Reckoning Read online

  Kraven’s laugh smacked of mockery. “You two are ones to talk. A body was dumped outside of your doorstep to, presumably, make a point. I wonder what that point might have been.”

  Yeah, I kept a mental note of Kraven, definitely. He showed the classic deflection and defensive actions that a guilty man would possess. I didn’t want to believe that it was that simple, but he was definitely the prime suspect in my mind. I decided to play his game for a little while longer, to see if he might need to be considered an accomplice in another investigation. “I wonder what you wonder, Sir. Would you be so kind as to regale us with your musings of what the murder has to do with NEBU?”

  “You can mock me all you want, Dominic. We both know your hands aren’t clean, either.” Kraven’s attention was squarely set on me now. “I know about your ‘sterling’ service record with APD and Fulton County. It’s no wonder you jumped at Ramesses’s offer to retire and get with him.”

  That revelation captured Ramesses’s attention. I turned to him, subtly shaking my head to keep him from acknowledging anything or trying to give his claims any credence. I switched my focus back to Kraven, who seemed pleased with himself for the moment…until I asked one simple question. “Does your wife know about your tendencies to be down with the swirl? I mean, I’m sure you love the taste of chocolate and all, but does she know everything that you’ve been doing? Or have you been keeping her laced and flossed so much that she’s blind and blissfully ignorant of it all?”

  “It’s time for you both to leave…now.” Kraven deadpanned, the look of pure disgust on his face. He stood, making his way to the front door, stopping for a brief moment to turn in our direction in an attempt to silently clarify that his “request” needed to be respected and adhered to. He was startled to see how close in proximity we were to him, waiting for him to open the door so we could take our leave.

  What he failed to realize was that we weren’t done with him…not by a long shot.

  SIX

  “I believe we have matters to attend to, yes?”

  True to his word, Ramesses had the admissions agent sitting in Detective Sharpe’s conference room, along with her lawyer, within the forty-eight-hour deadline. The room was adjacent to his office, an added convenience and an infinitely improved atmosphere from the interrogation rooms in the basement of the building.

  Sigma was extremely efficient in finding the person he needed to find, literally laying waste to anyone in his path. I was impressed; he needed to work for the firm with the quickness. Keeping my ears to the ground, I found out that a few people caught a few elbows for trying to hide her from him.

  Yeah, he needed to have his role expanded, and he needed to be compensated for going above and beyond the call of duty.

  Detective Sharpe shook Ramesses’s hand, a satisfactory grin spreading across his face. “True to your word, Mr. Alexander, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised about that. Your word has always been solid gold.”

  “I appreciate that, detective, but at the risk of pushing my luck, I would like to make a request.”

  “I kinda figured you would, Ramesses. Shoot.”

  “I would like to be present in the room during the questioning. I still have interests to protect.”

  Sharpe’s face turned to stone. “You cannot be serious right now. You know that’s not going to happen, sir. Do you have any idea the procedural risk I would be taking?”

  I tried to settle both men down before they got to the point to where the words became more heated than they needed to be. “Sharpe, how about if I sit in on the interview? I’m still an LEO, and it won’t sidestep any procedures or protocols that department has in place. As Ramesses has said, there are business interests that we need to protect; as security director of NEBU and the other compounds, I act as proxy in the event that Ramesses cannot, for whatever reason. This would function as one of those situations.”

  Sharpe began to respond, but after one look in my eyes, he realized that he wasn’t going to win this battle. In the interests of discretion, he knew it would be a matter of playing the usual shell game.

  For sake of anonymity, we’ll refer to the young lady as dulce, short for dulce de leche, and she was as sweet and demure as her scene name suggested. Her choice of attire, however, was nowhere near as demure as she was known for. In fact, she was even more conservative than usual, and that was saying a lot: calf-length skirt, sleeveless top, two-inch block heels.

