Dream Chaser (Dream Team, #2)(36)

“Heard word, he did so many write-ups on other officers,” Mitch added, “he came in one day to see his desk covered in thousands of pens. Not a man or woman looked at him. No one helped him clear that shit out. Not a joke, if there was a rule on a way of sneezing that wasn’t regulation, and you did it, he’d write you up for it.”

“What you’re saying is,” Ally entered the conversation, “he could have taken this on himself without it being official?”

“If I thought a cop was dirty, and I had no evidence,” Brock began, “I’d get evidence.”

“Shit,” Mag whispered.

“We need to know if there was an investigation,” Hawk declared.

“And we’ll find out,” Brock said.

“You explained why Bogart left,” Rush remarked. “Is there a reason why Mueller moved to Englewood?”

“Honest to Christ, I was just glad he was gone,” Brock answered.

“Same,” Mitch said.

“I think I opened a bottle of champagne that night,” Malik added.

“Hank? Eddie?” Ally called.

“He don’t like Black, he don’t like Brown,” Eddie declared. “I had run-ins with both of them. You smell a bigot, you got my skin, that might mask a deeper stench.”

“Eddie had run-ins with them, so I did too,” Hank stated. “Though I would not be surprised even a little bit if they’ve turned to the dark side.”

“But no whispers of that shit?” Rush asked.

All the cops did head shakes.

“Right, so how does Cisco know this Crowley guy was investigating them?” Joker asked. “If he’s not lyin’, they didn’t show, ask for his gun and share why they wanted to use it.”

“We need to talk to Cisco,” Rush said.

Everyone looked to Boone.

“No fucking way,” Boone decreed.

In other words, no way in hell they were using Ryn to get them to Cisco.

Eyes shifted to Mag.

“Not on your goddamn life,” Mag growled.

And they weren’t going to use Evie.

“It’s not like the women got his phone number,” Mo pointed out.

“If we could manage to get word to him, he might feel safe with one of them,” Ally said.

“It’s not gonna happen,” Boone stated.

“We’d have them covered,” Ally noted impatiently.

“I’m not repeating myself,” Boone told her.

“Has it occurred to you that the permission we’d need would come from one of the women, not you?” Ally asked.

“Boone, Mag, keep tight,” Hawk ordered when the atmosphere in the room chilled.

“Ally,” Hank murmured.

“For God’s sake, you don’t have to have a penis to talk to an informant,” Ally clipped.

“Then you talk to him,” Mag invited.

“I will, I can get to him,” Ally retorted. “My guess, I can’t. But this guy kidnapped four women, dropped them off at Lee’s offices, made sure he returned their purses, and arranged a chat with one at a friend’s house. Never met the man. Only things I know about the guy are he’s a thug and a lunatic. Oh, and the small fact that Darius and Shirleen got out of the game, Marcus got out of the game, Benito was taken down, and there was a power vacuum of crime in Denver. And this man who gives the impression he’s got three functioning brain cells, and all of them are telling him to draw blood, usurped all that action. Just not the girls.”

Fuck, she was making sense.

Boone shifted in his seat.

“Not the girls,” Ally repeated. “He doesn’t run women. He runs guns. He sells drugs. He dips into other shit. But he doesn’t peddle flesh. In a short time, he’s well on his way to building an empire. Some dumbfuck is not gonna be able to do that and then be stupid enough to kill a cop with his own gun and let that weapon float. He was framed, and I personally don’t wanna see this guy back in business, but if he goes down, he should go down for what he does do. Not what he didn’t.”

Goddamn fuck.

She was totally making sense.

“And just to say, we found out when Evie’s situation outed this sitch, there was a working girl killed in this mess,” Ally went on to remind them. “She came into possession of that gun and got herself dead. And I’m just gonna point out, that is not Cisco’s MO.”

“Rhash?” Hawk called.

Everyone looked to Rhash, who worked for Knight, who, as a side business to his nightclub, provided vetting and security for call girls.

“Doesn’t even dabble,” Rhash confirmed. “Not even to buy some action. And as far as I know, he doesn’t use pimps to move product. He could sell to them, they use, or they use what they buy to keep their girls in line. But that’s on his sales force.”

“We need to talk to him, and we won’t talk to him unless he feels safe,” Ally kept at it. “And the only people not his crew who have seen him in the last two months have been the Dream Team.”

Ally’s crew were called the Rock Chicks.

They’d christened Lottie, Ryn, Evie and their posse, including Hattie and Pepper, the Dream Team.

Boone looked to Mag.

Mag looked about as happy as Boone felt.