Shattered Glass(130)
“Yeah. With one of those dial thingies.”
“Not a lot to hang our hopes on, Glass.”
I thought about fire and water damage. “If it’s a weapon in there, we’re good. I should have taken Cai up on the tour of his room so we’d know where to find this thing.”
“Cai invited you to his room?” Darryl asked.
“Yeah. He said he had some painting he wanted to show me.”
“Weird.”
“Second time you’ve used that today with regards to the kid. Not that I’m disagreeing. Weird doesn’t begin to describe him.”
“Cai’s pretty shy. Plus, you’re a cop. It’s weird.”
“Cai was not shy that day. I guarantee you. And this might be a shocker, but some people like me.”
“Who?” Luis asked.
“Cats, or mangy creatures formally known as cats.”
“That’s about right,” Luis said, lifting his phone to his ear.
Popularity is Overrated
Luis and I both checked our guns while we waited near the burnt wreckage of Joe’s townhome. Waiting was always the hardest part of being a cop. Waiting for warrants. Waiting for information. Waiting for unobserved access. Waiting for fire marshals.
“Hey, Luis?”
“What?” He switched his badge to a neck chain and fitted it over his bulletproof vest.
“I’ll take the bullet this time.”
Luis sat back and put his elbow over the center of our seat, his finger pointing directly at me. “Remember a few months back, when we stopped at that bodega—”
“Never mind. Forget I said anything.” I interrupted, quickly trying to fix my badge to my neck chain and tuck it into my shirt.
“—and you bought the coffee—”
“We should get going.”
“—but the lid popped off and you spilled it?”
“Have you called the captain again?”
“You jumped around in the car and unbuckled your pants. “Screaming to get you to the emergency room.”
“You were really reckless, by the way.”
“Only it turned out they mistakenly gave you ice coffee.”
“Ice can burn, Luis.”
“Hey!” Darryl said. “Remember that time,” he kicked my seat, “two asshole cops sat in their car telling stories while more asshole cops tortured my—” he nearly knocked my seat out of its bucket with the next kick, “brother?”
Luis and I both looked at Darryl then each other. My partner jerked his thumb at the back seat and pursed his lips. “I like him.”
“More than me?”
“I like everyone more than you.”
“Why do people keep saying that to me?”
“Want a list?” Darryl said.
“Why is he still here?” Luis asked.
“Because, Luis, if we don’t keep him in the car behind locked doors, he’ll do something stupid. Like wade through the wreckage of Joe’s house before the fire marshal has declared it safe. Then he’d probably do something even more stupid, like bargain with the kidnappers.”
“Too damn right I will. It’s more than what you’re doing.”
“What he doesn’t realize is that once they have the items, they have no use for witnesses. Plus, and this is why cops are better at kidnapping cases than, say, bartenders—cops realize that bad guys might be watching the house, waiting for an unprotected Tinkerbelle wearing a glow-in-the-dark, neon pink hoodie to lead them directly to what they want.”
“Do you know what I did to the last guy that called me Tinkerbelle?”
“Slept with him?”
Darryl was silent for a second. “After that.”
My lips pulled up in the first real smile since this day started. Because he was behind me, I wasn’t sure if Darryl’s did, too. I didn’t get a chance to look. Luis’s phone rang with the call we had been waiting for.
I Love You, Man
“Fire Inspector just finished. We’re a go,” Luis said. “CSU will be here in thirty.”
“Can you see my vest?”
“No.”
“Luis?”
He grunted a, “What?”
“If I don’t have a job after this—”
“You will.”
“—I want you to know—”
“I know, kid.” He shifted and stared out the window.
“—that I masturbated to images of you in a thong and corset.”
“Dios Mio, give me strength.”
“I’m going to check it out,” I nodded to the townhome.
“I’ll brief CSU. Inspector said to stay off the second floor.”
I twisted to look at Darryl. “Cai’s room is on the first floor?”