Open Wounds (Harbour Bay #2)(34)
Her stomach rebelled. She could never understand how someone could do something so horrible to another person and often wondered where people’s hearts were.
The answer was simple. Some people didn’t have a heart.
“What are you still doing here?” Darryl said from behind her, causing her to jump. “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you,” he added. “I should’ve hummed or something. I know what it’s like to get absorbed in a case. Even Donovan’s gone home for the night.”
Kellie raised an eyebrow at him as he parked his gorgeous bottom on the side of her desk. “Really? That is amazing. I didn’t think she ever went home.”
He smiled. “Some days it seems like it. So, what are you still doing here, sticking your nose in my case?”
She crossed her legs and leaned back in her chair. “It’s my case, too, Detective Hill, and if I choose to review it, that’s my prerogative.”
“Wow, you have a bite, don’t you? Donovan didn’t warn me.”
“I’m sorry. I’m a little tense at the moment. Meeting Coleani brought back a lot of memories I’d rather forget and this afternoon’s adventure is still fresh in my mind.”
“It must’ve been hard for you, growing up as you did, in that neighbourhood under his thumb.”
She nodded slowly. “It was. Everyone says life is unfair, but you never want to believe that. The naive and young like to think that good always triumphs and the bad guys get locked up. It’s a nice dream, but it doesn’t exist and that’s extremely frustrating.” She rubbed her hand over her forehead, trying to erase a headache that had snuck up on her. “No matter how many of Coleani’s boys you get off the street, there’s still more and it won’t ever stop. Not until we get Coleani himself, and he’s such a slippery bastard.”
Darryl rested his hands on either side of his thighs as he took in her fierce expression. “I take it this is about more than just the case?”
“You must be a detective,” she said sarcastically before smiling. “Mia and I were lucky. We got out of a place no one ever leaves unless they’re dead. My parents tried. They wanted something better for themselves, and it was clear it wouldn’t happen there. My father worked himself to death for no benefits, nothing to pass on to his wife and child except a mountain of bills my mother couldn’t handle.
“I was ten when I caught her coming out of Coleani’s strip club smelling of smoke and sex. She wasn’t a bad mum. She just wasn’t good at taking care of herself, let alone anyone else. Once my father died, she went downhill fast. She tried her best but couldn’t break even. It was then I decided I wouldn’t live and die in that neighbourhood. I would get out and nothing would stop me.”
Kellie still remembered that day like it was yesterday. She had never been so disappointed with her life. While her father had been alive, things were good—not great, but not bad either. After he died, her mother existed in a drug induced coma, and Kellie had to take over the responsibilities of paying bills and making sure there was food in the house. Her mother had been weak, wanted the easy way out, and in the end had sold her body for a pittance.
“Looks like you made good on that,” he told her, admiration in his voice.
“But to what end? Men like Coleani are still out there. The scourge of mankind, to put it dramatically. He sets out to ruin people’s lives to make money. He uses little boys and makes them into monsters, bottom-feeders like himself. I hate that man.”
“Maybe you should recuse yourself from the case. Especially if you’re going to make this personal.”
She scoffed. “Don’t kid yourself, Hill. They’re all personal. Every last one of them. I bet you can remember every victim you ever had, am I right? You can probably remember the circumstances of each case and could recite how each one of them died. So don’t tell me it isn’t personal for you.”
“No, but the difference is when I’m on a case, I don’t think about the people involved. I think about the evidence. That’s all I see. That’s all I can afford to care about. Any wrong move and a lawyer can have a case dismissed,” he told her coolly, his disdain for lawyers coming through loud and clear. “Sure, when it’s all over I think about the injustice, but the law is there for a reason and I have to believe the right thing will eventually be done. Coleani will have his comeuppance. I guarantee it.”
“Before how many more lives will be ruined? One day, Detective Hill, you will get involved in a case where it will be personal and you won’t be able to make that distinction. You’ll think with your heart first and your head later, but that won’t make you any less of a good cop.” She stood. “Passion is what drives us. If you don’t care about the people, how are you doing the right thing by them?”
She slipped her feet back into her shoes and grabbed her purse. Darryl also stood, causing them to stand mere inches apart. Kellie stepped back, removing herself from the intimate circle. She could feel his body heat even after she stepped away and her heartbeat raced.
“You may be right, Kellie, but I hope that day is far away. I’ve seen what cases like that can do to a cop. It makes them take chances, even take the law into their own hands and I’d rather not join them. When you start to feel nothing…or too much…it’s time to move on.”