Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 85817 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 429(@200wpm)___ 343(@250wpm)___ 286(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85817 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 429(@200wpm)___ 343(@250wpm)___ 286(@300wpm)
Holly got my order and thanked me, stepping out and being replaced by Angel. He walked in, looking pretty sharp in a navy blue button-up and a light gray sports jacket, his khaki pants neatly rolled at the ankle to show off a pop of the blue-and-green socks he wore.
“Got a minute?” Angel asked.
“For sure.” I glanced at the clock on the wall. I had a meeting in about an hour regarding Hazel’s case, but until then, I had time for a chat. Old me may have turned Angel away. The old me may have preferred being locked up in a quiet office even if I had nothing else to do, only so that I wouldn’t have to talk to someone else.
“What’s up?” I asked, leaning forward on my desk.
“All right, so get this, I’m working on a case where the wife thinks her husband is cheating on her, and she thinks he’s doing it with her own daughter.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Oh, whoa.”
“Yeah. Daughter from another marriage, but still. All kinds of fucked-up. I wanted to run some details by you and see if you can help pick any weird things out. You helped me with the Silva case, so I was hoping you still had some of the same magic.”
“All right, let’s see what we can figure out.”
I sat back in my chair, and Angel and I went over his case, going through the details and the evidence he had compiled on the husband. From phone records to GPS tracking to eyewitness reports.
“All you’re missing is a sex tape between him and the daughter,” I said when my mind had been made up. “He’s definitely cheating.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought, too. I’m going to tail him for a couple more days and see if I get any undeniable proof. Thanks for talking this through with me, Rocky. Stonewall’s lucky to have you.”
“You did all the hard work,” I said, pointing at the stacks of papers.
“And how’s your case going?”
“It’s going.” I ran a hand through my hair. “And by ‘going’ I mean I’ve got zero solid leads and about a hundred thin threads going in every single direction. Anya’s coming in soon; she said she found some things she think can help.”
“That girl is a wizard with computers.”
“She really is. Do you know that she figured out where the bomb threat had come from?”
Angel leaned forward. “What? No?”
“Fox is going to have a big meeting to discuss it—I think it’s planned for this afternoon. I only know because I talked to her this morning about my case and she mentioned it.”
“So we know who’s threatening Stonewall?”
I crossed my fingers. “I hope so. She said it’s not definitive, but that it’s a big step forward.”
Ever since Stonewall Investigations had opened up a branch in Miami, we had experienced a few different threatening moments. Graffiti had been drawn on the building, telling us to get out, signed by a “fallen angel.” Then there had been a bomb threat, most likely made by the same person, someone who wanted us out. At first, we all suspected the threats were coming from religious extremists, especially since there was a very popular church just down the street from us that brought people from all across the world for their sermons. All the detectives had their eyes open since pretty much everyone was a suspect at this point, but one thing was for sure, Stonewall Investigations would never close.
“Good, I’ve got two things to be excited about this evening.”
“What’s the second?”
“I’ve got a date.” The words practically fell out. That’s how bubbly I’d felt at the thought of a date with Sam.
“Oh, nice, what are you guys going to do?”
“We’re thinking of having a date night at the fair.”
Angel perked up in the seat. “No way, Peter and I were going to have a date night there, too. We should make it a double-date thing.”
I hesitated for a moment. I could choose to keep Sam and I secluded, private from the rest of my life. It would keep things slightly safer, slightly less risky. The moment I began introducing him to people in my orbit, I knew it would push us into brand-new territory.
The hesitation only lasted a moment. “Yeah, let’s do it. Want to meet there at around eight?”
“Sounds good to me.” Angel clapped his hands, smiling, before he grabbed up his papers and stuffed them back into the folder he had brought with him. He stood up, tucking the folder under his arm.
“Oh, perfect timing,” I said, seeing some shadows move behind the frosted glass of my door. “Looks like Anya’s here.”
Sure enough, the door opened and Holly stood there with Stonewall’s resident star hacker, Anya. She was typing furiously on her phone, only briefly pausing to move a dread over her shoulder. Gold and silver rings caught the light in her hair as she looked up. I couldn’t tell if her eyes were lit up because of the phone screen’s glare or because she was that excited to talk to me about what she found.