Chapter 17
Joseph
Nobody wanted to be in the hospital late on a Wednesday night. And nobody, especially Joseph, wanted to be in there because one of his fellow agents had been beaten half to death in front of his girlfriend’s house.
Bad, bad enough that it could have possibly been avoided.
Luckily, the hospital wasn’t too far away. Within ten minutes of being loaded into the ambulance, both Agent Kline and the jogger were in the emergency room. Once the staff found out that Cindy was an agent, she was wheeled into immediate surgery. The jogger’s fate wasn’t much better.
“She didn’t have ID on her, but she’s already been identified as Marie Bell,” said one of the assigned detectives. The middle aged man wasn’t happy to learn that one of his victims was an undercover agent. “She’s a resident a few blocks from here. On one hand, I want to say that she was going for a night jog at the wrong time, but on the other… it looks like she and Agent Kline were the ones in the altercation.”
He addressed this to Joseph and his mother. Commander Stone arrived shortly after Joseph, dressed in the black slacks and Chanel blouse she often wore to her Wednesday night dinners with her boyfriend’s family. While her ears listened with rapt attention, her glare was constantly reserved for her son.
“You’re telling me that my agent and this civilian were having a fight? What was she even doing there?”
“She was, um, following one of our leads from today,” Joseph supplemented. “I don’t know what she was doing in that particular area yet.”
Genevieve would not look away from her son yet. “What else is there?”
The detective turned to his notepad. “They were both shot at close range as well as beaten. Right now it’s looking like Agent Kline’s firearm was involved.”
“And the jogger’s?”
“If it’s hers, we’ll know more as soon as ballistics gets back to us.”
“You’ve gotta be kidding me.” Genevieve finally turned her whole body to the detective. “So we basically know nothing.”
The detective sighed. “I’m reporting what I know so far. My partner is still at the scene, but he hasn’t updated me with any new findings in a while.”
“Thank you, detective. I’ll let you get back to it. Be sure to update me with developments as sure as you have them. Do you have my number?”
“Yes, Commander.”
“Good.” Genevieve hooked her finger in Joseph’s direction. “Over here. Now.”
Joseph felt like he was a child again, back in the days before he went to live with the Montoyas. He couldn’t help it. As soon as he saw that stern look in his mother’s eyes, he was five again, wondering what cookie jar he had knocked over this time.
“Explain to me what the fuck happened tonight, Joseph.”
He sighed, hand gliding through his hair. “It’s like I said. Agent Kline was following some leads we gathered from today’s investigation…”
“Which leads?”
Joseph barely had time to think before his mother’s nose was right beneath his. “I… I don’t know. I thought she was going to investigate something in Southeast, but she was in Northwest all along.” That wasn’t right. Out of all the leads they gathered that day, Joseph and Cindy had narrowed down the most pertinent ones to gangs located out east. Never good news. Most of those gangs one of Sheen’s business partners mentioned were from Mexico. It was quite possible that Joseph knew some of them growing up. “I’m as shocked as you are.”
“You shouldn’t be. You should’ve been with her. Why the hell weren’t you with Agent Kline tonight, Joseph?”
God, he had been dreading that question. How was he going to explain that he had been too busy fucking one of his undercover civilians instead of doing his damn job? Because what Genevieve implied was correct: Joseph should have been trailing Kline until it was clear they were safe. For the night, anyway.
“I was escorting Ms. Rogers home after we concluded our debriefing. I was going to catch up with Kline afterward.”
“Oh, really? Why did Ms. Rogers need your personal companionship?”
Shit. She didn’t believe him.
“Don’t know if you’ve noticed, Commander, but we have been putting Ms. Rogers into potentially dangerous situations. She asked me to escort her home after her date with Sheen.”
“Did she now? She asked you to?” Genevieve laughed. “Even if she did, it was still your primary responsibility to go with Kline. You never leave an Agent unattended while on the job! Have I taught you nothing? If Kline had backup tonight…”
“You don’t have to remind me.” Joseph could have done something. Taken out Kline’s attacker before it got too serious – before guns were drawn. How did I hear no gunshots? I should have at least heard Kline’s gun go off. The department did not use silencers. “I take full responsibility for what happened.” That did not feel good. What if Kline died? She had a fiancé. She had been talking about her wedding plans up until this investigation took over conversations.
Genevieve gave her son a pitiful look. “You should take responsibility. You are in charge of this investigation, and now one of your core agents has been brutalized. This is not for the faint of heart, Joseph. You know I’m going to have to make an example out of you, don’t you?”
“Please don’t.”
Hell, no.
How many times had he told Sylvia to stay back? First she tried to climb across police tape to see what was going on. Then she attempted to get in Joseph’s car on his way to the hospital. Of course, all she had to do was walk about ten minutes to the hospital in her neighborhood. It was only a matter of time before she located the commander and her son in one of the waiting areas of the emergency room.
“Excuse me?” Genevieve asked her. “This is a private conversation.”
