Time Clock Hero Read Online Free PDF Page A

his arms across his huge chest.  His massive biceps looked too large for his shirt sleeves, and his collar so restricting it made Phoenix want to reach up and touch his own neck.  Cobb was clearly about to take Alaia’s side.  Heck, Phoenix would if he was in his shoes.
    But just seeing Cobb like that, with his head in mid-shake and his lips pursed, moved Phoenix to anger.  And he knew Cobb didn’t miss seeing his subtle reaction.  He picked up a couple of papers sitting on the left side of his desk, held them up in the air, and waved them like a gambler with a pair of winning tickets at the horse races.
    Phoenix’s voice was tense and, had he listened to himself, loud.  “I was with June Buckner the night before she disa … reappeared.  No.  Scratch that.  June Buckner … no, June Buckner was alone with herself when I was with her on the night of March tenth, or some crap like that – but you get the picture.”
    The two men just stood there, looking at each other.
    “Phoenix,” Chief Cobb said.
    “Yes, DeAndre’?”
    But Phoenix caught it – saw that Chief Cobb was swerving away from a confrontation he’d come down one floor to initiate.  He rubbed his hand down the length of his wide face like he always did when there was trouble.  “Just give me a copy … and give Detective Jenkins one while you’re at it.”
    “Already did that.”
    “Detective Jenkins,” Chief Cobb said, ending on a low, serious note.  “Please give me and Detective Malone a few minutes.  Just wait in your office and I’ll be by.”
    “Yes, sir,” Alaia said, then she looked at Phoenix.  “Just give the chief my copy.”  She turned on a dime, smartly and crisply, and left.
    “I told you to keep her off me,” Phoenix complained, barely above a whisper.
    Cobb walked over to the desk.  He scrubbed his hand over his face again, and his voice seemed to lose some its power: “You know I got your back, right?”
    Phoenix looked at Cobb disinterestedly, shooting him a “oh-don’t-you-now?” look. 
    “No, I want to hear you say that you know I have your back.”
    Chief Cobb – DeAnte’ when they were off duty – had said that to Phoenix a million times back when they both lived in the same tenement in East Nashville.  He’d saved Phoenix from the black kids more times than he could count.
    “I know you do,” Phoenix said.  “I wouldn’t be here if---”
    “But here’s the rub.  We found a syringe in the top pocket of your coat, the one June was wearing, and your fingerprints are all over it.  Now, I know you’re clean on this one.  But you’re suspect number one, whether I like it or not.”
    “The Psyke went into my arm, DeAnte’.”  He rolled up his sleeve and held it out.  A fool couldn’t miss the needle marks where June, who must have been drunk, had played a hand of darts with his arm.  “Dr. Demachi looked at it when I was in the lab.  I didn’t hide anything.”
    “And the lab results on you and what was in the syringe will be ready any minute,” Cobb said, almost apologetically.  “But the lab knows for sure that there’s no Psyke in June Buckner’s blood – or if it is Psyke, which it may be, it’s something new, something hybrid.”
    Phoenix grimaced and, once again, reacted peremptorily.  “Which verifies my story – I got shot up, DeAnte’.  Now, you’re going to hold those results, aren’t you?  You’ve got to give me time to work on this.”
    “This little thing is getting a lot of press,” Cobb said.  “They’re waiting downstairs as we speak.    When the lab results hit the streets, you may have to turn in your badge.”
    “DeAndre’,” Phoenix said, looking down at his desk and then back up again.  “I was not with June – I mean, yes, I was, in a body kind of way – but I wasn’t conscious until morning.  It’s a set up.”
    “Possibly – and yes, I’ll hold he results as long as I can.  I’ll say we’re securing the evidence for