  Her lawyer stroked his chin as Detective Sharpe entered into the room, his face concealing any emotion he might have been bubbling underneath. One look in my direction and that calm demeanor changed in moments. “Good afternoon, detective, I’m Mr. Peal, and I’ll be representing Ms. Yates in this matter. I wish to have Mr. Law removed for this interview.”

  Sharpe huffed, looking at me for confirmation. I shrugged my shoulders, trying to figure out what his angle was. “Don’t look at me, Sharpe. I have no idea what in the world he’s getting at. I have had no dealings with him at all from a legal perspective.”

  “I beg to differ.” Mr. Peal slowly came unraveled as he continued to stare holes in my chest. “We might not have had legal dealings, but we have had dealings before. I will not allow my client to answer questions while he is in the room.”

  “Well, I’d hate to have your client arrested and booked for obstruction, Mr. Peal, but Mr. Law stays, as he is a direct supervisor to Ms. Yates, and he is certified. So, which will it be; does she get booked, or does he stay so we can begin?”

  I didn’t want to embarrass the poor man, considering the history that we actually shared. It might have had something to do with a slight incident at Liquid one fine summer night. He was still pissed at his wife every time he thought about it, and seeing me did nothing more than serve as another reminder of that embarrassment.

  Not my monkey, not my circus.

  Mr. Peal scribbled some notes down, resigning himself to whatever would happen next. “Very well, Detective Sharpe, begin your interview, please.”

  dulce’s eyes were focused on mine for a brief moment, trying her best to keep from looking like she couldn’t decide whether she wanted to fear me or lust over me. She had been making some overtures toward me in an attempt to try and move up the food chain at NEBU, but to no avail. I nodded in her direction, giving the silent clue that whatever she mentioned during the interview, that she would be taken care of, as long as there wasn’t anything that was against policy.

  Sharpe gave a nod at me before he asked his first question. He laid the picture of the suspect in front of her, observing her nonverbal responses. “I see you recognize the suspect we believe murdered a patron of your employer’s establishment. Can you tell us what his name is?”

  dulce looked over at Mr. Peal, looking for a clue to answer the inquiry. After he nodded, she exhaled for a moment before she responded. “I don’t know his legal name, sir, but yes, I recognize him. The scene name he gave me was Illmatic; he was a regular with Mr. Matthews whenever they wanted to engage in some private scening.”

  “How do you know his scene name, but you don’t know his legal name?” Sharpe pressed his hands against the table top. “Isn’t it policy to ensure that members are carded and cataloged before they attend any events there?”

  I was impressed with the first question; he must have been talking to Niki at length about some things. I didn’t worry too much about it, though, considering that the conversation would eventually lead to Sharpe trying to find out for himself if the stories and myths are true. That’s how Jason eventually found himself within the confines of the compound.

  dulce’s face lost its color, and I realized at that moment that she’d been caught in whatever she’d been doing up until this point in time. She looked at Mr. Peal again, her eyes filling with tears. He nodded again, patting his hand on top of hers, mouthing the words, “It’s okay.” “It is policy, yes, sir, but…Mr. Matthews, he asked me to do him a favor, and he…well, he paid me to look the other way.”
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  I shook my head. Ramesses was going to hit the roof when he found out about this. Hell, I wasn’t entirely thrilled, either, but I had to maintain my composure to keep her from losing her cool. It would be a matter of time before the flood gates would open up and trail down her face.

  Sharpe continued the onslaught, looking to pin accessory charges with each damning question. “So, you were paid to break company policy, and in turn, you wittingly allowed a potential security risk onto your employer’s location.”

  “Detective Sharpe, your question is out of line; I will not allow you to harass my client like this.” Mr. Peal spoke up, trying to slow Sharpe down. He had a point; Sharpe was going in on her a bit high and tight, but it was the same tactic that I would have used in order to press for information that I needed.

  The tactic worked, though. The next words out of dulce’s mouth would take everyone off guard, including her attorney. “I don’t want to go to jail over this. All I did was take care of a VIP client, but I’m not stupid. If I told you I was able to get the man’s information behind Mr. Matthews’ back, will that keep me from getting charged?”

