Chapter Three

Two days

Cassidy

“Objection, leading.” I’m pissed. This ego-inflated moron thinks he can put shit in the juror’s heads by asking questions. He can’t win without cheating. God knows there are enough ways to get around the law. Cheating it shows no effort at all.

“Sustained, this is your last warning, counselor,” the judge says sounding bored. Good.

“Withdrawn. I have no further questions.” The melon-head sits down, but I watch the judge.

His eyes follow Mello with a poker face. He’s pissed too. “Mr. Mello’s questioning of this witness will be stricken from the record.”

Melon-head jumps up. “Your honor!”

“Sit down, Mr. Mello. The witness never received a question he could answer. You added nothing to his testimony. We’ll reconvene Monday at nine.”

I pack up my pad and tablet feeling good about today while the judge instructs the jury. When the judge walks through the door to his chambers, people start talking. “What an idiot,” Brent says.

Turning and ready to go, I nod. Even the interns are getting to know the shitty lawyers. Detective Newell stands in front of me. “Good job, Ms. Warner. Come have a drink with me and we can celebrate the asshole’s incompetence.”

“We haven’t won yet, Detective, and I’m seeing someone.” Every time I see this guy he’s asking me out. I feel something is off with him, like he’s not quite clean, so I steer clear.

He makes a show of looking around. “Is he here? ”

Pushing by, I mentally roll my eyes. “He’s working. Thanks for the offer but I have to get back to the office.”

“Shut down again by the ice queen. Forget her. Let’s go...” I hear Newell’s partner but keep walking right out the door.

My jaw relaxes as I walk out of the courthouse. It took everything in me to keep my mouth shut. Ice queen. What a jerk. If I had a drink and didn’t sleep with him, I’d be a tease. If I did sleep with him, I’d be a slut. Women will never win. Today I’m an ice queen because I’m seeing someone and respect that enough not to be out with another man. Jerk.

Walking back to the office I think about Rafael. Last night he talked to me forever while he was sanding something. He’s a funny guy but kept his promise and called to let me know the fundraiser wasn’t a dream. As if the ugly lamp wasn’t reminder enough. I laugh to myself getting in the elevator. His voice going low when he’s flirting just does it for me. Something about the sound and accent runs right through my veins. I love that he calls me Bella too.

Harper said he’s well known and liked by the unit. She hasn’t heard anything about him playing around at the office, even with the women that want to play. He treats them just like the men. She made me smile saying some wouldn’t mind the attention but respect him for seeing them as equals. I didn’t tell her how much those words relieved me. There are quite a few women in the program and he’s not sampling the stock.

Egad, that’s a horrible way to think of other women. It’s all I’ve seen since I’ve been with the DAs office, but it’s still not a pretty thought. I’m just glad Rafael isn’t another Evan. “Thanks for getting me the numbers, Cassidy,” Parker says as I’m rushing by.

Stopping short I remember his mother. “How is she?”

“It was gas. She scared the shit out of me for gas.” He’s disgusted.

I can’t help but laugh. “Parents. I’m glad it wasn’t a heart attack, but I’ve heard gas can show to look like one. You wouldn’t be here today if it were a heart attack, so I’m counting it as a blessing and making time to go see her next week.”

He finally smiles. “Yeah. She wants to do another dinner. You free Thursday?”

His mom is sweet, sassy and can cook. “You betcha. I’m bringing a date.”

His head snaps back. “You want to bring a date to my mom’s. Are you sure? You know your mom will be there too.”

“He can handle it,” I say over my shoulder. I hope he can.

“You’re nuts. Now I can’t wait!” he yells down the hall.

Shit, what am I thinking? My mother and Stella will crucify Rafael. Plopping in my chair, I laugh. He’ll charm the panties off of them. I swipe my phone on and hit number one. “Dinner at Stella’s on Thursday. I’m bringing Rafael.”

Donna laughs like it’s a joke. “You’re insane.”

“That’s what I heard.”

“I’ll bring the chocolate. Gotta go. I’ll meet you at the bar at eight.” She hangs up without a response. What if I was busy?

* * *

Rafael

It’s been a hell of a day. Every team member ran through training and did as expected. Waters had situational exercises in the Hogan’s Alley simulator based on their specialties. I’m so fucking glad she signed.Ford and Wheeler watched every man run through. It will be interesting to see who they choose for their teams. At this point, I think it will go by personality for Ford and responding to orders for Wheeler.

