Free Justice in the Shadows by Radclyffe Page B

building? Is there a building superintendent who handles renting the apartments?”
    “That’s a fancy word for the guy since he doesn’t do shit around the place, but yeah.”
    “Bring Mitchell around. Tell him sh… he’s a friend of yours who needs a place right away. Cash. I’ll take care of getting the money to you tonight.”
    Mitchell looked even unhappier.
    “Sure.” Sandy shrugged indifferently.
    “And I still need you to find one of those girls that told you about making the sex videos a few months ago. There’s a good chance that they’ve been to the film site.”
    “I told you before, I won’t name names.”
    “I don’t want their names. I just want to talk to them.”
    “Okay,” Sandy said reluctantly. “I’ll see what I can do.”
    “Good. You still got the phone?”
    “Yeah, yeah.”
    “Use it. Mitchell, you’re dismissed. Sandy…” She hesitated, but had to admit that Jasmine’s plan for Mitchell’s new persona to have a girlfriend made sense. “Go with her.”
    “Yes, ma’am,” Mitchell said as she stood. Sandy merely sniffed.
    Rebecca turned her attention to Sloan. “You’ve got the interdepartmental computer traces.”
    “Right. I’m going back tonight. Less traffic on the network. Fewer people to notice me.”
    As Rebecca watched her team disperse, she tried hard not to second-guess her decisions.  Putting them in danger was much harder than facing it herself.
    ———
    Sloan peaked around the corner into the bedroom. Michael, her blond hair freshly washed, lay in bed in one of Sloan’s old cotton shirts that had once been blue but was now faded nearly to white. “Everybody gone?”
    “Hello, love. Yes, I’m quite alone.” Michael smiled and stretched out of hand. “I missed you.”
    “Me, too.” Sloan crossed the room and settled onto the corner of the bed.
    “How you doing?”
    “Sarah told me a little bit about what happened.”
    Sloan’s heart lurched in her chest, and her stomach was instantly queasy. “What do you mean?”
    “About the accident.”
    “Damn it,” Sloan burst out, one hand fisting the covers. “It’s too soon—”
    “It’s not her fault. I asked her.”
     
    “What happened Saturday night?”
    Sarah continued gently toweling Michael’s hair. “What can you remember?”
    “Not much.” Michael, a thick terrycloth towel wrapped around her naked body, leaned back against Sarah for support. “I know there was an accident, and Sloan told me I was hit by a car. She said the driver didn’t stop.”
    “Then you know almost as much as we know.” Sarah carefully worked a wide-toothed comb through the long tresses, stopping intermittently to remove the small islands of clotted blood that clung assiduously to the silken strands.
    “I know there’s more.” Michael closed her eyes, the headache exhausting, just by virtue of its constant presence.
    “Sloan will tell you.”
    Michael started to shake her head, then stopped when the pain escalated. “No. She can’t. It kills her to talk about it. I can’t stand to see the pain in her eyes.”
    “God, I know.” Sarah’s sighed. “Sloan is incapable of hiding her feelings, despite how hard she tries. If it hurts me to see her hurting, it must be awful for you.”
    “Yes. Agony.” Michael reached for Sarah’s hand and held it tightly. “So for both of us, could you help me understand what’s happened?”
    “You will remember, given enough time.”
    “It’s not the memories I need as much as knowing what’s coming. There’s a meeting downstairs right now, isn’t there?”
    “Sloan is an idiot if she thinks she can keep anything from you,” Sarah said, her voice husky with tenderness.
    “She thinks she’s protecting me,” Michael replied, instantly coming to Sloan’s defense. “I love her for that. For that and so many other reasons.”
    “You know she lives for you, don’t you?” Sarah leaned down and kissed the top of Michael’s head. “She would never