Nerves chittered inside me as I checked my phone.

It was edging up on my lunch break, and I was supposed to meet Nicco’s little sister, Joelle.

Her number had popped up on his phone when he’d slipped out on me to use the bathroom last night. The phone had been on the floor, so it wasn’t like I’d been snooping – I’d just picked it up.

I’d seen the number and…well, I remembered it.

So far, Nicco hadn’t given much I could use to bring his father in, so I’d sent Joelle a text earlier this morning, asking her if she’d mind meeting me for a few minutes outside the police department. I’d given her my name and rank, told her she could call me at the precinct if that would help.

I hadn’t expected much to come out of it, but she’d said yes.

Now I just had to count down the next twenty-eight minutes until it was time to talk to her, figure out the right questions, ask those questions, and…oh, yeah…hope this didn’t come back to bite me on the ass.

I had no idea if Joelle might have anything useful for me, but I needed to find something, and Nicco, while he was willing to answer questions, had yet to give me much of anything I could use.

I was nervous, though.

Way too nervous.

Maybe that means you shouldn’t do this, a small voice said.

I shoved the voice aside.

I had to find a way to get to Gabriel Marks. I didn’t plan on hauling out the rubber bat on his daughter or anything. I just wanted to ask her a few questions. I wasn’t even questioning her – not really. This wasn’t an official investigation or anything.

Not yet, that small voice butted in. If you fuck it up, it never will be. Then what will you do?

Would you shut up? I thought pointedly.

Great. Now I was arguing with myself.

Shooting another look at the clock, I glared at it…Come on…hurry up…

Joelle Marks was a beautiful young woman, and something told me she’d get even more beautiful as she got older.

She was small, built on the petite side with long black hair she wore up in a high ponytail. The style set off her high cheekbones and uptilted dark brown eyes. She gave me a nervous but friendly smile as she sat down at the table where I’d told her to find me.

“You weren’t wrong,” she said in lieu of a greeting.

I reached up and rubbed my bright red hair. “I told you to look for somebody who looked like their head was on fire,” I said ruefully. “This usually catches attention.”

“I like it,” Joelle said in an oddly wistful voice. “It’s pretty. I’ve got all of this…” She tugged on her ponytail.

“Nobody says you can’t get it cut,” I said lightly.

Her eyes widened, her mouth forming a small “O” of shock. “I don’t think I’d be that brave.”

“It’s just hair,” I said easily. “It always grows out. You can start with something longer than this if going so short makes you nervous. Go to the shoulders and see what happens.”

She fingered one of the long strands of her ponytail, looking thoughtful. “I don’t know.”

“Up to you. But it’s your hair. Do what you want with it.” I placed a notepad in front of me. “I told you I had a few questions I wanted to ask you. Is that okay with you?”

She jerked a shoulder in a shrug, looking around nervously. “Is this…” She licked her lips. “This is about my dad, isn’t it?”

“What makes you think that?” I asked softly.

“What else would it be about?” She shot me a hard look, one that surprised me considering how nervous she appeared to be. How…soft. “I’m not going back to him if that’s what this is about. I won’t.”

I’m not going back…

Those panicky words triggered the cop in me. Not that she wasn’t already on red alert.

“How old are you, Joelle?” I asked softly.

Her lids flickered. “I’m eighteen,” she said, jutting her chin up.

She was lying. I could see it as easily as the nose on her face.

Fuck.

Looking away, I debated. She was a minor. I had no business talking to her. “Look, I just want to know if you’ve had contact with your dad recently.”

She cocked her head to the side. “If I’ve had contact…?”

“I’d like to have a few words with him,” I said, pasting a genial smile on my face. If she was going to lie, I wasn’t going to be bothered if I did the same.

“About what?” Joelle asked suspiciously.

Before I could figure out any sort of lie, a voice called out from behind me. “Joelle? I thought you said you’d be at the coffee…oh. Hello.”

I bit back a curse as a woman drew even with us, one with features similar to Joelle’s. They looked enough alike to be sisters, and she was also familiar. She was the other woman who’d been with Nicco the first time I’d seen him.

She had to be Suria.

“Hello,” I said, rising from the table.

Suria eyed me up and down, taking in my uniform. Then she turned on her sister and demanded, “What the hell is this?”

“It’s okay,” Joelle said, waving a hand at me. “She was just asking about Dad.”

Suria’s entire body went stiff, and she turned a cold look on me. “Excuse me, but were you questioning my underage sister?”

“Underage? She said she was eighteen.” I met Suria’s eyes levelly, despite the fact that I’d known the kid had lied to me.

“She’s not,” Suria retorted.

“Okay. But no, I wasn’t questioning her.” I hadn’t really had time to start. But I didn’t need to get into that, did I? “There is currently no active investigation concerning your father. So, there’s no way I could have been questioning her.”

“But you wanted to talk to her about our father.” Suria’s voice was hot, and her dark eyes flashed at me as she spoke. “And how the hell did you even know to ask her anyway? Which department are you with?”

“Monterey,” I said stiffly, gesturing over my shoulder.

Her eyes narrowed on me. “Wait a minute…I know you. I saw you in the café the other day. Have you been following us?”

“No.” I kept my mouth shut, refusing to offer her anything else. She was pissed – I could understand.

This was a mistake, I decided. I should have listened to that annoying voice in the back of my head. Grabbing my notepad from the table, I nodded to the sisters and said, “Look, I need to get back to work. Joelle, thanks for the time and I’m sorry if I’ve inconvenienced you.”

“But I haven’t really–”

Her sister laid a hand on her arm and gave her a hard look. Joelle glared at her but remained silent.

As I was walking away, I heard Suria say, “I’m calling Nicco about this. Something isn’t right.”

A cold chill raced down my spine, and my gut curdled.

Shit.

Shit.

Shit.

Shit.

I’d done gone and screwed this up big time.