Page 26 of Fighting Conviction
Should I come back another time? No. I’m down to five.He mentally counted again after envisioning the bottle.A baggie of small white rocks flashed into his mind. The one he kept under his bathroom counter for emergencies. He physically shook his head against the thought.No, we’re not there yet. But there was that one pill I never found in my office…
He huffed out a sigh. One would never be enough to help him get clean. He needed at least a week’s worth and then he’d be golden. The baggie at home had to be a last resort.
Neal felt the weight of the men’s stares on him as he searched for something to say. He was torn between slinging accusations at Aguilar or going back to his office empty-handed.
One-two-three-four-five.
The reminder made his mouth dry and he swallowed to moisten the anxiety parching his throat. There was no other choice, he had to get his medicine right then. Or he’d miss his chance to get better altogether.
Damn Russians. It was all their fault.
He lifted his head to find the men chatting, as if they hadn’t just stared him down like a fucking criminal. They could pretend all they wanted but he knew they’d been eyeing him. He coughed for attention, but ended up submitting to the hacks he’d cultivated from smoking multiple packs a day for over a decade. “I’m, uh, down here for ADA Garcia. We’ve got that case comin’ up.”
“What’s that now?” Aguilar paused from pretending to act preoccupied with Willis. “Oh, right… sure I’ll tell—” Aguilar paused to rub his goatee and shook his head. “Wait, Garcia doesn’t have a case coming up. The drug team’s not on the docket again for a few months. It’s all violent and general crimes up for trial right now.”
Neal’s face grew hot and he tightened his hand into a fist.How—the fuck—dare he question me?
“Calm down, baby. He’s doin’ his job.”
His wife’s voice, the one she’d always used to soothe him while he ranted about work, cooled his burning nerves to a sizzle.
“But you know what?” Aguilar chuckled and pointed at Neal in what might’ve been a playful gesture if Neal hadn’t been watching so closely. “The bastard’s pretty damn thorough. I’m not surprised he’s planning ahead.” He went to sign out on Willis’s evidence room sheet. “He’d also shoot me dead if I tried to handle his case in any way, so I’ll leave you to deal with him.”
Neal nodded and tore a handkerchief from one of his pockets to wipe the sweat he knew was already beading up on his forehead. “Yeah… right. You know how he gets. Y-you have a good night then.”
A pause in the air set Neal’s nerves on fire as Aguilar insisted on staring at him.
“You alright, Burgess? You look a little…” Aguilar waved his hand around his own face for emphasis.
“I’m fine,” Neal blurted out.
The stairwell door behind them all opened and cool air coated Neal’s feverish skin. Willis peered behind Neal and smiled.
“‘Sup, Brown?”
Neal turned to see Officer Henry Brown give an easy grin. “Not much, Willis. Not much at all. What’re y’all up to?”
Brown IS fuckin’ spyin’ on me. I knew it. Sheriff’s one damn sonofabitch.
Neal grunted and nodded, deciding the best course of action was to move on. “I don’t have time for y’all’s gossipin’ like ladies.” He bent to the sign-up sheet but Willis snatched it away farther from Neal’s reach.
“What the hell, Willis? Lemme sign in and do my job.”
“I-I’m sorry, sir. I can’t let you do that. It’s past time for my break now.” The kid made odd jerking movements with his head, but Neal narrowed his eyes, unsure of what the kid was trying to tell him.
“S’alright. I don’t need ya, son. I’ll sign out when I leave.” He reached for the notebook sign-in again but Willis brought it to his chest. “Willis, goddamnit what the fuck?”
“Uh, I-I’m sorry, sir.” Willis’s eyes darted to Aguilar, whose frown had deepened. They returned to Neal, seemingly begging him for something. “I think you might’ve forgotten Sheriff’s policy that an evidence custodian be present with whoever enters the evidence room…” He widened his eyes and flicked his head slightly in the ADA’s direction.
Neal felt his face grow flush again. He hadn’t been prepared to come up with another strategy on the fly. Getting through Willis was supposed to be a breeze. Normally, the man didn’t give two shits about policy, but apparently having a tattle-tale in a suit present was enough to discourage him from swaying away from precinct orders.
“I’ll be back in an hour after my break. Y’all wanna come by then?” Willis was still watching him out the side of his eye as he locked up the evidence room. The officer turned to grab the log and filed it in the cabinet behind the desk, locking it too with another key before tucking the key ring back into his pocket. Paranoid asshole.
Now that he knew the sheriff had Brown spying on him, Neal had to come up with a different way to get his medicine. The station was compromised and he couldn’t be under a microscope while he was detoxing. Maybe it was high time for him to actually take a vacation.
But no, the party was coming up soon. He didn’t know the exact date. No one did until only a few weeks before. Sneaky highfalutin bastards always tried to do their evil in secret. He only knew it was around the same time every year, so he needed to be sharp for it. The more he thought about it, the more he realized he’d need his medication now more than ever. Maybe quitting wasn’t a wise choice at the moment.
If Neal demanded to see the drugs now, the ADA would still be there, sticking his nose where it didn’t belong. It’d force Willis to follow damn policy for once in his pathetic career and chaperone Neal like a goddamn child. Besides all that, insisting Willis wait to go on his break would be an asshole move, especially since, like Aguilar so helpfully pointed out, the case Neal was using as his ruse wasn’t urgent.
