The Thomas Blume Series

Chapter 6

Chapter Six

“My ex-girlfriend?” I asked, stunned. I almost thought it was a joke. Another prank from Rey, the resident Latino comedian. But the look on the Captain’s face told me she was deadly serious.

“I’m afraid so,” Kinsey said.

I ran my fingers through my hair. The room was heavy with anticipation when I asked the question they were waiting for. “So who is it?”

“Darcey Holland,” Kinsey replied matter-of-factly.

“Darcey,” I echoed. My mind filled with half memories and sensations from years ago as I tried to recall our time together. I hadn’t thought about Darcey Holland in nearly a decade. Now I couldn’t think of anything but her. The shy smile, the way her shoulder-length blonde hair would dance when she spoke about something she cared about. The way her blue eyes shone after we’d made love…

It had been good, better than good, almost something big, but it hadn’t worked out. Now she was dead. Christ, what a mess.

“You remember her I take it?” Kinsey continued.

“Yeah, I remember her. Thanks for being so considerate. Using a dead ex as a bargaining chip. Jesus.”

“I’m not here to make you feel better, Mr. Blume. I have a job to do.”

“And you want me to look into this in exchange for access to Teach?”

Kinsey narrowed her eyes and returned my stare. It was clear she wasn’t quite sure how to take me just yet. “You just expected to waltz back in here and have the same permissions and privileges you did when you were a detective?” she asked. “Given that, I didn’t think some creative power plays on my part would offend you. Let me remind you, I’ve seen your record. I’ve also called across the pond to learn about your cases. You’re good…but unique. You have a certain way of doing things. You rub a lot of people the wrong way, but you get results.”

“Something like that,” I said. Damn, I just couldn’t get the image of Darcey out of my head and the last time we spoke—our break-up. It started civilly enough but degenerated into a slanging match of accusation and counter-accusation and ended with her slapping my face and storming off.

And I just let her go…

I hadn’t spoken to Darcey in almost seven years. No, eight. It made me sad to know that she was dead. And her body had been discovered just days before I had returned home. Coincidence or just bad luck?

Considering my options, it seemed that Kinsey held all the cards. If I wanted in, I would have to play along whether I liked it or not.

“Fine,” I finally said. “I’ll help. But before I so much as lift a finger for you, I want assurance that you have Teach and that he’s not going anywhere.”

Kinsey considered this for a moment and nodded. “I can do better than that,” she said, again scanning the paperwork on her desk. “But as you can see, I’m quite busy.” She then looked to Rey and said, “Detective Sanchez, can you please escort Mr. Blume and let him see the feed from the interrogation room?”

“Can do,” Rey said. “Come on, Blume.”