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.Anything he wants to know…”“Only that and nothing more.”“You said it, not me.You can do this, Coughlin.I believe.”15Maureen opened the break room door to find Drayton waiting for her.He stood in the far corner of the room, his hands folded over his stomach, one knee bent, his heel propped on the pale green wall behind him, directing his most smoldering stare across the room at her.On the table in the center of the room, beside a pile of newspapers, take-out menus, and district memos sat Drayton’s BlackBerry and a half-empty cup of coffee.One chair was pushed away from the table at an angle.Maureen knew that Drayton had been sitting at the table, probably texting, until he heard her coming, at which point he’d gotten up to strike what she was sure he believed was an intimidating pose.She shut the door behind her without acknowledging him.She rinsed a coffee mug in the sink and poured a cup from the pot on the counter.It wasn’t that he was such an actor, she thought, ripping open one sugar packet after another, it was that he so sucked at it.Hadn’t any of his male coworkers taken him aside and clued him in? More proof, she thought, sipping the hot coffee, that not only female cops disliked him.Stirring her coffee, she thought of Quinn and Ruiz maybe making moves behind her back.Preacher said he had faith in her.Waters did, too.Christine Atkinson had everything she wanted, at least professionally, and seemed eager to teach her, but Maureen often worried she was headed more Drayton’s way, toward being the one nobody liked.She worried she’d gotten into the club and now was blowing it.That she’d be the one others mocked and kept in the dark, smirking and rolling their eyes and talking behind their hands when she arrived on the scene, like the men on Magnolia Street had.She didn’t think her coworkers saw her that way, but Drayton didn’t think it, either.She leaned against the counter, cupping her hot coffee in both hands.Here’s your chance then, she thought, to prove yourself a team player.“Detective, you wanted to see me?”Drayton dropped his propped foot hard to the floor and sauntered over to the table.“What happens in this room stays in this room.It stays between us.”Maureen didn’t answer.Drayton didn’t seem to care.He reached into his suit jacket, producing something from the inside pocket.A rolled-up plastic bag.An evidence bag.Her heart stopped.The Post-it from Gage’s wallet, she thought.Quinn had turned it in, putting her on the spot for not mentioning it to Drayton when she’d briefed him about Gage.“Can you explain this?” he asked.Maureen looked closer at the bag, resisting the urge to reach for it.She didn’t see the yellow paper in it.“Explain the fact that you’ve got what appears to be an empty evidence bag in your hand? Or the fact that we’re standing here?”Drayton wiggled the bag at her.“You’ve got a reputation, you know.A hard-charger.A go-getter.You’re a girl in a hurry.”“You’ve been reading my third-grade report card,” Maureen said.She could tell Drayton wasn’t amused.A voice in the back of her head scolded that this behavior was exactly not what Preacher had instructed.But the way Drayton said that word: girl.It sounded in her ears like child.She inhaled the steam from her coffee, hoping the warmth and the scent would soothe and level her.Drayton was a detective, Maureen reminded herself.Asshole or not, he outranked her and everyone else involved by a lot.He could hurt her in the department if he wanted without going as far as framing her for murder.He could fuck Preacher and Quinn and Ruiz, too.He could hurt them with the feds, as Preacher had warned.He could wait until the Gage thing had blown over and hurt them later.She took a hit of coffee.The fluorescent light overhead started to flicker, setting off a twitch under her left eye.She wanted to escape whatever snare Drayton was setting.She didn’t need to make an enemy of him to do it.She was smarter than that.“You’re a clever girl,” Drayton said.“I’ve heard that, too.Strong, independent streak.I’ve heard that you struggle with being a team player.”“I’d ask who told you that,” Maureen said, “but I get the feeling you’d never tell me.” She paused.“And it’s not true.I can go along to get along.” She hated herself for saying it.“So I’m thinking nobody’s told you those things.Not really.”“I hear stories.”“I’m sure you do.So do I.” She wouldn’t back down to him, either.With a snap of the wrist, Drayton unfurled the evidence bag.“Don’t change the subject.Explain this to me.This is your one shot at it in front of only me.Make it count.”Maureen could not see what was in the bag, if anything.“Due respect, Detective, but what the fuck are you talking about?”“You secured the scene at the Gage murder,” Drayton said.“Or, I guess I should say, you were supposed to secure the scene.You know, do basic police work.”“Technically, I was second on the scene,” Maureen said [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]