She closed her eyes, then opened them. “I’m going to try and get in to talk to Glass, all right? He might want to drop some names now that he’s been caught.” She crossed the room to the bed and sat on the edge beside him. “If there’s any trouble, I’ll let you know, all right?”
“Really?”
“Really.” She kissed him. “I want to make this work. It may be hard in the beginning, but I want us to be able to find a place where we can have as few secrets as possible between us. But for right now, you have to trust me.”
“I do.”
She kissed him again and stood up. He got out of bed, threw on his boxer briefs, and walked her to the door. He wrapped her in his arms and smelled her hair. The dogs, especially Chewie, tried to nudge in between, making them laugh.
“Be careful.” He brushed her hair back from her face.
“I will.”
She gave Chewie one last ear scratch and kissed Alex, leaving him with a bad feeling in his stomach.
CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE
“Nowhe wants to talk,” Sylvie said aloud as she pulled onto 36 toward Boulder and opened Alison right up. But she wasn’t referring to Glass, as she’d told Alex. Though she wanted to talk to him too, her primary goal was to collar Frank at last. He owed her an explanation.
She thought back to the evening before. When Frank and Tom stepped out of their cruiser, she’d hoped to finally get some answers once they had Glass in custody. God, she was furious at how they’d treated her. But then Frank had called her Rookie and given her their old sign forfollow my lead—drumming his fingers against something; in this case, it was the Charger. So she played along in the hopes that he’d soon give her an explanation. She sneaked out of bed after Alex was asleep to check her phone, but nothing. Same thing after he left to get the dogs.
Finally, Frank texted saying that if she wanted to talk she needed to meet him today.
“I should have dropped Alex off last night and made like a bat outta hell while they booked Glass,” she reprimanded herself. But it probably wouldn’t have done any good. If Frank wanted to be scarce, he could be scarce, as he’d shown her. One other thing she could do right now, was get in to see Glass. His apparent girlfriend, Candi, had been questioned and released and she wanted to get a look at that interview, too. Maybe she could help Watchdog.
* * *
“Why not?”Sylvie asked the desk manager. “I was at the scene. I can help.”
Joey D’Ospina shook his head. “Sorry, Syl. Glass is incommunicado. No one gets to talk to him and I’ve already told you more than you need to know.”
And the interview with Candi that Sylvie had read only showed that she had no idea what was going on. Sylvie gritted her teeth but tried not to show Joey her anger. He was a good guy just doing his job. Plus, Cynthia had always taught her that honey caught more flies than vinegar.
“Sorry, Joey, I don’t mean to be a pain.” She leaned in close. “This involves friends of mine, you know how it is?” She straightened. “I’ll just have to talk to Frank. You know if he’s still around?”
“Yeah, Syl, I saw him and Tom that way not too long ago.” He pointed down the hall.
Both of them? This might get tricky.
“Thanks, bud.”
“Yeah, sure.” She couldn’t miss the hesitancy in his voice and wondered what the rumor mill was grinding out about her now.
She stopped midway down the hall to text Carla. She hadn’t heard from her partner beyond getting a text saying she’d found no prints on the photograph. She told Carla where she was and that Glass was out of reach, but Frank and Tom weren’t. She waited only a couple of seconds for a response because she didn’t want to miss her opportunity to talk to Frank.
Sylvie ignored her shaking hands and the watery feeling in her knees as she marched down the hall. She had every right to confront them. The frustrating part was that she never felt like this when making an arrest. She didn’t like feeling weak and vulnerable. It’s why she’d left home and lived on the streets—though that had left her even more vulnerable until George and Cynthia came along.
Sylvie pushed through the door at the end of the hall. There weren’t many people around, and she immediately spotted Frank and Tom at adjoining desks at the back of the room. She threw her shoulders back and wove between desks through the office.Fake it ’til you make it.
Frank stood up first. “Rookie.”
“Don’t Rookie me, Frank.” She glanced at Tom who still hadn’t bothered to stand. “What’s going on?” She was acutely aware of the camera in the corner of the room. “Can we talk here, or do we need to go outside?”
“Why’s she here, Frank?” Tom got to his feet as Frank came around the desk.
“To question Glass, I suspect. I got this, Tom.” He drummed his fingers on the desk then gestured for Sylvie to lead them out of the room. She wondered if Tom knew that code, which led her to a darker thought—if he did, was the drumming meant for Tom instead of her?
“Any luck with Glass?” Frank asked.
