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Here, all I had the ability to do was walk away.
“Boston,” I told her. “Joshua Boston. Have a nice day, Ms. Hawkins. I hope I don’t see you again.”
* * *
After leaving Eve in the cells, I went upstairs to my desk and waited for my partner to return.
Jayela wasn’t far behind, slumping into her seat across from mine. “You want to hang out tonight? Mae will have something made for dinner, and we can invite Tori over, too.”
I hesitated. Mae was Jayela’s little sister, and I’d basically adopted her as my own sibling after years of hanging out in the apartment they shared. Tori, Mae’s best friend, was often the fourth to our group, her husband, Will, sometimes bringing our hangouts to five.
Jayela raised an eyebrow when I didn’t answer immediately. “You got better plans? Hot date?”
“Nah. Nothing like that. I was just going to stick around to release the church protestors.”
“How long are we going to hold them for?”
I glanced at my watch. “What time does the politician’s rally finish?”
The door to the station opened, admitting William Reed himself.
Jayela nodded in his direction. “It’s done, I guess.”
I groaned quietly. “What does he want now?”
The man was disheveled after Eve’s little scene. His expensive navy suit was unbuttoned, and his tie had disappeared.
The chief came out of his office to shake hands with Reed. My gaze met his across the room, and he pointed at me, like we knew each other. The chief waved me over, and I got to my feet grudgingly.
Jayela chuckled behind me. “Have fun with that.”
I peered over my shoulder at her. “Yeah, thanks. I wonder what bullshit he wants to tout now. Let the Reed protestors go soon. Maybe keep Eve Hawkins an extra hour or two. She’s the ringleader. Let her stew a little longer before you turn her out. Maybe it’ll knock some sense into her.”
I doubted it. But it was worth a shot.
“Sounds like a plan, partner. You better go, the chief and the politician are waiting. Hey, Boston. What do you get when a chief, a politician, and a cop walk into an office?”
I raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to answer her own joke.
“A really boring meeting. Better you than me!” She spun around on her chair with the sort of grin that only appeared when she amused herself.
“If it’s possible, I think your jokes are actually getting worse.” But she was right. Whatever the chief was calling me in for wasn’t going to be anything exciting. I walked on slow feet across the station and into his office without knocking.
Both men lifted their heads, and the chief motioned for me to take the seat beside Reed.
I took it reluctantly. If I’d had my way, I probably would have been arrested right alongside Eve. This guy didn’t know it, but I’d grown up in Saint View, too. And I didn’t like his plans for my old stomping grounds any more than Eve did. Yes, there were problems there. Problems that needed addressing and money to fix. But everybody knew what he’d been doing by holding that town meeting in Providence and not in Saint View itself. The man was a coward and probably corrupt. Pretty typical of the politicians in this area. None of it sat well with me.
“Here he is, the man of the day.” William held a hand out.
The fake compliment annoyed me, but I had enough manners to shake his hand. “Pretty sure you’re the man of the day, aren’t you?”
The chief shot me a look full of exasperation.
The question had come out kind of snappy. I tried to soften my expression into something a little more friendly. Or at least something more professional.
Reed slapped me on the shoulder and pumped my hand up and down. “So modest. I wanted to come in and thank you personally.”
My eyebrows knit together. “For what?”
