“I saw a look.” Nolan sounded amused, and that annoyed him more than anything. “Don’t matter if you’re straight or gay. You’re interested. And it was reciprocal. In case you were wondering.”
It was?That was news to him.
“I wasn’t. The only thing I was interested in concerning Colson Delacourt was figuring out if he was our perp. Now that I know he’s not, he’s forgotten.” Maybe if he said it often enough, he’d believe it himself. But he’d be damned if he’d say that out loud. “And, since you seem so interested in my comings and goings, I thought it would be nice to check in on the victim, since she’s an old lady who lives by herself and is recovering from a crime, so I called the hospital. You know the brass always wants us to be compassionate.” He smirked. “This is me showing I care.”
Nolan didn’t return his banter. “I know you’re compassionate and caring. I see how you are with David. You’ve put your life on hold to make sure he’s taken care of. Not many people would do that.”
Fuck. First Luis and now Nolan. He did not want to talk about this shit in the middle of the squad room. “So listen, about the Hamilton assault—”
“Harper.”
“I met the ADA outside. She was here for another case, and we stopped to talk.”
“Good for her.” Nolan was determined to pick a fight with him, obviously, as he steamrolled ahead. “You can have both, you know. A personal life and still make sure your brother is looked after.”
Desperate to avoid further conversation concerning his brother, Harper ignored Nolan and continued to talk about the other case. “The vic positively ID’d the suspect. The ADA said he’s part of a punch-down gang going around the area—”
“Enough,” Nolan snapped, loud enough that several heads popped up over their cubicle walls, but retreated when Nolan glared at them.
Harper’s hands clenched. “I donotwant to talk about this.”
“Good. Because I’ve heard all your bullshit excuses, and now you can listen.” Nolan rolled his chair over so they were side by side.
Harper tried to lighten the tension. “Gee, Nolan. Any closer and you’ll be in my lap,” he joked. “Does Gina know you have a crush on me?”
A muscle ticked in Nolan’s clean-shaven jaw. “Damn fool. I know what you’re trying to do. And why. But it’s wrong. You’re wrong.”
“I said I don’t want to discuss this,” he gritted out through clenched teeth. “I mean it, Nolan. There are some things that are off-limits, and David is one of them. Even with you.”
“This isn’t about David. It’s about you and your absolute refusal to think you can have a personalanda professional life.”
“To me, they’re one and the same. So if you want to keep working with me, knock it off. Please.”
Nose to nose, he gazed into Nolan’s brown eyes and winced at the compassion. He despised it. He wasn’t doing anything extraordinary by being his brother’s caretaker. All he wanted was for people to stop telling him what a good person he was for simply doing the right thing.
“Fine.” Nolan gave a sharp jerk of his head and rolled his chair away to his desk. “And I think it’s a good idea for us to pay Ms. Johnson a visit.”
“Let’s do it.” He clicked out of his reports. “I have a call in to the block association, and they said they’ll have a copy of all the videos of the past three weeks—from when the break-ins began.”
“Look at you, being all organized and stuff,” Nolan teased.
“That’s because I’m not wasting my time playing matchmaker.”
They drove to Pierrepont Street, where the block association had their headquarters, and were given a room and a computer. For several hours they viewed the tape, stopping only for a quick lunch run for some wonton soup, egg rolls, and chicken fried rice.
Nolan pointed his chopsticks at the monitor. “See that? White hoodie? He’s the leader, I’m thinking. He goes in, leaves his buddy at the front door as a lookout. If he sees someone coming,tap-tap-tapon the door, to alert homeboy inside to hurry up.”
“Uh-huh.” Harper chewed his egg roll. “Not our delivery boy. These guys are older, and they definitely knew what houses they were after. They wait until after the owners leave, then make their move.” A chilling thought hit him. “That means Millie Johnson is still a mark.” He met Nolan’s eyes. “She’s not safe. We should go over there and make sure she’s okay.”
“Yeah. I’ll let Poole know they should start a sweep of the area with unis. ’Cause soon they’re gonna run out of houses without people and move on to ones where people are home, which is moving into way more dangerous territory. And they might expand to more neighborhoods. We need to nip it in the bud.”
Harper tossed his trash into the bin. “We will.”
By five thirty, they’d reviewed all the tapes and sent copies to the lab for facial recognition and enhancement. They walked the three blocks to Millie Johnson’s house and after two pushes on the doorbell, she answered.
“Detectives. So nice to see you again. Come in, come in. I just made some fresh coffee.”
Harper frowned. “Ms. Johnson, you really need to stop opening the door without checking to see who it is. You should think about getting a camera installed.”
