Chief Fuller turned his glower to me but Tate spoke.
“Ace –”
I lifted a hand, palm up in Tate’s direction and kept my eyes on Fuller.
“They live in your town. You don’t like hippies, that’s your choice. But that personal choice gets put in a box the minute you put on that uniform.”
“Don’t need you to tell me my job, Miz Grahame,” Fuller said to me.
“I don’t know, I’m new to these parts but, word around town, someone needs to do it,” I shot back, Tate’s arm curved around my shoulders and he pulled and twisted me so my front was against his side.
“That’s right, Jackson, rein her in,” Fuller warned.
“Arnie,” Tate replied, “she’s close to the two of ‘em. Cut her some slack.”
“I’ll cut her some slack when she ain’t mouthin’ off at me,” Fuller returned.
“You’ll earn some slack when you aren’t confronted by a friend of a victim after you got a report of a missing person, a female, a report you didn’t act on when you know you got a monster huntin’ your patch and you don’t mutter slurs,” Tambo put in. “Oh, and, I’ll add that you might wanna leash that shit about the partner. Miss Grahame is right, he’s your citizen. You’re wearin’ that uniform, you don’t get to pick which ones you protect.”
Fuller was now glowering at Tambo then he switched it to me then it moved to Tate and I braced because he looked ready to spit. Then he moved away, thankfully leaving us and doing it without another word.
“That guy’s a jackass,” Tambo muttered.
Tate didn’t respond to his comment, instead, shockingly, he said, “Wire up Lauren and send her in.”
“What?” Tambo asked, his eyebrows going up.
“What?” I cried, my body going tight.
Tate talked to Tambo. “Wire up Lauren, send her in, she’ll get Sunny talking.”
I stared at Tate in horrified disbelief.
I decided to take this opportunity to remind Tate I wasn’t good in a crisis. This wasn’t a crisis, as such, but I still knew I’d be no good at it.
Therefore, I started, “Tate –”
Tate looked down at me. “She’ll talk to you.”
“No she won’t. If she won’t talk to Shambles –”
“Ace, the woman at the home store gives you relationship advice. Sunny’ll talk to you,” Tate replied.
“Wanda is nosy, Tate. Sunny’s different. She’s been attacked.”
“Stood in that line awhile, babe, saw three customers cash through. She was nice enough but she didn’t babble at any of ‘em like she was their best friend.”
I wasn’t there but I reckoned this was true. People talked to me, it had always been the way.
Then again, I talked to people, it had always been my way.
Tate kept speaking. “Jonas trusted you within hours of meetin’ you. He sized you up and gave you his burden. She’ll talk to you,” Tate went on.
This was definitely true.
Still.
“It’s not the same,” I stated.
“It was today,” Tate replied.
“Sorry?” I asked.
Tate turned so we were front to front and both his arms were around me. “Babe, he didn’t wait until he and I were alone. He didn’t ask you to leave. And he didn’t wait for you to leave when you were offerin’ it. He said what he had to say when you were there because you were there. Don’t you get that?”
“No,” I said.
“He trusted you to deal with the consequences he created.”
“But, he –”
“And you did, you dealt with me.”
“I don’t think he thought it out that much, Tate. He’s just ten,” I pointed out.
“You don’t think he hasn’t learned to scheme the best way to do shit livin’ on eggshells with a coupla drunks, Ace, you’re wrong. That shit with Neet? It’s been goin’ on awhile and he didn’t tell me until you were there.”
This was probably true too.
Tate kept pushing. “She’ll trust you.”
“I don’t know,” I whispered.
“Can’t know, unless you try.”
I bit my lip. His arms gave me a squeeze.
Then his face got close to mine and he whispered, “Babe, we need this.”
I stared into his face knowing he was right. We needed this. For Tonia and those seven other girls and the girls who were out there, marked by this lunatic and unsafe. We needed this, even for Sunny.
I just didn’t want it to be me who got this.
So I asked softly, “Do I have to be wired?”
Tate’s arms gave me another squeeze, this one reassuring and maybe a little proud (yes, I could read that in an arm squeeze). “They’ll need to hear everything she said and, she won’t even talk to Shambles, I reckon they can’t be in there.”
“But, a wire?”
“You need to be you. You need to pose no threat. You can tell her you’re wired but you need to look like you. Not holding a recorder. Not with someone with a notepad at your back. She’s gonna talk, it’s gotta be just you.”
I wasn’t sure Tate was right about Sunny talking to me and, even if he was, I still wasn’t sure I wanted to do it.
What I was sure of was someone killed Tonia and seven other women and the same someone may have attacked Sunny. Even if it wasn’t the same someone, still, someone attacked Sunny.
And whoever it was, they had to be stopped.
I looked at Tambo standing silently at our side then I looked at Tate.
“Can we ask Shambles first if it’s okay?” I whispered.
Tambo turned immediately and walked toward another agent while Tate’s arms gave me yet another squeeze.
Then he answered, “Yeah.”
* * * * *
I thought I’d not be able to take my mind off the microphone taped to my chest but the minute I walked into Sunny’s hospital room that thought flew away.
Her ash blonde hair was cut blunt, her skin was pale under her tan, she had some bruising and swelling on the left side of her face, there were a bunch of tubes sticking in her and her eyes were dead.
Those eyes came to me the minute I walked in and that was all I could think, her bright, shining, usually smiling, always friendly eyes were dead.
I swallowed back tears and looked across the room to see two women, an older one, dressed conservatively, a younger one, dressed a lot like me but in jeans rather than shorts. I knew, because Shambles told me, they were Sunny’s Mom and sister.