Page 37 of Sticks and Stones
“I’m Special Agent Gene Cantrell, and this is Special Agent Ethan Blackhawk. Our boss sent us here. There’s a cop who was admitted after an assault. It’s our case, and we need to do an interview.”
Together, they both held their breaths as she checked the database.
“Name?” she asked.
They gave her the information.
“Corbin Price.”
It didn’t take her long to find it.
“Uh, he’s asked that no one see him. He’s not taking guests.”
Ethan leaned on the counter, and Gene thought he was going to try and charm the woman.
Only, that was anything but what he did. Apparently, he wasn’t the only one who was getting cranky.
It took a lot for Ethan to get snippy. He tended to be the good cop, most of the time.
“Listen, Sally,” he said, reading her nametag. “We’re up to our eyeballs with crime in this city, and now we’ve got a cop whowas hurt in the line of duty. I don’t give a shit that he’s asked for lockdown. With every second, the people that hurt him get further out of our reach. We’re not here for gossip and funsies. We’re here because the US government is stepping in. Do you think that we want to interview someone who is a victim of sexual assault?”
His tone was cold and rough, and it did the job.
She swallowed.
“Or would you like to take a little ride with us to the local FBI office, and explain why when we said it was official FBI business, you thought it was a good time to block us from doing our job? Run her, Gene,” he said, playing bad cop. “If she as much has a single skeleton in her closet, I’ll be notifying the hospital of that so she can find another job.”
That worked.
The woman’s resolve failed, and she shared the information they wanted.
“He’s in room four twenty-five. I’ll alert the doctors and nurses at the station that the FBI is on its way up for a formal investigation.”
And there it was.
The bad cop won this round.
“Thank you,” Ethan said, as they both headed toward the elevators to take the ride up.
Once inside, Gene glanced over.
“It’s rare that you are bad cop,” he said. “Are you okay?” he asked.
Ethan was honest.
Why?
Because he wasn’t okay at all.
He had this irrational feeling of wrapping Corbin up and protecting him like he was their brother. His ability to beobjective was out the window, and now, he was hellbent on helping their friend.
“I’m just worried about Corbin. If he’s hiding, he might not want to see us either. Plus, I’m sickened over seeing him like this. When I think of him, I think of good-natured Corby, the man who makes me laugh. I want to hurt someone because they did this to him, and I’m not accustomed to feeling that way. Normally, I can block it out and follow the rules.”
Well, Gene understood that.
Yeah, he was worried about their baby detective, too, as well as being pissed that someone let him do an undercover stint when he couldn’t even close a serial killer case while playing cop.
“We just need to know what happened, and we’ll fix this,” he said, hoping it was actually fixable. “We won’t let him down.”
