High Risk by G.K. Parks (books for 10th graders TXT) 📕

“I don’t know. He didn’t say. We’re off the case.” But I saw the lie in my partner’s eyes.

“You’re still working this behind Winston’s back, aren’t you?”

“I’ll assist Voletek and Lisco any way I can. Unfortunately, Jake didn’t get the chance to tell me what happened. He just said he needs to talk to you. To us. This was our case. Yours and mine. I’m not washing my hands of it until these bastards have been stopped. But you don’t have to be a part of this.” He stared into my eyes. “I’m not sure I want you to be a part of this. It’s too dangerous.”

“Don’t pull that macho bullshit on me, Fennel. I’m not some damsel in distress, recent events notwithstanding. If I know something that can stop this from happening again, I want to help. I have to help. But not at the expense of tainting the case or sacrificing a conviction. When we catch them, I want these bastards to go away for life.”

“I thought you might. I told Jake to drop by after shift. I hope that’s okay. He walks the line, but he won’t compromise the case. You can trust him to do the right thing. I’m just not sure IAD would see it like that, if they were to find out we’re working this off the books with him.”

“It’s fine.” Jake Voletek was Teflon, and so was I. “But we’ll have to keep this from Emma.” And that also meant I needed to stay away from the pain meds, which I’d been reconsidering since the moment I woke up.

I adjusted on the couch and closed my eyes. Brad turned on the TV, but the news didn’t mention anything about the killers’ latest attack. Brad’s phone buzzed, and I opened my eyes to watch him read the text.

“Is that Jake?” I asked.

“No, Winters.”

“Crap, I forgot about court. What day is it?”

“Tuesday.”

“You were supposed to meet with him yesterday. Did you go?”

“I was with you all day.” He typed out a reply and put his phone on the coffee table. “I’ll get together with him tomorrow. I have court Thursday. I can’t get out of it. Winters tried to delay the proceedings, but the defense wouldn’t budge. And since they’re willing to accept your affidavit into evidence and give up their right to cross, the judge didn’t see any reason why we couldn’t proceed.”

“So I’m off the hook?”

Brad chuckled. “I see you found a way to get out of going to court, but don’t do it again.”

“Is Winters’ case solid without me?”

“You’ll be there in spirit, metaphorically speaking. But I can handle this. We’ve done enough of these. It’s solid. So was the arrest. Actually, the defense was afraid your appearance,” he waved his hand at my face, “would bias the jury in the prosecution’s favor. I think he’s glad you won’t be there.”

“But that offender didn’t do this to me.”

“No, but you know juries.”

The phone buzzed again, and Brad reached over to read the message. “Winters wants me to tell you he hopes you feel better, and he promises we’ll get these guys.” Brad looked around the living room and pointed to a giant basket in the corner. “He sent that over. His card said something about not wanting you to miss breakfast.”

“Ugh.”

“You spent the night with Logan Winters.” Brad crossed his arms over his chest and stared at me like he would a perp in interrogation. “That’s why you smelled like cologne the other morning.”

“Nothing happened. I had a headache, and he let me crash at his place.”

“Likely story,” Brad teased, growing concerned when I didn’t argue. “Maybe Jake should hold off tonight. You just got home, and I’m not sure the doctors were too keen on releasing you. Everyone seems to forget you went through major surgery.”

“They stitched up a scratch. It was no big deal.”

“That’s what you think.” Brad exhaled, but the blood drained from his face. He turned back to the TV and flipped channels. We didn’t speak again until Emma returned with dinner.

Twenty-nine

“I don’t remember everything. Do you have a copy of the liquor store owner’s report? He told me the suspect had been inside 24/7 Spirits for almost an hour by the time I showed up. But before we could clear out the customers, another man entered. It must have been two men since there were three of them, but I never saw them until it was too late.” I reached for one of the files Voletek had brought. “One of them’s blond. The other two have dark hair. They all wore those plastic Halloween masks. The clear plastic with the brightly colored makeup around the eyes, cheeks, and lips.”

“Like this?” Voletek tapped on his phone a few times and showed me a photo from a store’s website.

“Just like that.”

“Okay, I just wanted to make sure. We’ve been running recent purchases, but we haven’t had any luck. I don’t think we will. Too many places sell these, both local and online. And they could have stocked up last Halloween or several Halloweens ago.”

“Did you check with robbery?” I asked.

“No crew used this as their signature, but there are dozens of armed robberies and smash and grabs where the robbers wore these masks. We’re checking into them and reinterviewing the previous victims to make sure we haven’t missed anything.”

“You think one of these crews has escalated to murder?”

“We won’t know unless we check. But they’re attacking cops now, so we’re checking everything, no matter how miniscule,” Jake said.

I reached for another file, hoping to find the liquor store owner’s statement. Perhaps his description of one of the killers would jog my memory.

“You don’t need to see that one.” Brad snatched the file from me. “IAD would say you