Free Hit and Run by Allison Brennan, Laura Griffin Page B

is solid. By the book. Clean. Some people call him the Reverend because he doesn’t drink and is truly in love with his wife."
    She relaxed. She'd thought the same, especially after yesterday. Having it confirmed by John helped. "He found a tracking device on Jason's motorcycle. Do you know anything about that?"
    "No."
    “Do you know anything about Armor Plus?”
    “Enough to know you need to stay away from them.”
    “What’s with them? Are they a bunch of vigilantes? Bad guys? One of their people tried to kill Jason and me!”
    “I know!” John slammed his coffee mug on the tile counter. Black coffee sloshed over the top. He worked to control his temper. His expression was so much like her own Scarlet realized. This was her brother, and she loved him.
    She visibly relaxed. She put her hand over John’s. “John,” she said softly, “you know me. I can’t let this go. If Jason called you, you would be doing the same thing.”
    “Why did he call you instead of me?”
    “Because I’m not a cop anymore. He didn’t want a cop. Or to risk your job.”
    “It has to be more than that.”
    “It’s not.”
    Alex cleared his throat.
    She frowned. “Do you have something to say?”
    “No.”
    His no certainly sounded like a yes.
    It didn’t take John more than a minute to put it together. “It’s because of what happened three years ago, isn’t it? Dammit, Scarlet, I told you to leave that alone!”
    “I am.” Sort of. “This is different. But Jason knows I’m not going to buy the LAPD party line. I know firsthand that they’re not going to back up a cop’s word just because he’s a cop. The bad apples with badges have ruined it for all of us. Jason is in trouble, and it’s coming from inside his precinct. If I can’t help him because I’m too scared, then I shouldn’t be here.”
    Alex said, “John, what if it had been you who was shot in the back three years ago? Would you have just forgotten about it?”
    “What do you know? You’ve been sleeping with my sister for what, a month? If that? You don’t know my family.”
    Scarlet didn’t know whether to slap him or blush fifty shades of red. “John Joseph!”
    He jerked his head toward her, startled, then looked down.
    “We’re not talking about me, we’re talking about Jason. And Gina Perez. I didn’t know her, but she was a cop, Jason loved her, and now she’s dead because she found something bad. She told Jason she couldn’t go to their boss because she didn’t trust him. What do you know about Sergeant Tony Mercer?”
    “Mercer?” The name seemed to surprise John. “He’s rising through the ranks. Ex-military, personable, good cop, for the most part.”
    “What does that mean? For the most part?”
    “Word is that if you’re a cop and you’re having problems, Mercer’s the guy who can help.”
    “What kind of problems?”
    “You know. Drinking. Discipline issues. There’s always a few. I’m not condoning it. It is what it is. Mercer seems to know everyone who’s worth knowing.”
    “What about Gina Perez? Did you know her?”
    “Met her a couple of time with Jason, but I didn’t know her well. A spitfire, Dad would call her. Good cop. Got her wrist slapped a while back for evidence tampering.”
    “How do you know?”
    “Jason told me. He says she didn’t do it, but signed a statement saying she made a mistake so that she wouldn’t lose her badge. Suspended for thirty days, no pay. It was early in her career, she’d been a rookie. Before she met Jason.”
    “She went through the Academy with Mercer.”
    “I don’t see where this is going,” John said.
    “I do,” Alex said.
    Scarlet loved that Alex was on the same wavelength as her. “It makes sense,” she said. “Gina was suspicious of Mercer. Scared about something. Saw something she wasn’t supposed to. Calls Jason. Tells him she has something to show him. He goes to her, she’s dead. He sees a cop fleeing the scene—plainclothes, badge on his belt.