“And when your concentration wavers, for whatever reason, it gets harder, which in turn makes it more difficult to focus on blocking, which drains your reserves, which then comes full circle and affects your concentration. Basically, you enter a devil’s circle.” They had reached the precinct, and George found a parking spot in the shade. “How do you break out of it?”
Andi grabbed the two bags with their breakfast together with his tea. “I sleep a lot. Try to avoid anything that stresses me physically or emotionally.”
George groaned. “Exactly what you can’t do at the moment! That sucks. Is there anything I can do to help?”
“You already did. You listened. Strangely enough, I feel better now. I can do this.” He straightened his shoulders. “Let’s get going. There’s evil guys to catch.”
George followed his partner inside the precinct. He knew, if he really wanted to help Andi, he’d have to up his game. For the time being, he would settle for second best, lend him a sympathetic ear and a shoulder to lean on until he found out how to be the partner Andi needed and deserved.
AS ITturned out, much to George’s dismay, the evil guys were quite elusive. The ten men they had arrested the night before had all called their lawyers and weren’t nearly as cooperative as George and Andi had hoped. They also weren’t as stupid or easily spooked as the ones they had arrested during the bust with the two vans.
The good news was this meant they were getting higher in the chain of command, closer to the person orchestrating it all. The bad news was it didn’t do them a lot of good as long as the arrested kept their mouths shut. The cells they had confiscated from the customers and their goons hadn’t offered any leads either. Shireen was sure the organization used burner phones they destroyed the moment a deal was struck, which was very smart and very unfortunate for their investigation. And the customers used this fact as their excuse for not cooperating, claiming they didn’t know the person they had struck the deal with. George was inclined to believe them, since it would have been in their interest to get a deal with law enforcement, given the charges they were facing. At least four sick bastards wouldn’t see the light of day any time soon, along with their goons and the two pimps. It was a small mercy, for George knew there were ten more waiting for each asshole they put behind bars. The world was a scary place, and at times like these, George felt its weight on his shoulders. Andi was frustrated but put on an indifferent front, mostly to keep other detectives from asking stupid questions during their brief breaks.
The hospital visit with the victims was even harder than the first one with Rose, Mia, Kathy, and Greg. The children told the same story George and Andi already knew and couldn’t offer any new insights. Their last hope when they drove back to the precinct in the afternoon was Jake Castain. The mayor’s personal assistant had finally returned to the city and had been brought in for questioning. If as a suspect or witness was yet to be determined, though George couldn’t imagine Castain not knowing anything about what was going on at his own estate.
Andi was tight-lipped, his answers mostly monosyllabic grunts, the lines around his mouth and eyes so deep they made him look like an old man. George worried about his partner yet had no clue how to make things better for him and if he should even try. When he looked at Andi, he was reminded of a Jenga tower with so many pieces missing already it defied the laws of physics by still standing. It was also clear that the next block pulled out would send the whole thing crashing to the ground, and George didn’t want to be the one responsible. He needed Andi to function and didn’t know how to ensure it.
When they entered the precinct, Rose was waiting for them, redirecting them from the interrogation room where Jake Castain was waiting to Chief Norris’s office. George could feel Andi stiffening next to him. His partner was too tired to give even the illusion of politeness, and George knew he had to take over here. He grabbed Andi’s lower arm to gently squeeze it for a moment. “Let me handle this,” he mouthed behind Rose’s back.
Andi’s gaze darkened for a moment before he nodded once. Knowing Andi, this was all the concession George would get. On their way to the office, Rose chattered on and on about how unfortunate it was that Taylor Vance’s cell still hadn’t been found and how bad Shireen must be feeling and that she’d been thinking about making cake for everybody but there was just so much to do at the moment, what with the obvious breach in security. George was almost relieved when they entered the chief’s office, Rose holding the door open while first Andi and then George stepped inside. At least Rose’s blabbering had now come to an end. Apart from that, George was sure that if he’d had a decent night’s sleep and not just the few measly hours he had managed to get, he wouldn’t have felt like a virginal offering for a ferocious dragon, prepared by the dragon’s little lackey for easier slaughtering. As it was, the clicking of the closing door sounded like a vault slamming shut in his ear.
