Page 43 of The Raven
“Raven, you have to go. TrustthatI know what I’m doing.”
Her whole body slumped.“I’m not ready,”she whispered, tears filling hereyes.
I stroked a finger down her cheek before letting my hand drop. If I carriedon touching her, I wouldn’t be able to stop.“I’ll see you soon, Blackbird.”
The crashing of the door being kicked open reverberated around myapartment. I twisted my head to look over my shoulder, watching as Brenner strolled in with my supposed partner, Nick Humphreys, by his side, while a bunch of uniformed cops filtered in behind him.
When I turned back to Raven, the space where she’d been standing not tenseconds ago was vacant.
My heart cracked straight down the middle.
“Roberts! Didn’t you hear us knocking?”Brenner barked from behind me.
Swallowing the lump of agony clogging my throat, I turned to face him,hoping like fuck he couldn’t see the heartbreak I was wearing on my face.
“I’m afraid I didn’t. I was out here getting some fresh air,”I replied ascalmly as I could.“To what do I owe this unexpected visit?”
Brenner held up a piece of paper.“Mason Roberts, you have the right toremain silent…”
I blocked him out as he read my rights, my mind consumed with Raven. Ididn’t give a fuck what happened to me; all I wanted, no,needed, to know wasthatshe’d gotten to Grim in time. I couldn’t bear the thought of her not finding the peace she rightly deserved.
“Conspiracy to murder, huh?”I asked when Brenner was finished.“Whatevidence do you have forthat, genius?”
Brenner’s nostrils flared.“We’ll discussthatback at the station, but I’m surewe’ll find plenty more evidence when we turn this place upside down,”he retorted as a triumphant smirk crept over his lips.
A muscle twitched in my jaw, my fists clenching with the overwhelmingneed to smack the motherfucker in the face. But where wouldthatget me? I needed to keep a calm head.
“Can you at least give me the dignity to walk out of here without cuffs on?Bit embarrassing if my neighbors see me cuffed up,”I said, hoping to buy myself an opportunity to escape.
“Not a chance.”
Fuck.
“Boss, let me take Mason back to the station. I know him; he won’t tryanything with me, and you can stay here to oversee the search,”Nick said, speaking for the first time, his tone completely neutral.
Brenner’s lips pursed as he looked between Nick and me. From the corner ofmy eye, I peeked at Nick, trying to get a read on him. Whose side was he on? But it was impossible to tell; his poker face was shit hot.
“Boss, you might want to come and see this,”a cop called from my sparebedroom, where they’d no doubtjustdiscovered my evidence wall.
If Brenner didn’t have any evidence on me beforehand, he certainly did now.
Curiosity got the better of Brenner.“Fine. But I want him in cuffs for theentire journey. And he’s not to be interviewed until I’m there.”
Withthat, he stormed away, heading straight to the spare bedroom.
Nick didn’t say a word as he spun me around and slapped the cuffs on, myhands locked behind my back, and my chances of getting out of this mess and getting to Raven before it was too late rapidly declining.He led me through the apartment, cops rifling through my belongings,pausing to glare at me, disgust written over each of their faces.
They thought I was a dirty cop.
As Nick led me past the room where flashes of a camera went off, Brennerappeared at the door, my wall of evidence behind him.“You couldn’tjustlet it go, could you, Roberts. This is your own fault, you know. You asked for this.”
Probably.
But I wouldn’t have changed a thing.
Raven deserved her justice, and if I couldn’t get it for her, I hoped she couldget it for herself.
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