Before the Dawn(95)

That gun wasn't my only weapon. And when I see the right moment, I will be fighting back. As he advanced, he tried to position his body in front of Dawn's in order to better protect her.

"Don't," Torez bit out. "Freeze right there, both of you." His face was pale. "You went down to Jinx's place, didn't you? Snuck right back to the scene of the crime."

"How did you get into my home?" Dawn asked.

"I broke the lock. I knocked, pounded, but you didn't answer. I got worried so I broke in...and then I realized that you'd snuck downstairs." His eyes glittered at her. "Why? Why did you do it?"

That guy's finger was too close to the trigger.

"She didn't hurt anyone. Jinx was good. She was kind." The gun trembled in his grasp. "What the fuck did you do? Did you kill her together? Has this always been some weird twisted shit where the two of you were taking the victims together?"

Tucker blinked at him. "What are you talking about?"

"You went down there to destroy evidence!" Torez screamed. "Anthony warned me...said I should be careful around you both, but...Dawn..." His gaze swung back to her. "I never thought it could be you. You were her friend."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I didn't hurt Jinx." Dawn's hands were up, too, but one of her hands still curled around a heavy flashlight. Torez hadn't told her to drop that light. His mistake.

Tucker could see that Torez was on the breaking point. The guy was spouting nonsense, and if his hand kept shaking around that gun... He'll start firing.

"You were in her place!" Spittle flew from Torez's mouth. "I went into your bedroom. I saw-Your closet was open-I realized you'd gone down there. How many times have you gone down there? Why the fuck are you doing this? Is this some fucked-up game for you both?"

"No one is playing a game." Tucker stepped in front of Dawn. That gun was shaking too much and if the guy fired, Tucker wanted to make sure that the bullet didn't hit her. "You need to calm down, Detective. You're confused. We just went down there to search-"


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Torez gave a wild laugh. "Right. You went to search. At a closed crime scene. Bullshit. You tried to set me up on this one, had my own brothers in blue doubting me...and you'd killed her!"

"No!" Dawn's voice called out. "We didn't! Look, just calm down. Call Anthony-"

"Already did. Called him as soon as I saw what the hell you had done. He'll be here soon and we'll take your asses in. You are going to pay for what you did." His eyes were wide and stark. "You tortured her. You killed her. You-"

"Drop the gun!" The cry had come from behind Torez. Fierce, sharp. Tucker recognized Anthony Deveraux's voice.

At Anthony's cry, Torez spun to face him. He didn't drop the gun. It was shaking in his hand, and he swung it around toward his partner.

Anthony fired. Once. Twice. Torez's body jerked as he stumbled back. Then he fell, slamming down onto the floor. His weapon dropped from his hand and skittered across the hardwood, stopping beneath the edge of Dawn's table.

Anthony's body was still crouched, his gun still up.

Time itself seemed to freeze.

Then Dawn was rushing around Tucker. She fell to her knees beside the fallen detective and immediately reached out for him. "Torez?"

Anthony sucked in a deep breath. He shook his head, as if he couldn't believe what he'd just done. "Is he dead?"

Tucker knew that he was. Dawn was trying to help the guy, but those shots had been clean and precise. The detective might have been dead even before he hit the floor.

"Dawn!" Anthony's voice thundered out. "Is he dead?"

Her hands were covered in Torez's blood. "Yes." Dazed, she looked up at Anthony. "Why wouldn't he listen? We didn't hurt Jinx. I didn't. Tucker didn't. We didn't do it! We were just searching her place. We found the sketch of her tattoo-"

And Tucker saw it happen. Anthony's face changed. The concerned mask vanished. He wasn't the worried cop any longer. Fury etched onto his face, hardening his jaw and narrowing his eyes. "Fucking bitch."

Dawn blinked.

Tucker had crouched down when Dawn went toward Torez. He was still crouched and his hand went to his right ankle, sliding under the edge of his pants. He touched the knife strapped there- 

"I found the sketch at Voodoo Tats," Anthony muttered. "Thought it was the only one. Should have known she had another. She always was drawing shit." His gun lifted and aimed at Dawn. "Did that one have my fucking initials on it, too?"