“Okay.”
He nodded curtly, leaned in, and kissed me until it felt like my lungs would give out. Alex was staying behind with Gideon, and Danny and Raff were taking me to the station.
I’d rehearsed what I was going to say, so by the time I’d arrived, I was ready to help take this son of a bitch down.
“We’ll be right here. Text before you come out,” Danny said. I nodded and got out of the car.
The station wasn’t busy, and when I walked up to the counter, the female officer looked up and smiled. “Good morning, what can I do for you?”
“Morning, my name is Pennsylvania Garrand. I was hoping to speak with Chief Bainer.”
“The chief’s a busy man, could I ask what this is in regard to?”
I bit my tongue, trying to play off the nervous habits people had. “I’d rather not say in public.” I peered over my shoulder to where two other people were in the sitting area. “It’s taken me a while to come forward as is.”
She pursed her lips and nodded. “Chief Bainer isn’t here right now; he’ll be back in an hour. But I will have a detective come out.”
Fucking hell. “Look, Officer Reed, I…I don’t know who to trust. I was told to talk to the chief only with the information I had.”
“Like I said, he won’t be here for an hour. Do you want to wait?”
That certainly wasn’t ideal—getting in and out was the name of the game, but what choice did I have? I wasn’t sure what detectives were on what side of this war.
“I guess I’ll wait.”
She motioned to the sitting area. I took the chair furthest from anyone and texted the group chat Danny and Gideon were in with me to let them know what the officer had told me.
Absolutely not. Get out of there.Of course, that was Gideon’s response.
Danny stayed silent.
I gave her my name. If I walk out, she’ll either look me up or tell a detective. I’m fine, really.
I waited a moment and saw Gideon typing. Then the door opened and a man stepped out.
“Mr. Garrand?”
Who was this guy? “Uh, yeah.”
He was all teeth, walked up to me, and held out his hand. I stood and took it in a handshake. “I’m Detective Tolland. I know you wanted to speak with the chief but Officer Reed there, she messaged him you were here, and he asked me to take whatever statement you had. He is running behind—it’ll be longer than an hour.”
I eyed the detective and glanced at Officer Reed, who smiled at me. If I refused, that was going to appear super suspicious.
“Okay, I guess if the chief vouched for you.” I grinned and glanced at my phone with Gideon’s message.
Don’t care. Get out.
“Great, right this way.”
As I followed the detective, I shot a message off telling them what was happening, gave them the detective’s name and once it was sent, slipped the phone into my pocket.
“Now, Officer Reed said this appeared to be something that required secrecy?” The detective stopped moving and regarded me.
“Yeah, for me mostly, my protection.”
He hummed. “Okay, I think doing this at my desk won’t work. Are you okay if we do it in an interrogation room? No cuffs.” He laughed.
“That’s fine.”
