Page 33 of Gunner

He grinned, which made his appearance almost boyish. He was so damn childish sometimes I forgot this man was in his forties. “More like ninety-eight.”

I scowled. “I don’t have time for this. I need to meet with the police captain here.”

“All right, let’s go.”

He took a step forward, but I held a hand in front of him. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“To the meeting with you.”

“And how do I explain your presence? I’m not going to let someone like you ruin the image I’ve worked so hard to maintain.”

Irritation flashed across Gunner’s face, and he sucked his teeth. “You think we’re so different?”

“I know we are.” I dug into my pocket for my room key and slapped it into his palm. “Look, as much as I’d like to argue with you all day, I have somewhere to be. Stay in my room andwait there until I get back. We can argue to your heart’s content then.”

“You’re giving me the key to your room?”

“So I’ll know where you are.”

“Call me if you need help to shake down the captain to get to the bottom of his lies.”

“Not all cops are liars.”

“Of course they are, and you most of all.”

Gunner gave me a salute and sauntered back into the motel. A sick feeling churned my stomach. Had I made a big mistake handing him the key to my motel room? I didn’t have anything classified inside, not while staying in a place like that. Hell, if not for my duffel still there, I might not have returned either.

I arrived at the police station in the nick of time for our meeting. The station was smaller than Smoky Vale’s, but I didn’t get to see much of it. As soon as I got there, an officer whisked me off to the captain’s office. Millwood was older than I’d thought, a decade and a half older than me at least, but his eyes were shrewd.

“Acting police chief?” he asked as if I hadn’t just introduced myself. “Aren’t you a little bit young for that post?”

“I’m thirty-eight,” I said. “Been in the force for almost two decades.”

He waved a hand at me. “Have a seat. I don’t need your whole résumé. What can I do for you?”

“Thanks again for agreeing to see me. It means a—”

“I have no time for pleasantries. Just get to the reason you’re here. I told you I’d handle the situation and let you know if we find out anything, but you show up instead.”

“Yes, but I’ve been working on this case for some time and would appreciate it if I could sit in on you questioning Paddy when you do bring him in.”

“You don’t trust us to do our job well?”

Jesus, what was it with this man and his fragile ego?

“Not at all. It’s just that I’ve been invested in this case for a while. I know the details of our investigation best.”

Millwood nodded. “That makes sense. Why do you think he’s involved?”

“We don’t know for sure, but it’s a known fact his brother was one of the traffickers. Since he’s the only surviving family member, as far as we know, it can’t hurt to question him.”

“So, in essence, you have nothing.”

In essence, he was right, but Sylvie had connected the two men. “But this could be the break we need.”

“Fine, we’ll keep in touch and send you on your way. The news this morning showed things aren’t looking too good for you in Smoky Vale. I can understand your situation, given we’re dealing with our own scum here in Riverton. The number one hitman we could never get enough evidence on is now running the Pinelli family. You have the Mafia in Smoky Vale, Witter?”

“We did a couple of years back, but not anymore. But we have OMCs.”

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