His hands were tucked in his pockets and his tie was loosened like he’d had a long night. He and his partner were working a horrid double-murder case, and the two of them were under all kinds of pressure from her mother and the media to get it solved quickly.
Cora pointed at the laptop in front of her. “I offered to dig through the Candor case since no one else was having any luck. I have another job to go to at eight, so I thought I’d sneak this in before then.”
Andre frowned. “Is that the case with that teacher from the middle school?”
She leaned back in her chair and grimaced. “Yeah. Good news is I found some damning stuff. Bad news . . .”
“Is that the allegations are true.”
She blew out a breath, already drained even though her day had barely started. This was the hardest part of working at the station. She loved unraveling a mystery and liked that she could help, but she hated some of the stuff she had to see. The dark side of human nature was an ugly place. A teacher posing as a teen on Facebook and coaxing naked photos from his students was pretty fucking ugly. “Exactly.”
Andre stepped inside and braced his hands on the back of the chair in front of her desk, looking more tired than she’d ever seen him. “Well, I hope the job you’re going to next is less grim than this.”
“The jury’s still out on that.”
“Another precinct?”
“No, it’s at FoxRen Media. They have a pretty heinous hacker to deal with, though.”
Andre’s eyebrows went up. “FoxRen? I know those guys, the owners. Jace and my brother-in-law are investors in the company.”
“Oh.” Fuck. What was wrong with her? She should’ve never mentioned the name or that they had a problem. Andre’s husband had invested in them? Great. Confidentiality fail. “Well, I’m sure I’ll get their systems fixed in no time. Nothing to worry about long-term. Please don’t say anything to anyone. I shouldn’t have said—”
He held up a hand. “It’s fine. Jace knows those guys well enough to trust them to tell him if something is seriously wrong. But . . .”
He glanced back toward the open door.
Cora frowned. “But what?”
Andre turned back to her, a crease in his brow. “Have you met Muroya and Fox yet?”
She sat up straighter, not liking the sudden wary tone. “Yes. Ren is the one who hired me and I briefly met Hayes.”
“And what’d you think of them?”
Hot. Intimidating. “Ren seems like a handful but friendly. Sharp. Hayes seemed . . . quiet.”
“Yeah. That’s a good assessment.” Andre stepped around the chair and sat, leaning forward and lowering his voice. “But do you know anything about them? The history?”
“I—” She pressed her lips together. “Not really. I mean, I know the company’s been around for a few years, but I just got hired. I haven’t had time to do any research.”
Andre rubbed a hand over his stubbled jaw, looking like he was debating on telling her whatever it was.
“What is it, Medina? You’re freaking me out.”
Andre grimaced. “All right. Listen, Junior. I like your mom and respect the hell out of her, but I know she’s crazy protective over you and can be a little over the top with that. You should’ve heard the talk she gave all the guys and girls before you started helping out here. So you’re going to have to trust me when I tell you not to let your mom know that you’re working at FoxRen.”
Cora’s brow scrunched. “What? Why?”
“Let’s just say she wouldn’t willingly let you within fifty feet of Hayes Fox.”
Her stomach clenched. “What’s wrong with Hayes?”
The lines around Andre’s mouth deepened as he peered back at the door again and then looked at her. “Fox just got out of prison a few months ago.”
“What?”
“Yeah. The original case went through here. It was before I got to this precinct, but your mom oversaw the investigation.”