“Commander, we need you in the situation room,” my watch says.

“On my way.” Shit. I drop the tablet on my desk and double-time it down the hall. The room is busy and louder than usual. With the activity on the right, I address that side. “Agent Peters, what have you got?”

She smiles like the cat that ate the canary. “Not what but who. Marilyn Hasseoff, biological daughter of the reincarnated Christ from Australia. She was moved to the US with distant relatives. Opened a church and is following in her mother’s footsteps as the daughter of Christ.”

Fuck, that’s sick. “Did you send it to the locals for her to be picked up?”

Her smile falters. “We have Springfield on surveillance but didn’t know how you wanted to play this. The warrant just got signed.”

“Get on with their task force, send them everything you have and let them pick her up. Offer our assistance but let them make the call. We can have boots on the ground in forty-five if they take the offer.”

“Roger, Commander. Thanks.” She turns to Schneider, “Get Hank up with them and send the newest files. Hank, don’t forget the offer.”

I stand back and watch. The task force video call included FBI from Springfield. The Agent on the ground stands out as reserved and watchful. He smiles at the offer but doesn’t take it. The Springfield PD will have their SWAT in place.

Hank signs off thanking the task force for allowing us to help and the room laughs just as the feed is closed. He gets shit for thanking them when it was us that solved it, but I think he was right.

“Good job, men. Solving without stepping on toes is the job. Henderson, I want you on as spokesperson until everyone learns how to interact without pissing the locals off.”

They all quiet as soon as I start talking. “The job, men, is not how far we piss across the line. It’s building a relationship with the New England territory. We have the best technology, the most skilled agents and the ability to solve cases quickly without all the political bullshit. We need to do the job without fanfare, so they ask us back. Our jobs depend on them asking us back. Be the think tank, problem solver or paper pushers they need and build our databases with everything you find. It will make that job easier down the line. I’m proud of the way you handled our first win.”

The room erupts in cheers and backslapping. I notice Marks moving toward Agent Henderson. “Can you look at our case, Hank? The Commissioner is open to us, but the lead is a dick.”

“Yeah, let me see what you have. Is he afraid you’ll take over?”

They walk to the table with Agents still working and I’m fucking proud. They’re getting it. Perez appears at my side. “First win is always the best.”

“Yeah. Make sure even the smallest request is taken seriously. How many do we have right now?”

“Fourteen. Some are routine shit, but the men are working them. It looks like we have another three brewing into bigger than expected. Cyber is working a corporate espionage case with Lowell that’s getting attention from the SAC. The other two are low key, but we have eight Agents working them now. By Monday they’ll be center tabled for more input.”

This is good. Nodding, I turn and he’s gone. Where the hell? Going all the way around I see him at the side of the room bending to a station with Benavides at a computer. Shaking my head, I walk down the hall. How the hell does he move like that?

Sitting at my desk, I’m working through the cases the men are helping with and see they’re more effective than I expected. I’d never say that out loud because it doesn’t show much faith in them, but I never expected them to work so quickly. They’re clearing the cases fast and moving to the next as if it’s an assembly line. Perez said fourteen but two are cleared and they’ve already closed four from last week. My mind shifted from calling them support staff to the Investigator team. That feels like a more accurate name.

Wheeler and Ford come in smiling. “They’re fuckin awesome, Rafael,” Ford says sitting.

I watch Wheeler and get a nod. “Let’s get this done and posted, so they know what team they’re on Monday morning.” I hand them sheets with positions and pull up the hologram board with the team’s training stats.

“Waters did a good job singling out the specialties for them. Seeing it on paper was good, but to see them interact and react to situations was better.” Wheeler sounds proud.

I nod wanting to get this finished. The men will be waiting for the rosters. “Breacher?” This position gets into places quickly leaving bugs or cameras behind.

Ford sits up. “I’ll take Tabby Swanson.”

Wheeler nods. “Kent Holbrook.”

“Surveillance?” I move right to the next.

It takes us half an hour to get the men assigned to a team with only SWAT under scrutiny. Wheeler wants them all but settles for two.

I print the page twice and hand them each one. “Post it in training and on the board outside the dining hall.”

They both stay sitting and read the page. I look at it from the hologram board.

They’re good teams, so I don’t get why they’re both still sitting. “Are you happy with your choices?” Just asking sets me on edge. I take orders and give them without input.

“What are the names of the teams?” Wheeler asks.

