HIS Choice: An H.I.S. Novel (H.I.S. series Book 2) (11 page)

“I need to report this to
the police.”

“Oh hell no you’
re not!”

Megan entered the police station with Trent grudgingly in tow. She’d had to threaten to fire him if he didn’t allow her to speak with the detectives. She wouldn’t actually do it but the possibility kept him in line. He made a few calls, presumably checking them out and appeared satisfied, though his tight jaw held
his anger.

A different officer greeted her. She wouldn’t call it a pleasant greeting. It was more like a “why the hell are you bothering me” greeting. The woman did eye Trent, licking her lips seductively
several times.

“I’m here to see Detective Cooper or Detective Phillips.” One of them had to be here. She didn’t want to have to return. She needed to tell them today before they saw it in print in
the morning.

Detective Cooper walked toward her. “Hello, Ms. Rogers. I wasn’t expecting you today. Witnessed more drug deals in progress that you failed to call in?”
He chuckled.

His heavily starched blue shirt had to rub his skin. Did his wife do that to punish him? What made her think of that? She must be more nervous than she thought to veer off on something ridiculous. Yep. She shook
a little.

“You told me if something happened to let you know. Well, something definitely happened today, and it wasn’t a
drug deal.”

He quickly assessed her. “Come
on back.”

Trent grabbed
her arm.

The man raised a brow? “Who’
s this?”

“Detective Cooper, this is Trent McKenzie,
my bodyguard.”

The detective smiled. “So you listened after all.
Good girl.”

She bristled at his calling her a girl. “He’ll accompany me.” Another of Trent’s requirements although he did warn her that he would abandon her for a bit, but she’d always be
in sight.

Following the detective through the maze to his desk, she tried to block out the noise. She looked across
his desk.

Detective Phillips stood and reached out his hand. “Ms. Rogers, it’s good to see you again.
I hope.”

He had a red stain on his green tie which had barely missed his white shirt. There she went again letting her mind wonder on something trivial that wasn’t a story or didn’t
concern her.

She shook his hand. “Thank you.” Why couldn’t it be Detective Phillips alone? She decided she liked him best. His lectures weren’t as harsh as his partner’s.

She introduced Trent and he excused himself. He stopped in the noisy area and an officer stood and shook his hand. Of course he’d have friends here. He’d
been FBI.

“Have a seat, Ms. Rogers. May I get you something to drink? Coffee?” Detective
Cooper asked.

Caffeine and warmth on her hands sounded wonderful. “I’ll take a cup of coffee,
black please.”

“I’ll get it.” Detective Phillips
walked away.

The other detective gestured to the chair beside
his desk.

“Have you stayed off the streets? I haven’t seen any new drug deals in
your newspaper.”

So, he read her articles. Why was he keeping tabs on her? Were they still hoping to put her in jail for something? It more than likely had to do with her not showing them up again. This will not go over well since she hadn’t called 911,
or them.

She nodded, unable to respond verbally. She needed that coffee. Something to still the hands she kept clasping and unclasping in her lap. This nervous fidgeting wasn’t her. She didn’t want to have this meeting, listen to their censure, relive
the day.

He leaned toward her and lowered his voice. “I wanted to tell you that I’m glad you flushed out the officers abusing suspects. I’d have rather we’d found out ourselves, and it hasn’t been front page news, but I’m glad they’re off the streets. If anyone asks, I’ll deny saying this to you.” He straightened, returning to the poster
boy detective.

Wow. Okay, she changed her mind. She liked Detective Cooper best. “Thank you,” she said with a slight smile
of appreciation.

Would he still feel the same when she exposed corrupt police officers? It would be public again. She couldn’t trust them to investigate their own or those officers would’ve already been off the force. The Magician probably had internal affairs on
his payroll.

She wouldn’t allow something like that to be swept under the rug. The people had a right to know. That’s why she
did this.

“What’re you involved in now? Why did you need to see me?” He pulled out a legal pad and pencil and began tapping it on the paper. He eyed her curiously. “You’re
very serious.”

She nervously cleared her lump filled throat. “I witnessed a murder.” She closed her eyes. A dead man in a pool of blood flooded her vision. She struggled to control the almost overwhelming feeling
of despair.

She’d witnessed a murder. It finally sank in deep, clawing its way through her body, tightening her chest and tensing her muscles. Her entire body fought to
right itself.

His pencil stilled. “Excuse me. Did you
say murder?”

A slow nod. “Yes.”

She shouldn’t be nervous. It was over. Maybe it was that thing where it finally hit after the adrenaline wore off. She’d already relived this nightmare twice, in reality and in telling her friends. She could go through it again. She
had to.

“Let me get a homicide detective
over here.”

She put her hand on his arm. “No. Please. I only want to work with you two.” She’d walk out of here if he handed her over to someone she didn’t know or trust. She wouldn’t need to walk. Trent would drag her out if
that happened.

“It doesn’t work
like that.”

“But it involves
Magic Shop.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Let’s wait for Joe, so you won’t have to start over midway through your story. Then we’ll decide what to do. I’m guessing you have pictures, too.”

“Yes.” She reached into her purse for the thumb drive Kyle had prepared. More of this and she’d need to start charging the police department
for them.

“I’d like to tell you my story before you look at the photos
and video.”

He accepted the thumb drive and flattened his lips. “Video?”

“Please.” She didn’t want him to see everything just yet. He might put out an APB or something on AJ before he could escape
the city.

Detective Cooper’s reluctance to agree with her was noticeable. He looked at the thumb drive and sighed. “We’ll wait.
This time.”

She definitely liked Detective Cooper best. Maybe she could get him to help her with her investigation if she agreed to cooperate. She’d speak with him after they finished with this. It wouldn’t hurt
to ask.

