Justice for All Read Online Free PDF Page B

softly.
    “I didn’t know I was—jealous that way. Until her.” Sandy shrugged. “Dell is the first one who ever mattered, you know.”
    Michael nodded. “I do know. Exactly.”
    Sandy grinned. She had girlfriends, sort of. Girls she hung with on the street. Girls she looked out for and who looked out for her. But mostly they talked about what they needed to know to get by—which johns to avoid and which pimps were quick with their hands and which cops wanted favors. And the rare ones, like Frye, who didn’t. But she’d never talked to any of them about Dell. About being with her. About having someone of her own. “I should go. Frye gets cranky if you keep her waiting.”
    “Does she now.” Michael chuckled. “She’s never been anything except completely chivalrous with me.”
    They eyed one another for a few seconds, and then burst out laughing together. Michael draped her arm around Sandy’s shoulder and walked her toward the door.
    “You’ll think about what I said?”
    “I will. I should talk to Dell, you know?”
    “Absolutely. Take all the time you need.”
    “Thanks,” Sandy said, feeling so much more than gratitude but not quite knowing what to say.
    “You don’t need to thank me,” Michael said gently. “We’re friends.”
    “Yeah,” Sandy said with a sense of wonder as she stepped into the elevator. “We are.”

    *

    “Hiya, Frye,” Sandy said as she plopped into a chair across the table from Rebecca in the conference room. On her way through the main room she’d seen Dell bent over a computer with Jason and Sloan, but Frye was alone. Frye never talked to her about street stuff in front of others, especially not Dell. “You look like crap.”
    “I’ve heard that two times too many today.”
    “You okay or just playing macho cop?” Sandy didn’t add that she’d been scared just about brainless when she’d heard that a cop had been shot in a raid, because Dell had been in on the bust, and she’d felt only a little less terrified when she’d learned it was Frye. Frye was special in a crazy kind of way she couldn’t explain. Frye was a hard-ass and pain in the ass, but she’d never lied to Sandy about what she wanted from her. Even back in the early days when Sandy was working the streets for real and Frye squeezed her for information, she never took advantage like some cops. Frye always paid and treated her like she mattered. She was the first person who ever had.
    “I’m okay enough,” Rebecca said. “Everything quiet?”
    “As far as I know.” Sandy picked at a chip on the red polish on her thumbnail. “I haven’t been out since things went down the other night. I wasn’t sure—” She glanced through the open door in Dell’s direction, but Dell was busy tapping away at a computer. Dell always got hinky when she was working for Frye. She liked that Dell worried about her, but she didn’t want her to worry too much. She liked that Dell got a little jealous. Okay, sometimes a lot jealous. She liked that feeling of being special and cared about. But she would never make her jealous on purpose. She’d played games to survive her whole life, and she would never do it with Dell.
    Rebecca stood. “Let’s go for a walk.”
    “Are you kidding me? You look like—”
    “You said that already. Come on. We won’t go far.”
    Sandy shook her head, but followed Frye to the elevator. Dell looked over once as they walked through the room, then quickly back to her keyboard. Sandy kept her distance while they rode down, aware of the cameras everywhere. But once outside on the street, she looped her arm through Frye’s without being invited.
    When Frye gave her a raised eyebrow, she snapped, “You don’t look that steady. I don’t want you falling into the street and getting run over. I’ll never get any dinner, which is what I came here for to begin with.”
    “Let’s go to the deli around the corner,” Rebecca said, moving her arm out of Sandy’s grasp to curl it