“Don’t do a team one and two.” Ford makes me smile.

“Ford and Wheeler.” I did put that on the top.

“You’re not going with something like Alpha and Delta?”

Jesus, I named them already. “No, I was going with Ford and Wheeler. You’re both evenly matched. There’s no one even close to your stats and you’re the On-Site Commanders. Every single team member is top ranked. They aren’t going to fight over what team they’re on based on the choices they have.”

“I’m good with Ford,” he says walking out. “I’m at the dining room.”

Wheeler stays and I wait for him to talk. “I know Ford is a friend...”

I put my hand up stopping him. I knew Ford calling me Rafael wasn’t good for the meeting. “I’ve worked with him a couple of times. We shared the same beer after Ops that we always do. I don’t play favorites and I’d be insulted if that’s where this conversation was going.”

He smiles. “No, Commander. I know he’s a friend and hope that I could get to that same place with you. The unit get together is Sunday and I want to know what I can bring that gives me a foot in the door. He’s bringing pizza. I know I can do better.” He smiles like pizza is stupid.

I laugh. “Why the hell is he bringing pizza to a barbecue?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know. I thought it was odd, but he’s your friend.”

I shake my head. “He’s a good guy but fucking weird with the pizza. Bring something chocolate. My girl will love me for it.”

“I will. Thanks, Commander.” He’s out the door like a shot.

Pizza. I finish my paperwork and stand when Agent Springer walks in. “I’m just in time.”

Shit. “Agent Springer.” I sit when she does.

“I go over the week every Friday.” She shuffles through her tablet, then looks at me. “We had a good week. The only extra expense was pizza. No supplies other than food and we’re running under the allotted budget for the week. No bottled water is saving us a ton of money. I’m glad you had the reusable bottles ordered now. No excess paper, pens and all the other office supplies will keep us under budget. The one area I can’t figure out is ammunition. We have way too much and Agent Waters is ordering more.” She doesn’t like the waste. This is good for an accountant and our budget.

“Meeting weekly will keep problems to a minimum so let’s continue this but make it morning so I can solve potential problems. The ammo is for the Ford and Wheeler teams. They’ll run through a thousand bullets per person per week. That’s just training. The Investigators, including you, will run through at least five hundred bullets per person per week. The ammunition is correct. I looked over her order today. She’s on target because the team didn’t run a full week. We budgeted for sixty-two people and her orders are to keep the ammo stocked for two full weeks in advance. The munitions stock will be replenished weekly once the teams are called to action.”

She nods and looks down at her tablet. “Beer is on the supply list. If we could get that paid for by the unit, we’d have more...”

I shake my head no. “Beer in the dining hall is free with a meal. There is a two beer limit. In the living room and game room, the beer is paid for. We have no excessive drinkers and teams that are on-cycle won’t be drinking. Beer is a perk that is in place because the men are agreeing to live on-site. This is not the military and there are no rules governing alcohol on the premises. I can’t tell you what would happen if we took it away, but we don’t need to. The Director threw it in with the confiscated property auctions. I wasn’t about to challenge him.”

She nods and I can tell she has more. I hope it’s not much more. “The auctions. It was one of my questions. You seize property and can just auction it off?”

“No. We seize property and you auction it off. The money goes to additional supplies or new equipment for Ops.” Since the Ops teams haven’t done one single job yet, I hope we’re done.

She leans forward. “We’re under budget now.”

I stand. “This is good. When we have something to auction we’ll talk about how that works. Are we finished?”

She doesn’t look happy but stands. “We can be. Next week I’ll want ten minutes.”

Since I know in advance, I agree. “I’ll put it on my schedule for o-eight-fifty.”

She walks out shaking her head, but I don’t like last-minute meetings and don’t want to hear about money trouble when I have no time to fix it.

The dining hall is full and I’m happy to see the tables split by team. Wheeler and Ford both turn when I walk in. “It’s good to see everyone together, not that I gave you a choice, but it was necessary. By now you know we have our Ford and Wheeler teams settled. In the military, we run by alphabetical order when we can. Being a creature of habit, that’s how it will work here. Ford will run the first Ops cycle.” The men start talking and throwing money. I wait until it dies down. “That means Wheeler is training and maintenance for the next three weeks. Commander Wheeler will have your schedules ready by Monday.” I look at him and get a nod. “You have R I notice as she’s rubbing her shin.

