Page 43

Lucia

My blood boiled as I clicked the ball point pen obsessively.

I wanted to scream and knock everything off my desk; I was so angry.

I knew everyone would look at me crazy, so I was reduced to clicking this damn pen like a maniac.

I had to pretend to be shocked and oblivious when an FBI agent walked into the gala and arrested Mercer.

It was bad enough that DA Fern insisted that I be there.

This gala was an event that I wouldn’t have normally been invited to.

It was for the high-ups and important people.

I was just a smaller fish in this massive pond, and I knew my role. Not even Red could help me now, not like he cared. He got what he wanted by killing his nephew, so why else would he care about me and what I had going on?

I sent him a few messages and even called and hadn’t heard back from him. It was typical of men to get what they wanted and then abandon you.

As I stared at the picture of me and Rich, I wished he was here. Our relationship, even though we were married, wasn’t the best. We had a difference of opinions, but he was there when it mattered. I was nervous about Mercer opening his mouth.

He wouldn’t give the big people up; he would start with us at the bottom. We were disposable, and to save his own ass, he didn’t give a hell what happened with mine. Mercer wasn’t meant for prison, and he wouldn’t sit there long with the people he had in his corner.

I did what I had to do, and now I was going to be punished while a bunch of sick white men got a slap on the wrist. That was what it was when it came to people like us.

I became a cop because I wanted to make a difference, and I realized that I changed right with them.

I tossed my morals out the door and continued to do things that weren’t right.

“Captain says that he wants to talk to you,” Irie said, as she ate a bowl of grass and leaned against the desk. “He didn’t sound so happy about it either… well with you, not me. He says I’m doing amazing.”

I rolled my eyes and pushed away from my desk to go and see what the captain wanted to be up my ass about today. Tapping on his door, he waved for me to come in and I closed the door behind me, looping my fingers through my belt hoops and standing to see what he wanted.

“Detective Parker, what the fuck is going on with you?” Mitch asked as he leaned on his desk, looking me up and down.

Mitch was a straight shooter and never held back. Everyone knew the minute he had something to say, he was going to tear you a new one, and I couldn’t do anything except sit and accept it.

“I have a lot going on right now, Captain.”

He raised his brow. “So much that you cannot do your fucking job? Is this what you teaching the rookie? To slack off and not do her damn job.”

Mitch was so handsome that it hurt to look at him. His chocolate skin covered with tattoos and his thick beard often made me question how he was put into this position. Then again, you had Governor Johnson more tatted than the subway, so anything could go.

“Mitch, I just really had a lot going on… I’m shaking back.”

“The only time I wanna hear shaking is when somebody is shaking ass in my face… I don’t want to hear you shaking back, Parker. That witness that works at the corner store has called this station every day this week about giving a statement.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah, shit… you need to go to the fucking store and get the fucking statement. He doesn’t want to come here because he runs a fucking store and doesn’t have time… this could help in the investigation of that journalist case, and you don’t give a fuck.”

“I’m sorry… I’m going to get it together, Captain.” I promised and quickly headed toward the door.

“Thin fucking ice, Parker!” He called behind me as I left his office and went to my desk, snatching up my coat.

“Hill, we have to go.”

She covered her mouth while chewing her food and went to grab her coat. I rolled my eyes at her, snatched the keys to the car, and headed out. I was forced to work when I wanted to hide or get on a flight to a country where they wouldn’t find me.

It was only a matter of time before Mercer opened his mouth. I was torn between going to his bail hearing or going to pack and hide. Running would only make me look guilty and I didn’t need that right now.

Maybe he wouldn’t say anything, and I would be able to just live.

“Oh, the niggas are out,” Irie muttered with a smirk on her face, and I looked over at her.

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The tattoos on her weren’t missed. She used makeup to cover them up, but with a lift of her arm, or her bending over to get something, I could see that she had tattoos.

Detective Hill presented herself like she was a good girl, and I knew better than that. She was only pretending to be what she showed me, but deep down, she dealt with these scum bag men that we pulled up on.

They were out front talking and when they saw us pull up, they looked at the car and then went back to their conversations. I wasn’t used to them not scurrying away like the roaches they were.

I’ve come to enjoy seeing them nervous and not knowing what to do. The fact that they remained and even looked annoyed that we were there meant I couldn’t just peacefully walk by. I was the authority, and they needed to respect me, not tolerate me.

“What the fuck are they up to?”

Detective Hill looked out the window. “Literally minding their business… not against the law, Parker,” she was the first to climb out.

“Good afternoon, Gentlemen,” she greeted, and they turned to look at her.

One of the men, he was familiar. Brown skin, short cut with waves, and a mouth full of gold. “What up, Ms. Cop lady.” He smirked as he looked down at Irie.

She smiled. “Mr. Wraithe, I am a detective now… have you been staying out of trouble?”

