Smith? Another name. Another guy.“Okay.”
“Are you alright, Doctor Mayet?” I feel the warmth of his stare, even while my eyes remain firmly shut. “Are you injured? If I gripped your arm too forcefully, I apologize. I was attempting to remove you from an escalating situation, but if?—”
“You didn’t hurt me.” My phone vibrates in my hand. Better yet, Archer’s ringtone trills throughout the cab of a luxury SUV. Blindly, I accept the call and bring my hand up to my ear. “Detective Malone?”
“Hey.” Soft music plays on the other end of our call. Wind pounds against an open window. “You still at the office?”
“Just left.” It’s amazing how much easier it is tobreathenow. “Somehow landed in a car with one of Felix’s men. You?”
“On my way home. Wasn’t sure if I’d beat you by five minutes or five hours. How was your day?”
“Shit. You didn’t call me. You didn’t even text.”
He chokes out a strained laugh. “I wanted to. I even begged Fletch to tell me to call you.”
“Since when did you need his permission?”
He exhales a long, breathy sigh. “I knew Cordoza was sitting on your shoulder, and I’m fully aware it’s my fault. I didn’t want to make things worse for you.”
“Hardly your fault, Archer. You didn’t kill Agosti, and no matter how loudly Cordoza insists you did, that doesn’t make it a fact.”
“True. But he’s here anyway, and he had men inside your building. That would never have happened if not for knowing me. I didn’t want to make a crappy day worse on the off chance his guards had a problem with me calling. Maybe Cordoza had ordered them to cut us off, so I wouldn’t influence your autopsy or whatever.”
“Yeah? Well…” I feel the warmth of Harrison’s gentle study in the mirror, but instead of meeting his gaze, I lay my head back and close my eyes, falling into a world where only Archer and I exist. “Cordoza’s guards were up my ass the entire day. I couldn’t even pee without one of them waiting outside the door.”
“Did they…” Rage bubbles on his tongue, sizzling in his blood. “Did they hurt you? Did they touch you?”
I could mobilize the Malone army with a single word. A softly spokenyesis all it would take.
But would it be the right thing to do? Not necessarily.
“Minka?”
“No. They didn’t hurt me. They didn’t even touch me.”
“But?”
I bring my free hand up and drag my fingers through my hair. “One of them has an extremely weak stomach,” I snicker. “He couldn’t hack it when I pulled Agosti’s large intestine out. Another has a strained relationship with his mother that, I believe, negatively impacts his romantic relationships. He doesn’t like to talk about it.”
Harrison barks out a laugh so startling that by the time I open my eyes again, he’s back to normal. Composed. Silent. Professional.
“Four men stared holes into the side of my face today, Archer. I believe one of them struggles with nicotine addiction, and even though he knowsbetter, I’m pretty sure he takes anabolic steroids, too. Ithinkmaybe one of them is a dad, and if that’s true, I think she’s a little girl. Can’t say for sure, but that’s what my gut is telling me.”
“Oh…kay? You got chatty with them?”
“I got chatty with myself,” I giggle, finally releasing some of the pent-up tension I’ve bottled whilepretendingto be an extrovert. “I narrated my autopsy and noticed certain reactions to uncomfortable topics. Each time I hit a target, I dug in deeper and tormented them with it.”
“You were trying to make them puke?”
“Ididmake one of them puke. Though I admit, he lasted longer than I expected. I find his squeamishness ironic, considering the career path he’s chosen. Oh, and I called Cordoza this afternoon.”
Harrison’s eyes swing back to mine in the mirror.
“Kinda threatened him.”
“Minka!” Archer snarls, the squeal of tires on the road following right after. “What did you do?”
“He was being a bully, so I told him I would call Michelle and snitch.”
