To her relief, Detective Kramer returned with her purse and handed it back to her. “Sorry about that. Just procedure.”
Ellie gratefully took it. “Thanks. Can go home now? You’ve got my number— you can call me whenever you arrest those guys, and I can come in and ID them.”
Detective Kramer rolled his eyes. “Sure you will.”
Ellie stared at him, baffled. “Why wouldn’t I?”
The detective gave her a startled look, then slowly whistled. “I thought you were putting me on. But you really have no idea who Mr. Nagle is, do you?”
Frustrated, Ellie snapped, “No! Now will you please tell me what’s going on?”
Detective Kramer sat down across from her. “Have you ever seen a movie called The Godfather? Nah, you’re probably too young...”
“Of course I’ve seen it.”
“Nice to know people still watch the classics,” the detective remarked. “Well, Wallace Nagle is the Godfather. He’s the head of organized crime in Santa Martina. No one testifies against him, because—”
“They’d wake up with a horse head in their bed,” Ellie said. She’d thought the night couldn’t get any worse, but her stomach lurched at the thought.
Detective Kramer raised his eyebrows. “They wouldn’t wake up at all. As you saw. Now, I can offer you Witness Protection...”
Ellie had heard of that. “You mean, I change my name, leave Santa Martina, move to some tiny town no one’s ever heard of, get a different job, and never have any contact with any of my friends or family for the rest of my life?”
“That’s right.”
“No way,” Ellie said. Imagine never seeing her brother again! Or Catalina. “Absolutely not. Who’d do that?”
“No one.” With a sigh, the detective stood up. “Well, thank you for your time. I’m sure you’d testify if you could. You can go home now.”
He turned and headed for the door.
Ellie jumped up, raising her voice to halt him. “Wait a second. I never said I wouldn’t testify. I just won’t go into Witness Protection.”
Detective Kramer froze, then slowly turned to face her. “Let me make sure I heard you right. You’re not willing to do Witness Protection, but you are willing to testify against Wallace Nagle.”
“That’s right.”
“And you realize that he’s going to try to kill you. And that he can. Easily. I appreciate your courage, Ms. McNeil, but unless you go into Witness Protection, you won’t live to testify.”
The detective’s words made Ellie’s entire body tingle with anxiety. But she’d seen an innocent man ruthlessly murdered. How could she not testify, no ma
tter how dangerous it was?
But she wasn’t willing to give up her entire life, either. How could she agree to abandon her family and friends, and never see or speak to any of them again? She didn’t want to give up her job— she loved being a paramedic in the big city. And on the off-chance that she found a man who loved her, job and all, how could she have a real relationship when she could never even tell him her real name?
On the other hand, she’d never have a relationship with anyone if she was shot by one of Mr. Nagle’s hit men.
Ellie bit her lip, trying to think of alternatives to ruining her life, ending her life, or letting a vicious murderer get away with it. Catalina wasn’t just her partner, she was Ellie’s best friend. But good as she was at emergency medicine and pedal-to-the-metal driving, she wasn’t a fighter. Ellie’s brother Ethan was completely capable of protecting her, but he was on some secret Marine mission. He wouldn’t be able to leave it even if she had any way of contacting him, which she didn’t.
Finally, she said, “I want the police protect me. You want to put Nagle away, right? Then keep me alive so I can do it.”
“We don’t have a budget for round-the-clock protection,” Detective Kramer replied.
At that point, Ellie’s stress hit maximum. She wasn’t hot-tempered normally, but hearing that the police couldn’t afford to save her life made anger burn through her body. “I bet your boss could find some money for getting rid of the Godfather! If you can’t help me, I want to talk to the watch commander.”
The detective seemed taken aback. “Hold on. I’ll see what I can do.”
He hurried out. The door shut behind him, leaving Ellie alone and feeling like she’d just made the worst mistake of her life. She couldn’t bring herself to deny what she’d seen, but the idea of being hunted like an animal made her heart start pounding again.