Free Infected: Shift by Andrea Speed Page A

didn’t want to know…), Roan had just pulled some croissants out of the microwave when Holden said to him, “Gotta roll. I’m meeting Ben at two. But I should be free by three thirty if you need me for anything.”
     
    “I’ll keep that in mind.”
     
    “Hey, you have a closeted cop friend, right?”
     
    Roan was careful never to mention Kevin by name to anyone in a way that might shed light on his hidden sexuality. But apparently it was known that one of his police contacts was a mutual friend of Dorothy. “Yes. Why?”
     
    “’Cause we should really conspire to hook him up with Ben. He’s a great guy, an IT nerd, a bit overweight and the beard does him no favors, but really sweet. Just lonely as all hell and a bit repressed. So your repressed guy and my repressed guy getting together could be dynamite.”
     
    “I’m actually imagining the most awkward Starbucks meeting of all time.”
     
    “Oh sure, Studly, you scoff, but not every guy is as hot or as confident as you. Some need a push. More like a shove.”
     
    Studly? “This sounds more like a handcuffing.”
     
    “Ben’s not into the kinky shit. Although he could probably be persuaded if you ply him with enough schnapps and weed.”
     
    Roan just hadn’t had enough caffeine yet to deal with him right now. “Bye, Holden.”
     
    That just made Holden grin, showing off his whitened teeth. Roan didn’t understand why anyone wanted to whiten their teeth until they looked like sun-bleached bones, but there was much about current trends he didn’t understand. It probably just meant he was old. “No need to throw me out. I got the message. Be seeing you.”
     
    “Adios.”
     
    Roan had bitten into a steaming hot croissant and was letting the pastry melt in his mouth when Holden paused and turned back. “Oh, one more thing. About the client? A bit obsessed with you.”
     
    Roan almost choked. “What?”
     
    “Not in a gay way, although I’m not a hundred percent certain about that. But he’s definitely fascinated by you. He asked about your scars, if you had a boyfriend, and when we were in the cop shop giving our statements, he asked if any of those cops knew you. He’s way into you.”
     
    He didn’t know what to think about that. “Are you sure you’re not projecting here?”
     
    “Nope. It’s your macho allure, I think. He’s in awe. And why not? You are Batman, after all.”
     
    Roan glowered at him—Holden knew damn well he hated being called that and seemed to enjoy him getting pissed off about it—but he finally came up with a comeback. “Does that make you the Boy Wonder?”
     
    Holden returned the glower. “I will be dead before you get me in elf shoes.”
     
    It was nice to know Holden drew a line somewhere.
     

7
Helpless
     

     
    Roan was kind of surprised Shithead wasn’t Switzer’s middle name, because it should have been.
     
    A little digging turned up a ton of maggots. Switzer was considered something of an asshole even within the Eastgate department, but according to Kevin (yes, he had called him, but he didn’t mention Holden’s idea about setting him up with his IT guy), Eastgate PD was known as a swaggering boys’ club, and the chief there, Charles Horne, was either a friend or relative of Switzer’s (it wasn’t clear which; he’d heard different stories). According to Kevin, the Eastgate PD was probably one of the more corrupt precincts in the entire state, but with a very high crime rate and a low budget, most people were content to look the other way. It was a perfect storm of ennui and bureaucratic clusterfucking. A lot of the cops that ended up at Eastgate had been bounced from other precincts, often as discipline problems.
     
    As for his personal life, Switzer was in the middle of a messy divorce with his wife April. She was claiming he was abusive and had been harassing her through the use of his cop friends; he was claiming she was a sex addict and a poor mother and wanted sole