“What do you want?” Andi didn’t bother with niceties or even sitting down. So much for letting George handle it. He stepped forward and put a placating hand on Andi’s back.
“What Detective Hayes meant was what do you need from us, Chief Norris? We were on our way to question Jake Castain.”
Norris watched them for a moment with furrowed brows, seemingly not sure whether she should react to Andi’s rudeness or just skip over it and concentrate on George. She decided to do the latter.
“I know. Which is why you’re here. I’m sure you know Jake Castain is not only a highly respected citizen of Charleston but also the mayor’s PA. Mrs. Manafort wasn’t happy when she learned of his arrest and wanted to know if there’s any base to the accusations made against Mr. Castain.”
Out of the corner of his eye, George saw Andi opening his mouth, a dangerous glint in his eyes. He pinched him where his hand still was on Andi’s back and started talking quickly to avert the confrontation he saw brewing.
“Well, we did bust an orgy with minors in his family home in the country. I’d say that does warrant at least some questions, don’t you think, Chief? Even if he doesn’t have anything to do with it—”Which I highly doubt, George added in the privacy of his own head. “—he should at least be able to shed some light as to who might use his estate to commit such despicable crimes.”
Chief Norris tapped her chin with her left forefinger, thinking. Since Andi was still tense like a wire, George left his hand at his lower back, even though a quick glance from Norris told him the gesture hadn’t gone unnoticed.
“I’m sure Mr. Castain will be happy to provide you with all the information you need.” Chief Norris stopped her tapping in favor of fiddling with a pen she took from a stack of documents to her right. “Just tread carefully, Detectives. The mayor is quite fond of her PA and was upset about him being treated like a criminal.”
“Duly noted.” George nodded, in part to hide his expression until he got it back under control. He’d seen enough situations like these to know exactly what was going on. The following year was an election year for the mayor, and George was willing to bet his mother’s reputation as a judge that Jake Castain was a generous donor for Deirdre Manafort’s campaign. At the moment, the mayor was trying to shield her PA without making it look like she was obstructing justice, using Chief Norris as the go-between. Should they find Castain guilty, George knew with absolute certainty the mayor would drop him like a hot potato, trying to distance herself from him as fast and as far as possible. Until then, Castain enjoyed a certain immunity George and Andi had to consider when questioning him.
“Is there anything else?” George forced himself to sound respectful, even though the chief had just lost several points in his regard. George did understand political pressure. He didnottolerate it when innocents where hurt.
The chief hesitated for a moment, her nervous gaze flitting between George and Andi. Finally, she let out a soft sigh. “No, that’s it. You can go to your witness now.”
The way she put a slight emphasis on the word “witness” was more wishful thinking than anything else, and George conveniently ignored it. He took Andi’s arm to drag him out of the office before he could say anything else beside the halfhearted goodbye he’d sent in the chief’s direction, not caring what it might look like. Their investigation had taken on a political aspect that required a certain diplomacy George knew Andi didn’t possess.
Once they were back on their way to the interrogation rooms and out of earshot, Andi lost what little composure he’d had.
“What a stupid cow,” he hissed. “We’ve literally caught those bastards with their hands down the pants of minors and she has the nerve to ask us to go easy on a possible criminal because he has ties to the mayor?”
“That’s politics for you.” George shrugged.
“No, not for me. It’s for heartless assholes with zero compassion for the victims.” Andi was bristling like an alley cat ready to fight over territory.
“I know, Andi. And I’m not saying it’s okay. Far from it. But it wouldn’t hurt to tread lightly until we know more. The chief and the mayor are in a precarious situation. The chief because she’s new, the mayor because it’s election next year. Let’s try and not antagonize them any more than we have to. Just to make our lives and the investigation easier.”
“I hate playing nice with assholes!” Andi’s voice was so full of righteous indignation, George had to suppress a smile. His partner was a better man than he wanted people to believe.
Chapter 23—Caught
