Chapter 8
"Lana!"
Lana Reynolds had been walking up and down her usual stomping grounds and turned at the sound of her name thinking it was one of her regulars. She was startled when she saw who was coming towards her. "Officer Reagan?" She spun back around and walked away. "I'm not supposed to talk to you," she yelled back.
Jamie jogged up next to her, Eddie following close behind. "Lana, please. I need to know what's going on. Why are you doing this?"
She kept walking, crossing her arms across her chest to hug herself tightly. "I'm not doing anything other than what I'm supposed to. And you need to leave me alone."
"What do you mean by 'what you're supposed to?'" Jamie reached for her arm to stop her and Lana reacted as if burned by his touch.
"Don't touch me!" She stopped, but refused to look him in the face. She was beginning to shake, almost in fear. "You're all the same," she hissed.
"Reagan," Eddie said as she stepped between them and gestured for him to give them a little room. She turned to Lana to calm the trembling woman. "Hey, Lana. Listen, whatever's going on, we can help you. What do you mean by 'you're all the same'?"
The younger woman reached up to angrily swipe away a stray tear that had begun to roll down her face.
Eddie tilted her head down a bit to look her in the eye. "Lana, I know my partner. What you're saying happened the other night when we collared you, I know didn't happen. And I know you wouldn't be saying it if you weren't scared of something. Or maybe someone?"
Lana shook her head. She looked from Eddie to Jamie, his eyes begging her to tell the truth. But she couldn't. "I'm sorry, okay. But I need to do what's best for me." She held his gaze and whispered again, "I'm sorry." Then she walked away.
"Lana," Jamie said as he started to follow her again.
Eddie grabbed his arm. "Reagan, let her go."
Jamie turned back to face her, his brow furrowed as a plethora of emotions passed through him - hurt, anger, confusion, fear. "How do I let her go, huh? She's lying. You know who put her up to this and she's the only one that can clear my name."
"I know, Jamie. I know. But she was trembling like a leaf. She's really spooked and we can't corner her like that. It'll only make things worse."
Jamie locked his fingers together on top of his head and began pacing, his mind reeling at everything that was happening. "I have to find out how he got to her."
"Well, we certainly can't go up to Nash and ask him."
"Yeah, no. You should have heard him in the locker room the other day after we finished processing Lana. That's what set him off this time."
"Wait a minute. Did something happen?"
Jamie stopped pacing and leaned against a nearby lamp post, finally telling her about the incident in the locker room. "He cornered me in the locker room after shift. Got on me because the commissioner's office has been sniffing around the precinct, pulling files and evals, from patrolmen to high ranking officers and apparently Nash's file was one of them. So was mine."
"Did he get physical with you?" Eddie stood in front of him and waited for an answer.
"There was some shoving involved. I shoved back. Didn't go any farther than that because Renzulli came in." Jamie stared at the ground. "He was ready to deck me but Renzulli interrupted him."
"Jamie." Her eyes narrowed and she grabbed his arm to get his attention. "Enough is enough. I know you don't want to break the chain of command, but you should talk to your dad or your brother, even. They'd want to know."
"Yeah, I just don't know how."
"Just talk to him, to Danny, to Renzulli. Whoever. If you don't, I will. Because whatever he did to Lana, what he's doing to you...it's criminal."
Jamie's phone rang and he pulled it out of his pocket and closed his eyes when he saw his father's number on the caller ID. He had several missed calls from his him and a few from Danny as well, but he hadn't wanted to get into it with them. Jamie looked at Eddie as the phone continued to ring.
"Speak of the devil," she whispered. "Answer it before I do."
Jamie thumbed the answer button and lifted the phone to his ear as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Hey, dad."
What Jamie and Eddie didn't notice was the figure that sat hunched in a car a short distance away. His blood boiled when he saw them talking to Lana Jensen. He'd had enough of the kid and decided a more direct attack was necessary to get rid of this thorn in his side.
