Page 42 of To Have and to Hold

Zzzzz. Zzzzzzz. ZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

The vibrations had me cocking an eye open.

Zzzzzzz.

With Noelle’s arm draped over my chest, it was difficult to maneuver for my phone without disturbing her. There was no point in being stealth, yet I did it every time. She had the sleeping instincts of a new mom—any and all sounds, whether it be a pin drop or a car bomb outside, would wake her.

With that in mind…

“Babe. Are you going to answer that?” she mumbled before rolling over. A light coating of her spit was left on my chest.

I fumbled for the nightstand. The room was cloaked in a coating of half-night, half-dawn, and with the black-out curtains I insisted we buy, it was even worse to find any stuff tossed onto the side table without knocking at least one thing to the floor.

Yup, there it was. My glasses were the first overboard.

My hand smacked onto my phone, and I dragged it over to my ear. “Yeah?”

“What the fuck are you doing, man?”

Knox’s voice pierced my eardrum, loud, alert, and pissed.

“What the fuck are you doing shouting at…” whatever the time it was. My one source of clock in this room was currently pressed against my ear.

“You know who’s been calling me all night?” Knox asked, but I’d be a dumbass to answer in his current mood. “My patrol. My partner. My goddamn CO. Wanna know why?”

Again. Piss poor move to answer.

“Because some dickslap’s been wandering around our case, asking his own questions and generally doing everything he can to stomp all over my crime scene.”

I sat up. “Anything new I found, I was going to share with you.”

“Oh.” Knox let out a big, fake laugh. “Oh. That makes it okay then. I’m totally cool with you taking over my case with your big shiny prosecutor shoes thinking you can do a better job unearthing clues than your good ol’ gumshoe buddy.”

“I never said that.”

“Spence, you’re retracing my steps. You’re questioning witnesses I’ve already run a comb through. You’re basically ensuring that I’ve done my job.”

“I’m going over every single detail there is to be uncovered. None of it has to do with you.”

“It all has to do with me! What’d you think would happen? An unauthorized civilian going around with his little notebook inserting himself into an active investigation? You’re not a detective, Spence. You’re not even a prosecutor right now.”

I chewed on his last part. “You been looking into me?”

“As soon as you authorized yourself to step onto my territory? Yeah, I have.”

“I took a temporary leave so I could focus on Emme. I think I can help, Knox.”

“You ain’t helping, man.”

Arguing was pointless. “That bodega guy. The store closest to where Emme was running to on the sidewalk. He said something about a strange purchase, jugs of expired fruit punch. Have you pulled the surveillance?”

“Don’t, Spence.”

“I’m serious. Who the hell buys expired fruit punch unless it’s to feed it to something considered less than human? It wouldn’t be a dog or another pet. Not a plant.”

“You have to stop.”

“That’s just it.” Noelle stirred as my voice rose. “I’m not going to. You stated you couldn’t tell me everything, that the powers that be over at your precinct prevent you from sharing information.”

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