Page 30 of A Step You Shouldn't Take

“Worse. He remained the fu— He remained the ambassador.”

“You’re right. Thatiscrazy.”

“And that’s just scratching the surface. Two years ago, a Saudi diplomat allegedly imprisoned two women in his apartment for two months and raped them daily with his buddies. Then there was the diplomat who ran over a cop in New York and got away with it. The Russian diplomat who killed a woman driving drunk in Ottawa. And you think us Americans aren’t as bad? An American marine serving at the embassy in Bucharest ran a red light while under the influence and killed a Romanian musician. Did the US waive his immunity? No, it didn’t.”

I felt sick inside. Was diplomatic immunity just a licence to commit crimes?

“How do you know all this stuff?”

“While I was a cop, I investigated a paedophile ring, and one of the monsters we tried to arrest had a diplomatic passport. European. He was as smooth as anything, and we couldn’t stop him from climbing on board a plane and flying home. After that, I read up on the history of the Vienna Convention.”

“It sounds like something out of the Dark Ages.”

“Believe me, I’m as pissed as you that there’s an asshole out there messing with women, and I could use the work, but my conscience won’t let me take your money when I know you won’t get any closure in return. Shall I email you the final invoice?”

No, no, no, no, no. I couldn’t quit. Georgette’s picture flashed up in my head, her pretty smile and green eyes full of life. I’d made a promise to myself that I’d find her killer. Cullen mentioned immunity being revoked? Maybe with enough publicity… I could even beg my father to take time out of his busy schedule and help. He was a lobbyist, powerful in Washington, even if I did hate almost everything he stood for.

“No, I still want you to carry on.”

“Miss Jennings…”

“If you won’t help, I’ll just have to find someone else.”

“Why is this so important to you?”

Because I’d failed in every one of my duties as a member of the Electi. I was supposed to get justice for the dead, and instead, I spent my days planning parties and making animals out of paper clips. Perhaps I wasn’t cut out to be a deadly avenger, but for once in my life, I could do the right thing.

After all, it was only money. My house was paid off, I had a trust fund I rarely touched, and paper clips didn’t cost that much. Georgette had saved me, and I owed it to her to help.

But I could hardly explain that to Cullen, could I? I was trying to sort out the jumble of words in my head when a tear popped out. Then another, and another.

“I’m sorry, I…”

He patted his pockets, then spotted the box of tissues on my credenza and grabbed a handful.

“Here.” Reed knelt beside me, but our heads were still almost level. “Miss Jennings… Kimberly… Is there something you haven’t told me?Didhe touch you in the car that night?”

It would have been so easy to lie, but I’d been doing that my whole life, or at least avoiding the truth.

“I don’t know. I just don’t know. P-p-please, don’t quit on me. You’ve got so far in two days, and Officer Leopold said you were the best.”

Cullen sighed, and it was clear he’d rather have been anywhere but stuck in an office with a hysterical female.

“How about I dig into things for a couple of weeks and see how far I get? Then if it still looks hopeless, we can call things off.”

That was better than nothing, and it gave me extra time to convince him to see the case through to the end.

“Okay.” I gave a shuddering sniff. “Thank you.”

A soft gasp at the door made me look up, and I saw Kayla standing there with our drinks.

“Is everything okay?” she asked.

“Uh…”

“Getting emotional’s perfectly normal in situations like this,” Reed told her. “Kimberly’ll be fine in a few minutes.”

“I just need coffee.”

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