Page 62 of Loco

But I walked through the house anyway, bat raised like I knew what I was doing. I peeked into every room and checked every door.

Still, the adrenaline made my fingers shake.

When I was finally convinced it had been something outside—some clumsy raccoon or a neighbor’s cat knocking over a garden gnome—I headed back upstairs.

On the way to my room, I paused at the doorway to the bathroom and flicked the light on just for a second.

There were all white fixtures and clean glass. The slate tiles underfoot were a deep, moody gray that made the whole space feel like a spa retreat. I loved it. Every inch of the new bathroom had been chosen carefully, and now, even shaken, I could appreciate how far the place had come.

I exhaled, flicked the light off again, and climbed back into bed, but the bat stayed on the sheets beside me this time.

I tried to sleep, but every creak of the floorboards and gust of wind outside the window made my fingers twitch toward it. I’d doze off, only to wake again, heart pounding.

It wasn’t until the sky started to turn gray that I finally slipped into something like real sleep. And even then, I never let go of the bat.

I was so exhausted the next morning that I didn’t notice the missing pane of glass in the rear living room window. If I had, I might’ve realized that whatever Roque had been so worried about had already found its way to my door and warned him.

Chapter 19

Roque

Another body had turned up in the woods—this time, we wished it was someone we didn’t know. He’d been identified as Kaden Roper, a nineteen-year-old from Palmerstown and a good kid with a bright future ahead of him. And he was Black, which made him a disturbingly perfect match for the pattern we were starting to see with our corrupt cops.

“You think it’s them?” I muttered to Judd as we stood by, watching the coroner lift Kaden’s body into the van.

“If it is, I swear I’ll kill them,” he said, voice tight, jaw clenched. I’d seen Judd angry before, but never like this. We’d been through hell together, but this hit differently. “I didn’t sign up for this job to watch racist, crooked bastards wear a badge and pretend they’re protecting people.”

I clapped a hand on his shoulder, trying to ground us both. “We’re close, man. I feel it, too. Hell, I’ve already got one foot out the door, but I’m not going anywhere until we get justice for every single person they’ve hurt.”

Judd shot me a sideways glance. “Wait, you’re quitting?”

I nodded, slow and tired. “One foot out the door, like I said. Been thinking about it more every day.”

He ran a hand through his hair, exhaling hard. “We all talked about it last night as well. Me, Kapono, Imogen, and Keir over beers and way too much bitterness. We’re thinking of walking, too.”

I raised a brow. “All of you?”

He nodded. “Yeah. Just think about that for a second—six of the most experienced officers bailing at once. The place’ll fall apart.”

“Let it,” I muttered. “If the department gave a damn, Internal Affairs would be crawling all over these complaints. Instead, they’re sweeping everything under the rug and letting the worst of us wear the badge.”

He didn’t argue, and we sat silently for a moment, just listening to the hum of the cruiser around us.

“I’ve been trying to figure out what I want todo if I’m not a cop,” I sighed eventually.

“I’m opening a bar,” Judd said, a half-smile tugging at his face. “One with no crap. Just good old-school tunes, low lights, heavy pours, and a no-BS policy at the door.”

I chuckled. “I’d buy into that. You serious?”

“As a bullet.”

We pulled into the precinct lot and were barely out of the car when Kapono caught us.

“There wasn’t a match between Eckhart’s prints and the knife in Sayla’s tire,” he said in a low voice, glancing around. “But I snagged the Chief’s cup this morning and got a clean print.”

My stomach turned. “And?”

“There’s a match, it was Topper.”

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