct as well. Most of the time anyway. She glanced at Devlin. “Fine. But make it fast. I have shit to do.”

She turned her back and walked over to where she’d left her coffee on the counter next to the sink. Like most lofts, the space was one big room with only a dinky bathroom closed off with its own walls. She liked it. The place suited her personality. Urban. No fuss. She kept the lighting dim, almost dark, on purpose. People were nosy. Especially detectives.

“I’d offer you coffee”—she held up her mug—“but you won’t be here long enough.”

Falco closed the door and locked one of the dead bolts. He knew how she was about security. Your ass didn’t go missing for nearly a year—most of which time was a blank—without becoming a little paranoid about security. Not that she was afraid. Not really. Death wasn’t such a bad thing. It was the stuff they did before they killed you that typically sucked.

“Do you know DDA Asher Walsh?” Devlin asked, opting not to drag her feet and going straight to the point.

Good.

“No.” Sadie wasn’t dragging hers either.

“Come on, Cross,” Falco griped. “You were the last person he called.”

She shrugged. “Was my name in his contact list?”

“You know it wasn’t.” This from Devlin. “Cut the crap, Sadie. Why did Walsh call you?”

There were moments like now when Sadie wished things were back to the way they used to be—when she had no friends. Any facsimile of friends she’d ever had had dropped out of the picture after her disappearing act. Some of those so-called friends actually had the balls to believe she’d fallen off the radar on purpose, then returned when things didn’t work out. Yeah, right. People were so quick to condemn anything they didn’t understand.

She should have learned her lesson about friends. Allowing Falco so close had been a mistake. Then he’d dragged Devlin with him. Damn it.

Maybe the term friends was a bit of a stretch, but these two humans knew her better than most. Most living humans, anyway.

She thumped the coffee mug down on the counter and crossed her arms over her chest. “He wanted information.” Sadie cocked her head. “You know,” she said to Devlin, “like you did last year when your niece was missing. When I helped you out of a really fucked-up situation.”

Funny how people never remembered that kind of shit unless it suited their purposes.

Falco shook his head, but before he could go busting her chops, Devlin walked toward Sadie. Brushed past her and grabbed a mug and poured herself a coffee. Then she sat her skinny ass down on the sofa. The one Sadie had helped Pauley retrieve from a curb over in Mountain Brook and haul up those damned rusty stairs. It wasn’t that he couldn’t have bought a new one, but he’d sworn the brand of this sofa made it worth the trouble. It barely had any wear, but the people in the multimillion-dollar house had no longer wanted it.

Pauley had been like that. He’d liked saving things. Like broken detectives.

“I’ve had a really bad day,” Devlin said, dragging Sadie’s attention back to her. “I had to pick up my daughter from school after one of her classmates fell—possibly with some assistance—down a staircase. Because DDA Walsh went and got himself murdered, I had no choice but to dump my traumatized child on my sister’s doorstep and come here.” She produced a fake smile. “Now stop wasting my time and tell me the rest.”

Falco chuckled. “Damn, Devlin. Why don’t you tell it like it is?” He strode over and poured himself a coffee and then