Page 18 of Beware of Dog

It was distressingly tempting to put her boots and coat back on and go straight to Sig’s house. Ring the doorbell, and then punch him square in the nose with the knuckledusters Shep gave her last year. But then she’d get dragged down to the police station, and there’d be a whole situation, and Raven would get called. It was too much hassle, and the whole point was to get Sig in trouble, not herself.

(She gave herself a little mental pat on the back for her very rational, non-Green line of thinking there.)

The most logical course of action, and likely the most fruitful, was to take Jamie to see Pongo’s old lady, Detective Melissa Dixon, at Sex Crimes. File a police report, and trust Melissa to help them figure out what to do next.

But Jamie was reluctant.

“Sig knowseveryone. He’ll say I’m making it up, and everyone knows I’ve been trying to get in with his group. No one will believe me.”

“Ibelieve you,” Cass said, kneeling down to dig Jamie’s shoes out from under her bed. “And Melissa and Rob will believe you.”

“But Sig…”

“Is a steaming pile ofshit,” Cass averred, and set the shoes down on the floor. Pointed to them. When Jamie obediently slid her feet in the sneakers, Cass added, “The cops can take samples, and match DNA. They can interrogate him. They can prove he did it, so who cares what his friends think?”

Jamie bit her lip, hands braced on the mattress, gaze downcast and defeated. “I just don’t know, Cass.”

Cass wanted to scream. To take her by the shoulders and shake her. Instead, she stood, pulled on her jacket, and tossed Jamie’s down on the bed beside her. “Look at me.” Slowly, Jamie did. “Iknow. You don’t have to yet. But we are not going to let him get away with this. Do you hear me?”

Jamie blinked. “You’re pretty scary, you know?”

“Good. Let’s go.”

~*~

Cass spent the Uber ride and the walk into the precinct, the ride in the elevator, half-ready to tackle Jamie if necessary. Jamie walked with her shoulders rounded and her hands jammed in her pockets, and she said multiple times that they ought to “just forget it.” Cass linked their arms and towed her along and insisted, and, finally, they were standing beside Melissa’s desk.

“Hi, Cassandra,” she said, slowly, gaze flicking between the two of them. “Is everything okay?”

A more sensitive friend would have handled things delicately, but Cass thought it was best to be upfront, and she’d never been accused of any great sensitivity. She blurted out, “My friend was raped by our classmate.”

Jamie rounded on her. “Cass,” she hissed. “You can’t justsay thatout loud.”

“We’re at the Sex Crimes division.” Cass gestured to the lettering on the wall that proclaimed as much. “This is the best place to say it.”

Melissa wheeled her chair back and stood, all business. “Are you the friend?” she asked Jamie, and Cass said, “yes” for her while Jamie was still sputtering.

“This is Jamie.”

“Hi, Jamie,” Melissa said. “I’m Detective Dixon. Why don’t we go talk somewhere more private?”

They wound up in a conference room, where photos of harsh-faced men were pinned to a whiteboard by little round magnets. Someone had written notes in a slanted, hard-to-read hand around the photos.

“Ignore that,” Melissa said, gesturing to it, and went to close the blinds that offered a view of the detective bullpen. “You guys have a seat. Jamie, do you want Cass to be here or would you rather it was just the two of us?”

Cass sent Melissa a big-eyeddon’tlook over Jamie’s shoulder. She was afraid that Jamie would downplay what Sig had done, or even walk the story back entirely.

But Jamie said, “No, I want Cass to stay.”

Thank God for small favors. Cass pulled out a chair and Jamie settled in the one next to her.

Melissa sat down across from them with a pen and a yellow legal pad. Her face game, Cass noted, was good. She’d seen her with Pongo, with Raven, with Toly, and the other guys, and knew she was no-nonsense and, most of the time, prickly. But right now, her expression was soft, and sympathetic. Totally nonthreatening and trustworthy.

“Okay, Jamie. No rush. Take your time. Start from the beginning and tell me exactly what happened, with as much detail as possible.” When Jamie hesitated, toying with the strings of her hoodie, Melissa’s voice softened further. “I know this is a really difficult thing to talk about, but don’t worry about saying the wrong thing or embarrassing yourself. I’m on your side, and I’ve heard everything. You can say whatever you need to here.”

Cass gave Melissa a covert thumbs-up that she acknowledged with a flicker of her lashes.

Jamie took a shuddering breath, and, haltingly, began.

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