Asa (Marked Men #6)(35)

Her free hand was bloody and in her other one she had a much larger knife. It looked like she had raided the kitchen while we were talking to her cheating spouse.

As calm as could be, she pointed the knife in my direction and told me, “I’m going to cut his balls off.”

I blinked because she couldn’t be serious, but then realized she actually was as she started to advance to where Barrett was taking care of the injured man. He had already called for medical and was looking up at me with huge eyes while he tended to the victim.

I couldn’t look away from Carla. I popped open the strap that held my gun in its spot and pulled out the Taser we were all armed with to use in situations like this.

“Carla, you know I can’t let you do that.” I kept my voice steady and refused to move as she inched closer and closer.

“He’s a rat bastard.” She was shaking all over and her fury was almost palpable. “My sister! My own goddamn sister! How could they do this to me?”

I didn’t have an answer for her other than “people sucked,” but that wasn’t going to get her to see reason or have her dropping the knife.

“This is bad, Carla. Bad for you and bad for your kids. You don’t want to make it worse, do you? You need to put the knife down and just come with me.”

I could hear sirens in the distance, which was great, because the idiot cheater had rallied enough to start screaming back at Carla. He was calling her names and telling her that her sister was a hundred times better in bed than she was ever going to be. He was most definitely not helping the situation. Carla was shaking all over and her face went from furious red to sickly pale. She was going to lose it, so I latched on to the only thing that I thought might shift her anger away from her awful spouse.

“Carla, I know you’re mad at him, disappointed, and no one can blame you. What he did is terrible and unforgivable, but what about your sister? It takes two to cheat and she’s your family, your blood. Don’t you want to tell her how you feel about what she did?”

It was like the sun breaking through the clouds on a summer day. I saw awareness dawn, the rage switch from one target to the other and the fresh betrayal slam into this woman’s body like a freight train. The knife fell out of her suddenly lax fingers and she crumpled into a hysterical ball on the floor in front of me. I let out a relieved sigh and looked over my shoulder to where the paramedics were loading the victim onto a stretcher and getting ready to haul him off. Barrett was talking to someone that appeared to be a neighbor, probably getting a witness statement, and the backup unit was just hovering in the doorway watching the show.

I walked over to Carla and put a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at me with wrecked eyes. “My sister is a bitch.”

I nodded solemnly. “It really sounds like she is.”

“What’s gonna happen to my kids? They’re at his parents’ house right now.”

Well, that was good. At least they weren’t going to have to live with the sight of their mother trying to cleave their father in two with a steak knife.

“I can’t answer that, Carla. But maybe they should’ve been your concern before you picked up the knife.”

I helped the woman to her feet and winced as she wiped a gooey mixture of tears and snot across the back of her arm.

“I’m going to jail.”

I nodded once again. “I’m afraid so.”

She heaved a really deep sigh and looked at me out of the corner of her eye. “I wish I had aimed lower.”

It shouldn’t be funny and I wasn’t going to condone this kind of violence, but I sort of agreed with her.

I read her her rights and put her in the back of the patrol car. I knew we were going to have to charge her with aggravated assault at the very least. It took a few minutes to get everything all situated at the scene and to get all the statements gathered for the report we were going to have to write up.

The ride back to the station was filled with quiet sobbing from the backseat and Barrett muttering to himself as I drove us through early-evening traffic. We got Carla processed in and started on the paperwork when Barrett suddenly stopped what he was typing and looked at me with obvious confusion on his face. I was starving since we had to ditch dinner, and just wanted to finish up the paperwork so we could get back on the street to finish our shift and maybe sneak in some Taco Bell.

I had my hat on the desk next to me and reached up to rub my temples. Paperwork was so boring. I hated it.

“What?”

He shook his head at me and turned to look back at the computer screen. “Nothing.”

I snorted. “Obviously something. Spit it out.”

“You just surprised me.”

I sat back in my chair and narrowed my eyes at him. “How’s that?”

He shrugged a shoulder at me. “I didn’t expect you to be so unflappable. I mean, you’re still pretty new on the force, and it’s no secret you and Dom had all kinds of history before coming to work together. I’m not going to lie … I guess I thought maybe you rode on his coattails or something, but nothing could be further from the truth.”

I was blinking in mild shock. Unflappable? I felt like I was ruffled and flapping all over the place most of the time.

“You don’t react when weirdos look at you like you’re lunch. You don’t lose your temper when losers try intimidating you. You have a really easy time talking to victims, which makes hostile situations less dangerous. You don’t freak out or move a muscle when a deranged woman is advancing on you with a knife. And maybe most importantly, you hate sitting at the desk filling out reports almost as much as I do, yet you don’t make a single peep about it, you just get it done. I guess I’m just surprised at how really suited you are to do this job. I’m sure you’ve heard it before, but you really don’t look like a cop, let alone a really good cop. You’re head and shoulders above every other partner I’ve been saddled with thus far in my career.”