TruthOrConsequences

Preview

People cleared the way for them as Rachel and Harvey ran onto the barge. Antwon gratefully gave up his seat at Harvey’s desk when he saw them arrive. “I haven’t found anything yet,” Antwon told her as walked over to Rachel’s desk. She was already frantically tapping at the keyboard. “I extended the search by another hour.”

“That’s too long,” she said, leaning forward to see around Antwon. “Shut down the search, Harv, and start another one.”

“Already on it,” he returned.

Nash walked up and put a hand on Antwon’s shoulder. “Grab a couple of these people around here and check on car dealers and rental agencies along that strip of highway where she was last scene.”

“Got it,” Antwon returned with a quick nod and immediately started gesturing to the people closest to them. “You, you and you. Let’s go.”

“I’m hacking into the profiler,” Rachel told Harvey, ignoring the growing audience around them. The fact that her program could hack into any security system on line was the one detail that had held up the production. The irony of announcing the fact that she was doing something currently illegal while sitting in the middle of a room full of cops didn’t escape her. She was struck by the fact that she didn’t hesitate to call out classified information. She hadn’t realized until that moment how much Jerry had come to mean to her. She didn’t give a damn about security for her multimillion dollar prototype.
All she cared about was that it could bring Jerry home.

* * *

Victoria took a long moment just to enjoy the feel of him in her arms. She wanted to remember every second with him. She knew all too well how wickedly fate toyed with her life. Quiet moments were so rare that she savored every one.

Having shored up her courage, she looked up at him once more, memorizing every line, every curve of his face. “We need to talk.”

“No good news has ever followed that statement,” he returned warily.

She looked down at her hands as she slid them over his chest. “I think there’s a new player in town,” she said. There was no point in hiding it. Nash would find out for himself eventually, but she would rather prepare him than have him stumble onto it. “He came to Flash last night.”

“Okay,” Nash said slowly. It wasn’t like Victoria to be so unnerved by a drug dealer. She had been associating with them for years. Her intelligence and quick thinking had kept her alive.

She sighed, uncertain of where to begin. “I think that he’s coming after you,” she said, surprised that her voice could be so calm when she felt like her stomach had declared war.

* * *

Cassidy simply blurted it out. “I think that someone is manufacturing evidence against Anna Paxton.”

“MCD is going to want in on this,” Harvey said.

Nash thought about that for a long moment. “Let’s just make sure that there is something to investigate first.”

“I knew it!” Cassidy fumed. “I knew that you wouldn’t take me seriously just because I’m your daughter.”

“Whoa, back the truck up there little girl. I’m not going to risk a cop’s career on a vague memory. You said yourself that you couldn’t remember for certain what was or wasn’t on that tape. I’m not about to accuse a fellow officer of tampering with evidence without something to back it up with.”

* * *

Antwon walked directly up to Harvey’s desk and started going through the files scattered about. He didn’t like what he was hearing, but he wanted to see the proof himself. He felt his heart drop when he saw the file. He flipped it open and saw a list of the pawnbrokers that he had checked out earlier for Nash. “What’s this?” he asked Harvey who was looking up at him curiously.

“It’s a list of pawn brokers in town.” He stated the obvious, hoping that Antwon didn’t suspect.

“Yeah, it’s a list of pawn brokers who I’ve already spoken too concerning the blackout robberies.” He tossed the file back onto Harvey’s desk. “What’s up man? Is there something that I should know?”

“No, nothing,” Harvey returned hesitantly. He should have known that Antwon would pick up the signs. That was the one thing that he had noticed about his new partner; he was extremely efficient when it came to putting together the pieces.

He waited for more, but when Harvey remained silent, looking guiltily up at him, Antwon asked point blank. “Am I being investigated?”