Cops - A Duology Read Online Free Page A

the light switch, throwing the room into darkness, and approached the door. Gently, she placed her hand on the thin barrier and moved her face close to the frosted glass, trying to see through it. The hazy figure weaved from one side to other, the shadow looming large before shrinking.
    “I know I’m late. Really late.” A husky, muffled voice drifted through the door. “I saw your Jeep, I know you’re in there, Dirty.”
    She reared back. The voice was familiar and only a friend would call her by her nickname. But anyone coming by would have let her know they were coming…
    “It’s me, Rick.”
    She stared at the door, debating. Thoughts about him popped in her head at the oddest times. Dick tased and arrested her, while all she’d been trying to do was protect her niece and nephew from a bad situation.
    *
    The room was rancid with a miasma of foul odors. Marva was passed out on the couch with her head hanging over the edge of the cushion. Vomit pooled on the floor below her face. A bent spoon with burn marks rested on the scarred surface of a cocktail table with a syringe across it, needle side up. Periodic slamming noises interspersed with screaming reached her as she took steps toward Marva—there was no time to check on her brother’s girlfriend. She spun on her toes and ran past the kitchen toward the back of the residence.
    Kevin had Calista by the hair, slamming her small frame against the wall. A hollow thud followed each hit. Eighteen-month-old Caivin stood in the open closet, wailing his little lungs out.
    Her first thought was to get Kevin’s attention. If he focused on her, the children could get away. She ducked her head and ran at him, plowing into his side with all her strength. He lost his balance and stumbled into the wall, dragging Calista down with him.
    Indiana lifted the bat, and yelled, “Get off her, damn it!” at Kevin. The diversion was enough for her niece to get free. She yanked the girl behind her and prayed she could get to Caivin before Kevin’s attention shifted to him.
    Then she looked in Kevin’s eyes and realized the man before her wasn’t the one she raised. He didn’t register her presence. He stared at her through sunken, bloodshot eyes. Dry, cracked lips peeled back to reveal yellowing teeth as he grunted. The drugs had a hold on him she realized might never be broken.
    For the umpteenth time in her life, fear skittered through her. She tightened her grip on the bat and braced for the fight she knew was coming. Kevin pushed off the wall and charged her.
    *
    “Dirty?” Rick’s stifled tone broke through her reverie.
    It was the cop on the other side of the door that had stopped her from beating some sense into Kevin’s drug-addled brain. She understood that he had a job to do. After the initial shock of having thousands of volts flow through her body and the pain of having metal barbs dug out her shoulder the only person she could blame for her situation was herself.
    Kevin had become increasingly erratic. The boy that she’d tried to protect had become a shadow of the man she’d wished for him to be, and that knowledge cut her to the core. Kevin and Marva were drug addicts. She should have taken the kids and told them to kiss her ass, but she wanted to do things the right way and have everything documented. The social worker knocked on her brother’s door a day after the fight.
    Her problem now was she had a fresh and shiny criminal record. It was another hurdle to overcome in her pursuit to get custody of the kids. That was why she’d been so angry. She should have beat Kevin’s ass in the apartment instead of kicking him through the front door. It wasn’t Dick’s fault, but she needed someone to place the blame on for her stupidity.
    “Listen, I got stuck. An informant I hadn’t expected to find appeared out of nowhere and it was an opportunity to clear a case…”
    Indiana flipped the deadbolt and yanked the door open. “Did you do it?” she asked as