Page 65 of Touched

It actually wasn’t.

I stop listening momentarily. Starting to pace across the narrow width of the cabin, trying to figure out how to explain it all.

I need their help.

The whole city does. Maybe the whole state, or beyond.

I cannot tell him about fairies and werewolves…

He’s going to think I’ve lost my mind.

I have no idea if the Trahan brothers have other operations, or family, in other parts of the country, world,any world.

Are there other worlds? Like other realms?

Shit… are there alternate universes like with Marvel?

Until a few days ago, I thought fairies, trolls, and fucking werewolves were just fictional characters in bedtimes stories. Now I know they’rereal.

What the hell else is out there?

“LeBlanc? Are you there?” he yells into the receiver. It’s garbled and broken, but I get the gist of it.

I clench my jaw, considering saying “bad reception,”not a lie, and hanging up. Instead, I quickly say, “I got another lead. But I had to travel to track it. That’s why my reception is so shitty. For now, I need you to scale back from the Trahan brothers.” It takes repeating a few times, but he gets the whole message.

“Your apartment was ransacked. Did you know? Or was it you?” I hear him sigh. “LeBlanc, I know having a bad lead is shitty. But you can’t just take off. Plus, the goods we thought were being smuggled seemed to have made it out of town, even though we didn’t catch them there. I need you to talk to me.”

Shit.

I didn’t think about that. I told the whole team to bail out.

That left time for the worker bees to finish the job while the brothers came looking for us. “Sorry, LT. Listen…”

“I need you to come in to talk, LeBlanc.” The tone of his voice brooks no argument.

I stop pacing, my senses immediately heightened. “What for?”

He sighs again. The connection seems to be a little better as he says, “We just need a statement, LeBlanc… About what happened.” I hear it.

Mother fucker.

Are you serious?

Is he serious?

“Wait. You’re not seriously accusing me of something, are you?” I’m incredulous.

They cannot be serious!

There’s a long pause.

Shit!

Mother-fucking son of a bitch.

“Lieutenant?” My voice rises.

“Come to the station, LeBlanc. We’ll get it sorted.”

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