Page 38 of Dom 5: The Finale
One of the security guards downstairs sounded nervous as hell.
“Ms. Royal, they’re asking again if Mr. Royal is in the building.”
Carmen rolled her eyes. “And what did you tell them?”
“That legal counsel is on the way.”
“Good,” she said. “Tell them they can wait downstairs until he gets here.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She hung up and looked over at me. “I swear people act like they never seen police before.”
“Because they scary.”
“Exactly.”
A few minutes later, the office door opened again, and Marcus came walking in carrying a leather briefcase. His tie was loosened already like he had been dragged out of the middle of something and was irritated about it, but he looked like he meant business. He was dressed in an expensive Tom Ford suit and kind of looked like he could’ve been Steve Harvey’s lil protégé as sharp as he was.
He stopped when he saw both of us. “Well,” he said while setting the briefcase down in one of the chairs. “This looks fun.”
Carmen handed him one of the folders immediately. “It’s about the Riverside murders.”
Marcus opened it while he walked farther into the office. “They finally moving?”
“Yeah.”
He flipped through a few pages, sucked his teeth, and shook his head. “This is weak.”
“Exactly what I said,” I replied.
Marcus loosened his jacket, dropped down into the chair across from Carmen desk, and kept reading through the file. “They probably got some bullshit witness,” he said. “Or somebody talking that doesn’t really know enough.”
“Most likely,” I said.
Marcus looked up at me. “You got somebody ready if they start getting creative?”
I smirked a little and leaned back against the bar. “Yeah, my wife has the names. Always.”
That made Marcus nod because he already knew what that meant. There were always people around willing to take a charge for the right money. Especially if they knew their family would be straight. That was part of the game. You keep enough people fed, loyal, and comfortable, and somebody always willing to say they was behind the wheel, they made the call, they pulled the trigger.
The elevator dinged down the hall and everybody in the room got quiet for a second. Then one of the shadows stepped into the doorway again. “They coming upstairs.”
I removed both my guns and passed them to my wife so she could lock them in her safe.
The detectives did not knock soft. They came in like men who wanted the moment to feel bigger than it really was, with their shoulders squared and badges out, with two of them trying too hard to look calm while the uniforms behind them stood there like props. The whole hallway outside Carmen’s office shifted the second they stepped off the elevator. My shadows didn’t reach for anything, but they moved just enough to let everybody know there was a line in that hallway and if the wrong person crossed it, the rest of the night was gone turn into something else. This could get real different, but they would stand down unless I told them otherwise.
Carmen was still standing behind her desk when the detectives came through the doorway. Marcus had his briefcase open in front of him already, and that look on his face lawyers got when they were about to start charging people for every breath they took. I stayed where I was near the bar with my drink in one hand and my phone in the other, watching the roomthe way I always did when somebody thought they were walking into a situation with the upper hand.
The older detective stepped in first with his thick ass neck, and suit too tight across the stomach, with the most fucked up receding hairline that was trying its best. The one beside him was younger and cleaner looking but trying even harder. Both of them looked at Carmen first because that was the smart move, then at Marcus because they saw the briefcase, then finally at me because I was the reason they were there.
“Mr. Royal,” the older one said.
I took a sip of my drink before answering. “That’s me.”
“We’re here to take you in for questioning in connection to the homicide of Jermaine Cooper.”
I looked over at Marcus. “See? I told you this was weak.”