“I’m with Donna, your hair is cute. I can’t believe you cut it,” I tell her trying for a change of subject.

The men start talking again and Kent, the Breacher, shushes them and tells us what happened. “We’re at the mall around the corner so the team can get the shit we didn’t bring and Connor, the pilot, stops to watch people getting shaved for ten bucks. Ambrose, from SWAT, points at a little girl sitting alone with a mask on. The kid looks about five with bits and pieces of hair sticking out of her head. It’s the kid from the poster without the smile and hair.”

The men all agree and Harper has a sad look on her face. She’s always been the compassionate one.

Kent, the Breacher, goes on. “Harper sat across from her and the girl wanted to touch her hair, so Harper gave it to her. This guy says he can make it a wig for the girl and the mom is gonna take pictures for Harper. The paper is even gonna run it.”

I pull Harper closer and hug her again. “Love you, Harper the great. You make me proud.”I love my sister the big marshmallow.

She fights to push me away. Damn, I was just hugging her. “I’m never going to get picked up if you keep hugging me. They’ll think I’m gay.”

Everyone is laughing again. My damn sister has no filter at all.

“Listen up!” Someone yells and everyone quiets down. I need that guy here on the rowdy nights. “This here is Harper. She’s our sister and needs a date. You fuck with her and you’ll have to deal with us!”

“You asshole!” Harper stands up and knees the guy right in the balls. The whole bar gets loud, but no one more so than Harper. “I’ll never find a guy with you around!”

“Harper Lecompte! That is not how I raised my daughters!” Oh shit. We need my mom here to make this all better.

“Ma, I was coming home tonight. What are you doing here?” Harper’s face is a priceless mask of shock and embarrassment. She looks so cute with her pixie haircut.

Standing up, I help my mom with her giant bag of whatever she’s got this time. “Thank you, Cassidy. I brought the team cookies and brownies.” She made brownies and didn’t tell me?

The men push their way in as my mom goes to the guy with crushed nuts. Donna helps me hand out food but not before stashing brownies for us in her purse. “Why is your mother here?” Donna leans in like she’s going to whisper, but she yells it making the men around us answer her with how they love mom and don’t give her shit.

“This is like a bad movie of the week.” I keep handing food out but remember she wanted to meet me tonight. “Why’d you want to meet up?”

She’s kissing all the guy’s cheeks as she gives them the little ziploc bags. I shake my head waiting for her to answer. Harper and my mom are talking low, but I can see they’re both pissed. The guy with crushed nuts is standing straight and watching but still holding his crotch.

When I look back, a line is behind Donna. “Seriously?” I slap cookies in the first guy in lines hand. “If you’re not one of the three Harper named, get the hell away from her!”

One guy stays and I give him a nod while I hand the others baggies. Men are dogs. Harper had them pegged.

Connor, the pilot, takes a minute to talk with Donna and I focus on my mom and the guy Harper kicked. He’s Rhett from hostage rescue.

“Why does everyone tell their jobs when they introduce themselves?” I ask Harper, mostly because she’s the only one not talking.

“Only at first, so you remember who they are. They won’t do it again.” She jumps into my mom and Rhett’s conversation and I sit. A really bad movie.

“Bella, tell me my men aren’t causing problems in the bar,” Rafael whispers in my ear.That smooth voice goes right through me. There goes the panties melting.

Turning my head, I kiss his lips. “Harper kicked Rhett in the balls, but he deserved it. The rest are calm with my mother’s cookies and brownies. There’s a brownie in Donna’s purse for me that I’ll share. The bald guy in the corner took the bag, if you want your own, you’ll have to fight him for it.”

He looks down laughing. I wait patiently watching the men’s reaction to their boss. It’s not much, but they’re all paying attention to him while trying to look everywhere else. When he stands they stand straighter. “Nelson, you have a brownie for me? ”

When he steps forward, I see she’s actually a tall woman. Damn, I didn’t even notice. “One to spare, Commander.” She hands it to him with a smile.

“Did you get one?” he asks making me smile. He’s a good guy making sure she has some chocolate.

She nods. “Two,” she says proudly and Donna laughs.

“Why you hiding in the back? Sit with us, May.” Harper kicks a chair out letting her know where she wants her to sit.

I see arms going around Rafael and turn just in time to see my mom hug him. He looks right at me with his arms out to the side. “My mom. She’s crazy,” I tell him so he’ll relax.

