Free All Acts Of Pleasure: A Rowan Gant Investigation by M. R. Sellars Page B

handset.
“Are you billing me for that? Because I already had it figured out
on my own.”
    “Okay,” she returned, far more calmly than I
expected. “The first thing you need to do, Rowan, is settle down.
Biting people’s heads off isn’t going to help the situation.
Especially when the head you’re biting off is mine. I’m on your
side, remember?”
    “Yeah, well you’ll have to excuse me. I’m
still trying to pry a knife out of my back that was put there by
someone else who was supposed to be on my side.”
    “Your friend the cop? The one who arrested
Felicity?”
    “I wouldn’t exactly call him my friend. Not
now. Not after this.”
    “You might need to take a step back and look
at it from a different perspective, Rowan.”
    “I’m not so sure that there is another perspective on
this.”
    “Oh, I don’t know about that,” she replied.
“Think about this. You’re in a big city where they usually frown on
having police officers arresting their friends. You aren’t in a
small town where everyone knows everyone else, and there’s no
choice in the matter. It would be better for the department to
avoid a conflict of interest like this.”
    “Yeah, so what’s your point?”
    “My point is that your friend probably had to
pull some major strings to be allowed to make the arrest rather
than allowing someone else to take her in. He most likely saw what
he was doing as a favor.”
    My reply was so sharply edged with sarcasm
I’m surprised I didn’t cut my own tongue. “Yeah, some favor.”
    “I suspect he was trying to spare you from
the anguish of having strangers show up and haul Felicity
away.”
    I stayed silent for a moment and thought
about what she had just said. I finally replied, “Well, I guess he
did make it a point to repeatedly tell her not to say a word. The
other cop with him wasn’t real excited about that at all.”
    “You need to give your friend some credit,
Rowan. I’m sure he was only doing what he thought was best for his
friends, given the situation,” Her statement was punctuated by an
electromechanical “ding” in the background then the hollow quality
that had surrounded her voice disappeared. I could hear a droning
background noise and assumed she must have just stepped from the
elevator in her office building and was on her way past the
decorative waterfall in the lobby.
    “Maybe,” I replied. “But, this is wrong and
he knows it.”
    “Yes, I’m sure that he does. But, obviously
she was going to be arrested anyway given the fact that a warrant
was issued. So, who would you rather have had do it?”
    I didn’t think she really wanted an answer to
the question so I just grunted.
    “Now, the reason I said this isn’t good is
the fact that they even had a warrant to begin with and that they
came and got her on a Friday.”
    “What’s that got to do with it?”
    “Well, first off arrest warrants aren’t
typically issued on felony cases if there is probable cause.
Especially where violent crime is concerned. The arrest is simply
made and the charges get filed. The warrant is just paperwork that
happens during the process as a matter of course.
    “Someone is definitely dotting I’s and
crossing T’s on this one. Being very cautious and official about
it. So, that tells me one of two things. One, they don’t have much
of a case so they are playing it by the book…”
    “That’s a good thing, right?” I interrupted
hopefully, a sudden brightness in my voice.
    “If that’s the case, yes,” she answered then
proceeded to extinguish my momentary glow. “However, it could also
mean that they are pretty certain they have a smoking gun, and
they’re just being careful because of their long time affiliation
with you as a consultant.
    “Either way, one thing is perfectly clear.
She is no longer simply under investigation. She’s been moved up
from person of interest to prime suspect.”
    “Damn.”
    “Of course, we won’t know for sure what is
going on