Sylvia took another step forward. Fuck, please, no. Go home, Sylv. She should not be here to see this. Not the part where her lover was spanked by his mother.
“Please don’t blame Joseph. If anyone is to blame, it should be me.” Now, this was curious. Either Sylvia meant every word she said, or she truly was one of the greatest actresses in her industry. I believe it. Joseph knew that the place she claimed to have worked for existed – because he researched it. Amazing that such a place openly operated, complete with profiles of the current residents. And a page dedicated to former residents. Sylvia’s name was first on that list. Listed simply as “Sylvia the Gatsby Girl.” “I’m serious, Commander. It is as Joseph says. I asked him to escort me home because I was freaked out after the fire alarm. I was already in a precarious situation with Mr. Sheen. I… I was concerned for my safety, and Joseph made sure to get me out of there, and get me home. He was in a rush, anyway. He wouldn’t even stay for decaf tea.”
All right, so she was a great actress. Even Genevieve put her hands on her hips, and she only did that when she seriously considered the words someone told her. “That’s funny, Ms. Rogers. While I do not doubt that my son so graciously escorted you back to your house, that happened to be across the street from my agent’s altercation, I have a hard time believing he was in a hurry.”
“I’m being honest with you, Commander. I’m so sorry about what happened to Agent Kline. I did recognize the jogger, though. She lives in my neighborhood, although I don’t know her personally.”
“And you’ll be questioned thoroughly about her.” Genevieve spared the last of her sorry looks for her son. “Please excuse us, Ms. Rogers. I must speak with my son in private.”
Oh, no. She had called him my son while technically on the job. That was not good. That was really not good.
Genevieve, like Joseph, had been dedicated to creating a firm divide between their personal and private lives. From the day Joseph announced he was following in her footsteps, Genevieve suggested two things: that he talk to certain people who could give him much better advice than she, and that they strive for the utmost professionalism, regardless of whether or not they ever worked together. As it turned out, Joseph was shortly assigned to her department as soon as he was qualified. The higher ups probably thought they were being generous. But they also had to have known that Commander Stone would never play favorites with her only child.
A nurse allowed them to use a small but bare office for their mini-conference. From the moment Genevieve shut the door and cleared her throat, Joseph knew that this would not be about his job. Not entirely, anyway. His mother showed that level of discomfort only when they were about to get personal. After all, she wanted to know about her son’s personal life about as much as he wanted to know about hers. I didn’t even know she was dating her boyfriend until they had been together six months. Now they practically lived together in Genevieve’s mansion in Washington Park.
“We need to talk, Joseph. Off the record.”
Oh, well, if it was going to be off the record…
“I received some concerning intelligence yesterday. At first I didn’t want to believe it, but now I can’t ignore it.”
Joseph stole a breath.
“You are fraternizing with Ms. Rogers.”
Fraternizing. Of all the words to call it…
“Do you deny this? Do not lie to me, Joseph. If you do, I will find out, and I will be a lot less understanding.”
“For God’s sake, Commander…”
“I’m not your commander right now. I’m your mother. Don’t lie to me.”
Wow. In his several years working in the same world as her, Joseph had never once heard her outright cross this line from professional to personal. He almost didn’t know how to respond. Was it bad enough that his mother was never the type to have heartfelt discussions with him? Because he had no idea how to handle those with Genevieve Stone. She had given birth to him, but their connection as mother and son tended to end there.
“Ms. Rogers and I go back, as you know. It’s how I knew her before this investigation. She was a part of Xavier Crow’s inner circle when I was undercover.”
“Of course I knew that. She testified in exchange for immunity. I didn’t handle that case, but I sure did follow it.” Was that supposed to be a reminder that Joseph’s investigation had been sniped by the FBI? Low blow. “I don’t want to know what you did while undercover in Crow’s world, Joseph. I saw enough in your final report.”
I bet you did. No man wanted to write to his mother about screwing various women to keep his cover. Sylvia’s name had not explicitly been dropped in his report, but Commander Stone had not reached her prestigious position because she was an idiot. “We have a history.”
“A sexual history.”
Joseph sighed. “I thought you didn’t want those details.”
“I don’t care about your relationship to her back then. I only care about your relationship with her now.” Genevieve must have been on the verge of lashing out at her son, because Joseph hadn’t seen her breathing this heavily since she ran the Portland Marathon last year. “Stop being coy with me. Are you having relations with your civilian undercover agent?”
Well, when she put it that way… “Yes, Mother. Are you happy now?”
“For fuck’s sake.”
“I know how it looks.”
“How it looks? Come on, Joseph, don’t be a fucking idiot. Put aside the moral ambiguity of what you’re doing and think about what happened the last time you got involved with someone you were working undercover with.”
