Wild Tiger Chase | Book #2 (Complete)

5: dr. detective, sir

— Rob —

Rafaela Tapir got up from her chair and batted the folder on the desk with such violence, Rob's shoulders jumped. In front of them, Marlo Soares, their boss, didn't even flinch.

"This is ridiculous!" Rafaela shouted. She slapped her hands on the old table and bent forward to level her eyes with Marlo's. "You can't let her go, boss. This here"—she tapped a finger on the badge pinned to her chest pocket—"is not to be used as damned political leverage! I don't fucking care whose daughter she is. Connie Travone won't leave this place if not to be escorted to prison!" She punched the table and huffed.

Rob massaged his forehead, and the tips of his fingers slid to the bridge of his nose, pressing it as if to shield him from a headache.

Marlo rocked in his chair, checking his fingernails as if used to her outbursts.

"Believe me, Miss Taiguara, I'm as frustrated as you are. But what you have to understand is that her father is offering full compensation to every single civilian affected by the landslide. And she won't be off the hook. All we have to do is transfer her to LIPD, that's all. They'll prosecute her there."

"My ass! We all know how dirty General Bernero is. I don't have an ounce of doubt daddy almighty will just post bail for his daughter while the General takes half of it." She growled. "A little boy is hospitalized, boss. She needs to pay for what she did."

"Her father will, Rafaela. With money and influence," Marlo said in a harder tone. "He guaranteed he can move the kid from Cidade Santa to Los Indes for treatment. We both know the kid has no chance to ever walk again if we keep him here. Dr. Dickens is a blessing, but our hospital doesn't make miracles. It still has the same equipment we used in the twentieth century." Marlo let out a long sigh. "It's a small town, Rafa. We care for each other around here, and if that little kid—"

Rafaela scoffed, interrupting him. "Listen here, boss—"

"Rafa," Rob said, getting up. He agreed with his older sister, of course... but the more he lived in this village, the more he saw the world and its justice system were much less black and white than he believed. And as frustrated as that made him feel, he also had to worry about the populace. And about him and his sister losing their job, of course. Life was hard in Old Continent, and they needed both their paychecks to keep afloat and under the radar.

Rafaela pursed her lips. Her eyes studied Rob's before she moved them aside and sighed. "Fuck you, Rob," she growled in a low voice. There was pure frustration in her gait as she stormed out of the room. The door closed with a bang.

The silence was broken by the clink of Marlo's mechanical fingers closing around the rim of his glasses. He said in a low voice, "With the amount of money he's offering, we can feed the people here for almost a year, Roberto. The food and housing division could finally expand our substance-recovery program, we could have better food in our shelters, and we'd even be able to pay our psychiatrists!" He shook his head. "We wouldn't starve for a whole year, Roberto, even with the storm coming. More, if we're smart about this—it would really be as if NC had helped us. Can you imagine how people would feel around here?"

Rob scratched the back of his neck and clicked his tongue. He munched on Marlo's words for a moment, then shrugged. "Yeah. All right, Marlo. I'll talk to her."

"We need her signature, Roberto."

"I know."

"By the end of the day, or the deal's off."

"I know that too."

Marlo pulled an electronic cigarette from his pocket and hung it between his thick lips. He took a puff and breathed out a cyan-colored smoke that made his icy blue eyes even sharper. "If the deal's off, Roberto... I'll see you both out of the force. Understood?"