Page 23 of Tarnished Queen

Then I look up at the man and my hope drains away.

“Officer Sweeney.” He’s shaved his beard short since I saw him last, but I can tell by the downward twist of his mouth that I look exactly the same as the last time he saw me. “It’s so good to see you again.”

“What was your name again?” he asks. “Isabel? Bethany?”

“Belle,” I mumble. “Belle Dowan. I met you outside of—”

“Zhukova Incorporated. I recall.” He slides his hands into his jeans. I’m not sure if I’ve caught him arriving for his shift or leaving, but he isn’t in uniform. Aside from a shiny badge hanging from his belt loop, he’s not even recognizable as an officer. “What brings you to the precinct tonight?”

I open my mouth to tell him, but then I remember that night at the Zhukova offices. When I confessed to being nothing more than a crazy ex-girlfriend. When I lied and told him I was desperately in love with Nikolai and trying to win him back, which is why I lied about my sister being kidnapped.

And now, I’m here with a very similar tale.

“Is this about your sister?” Officer Sweeney asks. “Who has her now? Wait, wait, don’t tell me—”

My empty stomach twists, morning sickness merging with horror into a new level of nausea. I feel like I could hurl straight into the bushes.

“Nikolai wasn’t my ex-husband,” I say, sounding meek even to my own ears. “And that night… That night you went with me to his office was a misunderstanding. Mr. Zhukova manipulated me into lying—but this isn’t about him, anyway. It’s about my sister.”

Sweeney drags a hand over his chin. I can tell he’s used to having a longer beard by the way his fingers hang in the air awkwardly after reaching the end of his stubble. “Ma’am, I think you need to get on home. It’s been a busy day and I can assure you that no one in there has the energy to handle… whatever this is.”

“I can’t go home. Don’t you think that’s where I’d be if I could? He brought me here against my will. Drugged me and flew me here, and now, the Greeks have my sister.”

“Mr. Zhukova drugged you and brought youhere?” he asks, pointing to the sidewalk beneath our feet.

I groan. “No. To New York City. I live in Oklahoma. I shouldn’t even be here. But he brought me here, and now, my sister is gone and I need to find her before she’s hurt.”

Officer Sweeney blinks in a kind of daze. “How long has your sister been missing? Since I saw you last?”

“No, that was almost two months ago,” I snap. “She’s been missing since earlier this afternoon.”

“Okay. When did you last see her?”

“I don’t know where we were. I wasn’t driving. Xena Simatou was.” His eyes widen at the mention of Xena’s name, and I hope I’m onto something now. I barrel on ahead. “She stopped the car, and I told Elise to get out. She did, and now, I don’t know where she—”

“Xena Simatou?”

I nod. “Yes. I already said that. She was driving, and I—”

He holds up a hand to stop me. “You told your sister to get out of a moving vehicle?”

“No! It was stopped. Xena let her get out, but now, I can’t find her and—”

“You told your sister to get out of the car?” he asks slowly. “The car that Xena Simatou was driving? And now you’re upset because she isn’t with you?”

It’s obvious he doesn’t believe me. It’s just as obvious that he recognizes Xena’s name. The full implications of her name.

I grit my teeth. “Yes, but—”

“It sounds to me like you might be the person responsible for her disappearance, then, Miss Dowan. You might want to take more of a grassroots approach before you involve the law.”

“You are the law! If you think I’ve done something illegal, aren’t you supposed to want me to turn myself in?”

He rolls his eyes. “After the day I’ve had, you’d be surprised what I’m willing to let slide. Especially when the person in front of me is here to cause trouble. Now, Miss Dowan, may I suggest you—”

“May I suggest you go home and figure out how to be a real cop?” I hiss over him. “In the meantime, I’ll go inside and talk to a real detective who wants to help people.”

I turn to storm inside, but Officer Sweeney slices off my path. “No one in there will help you. You watched too much news today and got bored. You don’t have a case.”

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