Page 152 of What's Left of Us

If he expects a response, he’s not getting one.

“If it were up to me,” he adds, “I would have your pension taken away and make sure you don’t get a dime from your retirement. Because I highly doubt one of your closest friends was investigating your former father-in-law without getting a little encouragement from you or feeding you the information as he acquired it. Fortunately for you, I’m one of the few people who are willing to question that.”

“Don’t you think you have bigger fish to fry than someone youthinkknows more than they should?” I question. “If you’ve been working on this case for as long as you say, then you’ve been waiting for a break like this one. As far as I’m concerned, you should be thanking Matt Conklin for his contributions. His death is going to lead to one of the biggest breaks you’re ever going to get in your career. You’ll get notoriety when this goes public.”

He seems to contemplate that, his hands sliding into the pockets of his slacks. “And what do you get?”

I lift my bad shoulder. “I’ll get to know that the person responsible for my partner’s death is locked up.” I lean back in the chair, crossing my arms over my chest. “You can think all you want, Powell. Put me on the stand when the day comes. Question me. Strip me of everything I’ve worked hard for if you think that’s what I deserve. But I don’t want this to turn away from putting away Conklin’s killer. If you want to fuck me over, fine. Do itafteryou get Del Rossi behind bars.”

Powell’s expression is unreadable. Under different circumstances, I’d probably befriend the guy. He’s got one hell of a gut on him, and he knows what to look for. But I don’t want him trying to spin this into something it isn’t.

Not until the case is closed for good.

I leave him with one last truth. “The only thing I’m guilty of is falling in love with the wrong girl. So, if that’s all you have to say, then you should probably go. I’m sure you have a lot of work cut out for you.”

Half his lips curve upward at my dismissal. “I can see why everybody likes you. And lucky for you, I want the notoriety more than I want the trouble trying to prove I’m right about you.”

If he expects some sort of gratitude, he’s not going to get it from me. “Do you think the witness will be enough to put him away?”

Powell stops at the door. “No, I don’t.”

My eyebrows go up.

“But,” he adds with a smirk when he sees my expression. “We do have audio recordings from another source with conversations that are incredibly damming to Nikolas Del Rossi.”

Recordings? “Somebody infiltrated The Del Rossi Group?”

He doesn’t confirm or deny. “Tomorrow morning, we’re going to execute a search warrant at Nikolas’s business. We believe there are files there that will incriminate him and others in a similar scheme that his former partner was involved in. With the amount of information we have, I have no doubt he’ll be going away for a very long time.”

Who could have recorded conversations with him that would be damming enough to send him away?

Powell nods toward the box on my desk. “I’ll let you get back to packing. Good luck in retirement, Detective. Hopefully, you can stay out of trouble.”

All I do is smile tightly at him as he disappears from my office.

*

Knight sets asix-pack of Corona down on the kitchen counter.

“Wow,” I muse. “Am I dying? I don’t know the last time anyone bought me beer.”

He snorts. “You better not be, jackass, or else you’ll ruin my whole proposition.”

My brows shoot up. “I’m not into dudes, Knight. Not sure what kind of proposition you came here to get me drunk for.”

Flipping me off, he steals one of the beers and cracks it open with the corner of his phone case. He leans against the opposite counter, crossing one ankle over the other. “Hannah told me you were done with the state.”

Hannah? “Since when do you talk to mylittlesister?”

“Don’t be like that. We saw each other in passing the other day and she brought it up.” He pauses only to sip his beer. “I’ll forgive you for not bringing it up to me if you consider my offer.”

“And what offer is that?”

“To join my team.”

I should have known. “Knight—”

“You have the skill set,” he points out. “You know how to be stealthy. You know how to trail. You’ve done undercover work before. You’d be the perfect person for the job.”

---