Page 34 of One Step Sideways

Kane didn’t comment but he was eating

All three of our phones sounded. Kane looked confused because he wouldn’t know that was the signal for the outside bell to the building calling our apartments. I pulled my phone out, as did Diesel, and we both inhaled sharply.

“What is it?” Kane asked.

I stared at the guy showing me a detective’s badge through the camera. The other guy and the two uniformed cops stood next to him and stared at the camera.

“Let ‘em in,” Diesel said.

We had no choice. Detective Titus and Detective Almeda came up. To my shock I knew Almeda from school of all places. Not that either of us acknowledged it. The uniforms stayed at the entrance.

They produced a search warrant, and I knew we were fucked.

To say I didn’t care for Titus was putting it mildly. They immediately called for a medical team for Shae, but then we all listened in disbelief as Shae was read his rights, after they grilled Kane as to why he hadn’t been taken to the ER.

Kane just said calmly that it tended to upset the public to see one of them in certain public places, and Titus grunted. I wasn’t sure if that was an acknowledgement or an opinion.

“But I was here with him all the time,” I said for the tenth time.

I guessed it was to do with Karlo or Karlo Andreev, as he was named.

“My attorney will be here by the time Shae gets there,” Diesel said.

“I’m sure,” Titus said, sounding bored. They started to walk out and completely out of character, I grabbed Almeda’s arm.

“Tracey,” I hissed. “What the fuck? Karlo’s missing?”

She stared at me, and I knew the hit I’d taken for her at school registered. She’d been plain, bullied. I might have been nerdish and the same, but her grades were on a downward spiral and the tutoring I did in private got her through.

“He’s not justmissing,” she hissed and followed the paramedics out.

Which meant he was dead. And the cops wanted Shae, or one of us, for a murder charge.

Chapter Fourteen

Kane

“How did they even know he was here?” We’d let him down.I’dlet him down. Promised him safety and wasn’t able to deliver. Rawlings ended his call.

“Oliver’s on his way, but I also spoke to a friend in the evidence tech department and she went out to the scene.”

“He’s dead,” Danny said flatly.

Rawlings nodded. “Beaten to death.”

“Shit,” I muttered. Shae was enhanced and had just been defeated publicly. It could be argued he’d want revenge.

“But I doubt he could get out of bed, never mind hurt anyone, and anyway, I was here the whole the time. I’m a witness,” Danny protested again, the same as he had to the cops.

“There’s enough evidence to prove certain enhanced have rapid healing abilities,” Rawlings said. “A clever lawyer could argue he made the injury worse after killing Karlo to make it look like he wasn’t capable of it, and you didn’t take him to the ER. That raises questions. And so does your record. I’m surprised they didn’t want you for questioning.”

“Fuck.” Getting him out of there without letting anyone see the injury might have made everything worse. “This is my fault.” They both sent me an incredulous look, but it didn’t change anything. “How interested are the cops in a quick arrest?”

Rawlings rolled his eyes. “They’re always interested in a quick arrest, but what you should be asking is how interested are they in getting the right perp.”

“And are they?” I asked bitterly. The only ones I’d ever dealt with just wanted to bury me in a cell so deep I’d never see the light of day.

“Many,” Danny said. “You just have to know which ones.”

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