Page 100 of Sticks and Stones
Finally, the one man spoke.
“Can we have the file on the case, and anything Corbin submitted?” he asked. “Like your commissioner told you to do?”
Without another word, the man turned in his chair, went into his computer, and hit print.
When he finally turned around again, he didn’t mince words.
Not.
At.
All.
“I expect to be kept in the loop,” he said. “The commissioner wants to know what’s going on. He said your boss promised regular updates. He’s very concerned with thesituation regarding the trafficking, and what has happened to Corbin.”
He got the picture.
“He’ll get updates. As soon as we have something, he’ll have something.”
“No, I’d prefer you keep me in the loop.”
Well, leapfrog was about to have a new champion because Gene planned on reaching over this man and to his boss.
If he thought he couldn’t play hardball, he was wrong. This could have been easy, but the man wanted to play the game, and while they’d had a one-night stand, Gene wasn’t submissive at his job.
He was an apex predator when it came to people he cared about. If he stood up to Javier Hughes without flinching, this man would be nothing.
Since the tone was set, Gene was curious.
“I do have a question.”
The man focused on him.
“Yes?”
Gene went there.
“Why did you pick Corbin to work this case?” he asked. “He has zero undercover skill, and it got him hurt. How did you come to the conclusion that a green detective was ready to be shoved into the deep end of the swamp?”
The man shrugged.
“He’s entitled to try to move up in his job,” he stated. “He told me he wanted to work undercover cases, and one popped up. When Detectives Rivet and Eastcott came to me needing someone who worked homicides to go under, Corbin was clear of his cases thanks to the FBI. On top of that, the Commissioner’s office believed him to be capable. The FBI made it seem like he was.”
That hung there.
Did he just try to blame them?
Oh, Gene didn’t like that—not one freaking bit. That made it sound like they were the cause, and if anything, the issue was an overly enthusiastic cop, and pencil pushers with no goddamn common sense.
“Is that so?” Gene asked.
The man nodded.
“Absolutely. He was called in, and the detectives were good with him assisting. He worked the homicides, and it led to the bar,” he stated, picking up the printouts and putting them in two folders. “That’s what he put in his report.”
Then, he handed them to him.
“One is Corbin’s report that he filed a couple of days ago regarding the case he was working, and one is from Vice regarding the trafficking. That’s all we have so far, and anything else would be in Corbin’s personal notes. If you can get in to see him again, since clearly he called you, you should ask him.”