  The whole room quieted with the quickness.

  I should have known she was smarter than everyone gave her credit for. I leaned against the far wall in the room, trying to contain my grin. She picked up on the conversations that we’d had more than I thought. She would always pick my brain about certain things, asking questions that, in hindsight, culminated in today’s current situation. She had an ace in the hole, and it pissed Mr. Peal off that he didn’t know.

  Sharpe motioned for me to leave the room with him, giving dulce and her attorney time to get whatever conversation they needed to have privately. I didn’t want to be in his shoes; he had been rendered useless in the span of ten seconds.

  Once we were out of earshot, Sharpe looked like he wanted to burst into laughter. “Law, you’re killing me with this circus you got going on. Did you know she was gonna drop that bomb like that?”

  I shrugged my shoulders, trying my best not to laugh, too. “Sharpe, I would have given you the heads-up if that were the case, trust me. I’m laughing at Peal right now; I don’t think he saw that freight train coming.”

  “That reminds me, now that you mention it.” Sharpe leaned in to keep the words from getting outside of the two of us. “What in the world happened that made him want to have you removed from the interview?”

  Before I could answer that question, the sweet words of my submissive tickled my eardrums. “Would You like to answer that question, Sir, or would You like me to do the honors?”

  Sharpe shook his head, giving Niki a look that caused me to chuckle. “Santiago, come on, don’t tell me you had something to do with that?”

  Niki shrugged, winked at me, and gave the account in one simple statement. “He should have learned not to play with the big boys, so I had to teach him a lesson.”

  I quickly changed the subject, trying to keep Sharpe from getting too nosey. “So, what about dulce? Is she free to go once she gives up the info?”

  Niki’s ears perked up. “dulce is here? Why is she being interviewed?”

  “She has information that is pertinent to the case involving Jason.” Sharpe figured it was best to keep from beating around the bush. Technically, I didn’t see a need to keep things from her, either. “She just dropped a nugget that she might have covertly gotten the real identity of the suspect, despite efforts to the contrary.”

  Before either of us could stop her, Niki barged into the room and plopped down into the chair across from dulce. Her eyes narrowed as she regarded the young woman across from her. I couldn’t figure out exactly what she was going to do, but whatever it was, it was going to be interesting. I knew my submissive well.

  She didn’t disappoint. “Let’s skip the bullshit, shall we? Ms. Yates, I know you have been doing some things under the table at NEBU, and I turned a blind eye to it because it wasn’t causing anyone any harm. As you’re now aware, that is no longer the case. You have five minutes to give up the name of the person of interest, or I not only will make things uncomfortable for you from a legal perspective, but Ramesses and Neferterri will be very interested in your outside activities.”

  Mentioning those two names broke the flood gates wide open. dulce couldn’t get the information out quickly enough. In fact, she reached into her purse and pulled out a folded piece of paper. “Confirmed and verified, Ms. Santiago. As I explained to Detective Sharpe, I’m not trying to go to jail for nobody. I’m not that stupid.”

  “Thank you for your swift cooperation, dulce.” Niki walked toward the door, amused at the confused look on Sharpe’s face and the smirk and nod I gave her. She turned back toward dulce before she left the room, a smile on her face now that she got what she needed. “I’ll see you at the roundtable discussion this weekend, yes?”

  “I wouldn’t miss it for the world, Niki.” dulce got up from her chair in an attempt to leave. She gave me the once-over for a few seconds, smiled to herself, and headed out the door. “Oh, and tell Natasha I said hello, too. I’m looking forward to seeing her pretty ass again soon.”

  SEVEN

  “I’m sorry, I thought I could handle it.”

  Catching my submissive in such a broken state was a bittersweet moment for me. On the one hand, I was accustomed to Niki keeping it together in times like this. On the other hand, it’s one thing to deal with stress, but it’s quite another to deal with the stress over the loss of a colleague. Seeing her in such a vulnerable state had me at the point to where I wanted to make it all better.

