Page 28 of Judgments of Fire and Desire

“It won’t be. We will get to the bottom of this… discreetly, of course.”

“Yes. I know your husband will want to know details, but just let him know it has to do with the mayor, and it’s extremely confidential. We don’t know who all is involved, although I have question marks by different people in my head.”

“Well, let’s see if they are the same people I’m thinking about.”

“Your boss… the sergeant.”

“That’s a thought, since he reassigned me. I also thought about his boss, the deputy chief.”

“You think it goes that high?” I asked.

“Yes. The mayor was the little fish. That was why she had to take the fall.”

“Smart. I’m questioning the DA. For him to not try to investigate further makes me pause concerning him.”

“I agree. He should have been the main one requesting we look into other folks. I also believe some people on the councilmay be involved as well, but they are small fish too. However, if we go after them, it may lead to the big fish.”

“Or we can leave them out there to bait the big fish.”

“Okay, Judge. Let me find out you have aspirations of being a detective.”

I chuckled. “I used to. I thought I could serve the people better by being a judge due to some stuff that happened within the police department some years back. There was blatant police misconduct that led to the deaths of two teenaged boys. They only got a couple of years in jail, while the boys’ families were left to grieve the deaths of their loved ones due to ‘mistaken identity’ that was clearly profiling.”

“Oh, man. That’s sad.”

“I was so disgusted. I knew those boys, played basketball with them, and had established a trusting relationship with them. That incident knocked us back to square one with the community, and unfortunately, I didn’t blame them. They had a reason to not trust the police.”

I couldn’t believe how easily I told her those details. Doing so only caused me to think about Genesis and how patient she had been with me. The woman made me better in every aspect.

“Well, we’re going to get to the bottom of this, and when it’s all said and done, you will get to be the one to make sure they get the sentence they deserve.”

“Hell yeah. Thank you for meeting me.”

“Of course. Thank you for trusting me. I try to do my job to the best of my abilities, and there is no one that can scope foolishness out like a black woman.”

I laughed. She was right about that shit. I downed the rest of my latte since it had cooled off, and I watched her do the same. I reached across the table and shook her hand and said, “I’ll be in touch.”

“Yes. Same.”

She walked toward the door with me following right behind her. I opened the door, allowing her to walk through it first. Her husband was watching closely, so I gave him a head nod. He did the same.

Making my way to my vehicle, my mind went right back to Genesis. It didn’t help that I was only about five minutes away from her house. I wanted to go there and just hold her in my arms, but I knew I couldn’t do that. My heart was extremely heavy, and the best place to go when I felt this way was to my mama’s house. She was gonna kill me for losing her daughter-in-law.

I trudgedto the Keurig and brewed a cup of coffee. I wasn’t even a coffee drinker, but I found myself drinking a cup every morning since the last time I spoke to Kyrie. My heart was torn to pieces. When he stopped calling as much, I felt like I was reaching the end of a beautiful journey, finding out it was only a dream. I hadn’t texted him, and he hadn’t messaged me either. It had been two weeks since he’d broken things off with me.

I hadn’t even told my brother, because him celebrating my agony would cause me to punch him in his damn throat. Micah could tell something was going on the day I went back to work and had pieced it together. I lay in her arms nearly that entire night, crying my eyes out. Although I could feel it coming, I didn’t expect Kyrie to completely pull away from me. After we had the most amazing night, he left me drowning in my feelings because I tried to protect him.

I refused to be strung along though. Hanging around until he made up his mind was a no-go for me. While I knew that was exactly what I would be doing, he didn’t need to know that. There was no man alive that would make me feel the things Kyrie did. My emotions were all over the place, and the longer I went without hearing from him, the more I felt like a fool.

Maybe Ididget used, just like my brother had said Kyrie would do.Ugh!Everything about him seemed sincere to me, and I was usually a good judge of character. It was extremely hard not to reach out to him, but I had to stick to my guns. I meant what I said. I wasn’t going to stick around only for him to continue dragging my heart through the mud. Here it was, Thanksgiving week, and I was spending it at work. I volunteered to work someone else’s shift so they could go out of town.

I would be working six days this week, right through the holiday. My mama was upset that I wouldn’t be there for Thanksgiving but promised to bring me a couple of plates. I stirred my coffee after adding sugar and creamer to it, then made my way to the table.

“Good morning, sis.”

I turned to see Micah joining me. “Good morning.”

“You sound like you’re getting sick. You feel okay?”

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