Sucker Punch (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #27) - Laurell K. Hamilton Page 0,20

say it that way, it sounds so logical.”

“Maybe it is logical, and all the rest is just illogical, emotional bullshit.”

He laughed then, and it was almost shocking after the heavy topic.

“I didn’t think I was that funny,” I said.

“You aren’t funny. You’re honest, and you go straight at a topic like a shark or something.”

It was my turn to chuckle. “I’ve been described as a lot of things, but never a shark. I think they circle more than I do before taking a bite.”

He just laughed and then, with the sound of it still in his voice, asked, “How far can we trust Duke with him this emotionally invested?”

“He’s your friend, not mine, so shouldn’t I be asking you that?”

“Yeah, but I figured I’d save you the trouble. I called you in on this. If you had gotten shot in the cell like that”—he shook his head—“it would have been my fault.”

“No, Newman, it would not have been your fault. It would have been the fault of the person who shot me, and that wouldn’t have been you.”

“Duke has always been professional, kind of down-home and country like he’d read what a small-town sheriff should be like and wanted to play the part right, but always a good cop.”

“Even good cops get confused when their family is impacted by a crime,” I said.

“That’s a kind way of looking at someone that nearly shot you.”

“His daughter is dying. That’s going to mess with anyone.”

“You have this reputation for being a hard-ass, unpleasant person, but you’re not like that. You get the job done, and you don’t let bullshit stand in your way. And if someone is shoveling the bullshit, you’re pretty merciless. But if they do their job, if they aren’t part of the problem, you’re kind.”

“I’m as kind as people let me be,” I said.

“Exactly,” Newman said.

“Sheriff Leduc has used up my milk of human kindness for him. You understand that, right? I won’t be an asshole about his daughter and the deceased paying for her treatment, but I won’t let pity endanger me again.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to give him another pass, Blake. I honestly thought he was going to kill you both for a minute.”

“I know you would have shot him to save us, Newman.”

“I would have. I really would have, but damn, I would not have wanted to explain to his wife and daughter how it happened.”

“You didn’t have to shoot him, so there’s nothing to explain.”

“No, but you know how I worried that I was compromised because I knew everyone involved?”

“Yeah,” I said.

“I’m not, but Duke is compromised six ways to Sunday.”

“Six ways to Sunday. I haven’t heard that expression in years.”

He gave the small laugh that I was hoping for and said, “How would you say it?”

“Sheriff Leduc is fucking emotionally compromised.”

“My grandmother would kick a fit at how much you cuss.”

“Mine would, too,” I said.

“I can’t break my early training. How do you do it?” he asked.

“I’m still rebelling against my family.”

“By saying the f-word so much?”

“By doing a lot of fucking things,” I said.

“What are we going to do about Duke?” he asked.

“I think I’ll start by calling another marshal,” I said.

“Do you think we need more backup?”

“No, but I’d like someone besides us to know what happened tonight.”

“You going to call Ted Forrester?” he asked.

“How did you know?” I asked, but I was already getting my cell phone out of the pocket it lived in when I was wearing work clothes.

“He and you are partners, or as much partners as this lone-wolf crap lets us have.” And again, there was that note of discontent about how the preternatural branch was run.

I didn’t argue or debate it. I just went to my favorites list on my phone. Ted’s name was near the top of my list. His cell phone number was the one attached to his contact in favorites, because when you’re calling for backup, you don’t want to talk to the kids or the wife. One, it was business, not social, but two, just like Newman didn’t want to have “the talk” with Leduc’s family, I didn’t want to have it with Edward’s family either. It was easier not to think about the finalities of the grave when we just talked to each other.

8

MY CALL WENT to Ted’s voice mail. I left a very vague message, because I didn’t know if he’d play it where one of his kids could hear it. Okay, where his stepson, Peter, would hear it. The two