Allison Brennan - See No Evil

Connor looked her in the eye. “We’re not finished.”

She just nodded and swallowed.

He handed her her gun, which she’d put down when Connor kissed her, then helped her from the gully. The police car stopped and an officer stepped out. San Diego primarily had one-man patrols, and Julia heard another siren in the distance.

“Shit.” Connor raked a hand through his hair.

“What?” she asked.

He didn’t answer. The officer approached. “Kincaid.”

“Davies.”

Julia felt the tension as the two men stared at each other. She took a step forward, extended her hand to Officer Davies. “Deputy District Attorney Julia Chandler. A man driving a black truck ran me off the road. I think he was waiting for me to leave because he came out of Mrs. Hutchinson’s driveway-she’s the first house after mine at the top.”

“I know who you are,” Davies said. His face was blank and his dark sunglasses hid his eyes. His voice dripped contempt.

She shifted, uncomfortable. She’d lost some friends in the police department when she prosecuted Crutcher. Why couldn’t they see that even though he was a cop he was no better than any other criminal she prosecuted?

But Davies’s bitterness wasn’t actually aimed at her. He stared at Connor, hand on the butt of his gun. Completely unnecessary, and it irritated Julia.

“Please drop the gun, Ms. Chandler,” Davies said.

She turned the gun around and handed it to Davies butt-first. He took it, checked the ammunition. “I have a permit to carry, Officer. When the man ran me off the road, he stopped and got out. I didn’t know what he had planned, so I took the gun from my purse.”

“Do you have a description of him?”

She shook her head. “I didn’t get a very good look. Dark hair. Six foot one or two. Not fat or skinny. Average.”

“Would you be able to pick him out in a lineup?”

“I doubt it.”

“Has anyone threatened you lately?”

“I often get threatened in court, but I generally don’t take it seriously. Usually it’s by someone on their way to prison,” she added drily.

“What’s your interest, Kincaid?”

“None of your business, Davies.”

A half-smile turned up Davies’s lips. “Chandler have you on retainer?”

Though the words were innocuous, the tone was combative. Julia had been around enough testosterone in the District Attorney’s Office to sense these two men disliked each other. Davies was baiting Connor.

Connor said nothing. The tension grew.

Another car pulled up behind Davies. Connor looked over as the cop got out. “This just gets better and better,” he said.

“You got a problem?” Davies barked.

“No problem,” Connor said. “Ms. Chandler gave you her statement. Write up the report so we can get out of each other’s face.”

The second cop approached. Julia recognized him, and now she grew as tense as Connor. Rich Rayo had testified for the defense in her case against Wayne Crutcher and his cohorts. And she realized that’s what this was all about-her prosecution of a cop for bribery and accessory to murder, and Connor testifying for her.

Rayo walked up and stood inches from Connor. “Turn around.”

“No.”

“I’ll haul you in so fast your head will be spinning.”

Julia stepped between them and put her hand on Rayo’s chest. “You can’t do that.”

“Watch me, little lady.”

“Excuse me. I’m an officer of the court and I will not have you inappropriately using your authority.”

“Stay out of it, Julia,” Connor said, his voice low and tinged with anger.

“Listen to your boyfriend,” Rayo said. “You fucked with us once, Miz Chandler. We don’t forget.”

Julia didn’t listen to Connor’s warning. Her indignation peaked. “Officer Rayo, I did not fuck with you or any other good cop. I don’t have to wave my credentials at you. I prosecuted a cop who watched two little girls die. Watched their pimps beat them to death. They were thirteen !”

Stepping forward, Connor put a hand on her arm. She shook it off. She was angry and upset. Everything that had happened this week-from Victor’s murder to learning he’d raped Emily to the DEJ for Jason Ridge-made Julia’s fight for the underdog that much more important.

She punched her finger in Rayo’s chest. “Get over it. You have nothing to be proud about, standing up for men who victimized children.”

Rayo growled. “Touch me again and I’ll arrest you for assault.”

She was about to jab him again in the chest just for spite when Connor grabbed her wrist and pulled her back.

“Davies has the information about the truck that ran Ms. Chandler off the road. File the damn report. We’re going.”

“But-” Julia tried to dig in her feet. She was sick and tired of the bullshit coming from these cops about a righteous conviction. Connor firmly led her to his truck.

“Get in.”

“But-”

“Would you just do what I say this time without argument?”

Weariness clouded Connor’s face and without another word Julia climbed into the truck. The adrenaline from this morning’s attack, the kiss, the confrontation with the police, began to wear off. She slumped against the seat.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled.

Swearing under his breath, Connor started his truck. Passing the officers talking by the side of the road, he drove to Julia’s house. So angry-with himself, with Julia, with Davies and Rayo-Connor didn’t trust himself to speak.

At her house, he jumped from the truck and walked to the edge of the cliff, staring at the ocean. He took a deep breath, then another. Hands on his knees, head down, he finally felt his heart slow.

He rarely got into confrontations anymore. Half the force had been with him, quietly or publicly. The others had been quietly neutral or, like the cops today, blatantly antagonistic. Because his precinct had become so divisive, he had to quit. His boss suggested moving to another city, maybe up in northern California, but Connor couldn’t leave his family. They were all he had left after the job. His parents, his brothers and sisters. He didn’t want to grow into a bitter cop with nothing but a chip on his shoulder.

But that basically was what had happened over the last five years. He’d let his anger fester.

Turning against his own people had been next to impossible. He wouldn’t have done it without Julia’s ultimatum. And while he hated her for it, he realized that it was the only way those dead girls could have justice.

Only now did he realize that Julia had actually done him a favor by calling him as a hostile witness.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

He hadn’t heard her approach.

“I’m fine,” he said, his voice clipped.

“I didn’t realize how hard it had been for you after the trial.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It does.”

He turned, grabbing her by the arms. “I don’t need you fighting my battles for me.”

“I wasn’t fighting your battle. I was fighting my own. We’re on the same side.”

“Are we?”

She looked stricken. “I thought so, but maybe I was wrong.”

Connor dropped her arms and ran both hands through his hair. “Damn. Just forget it.”

“I will. If you can.”

Could he? She was offering him an olive branch, why did he hesitate to take it?

“I’ll try.”

She nodded, touched his face before quickly dropping her hand. “It’s a start.”

“We have more important things to worry about. The fact that someone tried to kill you is at the top of the list.”

“We don’t know that he tried to kill-”

He cut her off. “A stranger runs you off the road-a private road-and stops the car. I don’t think he wanted to exchange insurance information. And I don’t think it’s a coincidence.”