“Leon!” I exclaim, despite the glumness of the moment. I need to make myself calm down — it’s not like we’re together or anything. It’s not like that. But I can’t seem to rid the thought from my head.
“Mr. Volkov is being released,” the officer says gruffly. “Are you picking him up?”
“Oh — uh, yes!” I answer awkwardly, nodding. Leon gives me a grateful wink.
“At last the wait is over,” Janet says, smiling at me. “It was nice to meet you.”
“Thanks for putting up with me. And for the sandwich,” I add.
“Now fill this out and go home and sleep, both of you,” Janet replies, handing me a clipboard through the cut-out in the glass. I sign my name to check Leon out and then the officer takes off his cuffs and trudges away without a word. Leon turns to me and before he can say anything I wrap my arms around him and squeeze him tight.
His hand hesitantly comes down to pat my back and he rests his chin on my head for a long, still moment. “Don’t tell me you waited this whole time,” he murmurs.
I nod against his warm chest. “Yeah. It wasn’t so bad. And I — I didn’t want to leave you.”
“I should have known they’d hold me as long as they legally could,” he replies, shaking his head with restrained fury. “As if I would actually tell them anything.”
“Come on,” I say, taking him by the hand. I scoop all my stuff back into my bag and lead Leon out into the fresh air. We both take deep breaths, looking up at the late sunset.
“How was it?” I ask, a little reluctantly. I’ve never been interrogated, so I don’t have any idea how they work. But if it’s anything like it is on crime TV shows, it’s definitely not a good time for anyone. Leon sighs heavily and puts an arm around me.
“Tiring. Boring, mostly. They asked me the same questions over and over with slightly different phrasing, as if that was going to trip me up. I knew exactly what they were doing the whole time. I’ve interrogated people before, myself. I know how it works. And they’re just so… pompous. All of them. They don’t even realize or care that I’m not the real bad guy here. They just want someone easy to pin shit on, and the Club is full of bright red targets,” he says quietly, anger hardening his tone.
“This is bigger than any of the local police, isn’t it?”
Leon nods and looks down at me. “Oh yeah. The FBI spooks just threw the local cops in there with me to keep all of us out of the way. They don’t care about me or anyone from the Bayonne precinct at all. They just need to keep us occupied while they run their illicit operations all over town, so we can’t do anything to stop them.”
“But… I found out something,” I say, biting my lip. “I looked into Agent Doyle’s background. I mean, yeah, fashion blogging paid my bills but I’ve always been one hell of an investigator. Or just exceptionally, professionally nosy.”
Leon laughs, the sound so welcoming and light. “And what did your research turn up?”
“He’s way out of his league. Or at least his jurisdiction. He’s not a homicide guy — he looks into stuff like tax evasion, corporate corruption, and other boring pencil-pusher things like that. There’s no good reason for him to be here, taking over the investigation. He’s not cut out for this stuff. He said this is FBI jurisdiction now — but if it’s a mass homicide, why the hell would the feds send someone like him to clean it up?” I ramble all at once, tired of having to hold in this information for so long. I expect Leon to hug me, swing me around, and light up at this discovery. After all, what if this is the kick we need to take the case back from the feds and keep it a local issue?
But instead, Leon just squeezes my shoulder half-heartedly. “That’s good work, Cherry. But unfortunately, these guys don’t fold just because they’ve been caught counting cards. There’s not a soul here we could report that to who would actually do anything about it. Even that Detective Hanson is useless against these guys. They’re used to dealing dirty, and they aren’t guided by a normal moral compass like we are. Hell, they don’t even follow the law unless it serves their purposes. They’re discriminatory enforcers, working in the shadows where nobody can follow, and for small-timers like us — they’re damn near untouchable.”
I feel my heart sinking and my cheeks burn with embarrassment. Here I thought I’d found something really good, something that would finally help us out, and it turns out I didn’t find anything useful at all. What a letdown. I look down at the ground sadly.