Page 43 of Cherished By the Sinners
A few of the officers milling around parted, revealing the vice cop who was indulging in a belly laugh.“She’s a prostitute and you two are part of a criminal organization.”He looked inside the van, then turned back and grinned.“I guarantee that all three of you are going to get some serious prison time for all this.”
“Graster,” a female voice said.“That’s enough.”A woman threaded her way through the officers.
Nika—Mason and Magnus’s cousin Bazyli’s girlfriend—was also a detective.She’d also arrested the man who’d cut up her back and tried to kill her.
Graster’s face twisted into a sneer.“Not your case.”
“It is now,” she told him with no expression at all.“There’s a dead body in the hotel stairwell, and the dude didn’t go down easy.”
“What?”Graster frowned.“No, that’s not...”He pointed at Darlene.“She solicited these men, then tried to rob them.Then these two got involved.”He pointed at Mason and Magnus.“I think they’re shaking down hotel guests.”
That lying piece of crap.“I didn’t solicit anyone,” Darlene said.“I told you before, I have a real job.”
“I have you, Mr.Graster,” Mason said with the smile on his face that meant he was planning on smacking someone.“On surveillance tape, sitting with two men in the hotel restaurant.One of them is in the back of this van.On that tape, you approach our employee,” he nodded at Darlene.“And said something to her that made her lean as far away from you as she could possibly get.And I believe the expression on her face was disgust.”
“I’ll need that tape,” Nika said mildly.
“Of course, detective.There are also several witnesses to their interaction.Guests of the hotel.”
“Do you know who the dead body is?”she asked.
“The other man Mr.Graster was sitting with in the hotel restaurant.We also have footage of Darlene’s kidnapping by those same two men, and how hard she fought them.She did not go willingly.”
“Graster,” Nika said, looking in the van at the man within.“How do you know this guy and my dead body?”
Graster’s face was so red, he looked like he was about to explode.“You’re questioning me in front of suspects?”His lips retracted in disgust.“Oh yeah, you’re banging one of them, right?”
Another detective jogged over to Nika.“Just got word from the team across the street,” he said, keeping his voice low.“The bomb threat was a fake.A classic case of ‘swatting’ to create a diversion.”
“Swatting?”Darlene asked, the word unfamiliar.
Nika gave a grim nod.“It’s when someone makes a hoax 911 call to draw a massive police response—like a SWAT team—to a specific location as a distraction.Or a very sick prank.”She paused, turning to survey the area in a slow circle.“Really?Interesting timing.”She turned and examined Graster with narrow eyes, but didn’t respond to him.
“The 911 operator said the man who called in the bomb scare,” the detective continued.“Kept the call short, didn’t give her an opportunity to ask questions, but did know all the key words to say.”
“Interesting,” Nika repeated.She waved at the SWAT guys then shouted, “Thanks, I think your team and the bomb squad can head out.”
They nodded back and walked away.That left a bunch of uniformed cops, and several suited guys who worked with Nika.
She studied Mason and Magnus and Darlene.“Darlene, do you need medical attention?”
“Wait a second,” Graster broke in, putting his hands on his hips.“Aren’t you going to arrest anyone?These two meatheads beat the shit out of two men and probably had something to do with your dead body.”
Nika smiled coldly at Graster.“I plan on arresting quite a few people.Making sure everyone involved is healthy enough to answer questions is step one.Something you’d know if you bothered to learn the law beyond your admittedly small understanding of it.”
“This is fucking ridiculous,” Graster said, rolling his eyes.“I’m out of here.”
“Not so fast,” Nika said, holding up a hand then gesturing toward the detective.“Williams is going to take you back to the station to take your statement.”She nodded at the man who approached Graster with a half grin on his face.
“Why do I need to make a statement?”Graster said, outrage making him louder.“I’ve got nothing to do with this.”
“Are you on duty?”Nika asked him.
“No.”As soon as the word left his mouth, a horrified expression flashed across his face before he could hide it.
Darlene checked Nika’s face to see if she caught it.Nika looked so relaxed, so unconcerned, it had to be an act.
“So, you were visiting with friends in the hotel, harassed an employee, then just happened to be around during a kidnapping and murder?”
