Alone in the Dark

Scarlett’s cheeks began to heat. ‘Tommy exaggerates.’

‘I don’t think so. He told me about the water you make sure he drinks and the food you just happen to have with you. About how you nag him to go the shelter and make sure he gets appointments at the clinic.’

Scarlett rolled her eyes, her face now hotter than a flame. ‘I don’t nag. I remind.’

‘Hm. He told me about the blankets and the shoes and the gloves you “happened to have with you” last winter when it was so cold. About how you never forget his birthday or Edna’s. And he told me that when his sister died, it was you who came to sit with him in the hospital. That was how long ago, Scarlett?’

‘Twelve years this fall,’ she murmured.

‘You were only eighteen then. Not a cop yet.’

‘No, not yet, but I knew I’d be one. I miss Tommy’s sister. She kept him stable for so long. Tommy didn’t use to live on the stoop all the time, you know. He had a shoeshine stand downtown. On Saturday afternoons when my dad was off duty, he’d drive me to dance lessons and take the long way home so he could get Tommy to shine his shoes. This was way out of our way. We lived in Bridgetown and my dance studio was there.’

‘Wow. So basically he’d drive all the way from the west side into the city.’

‘Exactly. He would park near Tommy’s corner and pick me up and carry me on his shoulders, then I’d sit on his lap and listen while he and Tommy talked about nothing at all while Tommy shined his shoes. But it wasn’t really nothing. It was my dad getting the pulse of the neighborhood. Creating some trust. I get that now, but I didn’t understand when I was a kid. One day when I was a little older, maybe nine or so, I asked Dad why he paid Tommy to shine his shoes when I could do it cheaper, plus he’d save gas money and time. I was a bargain.’

Marcus’s lips curved. ‘Enterprising. What did your dad say?’

‘That Tommy needed the money and I didn’t. I told him that I did so need it, that I was saving for a girl bicycle with tassels on the handlebars, that I was tired of boy-bike hand-me-downs. That I was his kid and Tommy was some man on the street. Then Dad said he helped Tommy because “but for the grace of God, there go I”.’

‘Your dad’s a vet too?’

‘Yeah. He was in Vietnam at the tail end of the war, only for a few months. I didn’t understand when I was nine, but hearing that Tommy was a vet, it makes sense now. Anyway, Tommy would go home every few days or so and sleep in a real bed and eat a real meal. Then it became every few weeks, then months, and then when Sondra died, he had no place to go. It was like his only tie to the world snapped. I never really thought about taking care of him. It was just something that you did.’

‘You do. How many cops do you know who do the same?’ Marcus had twisted in his seat and now stared at her profile. She could feel his stare and it was making her uncomfortable.

‘I don’t know. I don’t talk about it.’ She frowned. ‘Tommy wasn’t supposed to either.’

‘Because you have a reputation as a ball-buster.’

‘Yeah, and I worked damn hard for that reputation,’ she said indignantly, making him laugh. ‘You think I’m kidding. People like Tommy start breaking radio silence all over the damn place and everyone will start thinking I’m a sap.’

‘Your secrets are safe with me, Miss Scarlett.’

She smiled. ‘He’s called me Miss Scarlett since I was sitting on Dad’s knee in a pink tutu eating an ice cream cone. The truth is, I do what I do because I’m selfish. There are times when I am so angry that I want to walk up to some meth-head who’s beaten his girlfriend’s child to death and put my hands around his neck and squeeze so hard that his head pops like a zit. And there are the times I get rough with a suspect and I have to yank myself back. That’s when I drive through the neighborhoods and do something . . .’

‘Kind?’ Marcus supplied.

‘I guess.’ She shrugged, feeling awkward. ‘It keeps me tethered to the light. So I’m really getting more out of it than Tommy is. Ergo, selfish.’

‘You keep on saying that if it makes you feel better,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘You know, you haven’t said much about your father. I assumed he was a . . . distant man.’

Scarlett had to swallow hard. ‘No. My dad is pretty wonderful, actually. He worries about me. Mom does too. I used to be their little girl and now I’m this angry, resentful person.’

‘You keep saying so. I don’t see it.’

She thought about that. ‘Maybe when I’m around you I don’t feel so angry.’

He smiled. ‘I like that explanation.’

‘Dad never wanted me to be a cop. He said I had too soft a heart, that I’d be chewed up and spit out. But it’s all I ever wanted to be. And when Michelle died and Trent Bracken walked . . . I made a promise to Michelle’s memory that I’d be a cop and I wouldn’t have a soft heart. That I’d do my job so well that future Trent Brackens wouldn’t go free.’

‘But your dad is right. You do have a soft heart, and cases like Tala’s tear it open. So you do that long-blink thing and shove it all down. How long will you be able to keep that up?’

‘For as long as I can. For as long as it takes.’

He sighed. ‘I figured you’d say that. I also don’t figure I’m in any position to tell you any different.’

‘Pot meet kettle,’ she said in resignation. She pulled into the CPD parking garage, started to take the keys out and stopped cold as her mind snapped back to the case. ‘Wait just a minute. The Feds brought that suspect in from Constant Global Surveillance yesterday. They could have brought him in this way, through a protected parking garage, but they took him in through the front, where he became a target.’

‘You’re right.’ Marcus folded his arms over his chest. ‘When we asked how they knew the shooter was on the roof, Coppola said they got a tip.’

‘They set it up,’ Scarlett said. ‘Made the tracker guy bait. Not that I’m complaining, but it was risky.’

‘They must have really trusted that tip,’ Marcus said, watching her carefully.

Scarlett considered what she was about to say and decided he had a right to know. ‘They have a man inside.’

‘The Feds?’

‘Yeah. I don’t know who. Don’t know where. Don’t know how they contact him. All I know is that I wasn’t supposed to tell you that.’

His expression went carefully blank. ‘I would have guessed eventually. But thanks for telling me now.’

He said it so stiffly that she was certain ‘thank you’ was not what he was really thinking. ‘I didn’t ask you about Diesel.’

‘True, but this is different. This impacts my life.’

‘I didn’t know for sure that it would, not until just now. They were watching more than one trafficking group – which is what they do. They’re the human trafficking task force. That’s not news to anyone. I didn’t know that the undercover Fed was watching the same people who want you dead. I know now. And so do you.’

He relaxed. ‘I’m sorry. You’re right.’

‘Damn straight I’m right. But now you have to act surprised if someone tells you.’

He feigned a shocked look. ‘How’s this?’

She snickered. ‘Don’t give up your day job. Come on. Let’s go meet Alice Newman.’

Thirty-three

Cinci