Page 27 of Outsider

Tomasetti makes a sound of disgust. I feel that same sentiment burning in my chest. Tension slices the air between us. For the span of several minutes no one speaks.

She played you, that little voice whispers, but I slam the door on it, shut it up.

Gina rakes the fingers of her uninjured hand through her hair. “First time, it happened during a bust. Team went in with a warrant. It was dicey. A lot of adrenaline. There was a bunch of cash laid out on the kitchen table. Thousands of dollars. All of it unaccounted for. Instead of logging it into evidence, the cops divvied it up.”

“Who?”

“Bertrand and Mercer.”

“Did you report it?”

Her mouth tightens. “No.”

“How much did you take?”

“A couple thousand.”

“Tell me how they operate.”

“They’re tight-knit. Gung-ho. Known for pushing boundaries and getting things done. In the years since the unit was created, they’d cultivated relationships with the prostitutes and drug users, pimps, small-time dealers. They used those relationships to go after the big dogs, the traffickers, the high-volume guys. Once they got those relationships in place and the pecking order figured out, they started shaking down the guys with money.”

“So, they were extorting drug dealers.” It’s not a question.

“They extort any criminal who has something they want.”

Tomasetti stares hard at her. “And you’re willing to testify against them.”

“For immunity.”

He humphs. “Why turn on them now when you’re receiving a piece of the pie?”

“Look,” she says with heat. “I got that money shoved into my hand. Yeah, I took it. But I got sucked into this. They wanted me to commit and they wouldn’t take no for an answer. Once I did, I was in. They told me to keep my mouth shut and I did.”

“Answer the question, Gina,” I say quietly.

She doesn’t look at me. “Like I told Kate, they went too far. Lying on affidavits. Getting bullshit warrants from judges.” She tells him about the couple that was killed. “I wanted no part of it after that.”

“Noble of you,” Tomasetti says. “Or maybe you realized the ship was going down and you figured you’d save your own neck.”

Temper flares in her eyes. “I’m here because I’m trying to do the right thing. I can’t do it on my own. If you’re not up to helping me out, say the word.”

“It’s interesting that the day an arrest warrant is issued for you you decide to come clean,” he says.

“That warrant is some fantasyland bullshit.” She sets her hand on the table, starts to rise, ends up wincing in pain. “If they’d gotten their hands on me, I wouldn’t have survived.”

Tomasetti stares at her, unmoved. “Is that why you murdered Eddie Cysco? Because they used his name on the warrant?”

Gina lurches to her feet, her eyes darting from Tomasetti to me and back. “What? Eddie Cysco? That’s not possible. I just talked to him. A couple days ago. What the hell are you talking about?”

“You are a suspect,” he tells her. “The weapon they confiscated from your residence is being tested. If ballistics match, you are going down for murder and a slew of other charges, and there isn’t a soul on this earth who can save you.”

“I did not kill Eddie Cysco!” Something akin to panic flashes in her eyes.

“So you say,” he mutters.

Visibly struggling for calm, she divides her attention between the two of us. “Cysco was part of this. He was the source named on the affidavit that got Louis and Sandra Garner killed. For God’s sake, he was proof that someone inside the unit lied on that affidavit, that two innocent people were killed, and that the unit covered it up.”

Tomasetti stares at her, saying nothing.