Justice Served by Radclyffe Read Free Book Online Page A

tipping us off.” Rebecca didn’t add that if anyone knew that Trudy had been meeting Sandy to bring her to the porn shoot, she could be in danger too. She knew from the look in Sandy’s eyes that she’d made the connection. “I want to find out what else she knows—”
    “What?” Sandy snapped. “Before someone dumps her in an alley?”
    “And,” Rebecca went on with no change in expression, “see if I can get her into a program or shelter somewhere.”
    Sandy looked as if she were going to retort, but stared down into her coffee instead. After a long moment of silence, she looked up into Rebecca’s face. “I’ll ask around. She wasn’t that hard to find the first time.”
    Rebecca nodded.
    “Dell’s not ready for the street. The doctor said she was going to be weak because of losing blood and stuff.”
    Still Rebecca said nothing.
    “She wants to fucking be just like you.” Sandy’s eyes flashed. “Tough, like nothing ever hurts and nothing could ever hurt her.”
    “She’s a cop, Sandy.” Rebecca spoke quietly, her tone even and mild. “You’re going to have to accept that about her if you’re going to be with her.”
    Her words took them both by surprise, and they blinked simultaneously.
    “Christ,” Rebecca muttered, realizing that she’d had almost the same conversation with Mitchell about Sandy just days before. It was crazy, the two of them together. But for some reason, she couldn’t bring herself to split them up. There were things that she could do, including threatening Mitchell’s career, to force them apart, but she hadn’t done that. When she considered it, as she did in this moment, Catherine’s face came into view—disappointment and sorrow in her eyes. “Look, I don’t want to know about you two. Keep your personal stuff personal, and just let Mitchell do her job.”
    “I’m not going to let her get her head blown off,” Sandy said vehemently.
    Rebecca leaned forward over the table, her hands not quite touching Sandy’s, their faces inches apart. “If you want her to be safe, then don’t make her crazy. She has to go out the door every day knowing that you’ll be there when she comes back. If you can’t give her that, then let her go now.”
    Sandy’s eyes widened. “Jesus. Who are you?”
    Wordlessly, Rebecca held Sandy’s searching gaze.
    “I heard Dell say that sometimes an older cop takes a rookie under their wing and helps them out. It’s some kind of special big-deal relationship. Rabbi , she said. Is that what you are now?”
    “Something like that.”
    “So you’re sending her out there with nothing but her dick in her hand?”
    Rebecca had to work to suppress a smile, just imagining how Mitchell would respond to this conversation. “She’ll have backup. Most of the time, Jasmine will be with her.” She held out a hand before Sandy could protest. “ And she’s a natural. She’s one of the best undercover cops I’ve ever seen.”
    “Can I say you said that?”
    “ No. ”
    Sandy grinned. “Man, she’d like to know you think that. But I don’t plan on telling her. She’d be impossible.”
    “Good. You hungry?”
    “Yeah.”
    Rebecca waved a waitress over and ordered two burgers with fries and Cokes. While they waited, she said, “I don’t want you hooking.”
    “I’m not going there again,” Sandy said flatly. “I can’t work the streets and not hook. That’ll get me killed faster than anything.”
    “You’ll just have to fake it.”
    Sandy laughed. “Fake blowing some guy in an alley? You think he might notice if I don’t do anything except stare at his hard-on?”
    “I don’t want you doing anybody in alleys or backseats of cars or three-dollar rooms in ten-dollar flophouses. If you run into someone you know, tell them you just finished with a trick. Since you don’t have a pimp, nobody’s keeping score.”
    “I’ll be careful.”
    “You’re out of business, Sandy.” Rebecca’s tone held absolutely no room for