Page 27 of Nightcrawler

I waved my hand at Miguel who looked over at me. His glare couldn’t have been darker. I shook my head and mouthed,“I’ll take care of it.”

Miguel nodded. “Look, Raven said he’d take care of it when he talks to his boss. He was shot and—”

“He was shot?” Jamie screamed so loudly, Miguel had to pull the phone away from his ear.

“Yeah. You said you heard about gunshots. What did you think happened?”

“I thought Passantino just scared you guys away. And what the fuck were you doing working with that prick anyway?”

I darted a glance at Miguel who looked embarrassed as hell. “It wasn’t like that, Jamie. I got there after he did and we kind of went in at the same time,” he explained. “By the way, you didn’t tell me anything about him having a firearm in the house. That’s a pretty massive oversight on your part. Raven could have died.”

“First of all, I didn’t know he was shot. How could I know when you’ve been out of touch with me? Second, the fucker doesn’t carry a licensed firearm and neither does Gemma Monroe. I ran both of them through the database. You know I’m careful about that. I told that fucker Woolworth if he tries to bring this down on my head, I was going to turn both Passantino and Monroe into the cops. Since GMS gets a hefty amount of money in premiums from both of them, I doubt he’d take it that far. I told him they were empty threats but none of that excuses you for working with that guy. What were you thinking?”

Miguel sat forward, pressing the phone to his ear and running a hand through his hair, a gesture which was becoming easy to identify. “I already told you what happened, Jamie. He shot Raven. We went to the safe—which by the way—has been upgraded to a brand-new system which you didn’t put in the brief. Fortunately, because Passantino and Gemma both have GMS Insurance as a carrier, Raven was able to get into it. He had the combination. After we found it empty, we investigated noises upstairs and found that they weren’t split up after all. They were fucking and Gemma was wearing her prosthetic.”

There was silence from the other side of the phone for a few seconds. I kept driving. “They were together?”

“That’s what I’m saying. We decided to see if he kept the prosthetic somewhere else so we went looking for it and when we realized they were in the bedroom, we went in. They were in bed together, Jamie. As it turns out, you can tell that lawyer to go to hell since Passantino and Monroe were engaged in blatant insurance fraud. I’ve got pictures to prove all of it. That should shut GMS up right quick. Your license isn’t in jeopardy. It never was. I documented everything.”

“Okay, Trigg. I get it.” He must have deflated because I could no longer hear him speaking.

“Yes, I’ll send you the pics,” Miguel said, sounding exasperated. “No, I didn’t.” He paused and I felt him looking at me. I turned to confirm it. The phone was still pressed to his ear as he spoke. “Yeah, he’s fine. It was a through and through and he’s all patched up now. We didn’t have to go to the hospital. My friend patched him up. I’m taking him home now.” I turned my attention back to the road as he continued his conversation. “Jamie, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry this happened.”

He paused for another minute before answering a question his boss posed. “Yeah, I do want another job if you have it.” I could hear the hope in his voice and marveled at how easy it was becoming to read him. He sighed. “That’s the only one you’ll give me?” After a minute more, he sighed again. “That’s going to be dangerous, but I guess I have no choice.”

Dangerous?

Alarm filled my chest and the ache in my gut returned as he talked.

“Yeah, it’s fine. If that’s the only way I can keep my job, I have no choice, right?” He listened for a few seconds before nodding. He sat back, banging his head on the headrest a couple of times. “I’ll see you to pick up the file tomorrow morning.” He paused and then sighed. “Okay, email it then.” He finally hung up and I was left wondering what the hell he’d just agreed to.

Chapter Ten

MIGUEL

After hanging up with Jamie, I relaxed back in Raven’s truck, working myself into a bad mood as I imagined all the terrible things the longshoreman fugitive was going to do to me when I went to arrest him. The minute we started driving up into the Hollywood Hills, I became aware of Raven’s wealth all over again. One of the oldest neighborhoods in Los Angeles, had some of the most incredible views in the Southland and I knew even the lowliest teardown hovel sold for a million and a half. I’d known the guy was rich, but this was bordering on ridiculous. I swallowed hard as he drove up and parked in front of a rambling forties-era Midcentury Modern.

“Nice neighborhood,” I grumbled under my breath.

He turned, smiling sunnily, only to have his smile die when he spied my expression. He opened his mouth to say something when a high-pitched voice called his name. “Raven!”

We both turned to look at a man as he came striding down the short, front walk. He was wearing skinny jeans, flip-flops, and a pink crop top T-shirt which made him look like the most flamboyant twink I’d ever seen. He stopped at the driver’s side of the truck and bent at the waist where he’d planted both hands on the window that Raven had rolled down. He peered into the cab, looking first at Raven and then me.

His eyebrows were plucked, his beard was absent, and his bleached highlights—much longer than the shaved sides of hishaircut—fell over the front of his face, covering one eye. It was only then that I noticed several facial piercings, including two in the single, visible eyebrow, two in his nose, and at least four in various locations on his overly-plumped lips. The guy screamedgaywhich normally wasn’t a problem for me at all. Hell, I’d taken guys like this to bed after picking them up in bars but ordinarily, effeminate men really weren’t my jam. I liked guys who left a little to the imagination and this guy didn’t…at all.

“Oh, I see you brought a trick home with you, Raven,” he said nastily.

“A what?” I barked, practically growling at the asshole. The guy’s eyes widened as he took a step back. I was going to show him what a trick was if it was the last thing I did.

“Ned!” Raven said, swinging the door open so fast, he let out a gasp. In his haste to exit the truck, he’d completely forgotten about his injury.

“What’s wrong?” Ned cried, reaching for him as I did the same, grabbing his right thigh with one hand to hold him in place. Ned glared at me. “Get your hands off him, you…you brute!” He pointed a stabby finger at me. “What have you done to my poor Raven?”

“Your poor Raven?” I squawked. I’d never hurt a guy in my life, and I wasn’t about to start. I also wasn’t going to stand idly by and let anyone call me a brute.

“Ned!”

I watched as Raven slid slowly out of the truck, and I opened my door, jumping out and coming around as he stood in front of this Ned dude. I towered a good six inches over his head, and he blanched, stepping back as if I was about to hurt him.

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