Graham, Jan - Finding Angel [Wylde Shore] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) (62 page)

“My concern is Markham, but yes, it does appear there are others in our ranks.” Trevor met Mitchell’s stare as he handed over the information regarding other informants both in and out of the police force.

“This is too incredible to
not
be true.” Mitchell looked disapprovingly at the list of names before him. “He has virtually every area of this damn building covered by people on the payroll. Dickson is Evidence, Cains is attached to Records and Freedom of Information, Peterson is in Missing Persons. He’s got customs wrapped up with three men on the payroll. And Judges Preston and Nicholls, how the hell do you manage to buy off a judge, and how do you guarantee they hear the cases you want them to?”

Mitchell passed the information to the Assistant Chief and DA.

“You include three court clerks on the payroll.” The Assistant DA indicated three high-level court officials listed before her. “They list the appearance on days when those magistrates are working.”

“Well, it looks like we have some major cleaning to do and not just in our house, ladies and gentlemen.” The Assistant Chief of Police looked displeased with the whole affair.

Once the meeting ended, with all participants having had input on how and when to proceed with the information at hand, the room cleared. The accusations against police officers would be handled by IA and then turned over to the DA for prosecution. The police union would watch over any investigations pertaining to its members and ensure official procedure was followed so there would be no questions as to the genuine nature of charges laid. Trevor knew by the end of the day there would be more than a dozen police officers on suspension and out of the building while cases were built and charges laid. The Assistant Chief and DA would handle notification and liaison with the relevant state political figures to ensure an effective investigation of the judiciary. Trevor would assign a team to work with customs based on the import information contained in Barnard’s files and clean out the customs department in the process.

“Now let’s fumigate the rat in your ranks.” Mitchell Spark smiled. “We have an interview room waiting for Mr. Markham, and if you don’t mind, Trevor, I’d like to leave Miriam here to notify your teams regarding the matter and begin informal interviews, perhaps with you in attendance just in case there is anything that can be added to the case.”

With that sorted, Trevor walked out of his office followed by Mitchell, the union representative and his two team members. Trevor took great delight in loudly advising Detective Markham that IA would be requiring his company for the next couple of hours. The deathly hush that had descended on the department when Trevor and the IA members emerged from the office ensured that no ear missed out on hearing his announcement. After Markham was taken away, Trevor called his teams over to one of the briefing areas and introduced Miriam Fern from IA before handing the briefing over to her.

Informal interviews began soon after, and to Trevor’s surprise, the dislike held for Markham by the unit was not hidden as they spoke frankly with Miriam. By the time Markham was led back into the office flanked by the IA security team, Trevor noticed he had lawyered up. Mitchell Speck examined every item Markham asked to remove from the desk before either approving or denying the request. By the time Markham was escorted from the building, even his personal mobile had been confiscated as evidence, and he pitifully left the room with his jacket, a framed picture of his girlfriend, and a potted plant. Trevor watched the officers under his command as Markham was led away. The old saying “if looks could kill” described what he saw all too well. Nobody liked a snitch, and when the lives of teammates depended on loyalty to each other, betrayal of this kind never sat well.

Trevor briefly spoke to Mitchell Speck once the event was concluded. Mitchell passed on information regarding threats Markham had made during the official interview against Angel Wylde, who he accused of lying about the search of her home, as well as Steve Jax, who Markham had tried to insinuate was the real spy within the drug squad. Trevor thanked Mitchell for his assistance as he left the office and turned to look at the teams he supervised. A range of emotions filled their faces. Trevor witnessed the anger, concern, confusion, and disappointment in their expressions. The only consistency was that all eyes were focused on Trevor.

“Briefing, now.” Trevor started walking to the small, glass-enclosed space where they met as a team. For the next hour, Trevor answered most of the questions thrown at him. By the time he re-entered his office, he felt exhausted. Deciding he had used his total word limit for the day, Trevor sent Steve a text updating him on the day’s events.

“Markham took the bait and delivered the information. IA have suspended him, charged him and removed him from the building…got to love that kind of efficiency. Hastings confirmed he has lifted the bounty on Angel. Markham made threats against you and Angel, probably just hot air considering the man has no spine.”

Christian watched as Steve checked the message that had come through. He gave a slight laugh as he read the message. He threw the phone over to Christian who was sitting watching TV with Angel curled up against him. Christian smiled and showed Angel. It didn’t seem to bother Steve that Angel stared over at him with one eyebrow raised and a smug smile on her face. Christian wondered if Steve knew there would be no living with her now. She’d probably be throwing the fact that she was right about Adrian in his face for days.

“Don’t sit there with that smug look on your face, Angel. I know you want to say something,” Steve finally commented.

“About what?” Angel replied innocently.

“The fact that you were right and I was wrong. Hastings honoured his word,” Steve stated.

A smile spread over Angel’s lips.

“Why do I need to say anything? You just said it for me.” Angel laughed. “Don’t let it eat you up, Steve. We all make mistakes.”

Angel giggled as Steve threw a cushion at her. She thanked him as she tucked the cushion under her head and went back to watching the TV.

