Page 36 of Shadows of Justice

“Is that supposed to unnerve me?” I tip my head. “They teach you that in your fancy criminal justice program?”

He chuckles, and leans forward to rest his sculpted chin in his hand. His eyes crinkle in that endearing way when he truly finds something funny, and my stomach flips at the familiarity.

“Do I need tactics for a friendly conversation?” he asks.

“Bombarding me at my place of work isn’t what I’d call friendly.”

“You look good, Gen,” he says, and his tone sends a shiver through me—and not the good kind. “Really good.”

Is he seriously coming on to me right now?

“What’s this about?” I ask harshly.

Smirking, he flips open the brown file to his right and clicks the pen. “Can you tell me what you were up to on the evening of the fifteenth?”

“I got off shift at four a.m., caught up on sleep in the afternoon, and then went to Carlos’s for dinner when I got up. I was there until pretty late. Why?”

“What did you do after that?” Gavin asks, scrawling notes down on the paper.

“I just said that I was there until late. So, I got home and went to sleep.”

“Any visitors?”

I set the coffee down hard, some of it sloshing over the side. “Can we cut the shit, special agent?” I hiss. “Why are you questioning me?”

“I’d like to know why the suspect of whose case I’m assigned to is camping outside of your apartment,” he says cooly.

My pulse kicks it into third, and I do my best not to give anything away. Gavin’s good. He can sniff out a lie a mile away. “How should I know?” I keep my tone bored. “Bad part of town? It’s a coincidence.”

Gavin leans back again, regarding me with a shit-eating grin. How could I not see before how annoyingly smug he is?

“So, you don’t have any affiliation with Leo Barone, then?” he asks. I don’t answer, I just give him a look like what he’s stating is ridiculous. “No cute comeback, Gennie? C’mon. He was seen entering your building on the fifteenth, and has been camped out on your block every night since.”

My temper flares at his usage of the nickname only my mother ever called me in her letters. My mouth runs dry, the acrid taste of bad coffee and resentment like a poison on my tongue.

Also, Leo is staking out my place? Why?

“I told you where I was on Tuesday night. Call Carlos if you don’t believe me. It’s a coincidence.”

“I don’t believe in coincidences,” Gavin says, bouncing the tip of the pen on the table.

“You don’t believe in fidelity, either. Your file there say anything about that?”

Gavin works hard to hide his amusement with a cough. He flips two pages over, and pulls out a screen shot of the Ring video camera footage from Seedling Street. Leo and I are stooped down, me over Eliana’s body, he and I staring at each other.

“I don’t believe in coincidences,” he repeats, and tosses his pen down like a fucking mic drop.

“I can’t help you.” I force my posture to be relaxed. “I have no idea why he’s parked outside my place, but suddenly I’m extra thankful for my guard dog of a landlord. Obviously a sketchy area. Want me to call you if I see him so you can come swoop in?”

“No, Gen—”

“It’s Viv,” I cut him off. “Or, even better, Officer Schaeffer, Special Agent Montgomery.”

“Viv, this guy is scum,” Gavin says, switching tactics to get under my skin. “He’s a black market ghost, making his money in illegal deals, both international and domestic, peddling chemicals, harmful substances, and weapons. If you’re involved with him in any way, you’ll be an accessory. You’ll do time. If you got out alive. Do you understand what I’m saying to you?”

I strategically roll my eyes lazily from the file to his face, and sigh. “I don’t have any affiliation with Leo Barone.”

Gavin’s mouth scrunches up in frustration, his left middle finger tapping rhythmically on his thigh. He shakes his head at me, his expression teeming with disappointment.

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