From the smirk and shrug, I could tell he hadn’t been out of trouble. “I may need to get in more trouble so you can patrol these parts again.”

Irie laughed with him and then smiled at the other men. “Stay out of trouble… I don’t want to have to arrest you again, Mr. Wraithe.”

“I look forward to putting those cuffs on you, Officer Hill.”

“Detective,” she shot back with a wink, as she walked into the store.

We went inside and asked questions, and the owner of the store told us he saw a man that might fit the description come into his store. He claimed that he bought water and then asked to purchase gum.

“He purchased water and gum, and you thought that was enough to waste my time with a statement?” I blurted.

Hill looked at me, shocked. “Is there anything that you can remember that seemed off about him… there’s a reason that you wanted to have a statement made.”

She was babying the witness, and it was annoying me. “This is why I continued to call because my memory isn’t that good.”

“Sir, that is alrig?—”

“Blood and scratch on his hand, and his shirt was ripped. He said he and his wife got into it, and we had a laugh about women.”

“Okay, that’s great… do you have any video footage of that night? Something we can use, even leak to the media to try and get more people to come forward.”

He looked down. “The cameras are for show. I cannot afford the premium monthly membership anymore for twenty-four hour surveillance. Those guys out there protect this store for me… people know not to mess with this store.”

“Hoodlums aren’t a form of security for your store. Does your insurance company know this?—”

Detective Hill pulled me away. “This entire area was my patrol when I was an officer. These people are taken care of by the neighborhood. Those men, the same ones you are calling hoodlums, protect every business owner on this strip. When I first started patrolling this area, we had a million calls about gangs in the area beating up shop owners or robbing them.”

I looked out the store’s door. “And those men with red flags hanging from their pockets aren’t gang members?”

“They aren’t the wrong ones. You want to paint them as hoodlums because they don’t fit into how they should look for you. We all weren’t given a handout or up in this life, and some of us had to do what needed to be done. I don’t judge; I just do my job and pray I make it home every day.”

“Detective Hill, you seem way too invested with these people. They are criminals. Do you think for a second they wouldn’t hesitate to kill you? Do you know how many funerals I have attended because some punks like them has taken one of my friends’ lives?”

She snorted. “Only difference is they get justice, right? When one of my kind is killed, we never get the justice we deserve. They’re almost always cleared of any wrong doings and able to live the rest of their life, while the mother of the deceased is sent back to the same neighborhood that took her son.

We want to exist in this world and not be a threat or killed because the color of our skin. ”

“Hill, sounds like you’re on the wrong side of things.” I leaned on the freezer and watched as she became worked up over this.

“There is no side… we’re supposed to protect and serve. Not murder and discriminate. We have a Black governor that is tatted as hell… it goes to show that we shouldn’t judge someone.”

I was less concerned about her and more concerned about the man I saw pass something off. “Yeah, like the drug deal going on right as we have this stupid conversation.”

Rushing outside, I looked at them. “Let me see some ID’s.”

“For what?” The one with golds spoke first.

“Up against the fucking wall and pull those ID’s out.”

They all sucked their teeth and looked at me annoyed. “Detective Hill, this some bullshit.” One of them called out.

“She can’t save you… what did you pass him?”

The one with the golds went into his pocket and I quickly pulled my gun. “Get down on the fucking floor now! Suspect is pulling a gun!”

Detective Hill looked at me in disbelief as she never reached for her gun. I held my gun, as the man lowered himself onto the floor and I cocked my gun back and Hill jumped in front of me.

“He handed him a damn phone… it’s a fucking phone, Parker!”

The man remained on the floor, looking to see where he could get up. “Man, this bitch geeked.”

A younger one tried to walk away, and I snatched him and shoved him onto the car. Thankfully, he was on the smaller side. I slammed his head onto the hood of the car and held my gun to his head.

“I’m not fucking geeked out… what drugs do you have on you?”

“My son! My son!” the owner of the store ran out and waved his hand frantically. “I don’t know nothing. I don’t know anything about a man… let him go.”

He was mistaking me roughing his son up as revenge because he wasted an hour of my time. “Get the fuck back!” I snarled while holding the gun to his son’s back.

“Parker, you are drawing a fucking crowd.” I could hear Hill in the background as everything seemed blurry.

It was like I was here, and then I wasn’t here at the same time. Slowly, I released him, and he scurried back onto the sidewalk. “Get them fucking ID’s out now.”

Detective Hill stared at me. “I’m calling this in, Parker.”

I looked at all of them and then walked backwards to the car. While everyone looked at me, I jumped back into the car and pulled away, leaving Detective Hill.

She stood with her phone to her ear, as the one with golds in his mouth stood behind her, towering over her.

I was starting to believe that Detective Hill wasn’t who she said she was, and now I had to deal with the fact that I may lose my job because I allowed myself to crack under immense pressure.