Christian couldn’t help his bemusement at the interaction between Steve and Angel. They were childish, more so than Daniel accused him of being sometimes. He started discussing the plan for the next few days with Steve. It now appeared they had a few days’ breathing space before Adrian’s next contact with Angel. Christian needed to get back to work and catch up on what was happening with his men. He listened as Angel complained that she didn’t want to be left alone with Steve, that she didn’t need a minder because there was no threat to her now. Christian stood firm on the protection issue. Steve was staying until this had all been sorted, and he was having no argument about it. He laughed as Angel pouted in annoyance and delighted in the glint of mischief he saw in her eyes as he threatened to spank the pout right off her face if it didn’t disappear instantly. God, she was a sexy little brat at times.

Angel emphasised the pout even more as she stared at Christian, daring him to follow through on the threat. It wasn’t until he mentioned that he intended to carry out said spanking in front of Steve that Angel finally complied and the pout miraculously disappeared.

“Who would have thought your presence could be used as an incentive to behave.” Christian laughed, directing his comment to Steve.

“The extent of my Domness permeates the world.” Steve grinned.

“I don’t actually think that’s a word. And you are so
not
Dommy,” Angel quipped.

“Speaking of nonwords, what the hell is Dommy?” Steve laughed.

Christian let the two of them snipe at each other. He found the banter intriguing. He had to agree with Angel. When Steve interacted with her, he didn’t seem to let his Dom tendencies show through. Sure, he tried to tell her what to do sometimes, but he often moderated the way he spoke to her. He allowed her to clash heads with him, and sometimes even provoked the clash of wills. As Angel had stated, Steve was less Dommy with her, but she was also far from submissive with him.

The next two days went without incident. Christian and Daniel both went back into the regular routine of work. Steve stayed with Angel at the house, and the two of them continued to tease and annoy each other. The dynamic of Angel’s relationship with Steve had begun to take on a new and interesting twist. Daniel sat at the dinner table after the first full day the two had spent together and mused over the change. It now appeared that Angel was allowed to annoy Steve, but she would jump to his defence if either Daniel or Christian said anything even slightly mocking. Likewise, Steve was quick to jump to Angel’s defence if he thought she was being unreasonably teased by either of them. The dynamic between Steve and Angel was growing more bizarre everyday. Daniel decided it would be interesting to get Steve’s wife’s opinion on the dynamic and looked forward to her arrival.

Steve had organised for Kathy to come and spend the weekend at the house. She was arriving Saturday morning. Knowing her as well as they did, that would mean she’d arrive at dawn. Well, maybe not dawn, but she was an early riser and would aim to be on the road in time to miss the weekend traffic leaving the city. Steve had already admitted to Daniel that he intended to whisk Kathy straight into the bedroom after she arrived and that the two of them wouldn’t emerge until they had enjoyed their fill of each other. Steve had stated that if it took them all weekend then so be it. Daniel thought Steve’s stance was fair enough, After all, he had been subjected to listening to the many mating sounds of Daniel, Christian, and Angel over the last few days so it was going to be a weekend of payback.

The next evening Daniel and his bother arrived home to an empty house. A note on the kitchen island was brief and self-explanatory. It simply read, “Shed.” After getting changed, they both ambled down to the shed wondering what they would find. Steve had mentioned the possibility of doing some work on the car while he was staying but neither Christian nor he imagined he would convince Angel to visit the shed with him.

“I can’t here any screaming, so it doesn’t sound like he had to tie her up to get her down here with him.” Daniel smiled.

“We do have a variety of gags in the house, so it’s still an option,” Christian retorted with a laugh.

They heard the sound of heavy metal music emanating from the shed as they approached, but no talking.

Maybe she is gagged.
Daniel felt the wry smile breach his lips. The thought of Angel in a ball gag was a very appealing image.

Christian laughed quietly as he and Daniel entered the shed. Steve had his head under the bonnet, hands and parts of his face smeared with grease. He looked up and smiled as the men entered before glancing at Angel with an amusing look on his face. The two front seats had been bolted back into the car, thanks to Steve, but the back seat still sat in the middle of the floor. Angel lay across the car’s back seat. She was sound asleep. Daniel looked at her and laughed as he approached. She had a book resting on her chest, one hand loosely sitting on top of it and a huge wrench cuddled to her chest in the other hand.

“Ah, so that’s how you got her down here. You drugged her.” Christian laughed.

“She’s asleep, you moron,” Steve replied as he leant against the side of the car. “You remember as kids your parents took you on those Sunday afternoon drives that were okay for a while, but then became mind-numbingly boring. What would you do to overcome the boredom?”

“Fall asleep.” Daniel laughed as he crouched down next to Angel.

“Yeah, she’s asleep because me working on the car all afternoon is the equivalent of a really long, mind-numbingly boring road trip.”

Daniel gently woke Angel from her sleep, thinking how fitting it would be if Angel asked “are we there yet?” on awakening.

“Oh thank God you’re home,” Angel said, her voice softly groggy from sleep. “Steve made me sit down here all afternoon.”

Angel sat up and Christian and Daniel joined her on the seat. She folded the corner on the page of her book and placed it on her lap. Strangely, she kept hold of the wrench, now holding it in both hands as she began to complain about Steve and how he had bullied her to join him in the shed.