His partner returned with her coffee.

“Thank you.” Her hands absorbed the warmth to heat her chilled fingers. It worked but now she found herself stuck with terribly tasting coffee. How could they actually call
this coffee?

“Joe, you need to hear her story. It involves murder.” A knowing look passed between
the detectives.

She hated when they did that. She wanted to know what they
were thinking.

“I’m
all ears.”

She took a deep breath and slowly released it. Just the facts Trent had told her. Get it over with so it’s out of your mind. Surely telling it the third time would ease the turmoil
within her.

“I received a tip about a meeting with a boss in Magic Shop. I arrived early and found a good hiding place. There were three of them, but they met too far away for me to hear what was being discussed. Not long into the meeting, the one I suspect was the boss shot the other two men in the chest. One of the guys shot him. I think he’ll need an emergency room. He was bleeding
pretty badly.”

“You went to this, this meeting and didn’t call us first. Didn’t take your bodyguard? Did you not listen to what we told you before? You could’ve been killed.” The harsh tone in Detective Phillips’s voice surprised her. He’d always been polite
with her.

He was right though. She could’ve been killed. If the boss hadn’t been shot, he might’ve come for her. No, he hadn’t known she’d
been there.

“And their pictures are on here? Video of this occurring?” Detective Cooper held up the
storage device.

“Yes, but I’m not done with my story.” Surely they heard her thundering heart battering her ribcage. If the loudness of it in her ears was any indication, officers on the next desks over had to
hear it.

She relayed her experience with AJ. They appeared very interested in him. Of course they’d be interested. They had another witness. Their frowns deepened when she informed them that he’d held her hostage. She wished they’d ignore that part of her interaction with him. He hadn’t hurt her. That didn’t diminish their interest. Since she doubted he’d come in voluntarily, the detectives would have to work to
find him.

They made her walk through the story again, this time more thoroughly and with the video. They froze frames from time to time. One of them let a name slip. Damian Powell was Magic Shop’s
chief enforcer.

Detective Cooper gestured to the photo of AJ. “He just let you go?” Disbelief was written all over
his face.

She slowly nodded. “He had me drop him off at a corner.” A sudden stab of guilt pressed in
her chest.

“Did he say why he let
you go?”

She shook her head. “No. He told me to keep quiet about what I
saw though.”

The detectives looked at each other again. She and Kevin had that same type of silent communication. Her eyes misted thinking
about it.

If Damian wasn’t her brother’s killer he’d probably ordered it since he was more senior than the enforcers. It was a good start to
finishing this.

“What else do you need me to do to bring this killer
to justice?”

“First, we’ll locate him,” Detective
Cooper said.

“Once you have, what will I need to do?” She forced down the remainder of the terrible coffee and looked around for a
garbage can.

He held out his hand and took her cup, tossing it into a gray plastic garbage can under his desk. “We’ll go through your statement again so the DA can build the case and bring charges. We have to make sure we have all of our ducks in a row. We wouldn’t want to screw this one up. We need the man who survived, AJ you said his name was, to make this case stronger. Two witnesses are better than one, and he obviously knew what had been discussed at
the meeting.”

“Okay, that sounds easy enough. You have my statement and the photos. What about for trial? Will I need
to testify?”

Detective Phillips cleared his throat. “We need you to testify but that
worries us.”

“I know they’re dangerous, but it needs to be done. Wanton murders have
to stop.”

A hand soothingly touched her shoulder and she looked back. Trent had returned with a pinched look on
his face.

“It’s your safety we’re worried about. The last people scheduled to testify against someone in Magic
Shop disappeared.”

“I’d hate for him to get away. I’ll testify, even if it’
s risky.”

He gave a tight, little nod. “Ms. Rogers, are you planning to
publish this?”

“Yes. I’ve already submitted my article. It’ll be in the morning edition. It’s too late to pull back. It just won’t have Damian’s name since I didn’t know it at
the time.”

Detective Cooper looked at her. “Ms. Rogers, we need to hide you. When you print that article announcing to the world that you’re a witness to this crime, your life will be in serious danger, especially if you printed the killer’s photo. By the look on your face, I’m guessing that you did just that.” He sighed heavily. “Ms. Rogers, you know this group isn’t shy about eliminating threats to them. And now, you are
a threat.”

Trent’s hand tightened on her shoulder, but he remained silent allowing her
to decide.

“I already have a bodyguard. Isn’t that enough?” Her stomach clenched. She could no longer believe things would work out. They might, but not to
her advantage.

“They would get around bodyguards. They wouldn’t care if they took them out to get
to you.”

Trent cleared his throat. “We can protect her. She’ll leave for a safe
house today.”

She looked up at him. Safe house? Was he out of his dang mind? He’d said he’d hire extra help before. That’s what she’d hold
him to.

“While we set things in motion, you’re at risk on the street.” Detective Phillips looked up from his notes, motioning
to someone.

“I’ll be safe. I’ll report it to the FBI after I leave here.” She watched them exchange another glance. According to what she’d learned, they’d worked this case for years. The FBI taking over wouldn’t settle well. It wouldn’t with her if another reporter was suddenly assigned to a story she’d worked on
that long.

“Ms. Rogers, we’ll take care of that for you. They’re better equipped to protect you for the long term, but since you’re already working with us, we’ll get you set up first. A couple of days in a hotel, then a safe house once we have
everything ready.”

Her thoughts raced. They truly thought it serious enough for protective custody. That Trent wouldn’t be enough. In the back of her mind she’d known the truth. She just hadn’t wanted to see it. She hadn’t wanted it to be true. Once they found out what she’d witnessed, her life would be
in danger.