“Yeah, me either.” In fact, I was dreading it. Not because Sal would be mad, but because he would be hurt. I had basically lied to him for the last ten days. He wasn't going to take that well. To be fair, I hadn't wanted to lie to him. I just hadn't wanted him to worry.
That had so backfired on me.
I hung up the phone, handed it to the officer, and then stood there like an idiot waiting for him to tell me what I was supposed to do next. It wasn't like I had a lot of experience being behind bars.
The officer grabbed me by the arm and started leading me down a hallway. Instead of taking me back to a cell, he led me to an interrogation room. I was pushed into a chair and my cuffs were attached to a metal bar bolted into the tabletop.
It was like they thought I was some big badass. They had no idea I was simply the leader of the klutz brigade, father of six, and husband of a SWAT commander. Yeah, okay, maybe that last part made me somewhat dangerous but certainly not the rest of it.
I waited until the officer left before glancing around the room. When I saw the camera in the corner, I smiled and nodded my head. There was a little solid red light, telling me that I was being recorded.
The door opened, and a man in a dark blue suit walked in. He sat down in the chair across from me and opened up the file in his hand. He looked it over for a few minutes before glancing up at me.
“My name is Detective Mike Sparks. Want to tell me what your name is?”
I just smiled.
“You know this will go a lot easier for you if you cooperate with us.”
I tilted my head, keeping the smile on my face as I stared at him.
The detective sighed heavily as he glanced back down at the file in front of him. “You are facing a lot of charges here. I'm sure, if you cooperate, I can talk to the judge and get your sentence reduced.”
I smirked as I leaned forward, resting my arms on the table. “Being nice to me isn't going to make me stop from filing a case against your precinct for abuse of power and assault.”
The detective's eyes darted to my face.
“Oh, no.” I gently touched my swollen eye. “Your officer didn't do this. That idiot running the drug house did.” I pointed to my lip and then gestured toward my ribcage as best as I could considering I was handcuffed to the table. “Your officer did this.”
“So, you admit you were at the drug house and know who was running it?”
I rolled my eyes. “That's what you got out of what I just said?”
“Considering all the charges you are facing, I doubt a judge would believe the word of a criminal over that of a decorated officer of the law.”
I couldn't help but laugh at that sentence. “You have no idea who I am.” And I couldn't wait until he found out. “I can assure you I am not a criminal.”
“You were arrested inside of a known drug house. How does that not make you a criminal?”
I shook my head, unwilling to delve further into why I had been there. According to the DEA agent I had been working with, that information was need-to-know, and until I got the okay to say anything, this guy didn't need to know.
“Look…” the detective said as he got up and walked over to the corner of the room. He switched the camera off before coming back to sit down. “Just answer a few questions for me, and I'll see what I can do with the judge. Maybe we can get you released today. Wouldn't you like that?”
“Oh, I will be released today. I can guarantee that.” Vinnie wouldn't let me down, and now that he knew where I was, I had no doubt that everyone else would soon know as well. “The question you need to ask is, how much do you like your job?”
The detective's eyebrows lifted. “My job?”
“It's against the law to hold someone under a false arrest.”
“According to my investigation, you've been seen coming and going from this drug house several times over the last ten days, so I don't see how it could be considered a false arrest.”
“A, I'm not buying or selling drugs. B, I am not doing drugs. C, there were no drugs found on me. And D, coming and going from a building does not mean that I was committing a crime. It simply means I was coming and going. Now, if your investigation had turned up any hint that I had committed a crime, then we'd have something to talk about, but I can guarantee you that it has not.”
“What were you doing there then?”
“I needed to borrow a cup of sugar.” Probably not my best answer, but this guy was starting to get on my nerves.
“My records indicate that you live in a month-to-month rental a couple of blocks over. That seems like a long way to go to get a cup of sugar.”
