Not for a very, very long time, that is.
The big one threw himself onto the smaller one, but they didn’t go down, nor did anything tear. I could tell they were stalling. Did they think they could wait me out?
“If the two of you do not quit stalling, I am giving Holly the remote and walking away!” I wasn’t bluffing either. Iwantedthis, but I’d find what I needed elsewhere. Always had. Straight men were so easy to humiliate. “I want to seeskin, ladies!” I started to hand the remote to Holly while counting down, “Five… Four… Three…”
The smaller one reached forward, snagged the bigger one’s hemline, and pulled. The front of the dress tore, revealing the man’s hairy chest and one of his nipples.
“Now that’s more like it!” I still gave both a slight jolt as a reminder to pick up the pace. I turned to Holly. “Christmas is so overrated.This,” I pointed to the ring, “should be how gifts are done.”
Chapter Forty-Four
Mal
We were finallyable to track down Jason Kadeer. The man lived in the lower forty-eight now and I had a video call scheduled with him at the ass-crack of dawn tomorrow morning because he was on Eastern Standard Time.
Abiatha Kirlin, the ADA, was currently in Carr’s office, along with Sheriff Mawere. Since Holly Marteen’s rape did not fall under my jurisdiction, they were inside trying to determine what charges could be brought up against Roberts, Renfrew, and Steiner. We were also finally able to get a judge to allow Kaylee Collins to come in with an escort.
So much fucking red tape. My head was throbbing; all I wanted was to get back to the club tonight to see my little owl.
I was thirty-seven years old, and I was fucking exhausted. I loved my job. I loved bringing criminals to justice, but there had to be a better system. I did not become a cop toprotectrapists. Maybe it was time to look into retiring.
“Staring at that picture won’t bring her back.”
I barely blinked at Mira’s comment. She’d been better since our talk in the car on the way to interview former Sheriff Renfrew. I was starting to feel like she was a reliable partner again, but the woman did not have to remind me every fivefucking minutes that I was staring at Holly Marteen’s photo. After Emmet Renfrew had ripped the other one, I had printed a new one of her. This one was bigger.
“Who’s left?” I asked Mira, ignoring her comment. If I wanted to stare at the picture of, who I believed was, thetruevictim, then that was my prerogative.
“After this again?”
“There is no other avenue.” I stood up off the conference room table. Everyone else was breaking for lunch, but Mira had insisted on working through her lunch break with me. “Look at all of this, Mira! It all goes back to her attack,” I pointed at Holly’s photo. “None of this would be happening if not for that day. This isallabout Holly.”
Mira walked up to stand next to me, shoulder to shoulder. “I know you think so, but maybe we’re missing something. Clearly, Holly isn’t back from the dead to do all of this and she has no family left. From what we found, she didn’t have that many friends. So what if this isn’t about avenging Holly?”
I shook my head. “It’s too personal, too specific otherwise.”
“Look,” Mira made a face. “What happened to Holly was awful. The fact that an entire town backed a hockey team instead of a traumatized girl is tragic.”
“Despicable,” I added under my breath.
“That too,” Mira agreed. “But she’s dead, Mal. You can’t bring her back and you’re far too focused onherassault and not our current victims.”
“They’re not victims, Mira! All of them, they’re theoffenders!”
“Not today!” Mira shot back. “In 2010, yeah, they were. Today? They’re being hunted and it’s our job to protect them.”
“And you’re okay with that?” I asked, surprised. “You’re okay with protecting a group of adults who, as teenagers, gathered together to humiliate and rape their classmate?”
Mira sighed. “No, not really, but that’s the job, Mal.”
I stared at the photo of Holly Marteen. “This job sucks then.”
Mira frowned at me. “You love this job and you know it. But you’re getting too fixated on her. You think that because you didn’t save her that all of this is your fault. Which is ridiculous, Mal. You didn’t even know her.”
“Pull a psych eval on me?” I asked wryly. “Because you’re wrong. I feel sorry for her. I’m pissed on her behalf. But I don’t feel guilty.” I rolled my neck to crack it. “You think too highly of me if you think that.”
“Then why do you keep staring at her picture?”
Why indeed? “She’s the key, Mira. Someone is fighting her battle.”
