Page 28 of Sinner's Secret

“Mr. Breznik, your rights have been violated, they’ve questioned you without legal representation present.”

“And no one even bought me dinner first,” Baz said in mock sadness. “Though, Davis did offer me a coffee.” He dropped the sarcasm and leaned closer. “Who told you I was here?”

The lawyer just stared at him, mute, as if he couldn’t understand why Baz wasn’t happy to see him.

Nika, Williams, Davis, and Thomas looked from Baz to the lawyer, with their jaws hanging open.

“Did anyone mention that I’m not under arrest?”

“You’re not?”

Baz looked at Thomas.

“He’s not,” the man agreed reluctantly.

Baz smiled brightly and waved. “Bye.”

The lawyer gathered himself, then curled his lip. “This is a mistake.” He left the room, closing the door with a definitive snap.

All four cops stared at him.

“There is something wrong with you,” Thomas said with all the seriousness of a doctor diagnosing a terminal illness.

“Probably more than one thing,” Baz said the smile still on his face. “Did you talk to Joe?”

Thomas rubbed his face with both hands. “Yeah, he said you’re good people. Kind of antisocial sometimes, but dependable and honest.” Now the man turned to Nika, Davis, and Williams. “I just talked with the captain. Our operation is done. Our resources are being refocused on investigating whoever was behind this attack.”

He met Nika’s gaze. “You need to give a statement about the two cops pulling you over. The captain wants to understand why you think it’s connected to the drive-by.”

“What about me?” Baz asked.

“Write the incident down. Sign it, then get the fuck out of here.” Thomas left the room.

Nika stood still and silent for several seconds, staring at the floor like it was a magic eight ball about to tell her the answer to all her questions. “Come on, Baz,” Nika finally said. “Let’s do this at my desk.”

He followed her out into a maelstrom of people and noise. Several officers watched him follow Nika to her desk and sit down across from her. None of them looked friendly.

“Don’t worry about them,” Nika said as she typed out her statement on her computer.

“I’m fine. It wouldn’t be the first time I pissed off an entire group of people.”

She glanced at him. “Oh?”

“I told my family to stick their way of doing things where the sun doesn’t shine and walked away from them. It didn’t make me the popular one at family gatherings.”

She stopped typing. “Gatherings?”

“Yeah, every once in a while, my cousin insists on seeing my face. I think he’s just checking to see if I’ve died yet or not.”

Alarm widened her eyes. “You’re here at the police station after someone killed a bunch of cops, and you’re not under arrest. How much trouble is this going to cause you with your family?”

“I won’t know until I ask them.”

“You’re going to talk to them after this?”

“The worst thing I could do would be to avoid them.” He shrugged. “Besides, I’ve always been unable to walk away when a woman was in trouble right in front of me. They won’t like it, but they will understand.”

“And they’ll believe you?”

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