“You can contact that lawyer of yours from the precinct,” she said.
“Howdareyou! You can’t haul me out of here in handcuffs in front of the people I work with.”
“Oh, we’re well past that,” Ava said. “That’s something you should have thought of when you took a swing at a detective. Afemaledetective at that.”
She nudged him forward, toward the door, but he wouldn’t move. “I’m not going anywhere,” he argued.
“I can make this even more embarrassing for you.”
“How can you even think about m—”
She drove an elbow into his lower back and when he hunched over, she caught him by his cuffed wrists and pulled up. When his back arched, she pushed forward and he went stumbling to the door. When he understood that he had no control at all in the situation, Albrecht stumbled on of his own accord.
He was quiet as she pushed him toward the elevators, even when they passed by his co-workers. She could feel the rage coming off of him, could feel the tightness in his muscles. And even before the elevator doors closed on them, she couldn’t help but wonder how this little scene and arrest might affect her already shaky standing at her new precinct—and with her new partner.
CHAPTER TWELVE
When Ava hauled George Albrecht into the station half an hour later, she felt like there was a large, glaring spotlight on her. She’d not made it any more than ten feet inside the door before it seemed that every set of eyes were on her. And this time, because she was escorting a handcuffed man the stares lingered a bit longer than they had before. No one made much of an attempt to hide the fact that they were watching her or talking quietly about her behind their hands.
During her brief time to look the place over earlier in the day, she had a vague idea of where the interrogation rooms were located. She headed in that direction, noticing movement coming from where her desk was located. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Pawlowski getting to her feet and starting to walk quickly in her direction. But at the last minute, Pawlowski seemed to think better of it. She simply stood there and stared, a confused and slightly frightened look on her face.
Even Albrecht seemed taken aback by the reaction of pretty much everyone in the station. He locked up for a moment, his knees going rigid. But Ava continued to push him along, not sure what she’d do if he decided to act on this moment of confusion and cause her to become physical in front of everyone.
Fortunately, that didn’t happen. In fact, Albrecht even seemed to walk along a bit easier once she’d nudged him to get going again. She led him to the little hallway near the back of the room, not surprised to find the door to the first of three interrogation rooms opened up and vacant. She pushed him inside and closed the door behind them. A wave of relief washed over her when she could no longer feel everyone’s eyes on her.
Albrecht grinned at her. “That wasn’t the warmest of welcomes,” he said. “It seems you have a knack for upsetting people, Detective Gold.”
Ava had picked up a thing or two from listening to Clarence and having gotten these last few months of detective work under her belt. She had always been good at reading people, and though Albrecht seemed to be stubborn and difficult at his core, she thought she could probably figure out how to get him to cooperate as well. It would just take a bit of time. And based on the stares and murmurs she’d received upon coming through the door with Albrecht, she wasn’t sure how much time she’d have.
“This can all be cleared up quickly,” she said. “I only have a few basic questions for you. Questions I could have asked in your office if you hadn’t tried to hit me.”
“I want my lawyer present before I speak with you.”
She eyed him, recalling how he’d seemed very worried about being carted out in front of his co-workers. Sure, that scene would start a little brush fire of rumors, but she wondered if she could lead him to believe it could all be salvaged—the situation, his reputation…everything.
“Sure thing,” she said. “I can have someone arrange that for you. Or you could work with me for about five minutes and try to clear this all up. No lawyers means no unnecessary length to all of this. It can be written off as an unfortunate incident instead of a prolonged arrest situation where you were handcuffed and felt that you were in such danger that your lawyer needed to be present.”
Albrecht said nothing, but his eyes wandered a bit as he considered it. Ava decided to keep pressing, trying to work her way through his worries and stubborn attitude.
“All I need to know is what you did on the night you were there to get the tour. I need to know that and what sort of interactions you had with Alfred Perkins in the days leading upto his death. The letter…it sounds pretty damning, and if you drag this out, it’s going to lookverybad for you.”
“Don’t you dare threaten me,” Albrecht said. “With the hell I’ve been through these past few weeks, do you really think some misguided threats by a dizzy dame detective are going to make me sweat?”
“If you have nothing to hide, you have no reason tonotanswer my questions.”
“Are you serious? You came into my office and essentially told me that I’m a suspect in a man’s death.”
“You’re correct. That’s my job. I found some clues, including the letter, that led me to think you might have something to do with it. Or, at the very least, have some information that could help me get to the bottom of—”
He was interrupted by the door opening behind her. When she turned to see who would possibly find it fitting to interrupt her, she saw Captain Miller there. He sized up the room, his eyes going wide and alarmed when they fell on George Albrecht. He looked away from Albrecht at once, his gaze instantly boring into Ava.
There were perhaps three awkward seconds of silence before Miller was able to find his voice. “Detective Gold, I need to have a word with you, please.”
She thought of arguing her case, of explaining why she had Albrecht here. But the last thing she needed was added friction her first day under Miller’s eye—no matter how in the right she felt herself to be.
Without saying a word, she stepped outside of the interrogation room and into the hall. As Miller joined her, Ava watched as another officer quickly moved to take her place. It was a middle-aged man that looked very nervous and in a hurry. Ava assumed this man was being sent in as a form of damagecontrol. And if that were the case, she also expected that she was going to be lectured and corrected by Miller.
He said nothing as he started walking down the hall, in the direction of his office. Ava followed behind him, once again feeling the eyes of the precinct on her. She noted that Miller was doing a decent job of making it appear that he was not upset but she could sense it coming off of him. This was especially true when he held his office door open for her and she passed by him to step inside. He closed the door behind them, sat down behind his desk, and wasted no time.