Page 51 of Nightcrawler

“As a fucking bell,” I growled. “I need my shoes.”

“I’ll get them. Get in.”

I was pissed but I complied, knowing it was hopeless to argue. “I need my phone,” I said as he shut the door in my face. “MY PHONE!” I shouted as he walked away, leaving me locked in the back of the police car.

I sat there fuming as I thought about that shithead Ned. Raven had said something about pictures. I was dying to see what that little fucker had done to get himself beat up and I thought about my alibi for the time after I’d seen him last. Whatever the hell he’d done, had ended up with me and Raven in a jackpot and I knew it was going to be a bitch to get out of it.

RAVEN

It had taken every ounce of self-control I had not to scream, as I stood in the living room watching the back of Miguel as he was led out of the house by one of the officers. After the door closed, I looked at the other one. “This is a huge mistake. Ned is only doing this because I fired him yesterday. His last words to me when he left the house were that the argument we’d been having wasn’t the end of this.”

“The end of what exactly?” the officer asked. I noticed he was taking notes which was good.

“I’ll start at the beginning.”

“Okay.”

“Yesterday, when Miguel and I got back to the house, he was freaking out because I’d brought home a friend. Before I even got a chance to introduce Miguel, Ned pulled out a can of mace and threatened to spray him. It wasn’t Miguel doing the threatening, it was Ned. You have to believe me. He was the one doing the threatening here.”

The cop frowned at me and then flipped back several pages of the notes, seemingly looking for something. He apparently found what he was looking for because he started reading from them. “So, Mr. Huerta never said that he’d ‘end’ Mr. Jeffries?”

My mouth dropped open. Miguel had done just that. “He said that, but he didn’t really mean it. It wasn’t like he was really going to ‘end him.’” I made air quotes. “Ned was pointing mace at Miguel’s face. What would you have said? He was trying to get the asshole to put away the mace. Seriously, it was only a threat to get him to put the chemical weapon down.”

“So, you’re saying he got all beat up later?” The cop looked smug.

“I have no idea how he got that way!” I waved in his general direction since he had the polaroids in his pocket. “When he left here yesterday, he was perfectly fine, not all beat up.” I thought for a second. “I fired him yesterday afternoon and when he came in to say goodbye to my grandmother, he was perfectly fine. You can ask her.”

“She saw his face? His condition?” the officer asked.

Raven’s heart sank. “No…she’s blind…but please, talk to her. She’s very perceptive.”

“The detectives assigned to your case will no doubt do that. Meanwhile, you need to come into the station for questioning.”

“I can’t leave. No one is here to stay with my elderly grandmother. I’m waiting for her nurse.” I glanced at my watch, noting the time. “She should be here in twenty minutes or so.”

“We’ll wait then.”

I sighed. “Is this all really necessary?”

He frowned again. “If this was a lover’s quarrel or a lover’s triangle that got out of hand, then you’ll really save me a lot of paperwork and trouble if you just admit it now.” The judgment on his words wasn’t lost on me which just made me even more pissed.

I ignored his embarrassing tone. “Ned Jeffries was my grandmother’s nurse until yesterday when he was fired. I’ve never had, nor would I ever entertain a relationship with him. Where’s Miguel?”

“In the car,” his partner said, walking back into the house. “You, too. Let’s go,” he said, motioning me to come along.

“He’s gotta stay with his granny until the nurse shows up, Tom,” the officer with me said.

“How long?” Tom asked, obviously irritated and just as much of a bastard as his friend here.

“Mathis says she’ll be here in twenty minutes.”

“We’ll wait,” Tom said.

“Fine. But I need to make a call.” I reached for my phone.

“To whom?” the nasty cop demanded.

“To friends of mine, Detective Cassidy Ryan and his partner, Detective Mike Williams of the LAPD. They’re out of Brentwood.”