I buried my nose in the soft fabric of his red T-shirt, wrapping my arms around his middle, beneath the leather of his coat. His palm came up to stroke the back of my head, and I felt the brush of his lips on the top of my head.
“I’m sorry.” He murmured, rocking us both a little. The swaying motion was oddly comforting.
“What’re you sorry for?”
“That it took me so long to get here.”
“How’d you know I got arrested?”
“You asked for me, didn’t you?”
I snorted against his chest. “Yeah. But after I asked for you, they pretty much left me in that pee-ridden room to rot.”
He chuckled. “They knew they screwed up. Soon as they told Watson who they arrested, he contacted me.”
I glanced up. “But how would he know who I was?”
He kissed my forehead. “Because I told him.”
“You did?”
He nodded. “You matter.”
It was a simple two words. They carried so much weight. I felt tears well up behind my eyes.
“You matter too,” I whispered.
He smiled.
“I had a plan to help you.”
He groaned, cutting me off. “Please tell me this isn’t the result of one of your plans.”
I nodded. “It was a good one.” I paused. “Well, until the cops showed up.”
He looked horrified. “What the hell kind of hare-brained plan are we talking about here?”
I released his waist and stepped back so I could meet his eyes full-on. “I know where the drugs are, and I know who’s been helping Dom.”
24
Blue
Being back at the station was slightly jarring. It was so familiar here, yet it seemed foreign. I spent so much time over the last several months undercover, I had barely been here at all. Just when I was getting back into things, they pulled me back undercover again.
Being here was almost like walking into the past, or having a strange sense of déjà vu. Of course, I couldn’t really think about that because I was so focused on the reason I was here. Julie got herself arrested.
For drugs.
I would have laughed at the ridiculousness of it all if I wasn’t imaging her here somewhere… scared. What the hell was going on? How the hell had this happened?
Fuck, if I hadn’t called and told Watson about her, they might have ignored her request when she asked for me.
Please don’t let this have to do with my case. The whole drive here, the thought replayed in my head over and over like a bad song on the radio. The thought of her caught up in any of this—with those drug-dealing lowlifes—made me want to put my fist through a wall.
As a cop, I knew what I would find when I walked into the station. Yet seeing her hunched over the table, with her hands freaking cuffed behind her back, was something I could never have been prepared for.
The rage that swept through my body was like a sudden tsunami, rising up out of the calm ocean and sweeping everything out of its path. I knew those men thought they were doing their job, but I wanted to beat them all to a pulp.
Couldn’t they see what I saw?
Didn’t they see the innocence behind her eyes, the honesty in her expression? How is it that anyone could look at her and think she was guilty of being involved with drugs that were killing kids?
Fucking idiots. All of them.
Yeah, okay, maybe I was being harsh. They were doing their job. They were trying to protect people. Looks could be deceiving… I kind of built my undercover identity on that, but I couldn’t help how I felt. Even if it was biased.
Then she uttered the words I had been praying she wouldn’t say. I know where the drugs are, and I know who’s been helping Dom.
I tried to reign in my reaction until I had all the facts. It was a good exercise in self-control.
“Sit down,” I told her after she dropped her bomb. “You look like you’re about to pass out.”
“It’s been a long day,” she murmured as she sat.
“You hungry? Want some coffee or something?”
She shook her head. “Maybe just some water.”
They haven’t even given her water? “How long you been here?” I asked, a little more harsh than I intended.
She shrugged. “I really don’t know.”
I yanked open the office door. “I need some bottled water in here,” I barked.
Watson appeared in the doorway, giving me a measured look. “You getting comfortable in my office?”
I had to admit this crappy, depressing office was a lot better than my tiny house in the ghetto. “No, sir. Didn’t mean to take over. I just wanted somewhere private to talk to her.”
Watson nodded and stepped into the room. “Julie Preston I presume,” he said, stopping before her chair and looking down.
Julie straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin to meet his gaze. “Yes, sir,” she said and offered her hand to give him a solid handshake.
Watson looked impressed.
“I do apologize for the way you were treated. The arresting officers are young and eager.”
“It’s fine,” she said coolly.
“I admit, it doesn’t look good—the way you were found, I mean.” He continued.
“I wasn’t aware people were looking for me. A simple phone call and I would have come in on request.”
I smothered my smile as Julie held her own with my boss. One of the secretaries out front appeared with several bottles of chilled water, and I gave her a wink as I took them and shut the door to the office.
“We weren’t looking for you specifically,” Watson said, glancing at me.
I twisted off the cap to a water and handed it to Julie. She took a small sip. “Right before you came in, she said she knew where the drugs were coming from and who was helping Dom.”
Watson sat forward with an eager look in his eyes. “Tell us.”
She opened her mouth to explain, but I stepped in front of her, silencing her words. “She’s getting immunity for this, right?”
Watson sighed.
“The charges will be dropped. Her name will be kept out of the case,” I said.
“I think we can work that out.” Watson agreed. “Her name will be in the police files. Her statement will be in there too of course, but we can keep her out of the press.”
Satisfied, I yanked a chair with metal legs over near Julie and sat down beside her. “You can talk now,” I told her.
She rolled her eyes. “Thanks for the permission.”
I ignored her smartass tone. “You’re welcome.”