“Give us a reason,” Tessman added. “I’d prefer to call the coroner than our backup.”
Ellison’s lips twisted into a smirk. “I’ll be out within twenty-four hours, and you both better watch your backs.” He set the pistol on the table.
Burke rushed him and body-slammed him into the wall while Tessman covered him. The woman tried to get up.
“Stay right there until we have him secured. We’ll get to you next,” Tessman told her.
Burke searched him. He had no other weapons. He ordered him to the floor on his stomach and zip-tied his hands and feet. Then, while Tessman still covered him, he moved over to the woman. Her hands were tied behind her back to the chair she was sitting in.
“Who are you and why are you tied here?” Burke asked her before cutting her loose.
“I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I’m, I was Mark’s girlfriend until a few days ago when he told me there was a warrant for his arrest and he wanted me to flee with him. When I said no, he forcibly took me. My name is Celeste Browning.”
Burke cut the ropes. “Do you have any ID on you?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know where my purse is.”
He opened the fingerprint app on his phone as Wilson stuck his head in. “I’ve got all of them secured out here. Ops call in backup.”
“Roger, Charlie Team,” Dupont acknowledged.
“Are we still clear, Powder?” Wilson asked as Burke pressed each of the woman’s digits to the screen of his phone, capturing her prints.
“Affirmative,” Rogers replied.
Kilo
Donna was feeling much better about what she’d witnessed on Friday and her visit from Detective Leo Davis. Rich’s team hadn’t found anything damning in their investigation, like a body that matched the description of the man she saw getting choked out. That was the term Rich had used. She’d convinced herself that it was possible he hadn’t been killed. And since Rich’s team hadn’t found any excessive force complaints against the detective, nor had Internal Affairs had any case open, that had helped to put her mind at ease.
Monday, after she put the boys on the bus, she got a grocery list together, intending to go to the store later that morning after she’d tidied the apartment up. Jeriah played in the boys’ room, where Donna had moved most of the toys to keep the living room clutter-free. They were allowed to bring toys into the living room, but the house rule was now that they had to put them away when they were done playing or before bed.
As she vacuumed the living room, her gaze was dragged through the window and into the parking lot where a black Camaro SS pulled up beside her minivan.
“No,” she breathed out, a knot forming in her stomach. Upon seeing Leo Davis’s face when he got out of the car, her body instantly went rigid. Then her gaze went to the license plate. “Fuck,” she cursed quietly. Same plate number as the Camaro SS that had driven by her mother’s church the day before.
She grabbed her phone and dialed Rich again. It went to voicemail just as the knock sounded on her door. Something inside her shifted from fear to anger. And she didn’t care at that moment if he’d just choked that guy out or killed him. She’d had enough of Leo Davis coming to her door and driving past her. Was he stalking her? She wasn’t sure if that was what he was doing or not, but she was done with it.
She swung the door open. “Detective Davis. What do you need?” she asked in a not too friendly tone of voice.
“Hello, Donna,” he greeted, ignoring her tone of voice. “And please, it’s Leo. I just wanted to swing by and see if you remembered anything from Friday about my suspect.”
His gaze was piercing and unblinking, which, had she not been so pissed, would have unnerved her. “I told you, I didn’t see anyone.”
“That’s too bad. I could really use the help.”
“Sorry.” She still clutched the phone in her hand, hoping Rich’s voicemail would capture all the conversation.
“Well, I’m sorry too. My offer to pay for your sitter so we can go out stands.” He flashed her a smile that he probably thought was a sexy grin, but she found it disgusting.
“I am flattered, Detective,” she said.
“It’s Leo,” he corrected her as he leaned in closer, his voice sounding overly flirty and inappropriately intimate.
“Leo,” she forced herself to say, her voice threatening to expose how panicked by his sudden closeness she was. “I should have told you when you asked me out the other day that I have a boyfriend.”
“Is it serious? Because I haven’t seen him around. I promise I’d be more attentive.”
His statement completely unnerved her. Had he been watching her before she’d seen him strangle that man, or had he been watching her that closely since? “He’s away for work,” she said. “He’s an ATF agent.”