He nods but doesn’t put his arms around her making Harper start the women’s table laughing. “Commander Saber, the leech on your body is my mom, Myrna Lecompte,” Harper says and my mom huffs stepping back to look up at Rafael.

“It’s nice to finally meet you. I heard about you helping at the auction. I don’t know why she’s hiding you.” She gives me an in-trouble look. “He’s handsome and hard in all the right places. This is the one you hide? The pasty, pudgy lawyers should have been hidden.”

Oh, my God! Everyone is laughing and I want to strangle her. “MOM!” I yell a warning at her.

“What? Look at him. He’s what fantasies are made of. Don’t think I missed all that foreplay and you kissing him.” She plops down next to May.

Just bury me now, someone, anyone. I take a quick look at Rafael. He’s watching the floor again, but I see his jaw tight trying to hold it in. I want to kill her. “Embarrassing me is exactly the reason you haven’t met him. Just stop.”

“Fine! I’ll just meet the team.” She pops out of the chair and to the back table like I threw her out.

“I can’t wait for him to meet Stella too,” Donna thinks that’s funny.

Harper hits my arm. “Stella’s having a dinner? When?”

I can’t do any more of this tonight. Ignoring them, I go to Rafael hearing Donna answer and invite May to the dinner on Thursday. Taking a calming breath, I look up at him. “I’m sorry. She really is that sweet and crazy all the time. I understand if you want to escape now.”

He puts the brownie in my hand as he bends to kiss me. Just before his lips touch mine, he whispers in that sexy low voice, “Not a chance, Cassidy. You haven’t met my mother.”

He’s kissing me like I’m the last woman on earth and I want to rip his clothes off. Nothing registers until he steps back keeping me in place with his hands on my hips. I don’t understand why he stopped and open my eyes seeing his little dimpled smile. He looks around while pulling me into his chest and sliding his arm around my back. Feeling his hard body is better than looking at it.

“Problems here tonight will have you all working for me the rest of the weekend. Are we clear?”

“Yes, sir!” the group yells back as one.

Oh shit. We’re in the bar and he’s giving me time to stop panting like a wildebeest in heat. I close my eyes and hold on a little tighter. I can’t blame my mother for embarrassing me this time. This one’s all on me.

The lifting of my chin has me opening my eyes. “Sorry, I got a little lost for a second.” The smile and look in his eyes is orgasm inducing. A sigh escapes my lips while my insides tighten and he smiles bigger. Can this get any more embarrassing?

“You were right, Donna. He could peel paint off the walls with that look.” My mother’s words have my forehead hitting his chest.

Thankfully, Rafael feels bad for me and drags me toward the door. “I’d love to stay and watch this, but I need to finish some shit at my house before you can see it tomorrow. I left Ford and Wheeler moving furniture.”

He’s leaving? After that kiss he’s leaving? But I want to rip his clothes off, he gave me a look and dammit I want him to stay for the orgasm promised in that look. I can’t say that in the middle of the bar.

When he spins me around just outside the door, I paste on a smile. “Ford and Wheeler are moving furniture while you’re here saving me from a potential bar brawl?” I want him to stay but do see the problem in that.

He bends close to my ear pulling me against him. “Yeah. Think of me when you eat your brownie, Bella. Smooth and thick sliding down your throat. Just enough sweet to make it addictive.”

I’m wrapped in his arms as a shiver goes right through me. “Oh, my God, you’re killing me here,” I croak.

When he kisses me everything is gone again. My world consists of him and how his lips feel, how his tongue skates around my mouth and the electricity that’s flowing through my body wherever he touches.

He steps back giving me a gentle kiss at the corner of my lips. “I’ll pick you up at twelve. Bring some clothes, Cassidy. I’ll never make it another night knowing you want me too.”

Wait, what? “There was doubt?” I said that out loud didn’t I?

“Twelve, Bella.” He’s in the shadows then gone. He left.

I’m going to be the first woman in Providence to spontaneously combust and he left. He won’t even get to see it. People walk by me coming out of the bar, but I’m still trying to process that he left. I take steadying breaths and turn. Seeing my mother, Donna and May at the door, I spin back around and take another breath. Of course, they were watching.

I paste a smile on my face, pull up my armor and march back in. “Don’t even start.”

My mother hugs me. “I’m so happy you finally found someone that is strong enough to keep you in line.”

Donna laughs and May is just watching.

“I’m not an unruly dog, Ma.”

