Beyond Innocence by Nikki Soarde

Author:Nikki Soarde
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ellora's Cave Publishing Inc.
Published: 2012-04-30T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Kyle raked stiff fingers through his hair, leaving the spiky auburn mop looking even more unruly than it had a moment before.

“Do you actually use that gel stuff?” asked Pete as he studied the distinctive “do”.

Kyle winked. “You’ll never know.”

“Don’t be so sure. I’ve got snitches all over this city. Never discount the sordid tales a woman tells her stylist.”

“You start teasing me about my hair and I’ll have to spread it around the squad room that you’ve developed a taste for double cappuccino with a vanilla shot.”

Pete booted the door to their tiny office shut. “Keep your voice down. Jesus! Is nothing sacred with you?”

Smiling evilly, Kyle opened a large manila envelope and dumped the contents onto his desk. “Not if I can help it. I was raised Catholic. I’ve had enough sacred to last me a lifetime.”

“Nuns in school and the whole bit?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

Pete let a grin slip across his lips. “At my high school the only praying we did was to beg God to get us home relatively free of bullet holes and knife wounds.”

“Rough neighborhood?”

“You could say that.”

Kyle tapped his pen against the papers strewn over his blotter. “What made you become a cop?”

“I figured it was safer than becoming a drug dealer. Not much, mind you, but a little.”

To Pete’s amazement Kyle didn’t even bat an eye at that. “How about Sam?”

Hearing that name cut like a scythe through the lighthearted mood of the afternoon. Pete felt the grin slide off his face as his heart settled firmly in his toes. “What do you mean?” Even his voice felt heavy.

“Why did Sam become a cop? Why didn’t he manage one of his dad’s restaurants or go into business with his father-in-law?”

Pete grunted. “Sam a maître d’ or a jeweler? That would be like stuffing me in a tutu and having me audition for the Bolshoi Ballet.”

Kyle shook his head as he began flipping through the papers on his desk. “As appetizing as that image may be, that doesn’t really answer the question.”

“I guess I don’t know, okay? Me and Sam didn’t exactly do a lot of soul searching. We were too busy trying to keep from getting shot.”

Kyle continued perusing the papers, and Pete stifled the urge to ask him what that envelope related to. He knew Kyle would tell him in his own time.

“Was it self-defense?” asked Kyle suddenly.

Pete stared at his partner. “Was what self-defense?”

Kyle finally raised his eyes from the paper he had been studying in detail. “When Sam shot that kid.”

Pete’s teeth ground together so hard he could swear he could feel the enamel flaking off on his tongue. “You went behind my back and looked it up.”

“It’s not exactly a big secret, you know. Internal Affairs has a full report on the incident. I looked into it because you’re trusting me to look into Sam’s and Tate’s family histories, and I thought I should have a little better picture of who Sam was. I’ve heard more about Tate than I have about your partner.

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