Page 18 of Spark
“Well, DNA would get us a search warrant, at the very least, but we’re obviously waiting on that.For now, we’re trying to connect Navarro and Brinkman.Remington Vice has a pretty hefty file on Brinkman.Frankie spun us up on that yesterday.”
Francesca Rossi was one of the best Vice detectives in the state.The fact that she was also Maxwell’s wife was another plus for this case.“Let me guess,” Chloe said.“Navarro and Brinkman were ‘business partners’?”
Her tone delivered the last two words with air quotes, and Addison nodded.
“Give the redhead a gold star.Brinkman worked for a real estate firm on paper, but he had a history as a mid-level heroin dealer—busted twice on felony charges, sprung both times on technicalities.Since you’re on a roll, want to guess who his attorney was?”
“The same person who represents Navarro?”
“Same firm,” Addison said.“They’re partners.Still, those are some pretty hefty legal fees for a guy like Brinkman, even when business is flush.Vice has suspected that Navarro was Brinkman’s supplier for about a year, and that Navarro bankrolled the lawyer to keep him clean.They just couldn’t prove it.They can’t even get the low-level dealers to flip.”
“Wow.No wonder they wanted in on this case,” Chloe murmured.
“That’s not the half of it,” Addison said.“We were able to pull the footage from a couple of street cams around the warehouse from the night of the murder.There’s not a lot to go on,” she added when Chloe’s head sprang up in reply.“Nothing of Navarro—like I said, he’s slick.But we do have video of Brinkman going into the warehouse with a duffel bag at ten fifty-two P.M.”
Chloe’s pulse escalated.That tracked with both Esme’s timeline and what she’d overheard.“So, itwasa drug deal that went sideways.”
“It definitely looks that way.Sinclair’s trying to convince Tara to let me and Maxwell knock on Navarro’s door, just to see how he reacts when we tell him Brinkman is dead.It’s a bold move, but not a bad one.Capelli’s doing a deep dive into Brinkman’s phone records and financials, trying to prove his connection to Navarro.The team is also working on the knife, since it’s pretty distinct.We’re going to kick every single rock we can to find enough evidence to charge him, but it’s going to be an uphill climb.Plus…”
Addison trailed off for only a second, but it was enough to put Chloe on high alert for what followed.“Navarro has a lot of resources and even more power.When we do find enough evidence to charge him, he’s going to fight back.Tara will have to bring everything to the table.”
Realization sank its teeth into her, sharp and swift.“Esme will have to testify.”
Logically, Chloe had known this was a real possibility.But, since logic had never been her strong suit, it pinched anyway.Esme already felt unsafe, and Chloe knew the particular brand of fear that came with knowing the person you were scared of was out there.Watching.Planning.Just waiting to strike, and oh, God.
“He wouldn’t…you don’t think he’dhurther, do you?”
“We aren’t going to let that happen,” Addison said quickly, and Chloe was tempted to point out—just as quickly—that it wasn’t a no.“There are precautions to keep her safe, especially since she’s a minor, and Tara is going to take every single one of them if it comes to her testifying.”
Chloe frowned, sitting back against the park bench.“Like protective custody?”
“That’s one option,” Addison said.“But right now, it’s moot.Navarro doesn’t know Esme saw him kill Brinkman, and until we arrest him, we don’t have a legal obligation to disclose anything about a witness.”
“Really?”
“Yep.Until he’s formally charged, it’s all just part of the investigation.We had to put Esme’s name in our database along with her statement, obviously, but that’s super encrypted by, like, nine RPD firewalls and one brainiac of a tech expert, so…”
“No one’s getting in without Capelli’s say so,” Chloe finished, and at least that made her feel a tiny bit better.
“Exactly,” Addison said.“Look, I know this part is tough.But real cases don’t come together in a matter of days, like they do on TV.It doesn’t mean we won’t get him, though.”
“Okay,” Chloe said.As antsy as the unknown made her feel, she trusted Addison.So much, that she didn’t see the next question coming until it had popped her in the gut.
“So, how’s everything going with Tyler?”
“It wasn’t a date,” she blurted, and God, sheknewshe shouldn’t have let him give her a ride.“Like he said, we were just…not on a date.”
Addison’s brows went all the way up, and she laughed.“Riiiiight.I meant, how’s everything going with party planning.”
“Oh.”Chloe cleared the tightness from her throat, adjusting her voice to its easiest, breeziest setting.“Of course.Party planning.It’s going totally fine.”
This wasn’t a lie.As promised, she’d sent Tyler a few pre-wedding tasks from the master spreadsheet she’d created, making sure they were all things he could take care of without them needing to communicate via anything other than text.The fact that she’d never told Addison about the Kiss That Shall Not Be Named was a little more of a lie, but a necessary one.Under no circumstances could Ryan find out that Chloe had kissed Tyler.She hadn’t wanted to keep it from Addison—after all, her best friend knew all about her mission to lose her virginity…again.But telling Addison meant swearing her to secrecy, which could put her in a bad spot with Ryan.Plus, the whole thing was mortifying.Yes, Chloe had only had sex once, and it had been so bad, it shouldn’t count.Yes, that had been more than two years ago.Yes, she was finally ready to rectify her situation, andsuperyes, she wanted to forget that she’d kissed Tyler in the hopes that he’d give her an assist and also a couple of orgasms.
Addison, however, had finely tuned radar.Damn her.“Okay.I can’t stand it anymore.You’ve both been incredibly weird lately, with all your ‘please pass the peas, Mr.Gates’ and ‘here you are, Ms.Ferguson’ at Sunday dinners, and don’t get me started on whatever that cinnamon roll thing was the other day.Seriously.What the hell is going on between you two?”
Chloe’s snort was out before she could squelch it.“Nothing.Believe me.”
Of course, she did not.“All that blushing and denial doesn’t look like nothing,” Addison said pointedly, adding on an expectant stare that put a thousand tiny cracks in Chloe’s resolve.
