Page 69 of Manner of Death
“You think he’s happy that you’re fucking around with his work?” Sawyer asked coldly. “Sit down, Ms. Glen. We’re not done yet.”
“But you haven’t charged me. You said I was free to go.”
“I did and you are,” he said calmly. “But that could change. I can hold you for forty-eight hours without charging you if I want to.”
Her eyes widened. “You can’t do that!”
“I don’t want to, but I absolutely will if you don’t sit down right now.” He was treading on thin ice, but he didn’t apologize for it.
She sat, a wary look coming across her face once more. “This is pointless,” she muttered.
“I agree. I think you’re absolutely capable of murder, myself.” Sawyer leaned in a bit. “I just don’t think you’re smart enough to pull off something like this.”
“I’m smart! You don’t get where I am without being smart!”
He shrugged. “Sure, you’re smart, but you’re not dedicated. The way your engagement fell apart speaks to that.” He watched her start to go red. “You tried to trade up and failed. Your fiancé left you, and you’re still working for the man you confessed was not only the reason your engagement failed, but he also turned you down. You’re probably furious.”
“I—what—”
“I get it. I might be mad too, if I drove my life off a bridge for no good reason. No husband, a boss who doesn’t trust you…yeah, you’d definitely try to pin these killings on him if you were good enough.”
“How dare you!”
“But you’re not. All you’re doing is making it look like someone smarter is pulling your strings. Are you so desperate to ruin Bashir’s career that you’ll sit here in silence instead of telling the truth?”
Now the tears resurfaced. Sawyer didn’t care this time. “Do you hate him that much?” he continued. “So much that you want to see him ruined at all costs? So much that you’ll smile when he’s investigated and mistakes are found in his files—mistakes that you yourself put there?”
“I didn’t!” Tami insisted.
“How you can hate a man you once loved enough that your engagement ended over it is just…it’s appalling on so many levels. And now you’re going to get his license to practice medicine pulled for no other reason than—”
“Stop it!” she shrieked, standing up and hitting her hands on the table. “Stop saying that! I don’t want Bashir to be hurt! I love Bashir! I would never let him—”
The door burst open. “What is going on here?” Tami’s attorney rounded the table to put a quelling hand on his client’s shoulder. “This is absolutely disgusting! Is this how the police conduct their interviews in this department? My client is giving you the courtesy of her time, and you treat her like this?”
Sawyer glanced over his shoulder at Nan, who grimaced and mouthed “Too fast to text.”
“I ought to sue the department!”
“Suing us won’t make your client any less guilty,” Nan said, taking over the argument. It ended in mutual threats but none actually triggered, with the lawyer leading Tami out and into the lobby…where Bashir was waiting.
Tami wailed and ran forward, throwing herself into Bashir’s arms. “They’re saying such terr—terrible things about you,” she got out. “Terrible things!” She wept long black streaks across his camel-colored coat, and when Bashir looked over at Sawyer with betrayal on his face, a cold knot began to grow in the pit of his stomach.
Shit. Things were about to get really fucking complicated.
Chapter 19
There were a lot of reasons why Bashir didn’t, as a rule, date cops. Erratic, demanding hours made it impossible to see each other. Conflicts of interest could arise if they were both involved in the same case (not that he’d had any experience with that recently). There was a high probability of a violent and untimely death.
And, in Bashir’s experience, cops were often shockingly ruthless about doing whatever it took to solve a case. That could be a good thing—some criminals were only busted because of extraordinarily tenacious and creative policework—but it could also raise some serious red flags about a cop’s morals and ethics.
Such as, say, when a cop faced down a terrified young person and lied through his goddamned teeth in order to wring a confession out of her. That Sawyer had apparently lied to Tami about Bashir was just the dog shit icing on this garbage fire cake.
Resting a hand on her back while she cried on his shoulder, Bashir glared hard at Sawyer. “What the fuck is going on?”
Sawyer put up his hands and presented his best there’s-been-a-misunderstanding face. “It’s not what it sounds—”
“You fucking liar!” Tami whirled out of Bashir’s arms and stabbed a finger at Sawyer, very nearly hitting him in the chest. “You both told me I had to talk—confess to shit I didn’t even do—or Bashir would lose his job. Don’t even try to tell me you didn’t, you lying pig.”