Chương 12
Calvin looked toward me again.
“I didn’t know Derek was dangerous.”
I said nothing.
“I thought he was an asshole.”
Still nothing.
“He came in angry after the complaint.”
Pamela said his name quietly.
“Calvin.”
He ignored her.
“He said Morgan had embarrassed him in front of his crew.”
Derek’s crew.
The phrase made the four men in the patrol cars feel less random.
Calvin kept talking.
“He wanted to apologize.”
“No,” I said.
Everyone looked at me.
I wished I had stayed silent.
Calvin seized on the opening.
“That’s what he told me.”
“He wanted access.”
“I didn’t understand that.”
“You gave it to him.”
“I told him when you worked.”
“You showed him my address?”
His face went blank.
Pamela inhaled.
Mercer stepped toward Calvin.
“Do not answer that without counsel.”
Too late.
I had seen the answer.
Calvin looked at the ground.
The parking lot went quiet around us.
Even Teresa said nothing.
I moved closer.
“Did you show him my address?”
Mercer said, “Morgan.”
I ignored him.
Calvin rubbed both hands over his face.
“I opened your profile.”
The words landed softly.
Almost gently.
That made them worse.
“Why?”
“He asked if you lived nearby.”
“Why?”
“He said he wanted to send flowers.”
Kayla made a disgusted sound.
Calvin’s voice rose.
“I know how that sounds now.”
“How did it sound then?”
“I don’t know.”
“You opened my personnel record because a man under complaint wanted to send me flowers?”
“I wasn’t thinking.”
“That is becoming a theme.”
He flinched.
Good.
I wanted him to.
That ugly little satisfaction shocked me less than it should have.
“Did you give him the address?”
“No.”
The answer came quickly.
Too quickly.
“Did he see it?”
Calvin looked away.
Mercer said, “Stop.”
This time he was speaking to me.
I turned on him.
“He may have given my home address to the man who just pulled a knife on me.”
“I know.”
“Then let him answer.”
“No.”
“Why are you protecting him?”
“I’m protecting the case.”
The words stopped me.
Mercer lowered his voice.
“If he invokes counsel and we keep pushing, we risk contaminating statements and creating arguments nobody needs.”
I hated procedure because procedure did not care that I wanted an answer now.
I also knew why procedure existed.
That made it worse.
Calvin said, “He saw it.”
Nobody had asked.
Mercer closed his eyes briefly.
Calvin kept going.
“I didn’t send it to him.”
Pamela whispered, “Stop talking.”
“He was standing by my desk.”
I stared at him.
“You let him into your office?”
“He came back there after the complaint.”
“Employees aren’t even supposed to bring vendors into that office.”
“I know.”
“You left my profile open.”
“I turned to answer a call.”
“How long?”
“I don’t know.”
“And when you turned back?”
“He was looking at the screen.”
My heart began beating harder.
“What did you do?”
“I closed it.”
“That’s all?”
“I told him he wasn’t supposed to look.”
Teresa made a sound halfway between a laugh and disbelief.
Calvin’s shoulders collapsed.
“I thought that was the end of it.”
I looked toward Mercer.
“Check my house again.”
He already had his phone out.
This time I did not argue.
He stepped away to make the call.
Pamela looked at Calvin as if she no longer recognized the man she had supervised.
“You let a vendor who was the subject of a harassment complaint stand behind your desk while you had an employee profile open.”
Calvin’s eyes filled with anger.
“At the time, the complaint had just come in.”
“That changes nothing.”
“I was busy.”
“That changes nothing.”
“He said he was sorry.”
“That changes nothing.”
“I get it.”
“No.”
Pamela’s voice broke.
“You keep saying that, but every sentence after it proves you don’t.”
Calvin looked away.
Mercer came back toward us faster than before.
One look at his face made my stomach drop.
“What?”
He stopped in front of me.
“The unit at your house found the back gate open.”
My mouth went dry.
“It was locked.”
“I know.”
“The fence?”
“Intact.”
“What else?”
Mercer hesitated.
“Your back door is open.”
I did not remember crossing the distance between us.
One moment Mercer was standing three feet away, and the next my hand was gripping the front of his uniform shirt.
“Open how?”
“Enough that the unit could see the kitchen light.”
“I turned that light off.”
“I know.”
“Did they go in?”
“Not yet.”
“Why not?”
“Because we don’t know whether someone is still inside.”
“Then why are we standing here?”
Mercer caught my wrist, not hard, just enough to make me aware that I was holding him.
I let go.
He immediately called for additional units and a supervisor.
I was already moving toward the patrol cars.
“Morgan.”
“I’m going home.”
“No.”
I turned.
He had not raised his voice.
That made me angrier.
“My house is open.”
“And there may be someone inside it.”
“Exactly.”
“That is why you are not going there.”
“You do not get to decide that.”
“For the next several minutes, I do.”
I laughed once.
“You planning to arrest me?”
“If that’s what keeps you out of an active scene.”
Teresa whispered, “Well, this reunion seems healthy.”
Nobody acknowledged her.
I stared at Mercer.
He stared back.
Six years ago, I would have pushed until one of us broke.
Six years ago, I had believed being useful meant moving toward danger faster than everyone else.
Kayla stepped beside me.
“Morgan.”
I looked at her.
She was pale.
Scared.
Not for herself this time.
“Don’t go.”
That stopped me in a way Mercer’s authority could not.
I looked toward my Civic behind the crime-scene tape.
Then at the eastern sky, turning from black to bruised purple.
Then back at Mercer.
“Tell them not to tear my house apart.”
His mouth twitched.
“No promises.”
“I mean it.”
“I know.”
May you like
He walked away to coordinate with the deputies.
Pamela stood near Calvin, who looked as though he had finally understood that the consequences surrounding him were no longer theoretical.
