Skin Trade(140)

“Ironic,” I said, “you’ve just finished telling me I’m more on the side of the monsters, but you’re counting on me being a good cop. You’ve accused me of fucking multiple weretigers, but you’re depending on me honoring the badge above my supposed lovers. Or is it just that you’ll pretend you didn’t say it, and it will go away? I didn’t think cops did that. I thought cops looked things in the face.”

“You said it yourself, Blake; you’re an assassin, not a cop.”

I smiled, but this one wasn’t sweet. “Perfect, Shaw, perfect.”

Edward moved me back with a hand on my shoulder, so he was facing Shaw. “Bernardo, take Anita for a walk, that direction.” He pointed away from the reporters.

Bernardo started walking, and I fell in step beside him. I half-expected Olaf to protest that he wanted to go on the walk, but he moved up to be at Edward’s back. Good to know that we were there to back each other up. I wasn’t sure about some of the Vegas cops anymore.

Bernardo led me past the body, and as if we’d agreed, we didn’t look at it much. We just walked until the alley was a little darker without the lights they’d set up at the far end. Though what got me to stop was that the smell was less sour here, and a few more feet and we’d run into another group of cops holding the other end of the alley.

“That was interesting,” he said.

I nodded. “Yeah.”

“They’ve got the place bugged.”

I nodded again. I tried to think of everything I’d said in the apartment. I couldn’t remember all of it, but it had been enough.

“You’re trying to remember everything you said, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“If all I had was the sound, I might think sex, and I’d so believe that you could shapeshift for real.”

“Which will cost me my badge.”

“Not until they’re willing to admit how they got the recording,” he said.

“With Shaw blabbing, who knows?”

“Do you feel conflicted?”

I looked up at him, studying his face in the dim light for what little it did me. “Do you mean, am I going to go tattle to the tigers?”

He shrugged.

“No,” I said.

“You wouldn’t want Jean-Claude’s place bugged.”

“No, but we sweep for listening devices on a regular basis. Max should, too.”

“So you won’t tell because it’s sloppy business practices on Max’s part?” He started to lean against the wall, then thought better of it and stopped in midmotion.

“Partly, but I am a federal officer. I do have a badge. Max is into criminal activities. How can I blow an operation that may save lives?”

“So, badge first,” he said, softly.

I glared up at him, not sure he could see it in the dimness. “What, you believe what Shaw was saying, that I’m more loyal to the monsters than the police?”

He held up his hands as if holding me off. “That’s not what I meant. It’s just that if I had all your issues, I might feel conflicted.”

I sighed. “Sorry, but I’m tired, Bernardo. I’m tired of having the other police think I’m one of the freaks.” I shook my head. “Hell, I’m not sure they’re wrong. I’ve begun to wonder if I can serve the badge and my other master at the same time.”

He leaned forward. “Are you thinking of hanging it up?”

It was my turn to shrug. “I don’t know, maybe.”

“I can’t see you not doing this, Anita.”

“Neither can I, but… Shaw isn’t the first cop to think my loyalties are divided. He won’t be the last. I’m a walking sexual harassment suit lately. It’s like sleeping with vampires and shapeshifters offends the police at some really basic level.”

“Oh, I know that one.”

I looked up at him. “What do you mean?”

He grinned, and I could see the flash of it even in the shadows. “It’s the idea that if you prefer the monsters, then the rumor that they’re better in bed than us mere mortals may be true. That would squick a lot of men, and a badge doesn’t change that. In fact, maybe cops are more guy than most guys, so it bothers them more.”

“That sounds… childish for a cop.”

“I didn’t say they were thinking it in the front of their heads, but somewhere in the back, where all those Neanderthal urges still live, they are wondering if just being human makes them less in every way than the monsters.”

I tried to look past that flash of smile and see what was underneath, but it was too much shadow. I finally said, “Is that how you feel?”