“Fuck,” Dulac said. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

The door to the interview room opened, and Aniya Thompson stuck her head out; her beaded braids clicked together as she scanned the bullpen. Thompson was a local lawyer, and from what Somers had seen, a very talented one. Wesley had hired her to defend him in a previous case, and she’d handed the Wahredua PD their collective asses.

“Detective Somerset,” she said, “my client is ready to talk to you.”

“I’ll get the chief,” Somers said. “He wanted to handle this.”

“No,” Thompson said. “You, Detective. Wesley will only talk to you.”

CHAPTER NINE

JULY 2

TUESDAY

9:06 AM

ABSOLUTELY NOT,” RIGGLE SAID, standing in the doorway to his office. He had his hands braced on the jambs like he meant to launch himself toward the interview room, and to hell with whatever was in his way.

Somers was one of the things in his way.

Dulac was another.

“Chief, like, he will only talk to Somers, so—”

“Shut your fucking mouth,” Riggle said. “This is my station. This is my department. I say who that fucker talks to.”

“Right, totally, but—”

“Shut. Your. Fucking. Mouth. How old are you? Twenty? For the love of fuck, son, if I have to tell you to be quiet again, I will whip your fucking ass and stand you in the corner.”

Dulac’s cheeks were bright red.

“Chief,” Somers said.

“And one more thing,” Riggle said, still to Dulac. “If I ever hear you use that fucking nickname again, you’ll be walking a beat faster than you can jerk your little boyfriends off. This is a fucking police department, not the fucking junior high boys’ locker room. Is that perfectly fucking clear?”

“Yes,” Dulac said, his posture stiff, his chin high. “Sir.”

“Get the fuck out of here so I can talk to Detective Somerset.”

Dulac shot Somers a look and slunk back toward the bullpen.

“Well,” Riggle said. “You’ve got something to say. Say it.”

“Detective Dulac is good police, Chief.”

With a grunt, Riggle looked past Somers at the interview room. “This isn’t kiddie care. If his little feelings got hurt, he can get his mom to give him a hug and tell him he’s special. Jesus fuck. Who the fuck made this little fucker think he could pick and choose who he can talk to? What a fucking disaster; I’m going to spend the rest of my day breaking that fucker down.”

Somers opened his mouth to say something about Wesley, but what came out was, “Chief, the way you talked to Detective Dulac, that goes through a department fast. I know you’ve got your own way of handling things, but it’s a stressful time, and—”

“And I’m supposed to hold his hand? He’s an adult, Detective. If he can’t handle getting his ass handed to him when he fucks up, he needs another line of work.”

“The women and men in this department have a lot of loyalty to each other. Even Dulac. A little goes a long way, Chief.”