Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 92043 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92043 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
“I know all about the so-called evidence. According to Hopkins, it doesn’t prove anything. All it shows is a woman slurring hate speech on the subway. Nothing proves she’s the one who attacked the victim.”
“Nothing but common sense,” Connelly said.
The captain’s eyes were on him again. “I’m taking you off the case.”
“What the hell?” Raoul stood.
Connelly didn’t move. “Why?”
Captain Bell wouldn’t meet his eye, he shuffled papers and then picked up a pen and began tapping it on the desk. If he hadn’t been such a longtime family friend, Connelly might have hated him a little. As it was, he had too much respect for the man to feel anything but disappointment. He’d hoped the 23rd would be better, but he was still stuck in the same goddamn hamster wheel as he had been in the 32nd. Only now his boss was an old friend of his father’s so there was even more reason to toe the line.
He knew why they were being removed. He’d known it would happen as soon as he realized what the real crime was. Because the department couldn’t afford the publicity a hate crime would bring. And having a gay detective investigating it? Hell, that would start a feeding frenzy.
The victim was a trans woman who’d been beaten and thrown down the stairs of the 103rd Street station. She’d been found unconscious and rushed to the hospital. The video on her cell phone clearly showed a woman verbally abusing her on the train and the time stamp said it happened less than twenty minutes before she was found. Any logical investigator should have put the clues together, but fucking Martin and Hopkins were doing their best to avoid the truth.
And now Captain Bell had joined them.
“You’re falling behind. I’ve got the chief down my throat to get our numbers up and these goddamn gangs running rampant.”
“This is bullshit,” Raoul said. “You know we’re right. That girl deserves justice.”
“Don’t push it, Barnes. Martin and Hopkins can pursue the hate crime angle, but you two are off the case. Your other investigations have backlogged since I put you on this and I need you to close some of the cases you’ve already got on your plate.”
Yeah, sure. Convenient excuse. Connelly was sick and tired of the fucking bureaucratic rules that put their solve rate above justice. Above truth. He wouldn’t put it past the higher-ups to gloss over the facts so the press didn’t catch wind of this.
Just like everyone else, Captain Bell was covering his own ass.
Connelly followed Raoul to the door. Just as he was about to leave, the captain called to him. “Reid?”
Connelly looked over his shoulder.
“I don’t want the same bullshit that happened at the 32nd poisoning my precinct, you hear me?”
Translation: I got you and your partner out of the 32nd. Don’t fuck me over unless you want to be wearing your balls around your neck.
Connelly didn’t reply.
He wanted so badly to slam the door behind him, but he didn’t. What good would a tantrum do? None. He’d chosen this job. He’d known the difficulties and the consequences when he’d signed up. As long as he had the opportunity to protect innocent lives and lock up criminals, he’d put up with the rest.
* * *
“So, you talked to him finally?” Raoul asked as they got out of Connelly’s car and made their way to Sal’s Place for lunch.
It was a warm afternoon. The scent of sun-soaked tropical fruit from a corner grocery stand hit him as they passed. The sky was a perfect blue dotted with fluffy white clouds that should have lifted his spirits. They didn’t. Captain Bell’s words were still ringing in his ears.
“Just for a second.”
There was no way Connelly could explain his reaction to the real Azariah. He definitely couldn’t explain why he was still fucking eating lunch at the same goddamn diner hoping for another glimpse. Not after he’d freaked out about their kiss and taken off without even a wave good-bye like an asshole. He had absolutely no intention of following through with the attraction, not after Cap’s warning this morning.
Jesus, he didn’t even want to think about all the shit that would blow up if anyone other than his partner saw him with Azariah. He was lucky Figgins and Redding weren’t too bright otherwise it might already be too late. After what happened three months ago, he couldn’t risk it. Not just for his own safety but Raoul’s as well.
They’d both been stationed at the 32nd and in a lucky coincidence, partnered up. Everything was fine for about a year, Connelly did his best to keep his head down, work his assignments, and solve his cases. They did so well, though, that a couple of senior detectives got bent out of shape. And no matter how much he tried to keep his sex life private, eventually the gossip started again, only this time it got violent.