Page 71 of Devil's Hour
“Long week. It’s been one upheaval after the other. First, Alderman Xander Kravitz is sworn in as interim mayor pending a special election, and now we’re waiting to see who he appoints as acting police commissioner, and how that will shake things up.”
“Has Commissioner Philips made an announcement?” If so, Royce hadn’t heard, and it would’ve been all over the radio. It was possible Mayor Kravitz fired him, but Royce figured he’d allow the man to resign first.
“Philips has resigned, but there won’t be a formal announcement until Friday morning when Kravitz introduces his replacement.” She leaned forward and lowered her voice. “I don’t know what it signifies, but Kravitz has called twice this week and personally visited Rigby today.”
A slow smile spread across Royce’s face. “You didn’t hold up a glass to the door?”
Delores rolled her eyes. “I value my employment and wish to continue working for Chief wherever that may take me.” She crossed her index and middle fingers on both hands and raised them.
“Do you think she has a few minutes to see me?”
Delores winked at him, then picked up her phone and hit a button. “Locke is here to see you, Chief.” She listened for a second. “Yes, ma’am. I’ll send him in.” She hung up the phone and said, “Go on in. Please keep what I said about the chief in confidence.”
Royce crossed his heart before he entered the chief’s office.
“I thought I instructed you to take the day off,” Rigby said sternly.
“Well, I meant to take the day off, but trouble seems to find me wherever I go.” Rigby snorted and gestured for him to continue. “I might’ve stumbled on to a lead.”
She straightened in her chair. “Explain.”
So he did, leaving out the real reason why he’d gone to Bytes and Brew. He included Diego’s involvement, commending the officer because it would’ve been a dick move not to mention his assistance.
Crossing her arms over her chest, Rigby studied him. “He’s not talking, huh?”
“No,” he replied, but told her how the kid reacted once Sawyer left the room. “I ran him through the system, and he has no priors. They’re processing him now and will run his prints to see if they match any unidentified ones in IAFIS. I feel like he’s on the verge of breaking, and I’d like to see where he leads us.”
“The decision you need to make is whether you drop charges and cut Bradford loose tonight to give him a false sense of security, or let the charges stick and have him arraigned. The latter would put the fear in him and maybe make him reconsider if protecting somebody is worth it. Just make sure he knows we’ll look kindlier on his involvement if he helps us.”
“I think I’ll let him stew a few more hours and then cut him loose. Try to play the good cop and let him think he got away with something. Hopefully that will trigger him to act arrogantly, and he’ll make a sloppy mistake.”
“Sounds like a plan to me. Before you go,” Rigby said when Royce started to rise from his chair. “I have a bit of news I’d like to share with you.”
“Yeah, Chief?” Royce asked, playing it cool. Kravitz would be a fool not to make her his police commissioner, and Xander Kravitz was no one’s fool. He was confident the man would make an excellent interim mayor and would win the special election whenever it occurred.
“Commissioner Philips is making his resignation official on Friday morning, and Mayor Kravitz will announce my promotion to the vacated position.”
“That’s excellent news, Chief. Congratulations.”
“Achieving the rank has been my dream since I was a child and was told by my grandfather that it would never happen because I was a girl.” Chief’s grandfather was the former commissioner for the Atlanta PD. “He didn’t mean his remark to discourage me, but in his era, women weren’t promoted to high ranks. I cannot wait until he sees the announcement on television. He’ll brag to all his friends at the nursing home, but at ninety-five years old, he’s likely to forget about it the next day.”
“You can keep reminding him, ma’am.”
“There will be many changes at all the precincts and a new chief installed here in my position.” Royce nodded. That was the bad part of her promotion. “I’m counting on your leadership to make this a smooth transition.”
Royce couldn’t fight back the grin. “We see how things went with the last newbie to our office.”
“Greatness is within you, Locke. You could be in this very seat someday if you put your mind to it.”
“Yes, ma’am. Thank you.”
“Since you brought Diego Fuentes up, I’d like to know your thoughts on him. He’s recently passed his detective’s exam and is the top candidate for promotion to our unit. Do you think he’d be a good fit?”
Royce was honored she’d asked his opinion. “From my experience with him, he’s more than competent as a patrol officer, follows orders, and willingly assists the detectives in our unit, and he didn’t hesitate to jump in and help me today. I think he’d be a great fit.” Royce would’ve given her the same answer even before their truce because he’d never let his jealousy and insecurity hurt someone else’s career.
“That’s good to know,” she said nodding. “IA is still dragging their feet getting back to me with details regarding Marcus. I want you to know I haven’t forgotten about it during this upheaval.”
“I know that, ma’am.”