  This wasn’t the first time we’d lost a fellow officer of the court, but it had been more than a few years since the last time. It wears on you in the aftermath. It took me more than a few months to get through the loss of my first partner—the one before Niki and I partnered up—before I could actually function normally again.

  Under normal circumstances, I was wary of showing any romantic overtures while she was at work, but these weren’t normal circumstances. I threw caution to the wind as I held her and consoled her. The moment her head hit my chest, she let it all go, screaming into my coat to buffer the noise.

  She was able to compose herself a few moments later, immediately taking out her compact to check her makeup, ensuring the new MAC smudge-proof was still intact. It cost me a pretty penny, but as Ramesses loved to say, “Nothing is too good when it makes my girls look good.”

  “I still can’t believe he’s gone,” she remarked. She looked up at me, nodding at my silent question. “I guess I should have seen this coming. He showed all the signs.”

  “Tell me what you observed; maybe it might help us understand and figure out who was behind his murder.”

  Niki left my embrace, walking behind her desk to take a seat, running through the sequence of events in her head. She nodded to herself, turning her gaze to me to begin her recount. “After that whole thing with tiger’s rape, he sort of stayed to himself a bit; he still did his job, but he wasn’t the same Jason I had been working with and socialized with.”

  “Do you think it was post-traumatic stress or depression?”

  “Hard to say; his performance never dropped off. In fact, he seemed more vicious than ever, and his conviction rate jumped big time.” She continued the information dump, rattling off the details in near rapid-fire motion, almost like she saw the events as they happened very recently. “But he continually turned down drinks at the bar, kept saying he had other things to do. It got to the point to where everyone else stopped asking him to go out.”

  “So, what changed? When we were at the station, there was another woman there—”

  “Collette.” Niki’s expression turned to one of pity as she spoke her name. “I tried to tell that girl that Jason wasn’t it, but she pegged me for a hater, trying to keep him to myself. She didn’t know about you; not too many do, for obvious reasons.”

  The smirk on her face was met with one of my own. Most women woul
dn’t have been cool with keeping their dating profile on the low, but Niki was not most women. Even when we were partners, she was always coy about whom she was dating, to the point to where I even wondered which team she played for.

  “The bisexuality portion of the program…I don’t think she was ready for all of that. I knew he was into men, but he was convinced that not too many women would be goo with that. Hell, she was the first sistah I’d seen him with. Poor girl; she had to find out like this.”

  I wasn’t sure if she was ready to hear the information I had to give her, but in the interests of full disclosure, it needed to be done. “I’m having coffee with her to discuss her relationship with Jason. Her reaction to everything tipped me off. She might have information that might shed a different light on things.”

  Niki never bat an eyelash. “I was wondering if she would hit you up. She might open up another angle all right.”

  I smiled at her growth over the past year. In the past, that legendary Boricua temper would have boiled to the surface in an instant, causing me to spend the next few minutes readjusting her attitude. It took a few sessions with shamise and sajira to get her under control when it came to that, but she’d really come around. Natasha wasn’t as heavily invested emotionally yet, so it took her less time to adjust to her new situation.

  However, the body language was not lost on me. “What do you mean, and don’t think I didn’t catch the sarcasm in your voice, either, Niki.”

  Niki blushed for a moment, realizing she’d been caught. The last time she piped up, she got an over-the-knee spanking she wouldn’t forget. I had no issues bending her over her own desk and reminding her of where her place was. “Sir, forgive me, i didn’t mean for my tone to slip out. It’s not that i’m jealous or anything, but…You know how women are around You, my Sir.”

  I decided it was best to handle that small transgression once we left the confines of her locale later in the evening where ear hustlers wouldn’t be able to enjoy too many “eargasms” and run tell that afterward. I switched back to the case at hand, determined to pick her brain further. “What really has me confused is why all of the secrecy? We kept him out of the loop with that rape case, and then he decides to keep it on the low anyway?”