“Where are we regarding the trafficking case?”
Andi glanced at George, a silent prompt to take over talking. George cleared his throat. “I’m sorry to say we’ve hit some dead ends today. Neither the vans nor Andi’s informant provided any new insights. We were hoping Shireen might have found something on Taylor Vance’s phone. If not, I’m afraid there’s a chance the case will turn cold.”
Norris’s eyes narrowed. “Unacceptable, gentlemen. I had a meeting with the mayor today, and Mrs. Manafort was adamant that we break this trafficking ring. At the moment, the press hasn’t been involved, and we’re trying to keep it that way for as long as possible. But you must solve this case. Human trafficking is a stain on the beautiful city of Charleston which must be eradicated, preferably before the press gets wind of it.”
George saw Andi’s knuckles going white as he gripped the armrest of his chair. His jaw muscles were bulging, which was George’s cue to start talking again. “Believe me, Chief, we see it as a stain as well and we’re doing everything in our power, but we can’t follow leads that aren’t there. Whoever is heading this operation is a paranoid pro who knows how to not create trails.”
Chief Norris waved her hand dismissively. “That’s not my problem. My problem is keeping the mayor happy, since this is an election year.Yourjob is to hand me those traffickers on a silver platter.”
This time, George wasn’t fast enough. “We do what we can, and our work would be easier if some newbie chief wouldn’t be trying to prove the size of her balls by putting the blame on us even before the case has gone south.”
For a moment the office was completely silent. Chief Norris’s mouth was opening and closing like she was a fish stranded on the shore. When she finally managed to talk again, her voice was cold enough to create frost patterns on the window. “I’m just pretending I didn’t hear that.”
Andi shrugged. “Does that mean we can pretend not to have heard your little speech from before?”
George decided now was the time to put his diplomatic talents to use. “How about weallpretend we haven’t heard anything that has been said so far? Can we perhaps start this conversation anew?”
Chief Norris mulled his words over with narrowed eyes, then slowly nodded. “Fine,” she hissed through gritted teeth. “I’m going to pretend this insubordination never happened.” She pointed at Andi. “But only this time. Don’t start thinking you’ve got a jester’s license with me.”
Andi inhaled deeply. “Whatever. Can we go back to discussing the case?”
“Apparently there isn’t that much to discuss, if I understood Detective Donovan right.” The chief still sounded angry, but she made a conscious effort to tone it down. “Now would be a great time to use that famous ‘instinct’ of yours. We can’t have a human trafficking ring operating in our city!”
“No, we can’t. And yes, I’m going to use my ‘instinct,’ as you so nicely put it, but I would very much appreciate it if you tried to support us instead of putting the screws on. We could operate a lot better if we knew you had our backs.”
George rolled his eyes. Andi was right, of course, but his bluntness wouldn’t win him any brownie points with the chief. Though George seriously doubted Andiwantedto curry favors with his higher-ups. His partner simply wanted to be left alone while solving his cases. “Detective Hayes is right, Chief, even though he was a bit—forward. I think you know we’re trying our best, and all we need from you is your support.”
Again, the chief was silent for some time, staring at them over her steepled fingers. George knew she was weighing the pros and cons of what had just been said, trying to decide on the best course of action from which she would benefit the most. When she let out her breath on a long sigh, George was sure she had decided in their favor. He would have done the same because the other options were too risky at the moment.
“Let’s go with that for the time being.” She leaned forward on her desk, her gaze steely. “Make no mistake, though. If this goes south, if you can’t solve this case, I’m going to have your badges, one way or another.”
Andi opened his mouth, no doubt to make the chief go back on her word immediately, and this time George managed to be faster than his partner. “Crystal clear, Chief. We’re going back to work now.”
“Yes, do that. And report to me once you find out something new.”
“Understood.” George grabbed Andi’s arm and dragged him out of the office, praying he would keep his mouth shut until they were out of earshot. They made it safely to their desks before Andi inhaled deeply. George put a finger to his lips in silent warning. Andi let go of his lungful of oxygen and hissed instead of shouting. “What a stupid bitch! I bet all she ever cares about is her precious career. It’s beyond me how somebody like that could ever become chief.”
George knew exactly how such a thing could happen—he was aiming for the same—but he didn’t think now was a good time to explain the intricacies of getting ahead in life to his enraged partner. “I know. She’s off our backs for now. Let’s see if Shireen has found something and then we call it a day. I don’t know about you, but I’m still running on reserves, and some downtime and another good night’s sleep will surely help us see things more clearly.”
For a moment George feared Andi would object. Then his shoulders slumped and a defeated expression appeared on his face. “Okay. Let’s do that.”
Chapter 18—Fruitless Questions
SHIREEN DIDN’Thave any new leads, so Andi and George both went home to get some sleep. The next morning, Andi decided to take the next step in his personal escalating scale of drastic measures, which meant going out into the seedier parts of Charleston’s nightlife to talk to people Andi usually tried to avoid. Which was perfectly fine, because the pimps and drug dealers did everything in their power not to have to talk to the police—and Andi in particular, he was notorious like that.
“Tell me again why we’re knocking on the doors of people who are usually up at night at ten in the morning?” George didn’t sound too convinced by Andi’s strategy.
“You never did that while you were with narcotics?”
“No. We went hunting at night, when the perps were out and about, committing the crimes for which we wanted to nail them. Catching somebody red-handed and all that.” George raised a brow in a badly concealed attempt at telling Andi he was nuts.
“Well, that might be a good idea if we wanted to catch them red-handed. But we’re not after their crimes at the moment. We’re hunting bigger prey and need those pimps and dealers to give us information that will hopefully help us crack the case. Now’s the perfect time for that. They’re tired from the night’s endeavors, which makes them slower on the uptake, if we’re lucky. Also, when they’re still in bed, it’s easier to catch them.”
“I’d love to argue with your logic, but I can’t seem to find any arguments against it.” George sounded petulant.
“That’s because there are none. My logic is as brilliant and undisputable as the sparkling of a diamond.”
“And we’re reaching ridiculous faster than I’d ever thought possible. You really show me something new every day.” George’s grumbling was interrupted by the GPS telling him to turn right into a small street where the places of business—bars, restaurants, strip clubs, motels—were so run down it was a wonder there hadn’t been any major accidents with collapsing floors or crumbling walls yet. At least none that were reported. For the insects, this area was something akin to heaven.