How could I forget? Joseph had gotten so caught up in his unexpected relationship with Stella and the new kinky world that they explored that he neglected his investigation. To think. I could’ve beaten the FBI to the punch. Not only would that have brought him personal glory, but he would’ve been promoted. Instead, this investigation into Alexander Sheen was his chance to redeem himself. No more desk duty. The fact his mother even let him have this case was borderline nepotism. I had to beg her to let me go undercover into Crow’s den, and then she only let me do it because I was the only agent in her arsenal who understood the psychology of the obscenely rich. They knew he would be recognized, so he pretended to buddy-up to Xavier Crow and offer him an in with the local law enforcement. He had bitten the bait a lot easier than Joseph expected, and it was all downhill from there.
Like this investigation had quickly gone downhill.
“Don’t get caught up in a woman again, Joseph.” His mother’s warning hit him like ice during a storm. “Don’t neglect your duties because you’re still on the rebound from Angelica.”
He was almost impressed that his mother said his ex’s name correctly. “Please don’t go there. Don’t drag Angelica into this.”
“But it’s okay to drag Stella into this?”
Joseph shook his head. “She came to see me last night, you know. Said she had some information about our investigation.”
“She knows about the investigation? Holy shit.”
“She knows a lot thanks to her connections. I don’t doubt that there are those in our department still talking to her. It’s not me, by the way.”
“I know. Because she’s talking to me too.”
“What?”
“You think she’s the only one she went to see last night? She hit my place first. Was quite the shock to see your mess of an ex-girlfriend on my property.”
Joseph slowly closed his eyes. “She told you about Sylvia and me.” Why not? Stella had made it clear that she knew all about their involvement. She had stalked them, after all. I wish that her information had been good. It was nothing that they hadn’t uncovered during the investigation that day. Good to have corroboration, but Stella’s word didn’t mean much. Genevieve hadn’t even seriously considered it until the evidence was in front of her now. “Fucking Stella.”
“That’s what got you in trouble in the first place. Don’t replace Stella with Sylvia.”
Too late. Even so, a fine layer of embarrassment had claimed Joseph’s body. It wasn’t just his female commander finding out about his behind-the-scenes liaisons. It was his mother. If that’s not a nightmare, I don’t know what is.
“Do you understand me, Joseph? Your negligence could have cost you a colleague’s life.”
“I understand.” He had to understand. If anything happened to Cindy… shit. Joseph would never be able to forgive himself. “Tomorrow I’ll be in the office going over every detail we’ve accumulated so far this week. Friday is the last day of our investigation. I promise you, we’ll have enough evidence to start gathering warrants.”
“Don’t promise me things you may not be able to keep.” Genevieve relaxed her stance, weariness lining her older face. She rarely looked her age. She was the type of woman who not only had good genes, but took damn good care of herself, from eating right to working out every day. She placed in the top ten percentile of that marathon. Joseph had made an appearance at the finish line with his mother’s boyfriend. Stanley was the only man Genevieve embraced that day. “I don’t say these things to be cruel to you. It’s been a long week. I don’t want you faltering when we’re starting to make headway.” She sighed. “I’m going to assign two more agents to you tomorrow. I should have from the beginning. This is as much my fault as it is yours.”
“No, it’s not. I take all the blame.”
Genevieve clasped her hand on her son’s arm. Joseph had no idea what to do. Hug her? Shake her hand? Stand there and pretend, as usual, that his mother and father had switched roles in his life? Affection ran deep in the Montoya family, even when they were yelling at one another at the dinner table.
“Joseph,” his mother said softly. “Should you ever be in a more powerful leadership position one day… whether it be as head of a family or a commander like me… you’ll realize that every failure beneath you also rests atop you.
“You know I’m never going to be head of the family, right?” He meant the Montoyas, of course. “That’s going to be Rafael.”
“You can create your own family, you know.”
Had she forgotten about Angelica and those kids already?
“Look, Joseph, I know this isn’t easy. God knows that I know you’re under a lot of pressure to succeed here. That’s why I’m telling you, both as your mother and your commander, that you need to pull your head out of your ass and keep it in the game. That means no women. Do you understand me?”
“Absolutely.” Joseph didn’t like it – of course he didn’t like it! Wasn’t he a warm-blooded man? With a woman who was willing to be with him, as he was with her? He and Sylvia were getting used to each other. His walls were coming down, and her heart was bleeding for him. This was a woman who had been through so much in her short life. Joseph didn’t like the idea of having to break it off with her, or at least until the investigation was over, but how could it be helped? He clearly could not be trusted to stay true to such important work. Kline had been hurt over it! What was more important than that? “You can count on me. If you need to make an example out of me to the department, I won’t hold it against you. I know you’re doing your job, and it’s an important one.”
“Thank you for understanding. The fact that you’re able to see this without letting your emotions get in the way of our professional relationship means that I can ultimately trust you.”
She gave his arm a squeeze before grabbing the door handle. “We need to go check up on Kline. I will personally escort Ms. Rogers home after we leave. We are right about one thing. She does need to be escorted after dark. Whatever happened in front of her house, she was probably supposed to be involved.”
Honestly? Joseph couldn’t stand that thought.