“Neither is he. You’re perfect together and he is to die for.”The dreamy voice coming out of her mouth has me giving her a look .

Donna pulls us apart. I bet she thinks I’m going to kick my mother. “No one says that anymore, Myrna. He’s a hottie with a panty-dropping smile.”

“That’s it! If he looked at me like that, I’d drop my panties,” she says like that’s normal.

Donna pushes me into a chair and I glare at them.“Ma! That’s disgusting!”

“But true. The women in the unit were just waiting for a look like that. I’ll let them know he’s off the market,” May says taking my hand. “He’s the kind of guy that doesn’t see any of us as women. He even calls us the men of the unit . It’s insulting as a woman but shows respect for our job and skill. After seeing that, no one has a chance anymore.”

I guess that’s a good thing to know, but the men of the unit thing would irk me. You wait forever to get a woman’s body, then a boyfriend, then learn about sex just to have someone see you as a genderless being. I would hate that. “How did he know everyone was here?”

My mother sits next to me. “Mario must have texted him. That’s how I knew they were here. It was pretty loud when I walked in.” She works the bar until five so she doesn’t see the night time crowds unless she pops in, but that’s usually fairly early.

“How did Mario get his number?” I ask wondering if he’s stalking me. I throw it out right away. He’s not the stalking type.

Harper plops in a chair. If she keeps flopping her body around like that she’ll never hook up with anyone. “I gave him the Commander’s number when we walked in. He looked nervous. The guys are all big.” She shrugs like it’s no big deal.

“Is there a height limit or something? And do they only take handsome men? Even bald, these guys are good-looking,” Donna asks making me laugh.

“You have a choice of three. Don’t even look at the others. We got in by being the top-ranked in our fields. That was the only requirement that I know of,” Harper tells her.

Rafael told me that. He must be the top-ranked too. While they talk about the Investigators being hot, I daydream about eating my brownie. He made it so I’ll never think of chocolate innocently again. Smooth and thick sliding down my throat... My arm is slapped.

“You’re a million miles away,” Harper says just when I was getting to the good part. “Are you going on Sunday?”

“She is and he invited me too,” Donna tells her.

My mother huffs. “No one invited me.”

I get a glare and put the hand not stroking the brownie up. “It’s a unit get together. I can’t invite people to his house. I’ve never even been there.”

“You haven’t been there? You’ve seen him every day. You talk on the phone, but you haven’t seen his house?” Donna tries to snatch my brownie and I kick her. “Ouch!”

“I only saw him today because Mario called him. Stop telling everyone my life story, or you won’t hear it anymore.”I glare at her. Thankfully she nods.

“So, you’ll see it Sunday with the whole unit and Donna but without me.” My mother pouts like a six-year-old.

“No, he’s picking me up tomorrow so I can help set up for Sunday and he’s making me dinner.” As soon as it’s out of my mouth I regret it.

“I could help.” She jumps on it like it’s a life raft.

“No and no to every other plan you try for. You’ll see him on Thursday at Stella’s.”I hit my head. “I forgot to ask him.” I’ll call him later. Standing, they all give me a look.“I’m going to eat my brownie. Alone. Harper, make sure Ma gets home safe.” I walk away to her moaning about never hooking up. My mother lives three blocks away. It’s not a long walk, but I have a brownie to fantasize with and I need to do that now.

Just as I’m stepping into my apartment, Evan calls. Damn! I need this brownie .

“I need to drop a file off. Parker says you’re clear on Tuesday. The trial is set for nine. I have another case that came up today before another judge.”What? Tuesday is the trader case. “Everything is set with the case, I even packed my notes in with it.”My doorbell rings and I move toward the door. “It’s me, I’m hanging up.”He’s a jerk.

I put the phone on the side table and hit the alarm. “What’s going on, Evan?” Is out of my mouth before he has a chance to say anything else.

“I have a conflicting schedule. Everything is here. You’ll do fine.” He pushes files at me and turns to leave.

“Evan, this is all over the news. This won’t look good for you.” What the hell is going on?

He smiles that sickeningly sweet smile. “It will be good for you.”

He’s gone that fast. I look at the stack of files. It’s big, but a case like this usually has boxes of information. Where are the boxes? I call Parker and find the flash drives with the scanned material. That’s good. He tells me Evan is an ass and took the Indian sales tax case that another assistant DA had. The jerk lied. I guess the brownie will have to wait. I have a case on Tuesday that I need to go through.