I pay the driver, tipping him well due to the hour, and get out of the cab. With my briefcase in one hand, I make my way up the steps to the doors of the police station. Pushing them open, I step inside to find the reception area reasonably quiet. That isn’t strange at this hour. A man and a woman are sitting in the plastic seats off to my left. Cops are milling around in the office behind the desk. I don’t recognize the on-duty officer. She’s a dark-skinned woman in her midforties who looks far too alert.
I approach her with a smile, noting the name on her badge. “Hi, Officer Santiago, I’m Assistant State Attorney Melissa St. James. I’m here to see Grayson Knight.”
She smiles at me. “He’s being interviewed at the moment. Would you like me to take you through?”
“Please.”
Officer Santiago comes out from behind the desk and I follow her through a door and down the corridor that leads to the interview rooms. She stops outside one of the doors. “They’re in here.”
“Thanks.”
I knock once and open the door. Inside is Sergeant Matt Daughtry.
I dated him for four months and broke it off six months ago, even though he wanted it to continue. And he never makes any effort to hide that fact.
Jason Black, Matt’s partner, is sitting next to him. I really don’t like that guy. Something about him has always set me on edge, and I’m not feeling any differently about him right now.
Sitting across from them, with his back to me, is Grayson Knight.
Matt’s eyes connect with mine. I tip my head back, indicating that I want to have a word with him outside.
“I’ll just be a minute,” Matt tells Jason.
All the while, Grayson, being the arrogant ass I imagine him to be, doesn’t even turn to look at me.
Matt pushes up from his seat and comes out to me. The door closes. I move down the hall and lean my shoulder against the wall. “Melissa,” Matt says, greeting me with my first name.
“Sergeant,” I say, to remind him of what we are to each other now.
“You can call me Matt.”
“And you can call me Assistant State Attorney St. James.”
Laughing lightly, he shakes his head. “Is that really where we’re at now?”
“Where ‘we’re at’ is at work,” I say, folding my arms over my chest. “Fill me in on the night’s events.” I lift my chin again, this time in the direction of the door, the one Grayson Knight is sitting behind.
“We received an anonymous tip that someone had drugs on the club premises. Sergeant Black and I went down there with a few other policemen. We did a sweep and search. Grayson Knight was found with a large quantity of Schedule II drugs on him.”
“Large?”
“Enough to make every person in that club high and happy.”
My brow furrows. “He was the only one carrying?”
“We found some other small quantities on others there. Nothing substantial.”
“Do you think it’s strange that he was carrying so much? It’s not like he needs to deal for the money.”
Matt leans his shoulder against the wall, facing me. “Who knows why these celebs do what they do. Probably doing it for the kick.”
“Hmm…yeah.” My eyes go back to the closed door. “You were interviewing him without representation.”
“He waived his rights. Said he doesn’t want a lawyer.”
I look back at him. “He doesn’t want a lawyer? I guess that’ll make my job easy.”
“Yup. He said he didn’t.” Matt shakes his head.
Interesting. And unusual. The first thing celebrities usually do is scream for their attorney.
“You wanna talk to him?”
“Yeah. Give me a few minutes alone with him. Ben wants to throw the book at him.”
Matt smiles, then pushes off the wall and opens the door. I walk through it. Jason gets up from his seat and, after brushing past me, leaves. I wait for the door to close before I take a seat in front of Grayson Knight.
He lifts his head slowly. My eyes meet the tired but striking green eyes of Grayson Knight.
Wow. Okay.
I’m a professional and I’ve dealt with celebrities before, but Grayson Knight is in a league of his own. It’s hard not to be a little affected. I know football players are big guys. But Grayson is huge. Big shoulders, all muscle. And he’s even more attractive than he is on TV. He exudes confidence and power, even in the tired state he’s in. It’s easy to see why America loves him.
But I’m not here to adore him. I’m here to stick him with a big fine or put him in jail. So I don my work armor and say, “My name is Melissa St. James. I’m the assistant state attorney on your case.”