Page 25 of Fighting Conviction
She nodded slightly. Silence passed between them before she slowly unbuckled herself.
“Ellie, what are you—”
She scooted closer to him and locked herself in the middle seat. Grief radiated from her, seeping through the space left between them.
Devil blinked back the sting her gesture brought to his eyes. She hadn’t verbalized anything, but his body replied. He wondered for a split second whether returning her touch would be the right move when she leaned against him. He shifted to drive with his left hand and hovered over hers on her thigh before he held it in a loose grip.
On an inhale, Devil savored her faint flowery scent. After what she’d been through, to reach out with touch was the ultimate sign of faith. The weight of her trust in him grew in his chest, making it difficult to speak. He swallowed past the emotion gripping his throat.
“I’ve lost people, too, angel. I don’t know everything you’re going through. But I might know some of it.”
Ellie rested her head on his shoulder and nodded against his arm.
Making sure he could still see to drive, he whispered a kiss against her hair before laying his head against hers. The pain she hid under her responsibilities and determination shed from her in shudders as she cried softly. He’d do everything in his power to heal her.
Devil may have been haunted by his own ghosts, but he’d be damned if he couldn’t bring his angel back to life.
Chapter Nine
Neal Burgess tapped the file against his thigh as he paced back and forth in his office. He had three minutes and thirty-nine seconds before Officer Willis went on break, leaving the evidence room open for business. It was time. A slow walk and mind-numbing chitchat was all that stood between him and another fix.
He slipped his hands underneath his desk and slid them along the surface to make sure there weren’t any cameras or listening devices. One part of him knew the gesture was paranoid, but the other part knew he could never be too sure. The sheriff had been acting off lately and Neal wouldn’t have been surprised if the bastard had enlisted one of the rooks to spy on him. Officer Brown was definitely one of his little bitches. He was always way too interested in everything.
Satisfied he was alone, Neal shuffled to a pile of files in the corner, a large stack of cold cases that’d been open for nearly a decade. It’d taken nearly a year to compile, but the investigatory work for the file in his hand hadn’t been nearly as difficult. Crimes are easy to solve if you’ve already found the criminal.
Neal bent to shove the dense file underneath the rest and brushed his hands on his pants as he stood back up. When he returned to his desk, he found the drug trafficking case he’d depend on for his next task. It’d been a good haul and it was too bad he hadn’t been in on the raid. He’d gotten good at slipping a few baggies into his pocket before they’d all been accounted for.
Thankfully, the Russians didn’t like competition, and the tip from the boss had made the case open and shut. The defendants probably wouldn’t even request a trial so the evidence wouldn’t be missed.
His head was killing him, but he resisted taking any more medicine until he had his next fix lined up. He pulled out Cici’s prescription bottle and shook it in front of the dim light in his office.
One-two-three-four-five… it’s a close one this time, Cici, but the last bust will do me good through the next few days. Just need enough to wean me off and then I’ll be done for good. I’ll go to that center we talked about.
Holding the file as a shield for his deception, Neal made his way down the halls to the basement evidence room. It was nearly the middle of the night, a pretty slow one, too. Officers had been cutting up since the beginning of the shift. Must be a damn full moon.
The lights in the hallway were brighter than a motherfucker, but when he passed an officer he tried his best to meet their eyes and mimic their greeting, hoping they’d move on without question. He didn’t need witnesses and the fewer people who remembered seeing him go down to the evidence room, the better.
Neal navigated the stairs before he pushed open the door to the office preceding the evidence room and noted there was no one at the messy check-in desk. He grinned at his fortune. While there were a few evidence custodians designated to maintain evidence, Willis was the lazy SOB he’d been waiting for and it looked like he’d even left his post.
As soon as the thought crossed his mind, footsteps shuffling over cement echoed from the evidence room and Neal bent his head to flick through the papers in the file. Hopefully the chatterbox would get the hint Neal was too busy to shoot the shit. He’d go on his break and leave Neal to his own devices.
The heavyset officer in question poked his head out of the double doors of the evidence room and waved. “Thought I heard someone else down here. Heya, sir.” He ducked back into the evidence room but continued to shout through the propped open doors. “I was about to go on break, but what can I do ya for?”
“No need to worry ‘bout me, Willis. Just came by to check on a few things for a big case a prosecutor asked me to check out.”
“Oh?” A deep male voice entered the office before the man it belonged to exited the evidence room. “Which one? I can tell them what you find.”
Neal’s mouth fell open. “ADA Aguilar? W-what are you doing here?”
The assistant district attorney stuffed his hands into his pockets, a habit Neal suspected Marco Aguilar believed made him look more approachable. But the man was well over six feet and built like a bodybuilder. Add a suit on top of that, and he was damn formidable.
“Here to check on a case for one of my new prosecutors. ADA Thoms has an evidentiary hearing tomorrow and the defense is putting up a fight.” He cracked a smile and chuckled. “She’s fucking great at her job, but Judge Powell’s also fucking great at hers. I wanted to quadruple check without Thoms thinking I was overstepping. Mum’s the word, gentlemen, if you don’t mind.”
Willis laughed but Neal frowned at the answer, biting his tongue to keep from interrogating the lawyer.
Why would a prosecutor be working so late? Why didn’t the new prosecutor come on her own? Wasn’t it awful convenient Aguilar had stopped by right before Willis went on break?
Something was up.
