Nic tossed a quick look toward the passenger seat. Kurt had been his partner since the department closed the Yearly case. He had been assigned as Nic’s babysitter. Everyone knew it was his punishment for challenging the senator, but no one said it. Maybe that was why he couldn’t let this go. Honestly, that was only a tiny part of things.
“Let what go? I’m just working on case notes.”
Kurt’s eyebrow rose. Just the one. His brown eyes screamed Nic was a liar. “You had to stop to take notes about a different case right outside of the senator’s house?”
Nic nodded. He refused to show an ounce of guilt. “If I have a thought, then I write it down. I’m a good detective because I refuse to forget a single detail.”
Kurt snorted. He didn’t call bullshit. Kurt couldn’t force him to be honest, and they both knew it. It came down to the golden rule. Admit nothing.
Kenneth pulled from the driveway, and Nic followed.
“Are we tailing the guy now?”
Nic kept his eyes on Kenneth’s car. “We’re headed the same way, and this is a free country. Stop being paranoid.”
“I’ll add gaslighting to your list of transgressions,” Kurt muttered under his breath.
Nic bit back a smile. One of these days, Kurt would loosen up and they would get along fine. That day likely wasn’t today. They stopped at a red light. Kenneth turned right. Nic didn’t follow. If he did, he couldn’t claim he wasn’t tailing the guy. Nic swore he felt Kurt’s stare boring into the side of his face, watching to see what he would do. Even though it made his eye twitch, Nic eased up, filling the spot where Kenneth’s car had been. He would catch up with his prey again later when he was alone.
His cellphone rang.
Nic glanced at the dashboard touchscreen. It was his boss. He hit the phone icon on his steering wheel to answer. “Hello?”
“Why are you tailing the senator?”
Nic felt Kurt’s I-told-you-so stare. “I’m not. I’m sitting at the corner of Clark and Palace, headed to question the father in the Jefferson case.”
“That’s funny. I just got a call from the senator’s office, saying you were sitting outside his house again and following him to work.”
“I told you where I am.” Nic held his breath and waited.
“Detective Davies.”
Kurt practically jumped to attention. “Yes, sir?”
“Have you been sitting outside the senator’s house this morning?”
Kurt shot him a look that swore retribution. “No, sir. We’re sitting at the corner of Clark and Palace.”
“Mhmm.” James’ sound of disbelief felt damning in the otherwise silent car. “I expect a progress report this afternoon on the Jefferson case. Understood?”
“Yes, sir.” Nic and Kurt spoke simultaneously.
The call ended without a goodbye. The light turned green. Nic eased off the brake.
“Listen—”
“Save it,” Kurt said, interrupting him. “If you want to throw your career away on chasing Yearly, do it on your own time. I won’t lie for you again. All it would take was one GPS check of our location and we’ll both be fired.”
“I know I—”
Kurt made a dismissive gesture. “I really don’t want to hear it. Get fired on your own time. Leave me the fuck out of it.”
Fair enough. Nic kept his gaze locked on the road and didn’t say another word. Kurt was right. This was his obsession. He would have to take care of it with no witnesses. They weren’t friends. He needed to remember it.
Chapter Two
Kenneth stared at nothing, bored beyond words. It was almost funny. He had begged for this peace. Like most people in Archer Woods’ organization, he had been raised as part of an assassin program. The crime lord who had taken him in and given him a job afterward was a good man by comparison. But working for Archer still hadn’t meant peace. While Kenneth had no qualms about killing people, he craved riches without violence. When Archer’s right-hand man Cree had put the idea of taking over the senator’s life into Kenneth’s head, Kenneth had thought he would finally have the life he wanted. Now he spent all day listening to whining old windbags as they sniped at each other. He supposed he was one of them now too. Thank God the original Kenneth Yearly had been vain. Otherwise, it would’ve been impossible to pull off the twenty-year difference between him and his predecessor. A surgeon might have ways to make him look older, but it hadn’t been necessary. Kenneth shuddered at the thought.
By the time the session wrapped, Kenneth nearly ran from the building. Several people tried stopping him in an attempt to swing his vote. Kenneth kept his eyes locked on his goal: the door. He couldn’t get out quickly enough. A thought hit and slowed his step. Where was he rushing to go? Hopefully, Wendy would be gone, but still. He couldn’t do anything untoward. It wasn’t like Kenneth could hit the bar or had any friends he could visit. Sometimes, at the oddest moments, everything hit him at once, suffocating him. This life was much lonelier than he had expected it to be.
“I wasn’t following you this morning.” A familiar form stepped into his path. Blue eyes held his stare. They were defiant. Something eased in Kenneth’s chest.
“Detective Higgins.” As Kenneth said the name, the darkness fled. Life handed him a challenge. He eyed the man’s messy blond hair and wrinkled dress shirt. “It’s always nice to see you. I don’t recall accusing you of following me, but I certainly feel stalked now.”
Fire flashed in Nic’s eyes. “Your office called my boss, so someone accused me.” He paused. “And I’m not stalking you. I’m talking to you.”
Something about running into the detective always fired Kenneth’s blood. He was the bit of excitement missing from Kenneth’s life. “Well, if you’re not stalking me and I didn’t call your office, it sounds like someone else hopes to see you fired. Maybe we should go to dinner and discuss your list of enemies.” The offer was a huge risk and just dumb as hell. Kenneth didn’t want to go home.
Nic curled his nose. “I don’t want to be seen with you.”
“You’re being seen with me right now,” Kenneth shot back. “At least, if we’re having dinner, it’ll look as if we’ve buried the hatchet, and there’s no need for your superiors to worry. Unless you have a personal reason, you don’t want to be seen with me. Is it because I’m gay?”
The series of emotions that floated across Nic’s face were comical as hell. He finally landed on furious. “Did you suffer a head injury in those months you were missing? First off, I don’t like you. Your past stance on issues that matter to me sickens me. Not only that, but I’m gay, so fuck you for that one. You coming out after decades of spitting on the gay community doesn’t magically absolve you of anything. Last but not least, you have a wife.”
Kenneth never lost his smile. This was the best time he’d had in ages. “I asked you to join me for dinner. Not a date. I truly couldn’t care less what you think of me, and as of noon today, I have no wife. We amicably signed our divorce papers and parted ways.”