“We don’t do that anymore.” Will smiled ruefully. “The school gives us access to the morgue so we can analyze the innocent people you guys kill all the time.”
Riley’s fists slammed on the table. “Our precinct has never committed a crime against those we try to help. It’s not fair for you to pigeonhole me or us with what you see on the news. Some of us are genuinely trying to help and protect the community.”
“He’s right,” I glared at Will. “And we need their help with this. I didn’t call him here so we could hurl insults at him. He’s one of the good guys.”
Will sucked his teeth. Riley’s face reddened.
“Look, I’m not defending everyone on the force. Lord knows there’s work to be done. I’m not going to sit here and defend a flawed system that we need to fix, but turning against everyone in uniform isn’t going to fix anything. I can show you Toby’s video so you can see she saved that woman from death.”
“The baby didn’t make it though,” I said.
“No, the baby didn’t make it, and that eats away at Toby every single day. You think she’s not traumatized? That she doesn’t feel like a murderer? But she saved that woman’s life and I hate to say it but with the amount of drugs in her system at the time, that baby may not have survived either way.”
I looked over at Will. I’d brought him along because I didn’t want my best friend to be uncomfortable having a swarm of police officers on our turf. Will had a run-in with a police officer last year and it had left a bad taste in his mouth, but Riley genuinely was trying to make a difference. I heard him go on and on about it every time our families had gotten together. He wasn’t one of those cops who sat there not speaking about his job or dodging questions or making excuses for anyone who did bad things.
“I think this is a good idea,” Will said, looking at me, “but we need The Eight in on this too.”
“They’re already in.”
“In on what?” Riley asked. “Don’t tell me you need us to go to one of your weird parties.”
“That’s exactly what we need.” Wolf grinned. “Don’t worry, you’ll only be buried for twenty-four hours.”
“You’re joking, right?” The look on Riley’s face was priceless.
“I need to see the video of the night you arrested Eva Guerra,” I said, bringing purpose back to the meeting.
“Eva Guerra?” Riley frowned. “You mean Stella Thompson? That’s who I took into the station, and please stop saying we arrested her.”
“I need to see the video.”
“Fuck.” He took out his cell phone and scrolled through until he found the app, then scrolled some more. He set the phone on the table between us and faced it toward us, pressing play.
The video was dark. In the beginning the only sound was of Riley’s breath.
“Are you going to get down?” It was a woman’s voice, I assumed Toby. “You know I can’t do it.”
“Yeah, I will,” Riley responded. “Shine the lights over there so it’s visible on video.”
A door opened and shut and then the video showed a woman walking, her back facing the camera. She was wearing jeans and a white blouse.
“Ma’am. May I see some identification?” Riley asked.
“What?” she turned around. My heart stopped when I saw a bewildered-looking Eva.
“Your identification.”
She nodded rapidly and reached for her backpack. Then, as if thinking better of it, she put both of her hands up and said, “I’m going to reach into my backpack and get it. Please don’t shoot.”
My heart cracked open.
“I’m not going to shoot you, ma’am,” Riley’s voice softened. “I want to help you.”
Eva blinked and nodded as she unzipped her bag and rummaged through it, her brows pulling as she looked through the contents. She pulled out her wallet and then the ID from it. She looked at it before she handed it to him.
“Stella Thompson,” Riley read. “Is that right?”
“Eva. My name is Eva Guerra.” She shook her head, frowning.
“It says here your name is Stella Thompson. Is this a fake ID?”
“I don’t have a fake ID.”
“So this picture of you with a different name is in your wallet because . . . ” Riley let the question hang between them.
“I don’t know. I don’t know. Look, I can’t remember the last few days and I’m just tired and I need sleep and I—”
“I’m going to have to ask you to come with us.”
“What?” Eva’s eyes widened as she looked at the police vehicle. “Why? I’ve done nothing wrong.”
“We just have a few questions for you.”
“But I didn’t do anything,” she said.
“Please, Miss Guerra. It would be so much easier if you just came without me having to cuff you.”
Eva buried her face into her hands. Then someone else came into the picture, a woman in a police uniform. Toby. She stood in front of Eva.
“Hey, I’m Toby. We just want to help you, Eva. Is it okay if we ride together down to the station? We promise you’re not in trouble and you’ll be free to go as soon as we’re done with our questions.”
Eva wiped her face and looked at Toby for a moment before nodding. As they walked back to the car she whispered, “I really don’t remember what happened.”
“That’s it.” Riley took the phone back. “That was the last time I saw her. Detective Barry took over as soon as we got back to the precinct. Did something happen to her?”
“She’s missing.”
“Missing,” Riley repeated. “Missing like the time we picked her up?”
“It wasn’t her who was missing that night, it was her twin.”
“What?” Riley shook his head and signaled the waitress over. “Pot of coffee, please.” He looked back at us. “I’m going to need at least that much in order to wrap my head around this.”
“I agree,” Will said.
“Buckle up,” Wolf added with a chuckle.
Riley looked over at me again. “Maybe you should start explaining this to me and I need it to be detailed.”
So, I did. I told Riley everything, from what happened after the night Eva was taken into the precinct to everything that followed. By the time I finished speaking, Riley had four cups of coffee in his stomach and a worried look on his face.
“You want me to get some of my people to go there tonight, behind Detective Barry’s back, and basically work security in case anything goes wrong?”
“And we want you to record all of it.”
“That’s crazy, you know that, right?” Riley said. “Even if I can get a few to agree to do this, the whole thing is insane. Monks and nuns? Rape? What the hell are you involved in, Adam?”
It was my turn to lean back in my seat. What, indeed. I’d tried so hard to ignore the flaws in The Swords for so long. I’d convinced myself that just because back in the day they hadn’t let black people join didn’t mean they were racist. After all, Will was there. I’d walked away when I heard the members degrading women. Some vocalized their appreciation for the fact that there were no female members, while others said maybe The Eight was onto something by inviting them in. The Eight, who hadn’t publicly been accused of a rape pyramid scheme only because of their powerful members. I’d physically looked the other way when I saw the monks having sex with that woman a few weeks ago. I was tired of it though. I was tired of sitting back. I was tired of not using my privilege for the greater good. I wanted to fix The Swords. I thought Will and Eva were a good start, but it wasn’t enough. Fixing was a step in the right direction. Unfortunately, sometimes in order to fix a broken system, you had to dismantle the entire thing.