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

and clipped on his leash, making an exaggerated grunt as she pulled him toward the door. She poked her head into the living room. “Good night, Mr. Assistant District Attorney.”

Logan turned to her. “It’s Logan. And it was nice meeting you.”

She nodded at him before turning the evil eye on my partner. “The emergency contacts are on the fridge. You know what to do in case of anything.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Brad said. “You’re off tomorrow, right? So you can stay with Liv.”

“Yep.”

“Okay,” Brad said. “Night, Emma.”

“Night.”

I opened the door and waved goodbye to Emma and Gunnie while one of the two officers out front offered to help her to her car. She turned back to me. “Now that’s what I call serving and protecting.”

Returning to the living room, I took a seat on the end of the sofa and leaned against the stacked pillows. “All right, what did you want me to go over with you?” I asked.

Logan handed me a copy of my sworn statement. “Since I can’t exactly ask you about any of this in front of the jury, I’ll be asking your partner about it. So I just want to make sure I have everything down.” He glanced at Fennel. “Would you mind giving us a few minutes? I don’t want to risk tainting your testimony.”

“Not a problem. I need to make some calls anyway.” Brad went into my bedroom and closed the door.

“Do I want to know what’s going on?” Logan pointed the end of his pen at the whiteboard hidden in the corner. “The police department has certain policies for a reason. Since you’re the daughter of a decorated police captain, you’re well aware what those reasons are.”

“We’re not doing anything.”

Logan snorted. “I don’t blame you. These guys killed six people. They attacked another cop. They hurt you. I get it. Believe me, I do. And as soon as the police department brings my office a strong case, we will file every charge that’ll stick and make sure these guys pay for what they’ve done. That being said, whatever you and Fennel are doing is only going to hurt that.”

“We’re not doing anything.”

“Who took over the case?”

“Lisco and Voletek.”

Logan thought for a few moments. “It’ll be airtight. They do good work. Trust them to handle this.”

I held up my palms. “Yeah, no problem.”

Fifteen minutes later, Logan finished asking me the same things we’d gone over Friday night. Then he packed up his belongings, wished me well, and told Brad he’d see him at the courthouse tomorrow at ten. After he drove away, I went into the kitchen and reached for the prescription pill bottles.

“What did Voletek say?” I asked.

Brad took a seat at the table. “They’re still looking.”

“We need to ID the man with the gravelly voice.” I swallowed the antibiotics and peeled a banana while eyeing the prescription painkillers. Whatever Emma had done to clean my wounds made me want to crawl out of my skin, and the incident with the brush hadn’t helped matters. But I left the pills on the counter and reached for the alternative instead. I swallowed two of those, ignoring the concern in Brad’s eyes. He always knew when something was wrong with me. “Before Logan showed up, I thought we were on to something.”

“Then let’s retrace our steps and figure out what that was.”

Thirty-five

“We need access to prison records,” I said. “Diego and the third man might have served time together.”

“Well, we’re not going to find out tonight.” Brad rubbed his eyes. “It’s late. You need to sleep. And so do I. After court tomorrow, I’ll drop by the precinct and see what kind of progress has been made.” He blew out a breath. “Surveillance vans are sitting on every known location we have for Diego and Carter, but neither has surfaced. Voletek thinks they must be together, probably with their third.”

“Unless they disappeared. Did their photos and identities go out?”

“They haven’t been made public yet. The brass thinks that will force them to act. Voletek didn’t go into the details, but he and Lisco tore apart our suspects’ apartments. I’m guessing they found something related to their next target. The units outside told me officers were called back to work to guard the metro plazas. It looks like our assumption was correct.”

“Do we know the timetable for their next strike?”

“Not that I’m aware. Voletek said he’d keep us looped in, but he’s doing a crappy job. But that will be tomorrow’s problem. You have enough to deal with tonight.” Brad held out a hand to help me off the couch. “Do you wanna tell me what’s wrong?”

“Nothing a little sleep can’t fix.” I turned in the doorway to the bedroom, watching Brad make his bed and position his firearm. “You are allowed to go home, you know.”

He snorted, settling onto his makeshift bed. “Really, Liv? You want me to drive home at this time of night when there are all sorts of lunatics and drunks out there? That doesn’t seem particularly safe.”

“I think you’ll be okay.”

“I can’t take any chances. I’m key to Logan’s case. Without me, it might fall apart. It’s best I stay here where you can protect me.”

“Wiseass. And for the record, I don’t need protecting.”

“I never said you did. But I might.”

For the next few hours I twisted and turned, hoping to find a position that didn’t result in sharp, stabbing pain. Eventually, I gave up and tried to ignore it. But that didn’t work either. When I realized my teeth were clenched and my muscles were tensed, I shifted again, letting out a frustrated whine. I wondered if this was why babies cried when they couldn’t sleep, minus the stitches.

I forced my jaw to go slack. But I couldn’t get my body to relax.