Karma III. Sabrina Eubanks

slipped out quietly after wishing them both a good night.

      John and Anita didn’t bother her. Their disapproval of the way she intended to keep her man was a small thing. They’d come around in time.

      In the meantime, her plate was more than full. Now she had to find a way to keep not one, but two, bitches’s claws out of Noah.

      Chapter Three

       Pleading the Fifth

      L eah had never in her life wanted to slap the taste out of someone’s mouth as badly as she wanted to slap Nadine. She wasn’t privy to the inner workings of their failed marriage, but if what Nadine had shown her was any indication of her true personality, she couldn’t blame Noah if he’d chosen to stray. She sighed and got out of her car. If Nadine said anything greasy to her today, she was going to let her ass have it; she didn’t care if Noah had just started to come around, whose parents were there, or how pregnant her ass was. She was gettin’ it. Little condescending, stuck-up, crazy bitch.

      Leah walked into the Starbucks across the street from the hospital and picked up some snacks. She had a feeling Lucas hadn’t thought ahead to feeding himself. He was too busy dividing his time between Nick, Noah, and Tony. The last time she’d seen him, he’d been asleep with his head on Nick’s bed, using his hurt arms for a pillow. Nick had been asleep, too, with her fingers in his hair. Leah smiled to herself. It had been an especially sweet and touching moment in the midst of so much sadness.

      Leah paid for her stuff and was starting to shift her mood out of the funk Nadine had put her in, when someone touched her arm.

      “You need some help with that?”

      Startled, Leah turned and found herself looking into the pudgy, fatherly face of Butch Harper. Leah was surprised to see him, but she gave him the bag of goodies and pushed the door open. “Sure, thanks Butch. Should I say it’s nice to see you, or should I not be sure yet?” Butch was I.A. Not everybody in Internal Affairs was an asshole or a robot with a busted attitude. Some people had compassion and weren’t willing to get your ass with no grease — guilty or not. Butch was pretty much one of those people. Still, to see him at all was enough cause to make you queasy. He was a nice man, but he rarely made social calls. Someone was about to get reamed out.

      Butch laughed jovially as he crossed the street with her. “I’m not that bad, am I?”

      Leah smiled at him. “No, you’re a sweet guy, Butch. You make things a little easier.”

      He laughed and his eyes twinkled as he held the door for her.

      “Well, you know what they say, ‘a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.’”

      “Yeah, so they say.”

      Butch followed her down the hall to the bank of elevators, making small talk. When Leah reached out to push the button, Butch stepped in front of her. “You know, Leah, I really gotta tell you how sorry I am that so many of the people you’re close to got hurt. I truly am. Thank God everybody’s got the chance to recover.” He paused and offered her a regretful smile. “Unfortunately, something has come to my attention that I have to talk to you about.”

      Leah’s eyes got big and she pointed to herself. “Me? What did I do?”

      “You’re not the only one I need to talk to. I need to have a word with Ramsey, Cain, and Hardaway, too. Especially Hardaway.” What the hell was he talking about?

      Leah frowned. “What do you mean, ‘especially Hardaway?’ Why do you want to talk to the four of us? What do you think we’ve done?” Butch rang for the elevator himself and smiled. “I thought I was the one who asked too many questions. What floor?”

      “Five,” Leah said. Why on earth were they sending I.A. down on them? Shit, they’d risked their lives to bring Draco down. What kind of bullshit was this?

      Butch smiled serenely as the doors slid closed. “It always happens this way. Now you’re not so pleased to see me.”

      “If it bothers you, maybe you should change departments.” Butch raised an eyebrow at the barb, then he chuckled. “I would, Leah, but it gives me indescribable pleasure to witness a truly bad cop come to the end of the road.”

      Leah dropped her head. Nick had been her partner for eight years.

      She didn’t believe it was Nick. It damned sure wasn’t her. Noah? Lucas?

      That just couldn’t be. Noah and Lucas were highly decorated First Grade Detectives. They didn’t do bullshit detail. They were reserved for the most dangerous jobs, because they got the job done. Rookies aspired to be like them. Everybody wanted to work with them. They were the goddamn Rock Stars, for Christ’s sake! Leah’s stomach lurched in her singular moment of doubt that one, or both of them might be dirty.

      They stepped out of the elevator and she shook it off. No way that shit was true.

      “I gotta tell you, Leah, I’m gonna do my best to get the hell outta your hair as soon as possible. I’m gonna talk to you guys all at once. I’ve already requested a wheelchair for Detective Hardaway. We’ll meet in Ramsey’s room, since he can’t be moved. I got Cain on his cell phone.

      He was en route. I asked if he’d meet us there.” So Lucas had gone home. Leah was quietly relieved. Butch didn’t necessarily need to know Nick was his woman.

      “Yeah, okay.”

      He smiled at her. “Relax, Wheeler. This isn’t really about what maybe you think it is.”

      She frowned. “I’m not into cryptic messages, Butch. What’s it about, then?”

      Butch took his cell phone off his belt and made a ‘be patient' gesture at her with his hand. “I got a couple of calls to make, then I’ll meet you in Ramsey’s room. Relax.” He handed her bag back to her and started off toward Nick’s room with the phone to his ear.

      “Relax. Right.” Leah mumbled to herself. She turned the corner and walked down the hall to Noah’s room.

      It had been a week since their shoot ‘em up with the Trinidad brothers. It had taken six days for Dr. Garrett to let Noah out of the twi-light he’d kept him in. Leah hadn’t seen him since he woke up. She’d left early when that screwball, Nadine, started tripping and Noah’s father told them both to get the hell out of Noah’s room with that mess.

      Leah hadn’t done anything, just watched peaceably, as Nadine ranted and raved about her presence and made a gigantic fool of herself.

      Leah had deferred to Big John and done what she was told, without argument. She didn’t mind. She liked him and it had only made Nadine’s ass look crazier. Besides, she was pretty sure John was used to having his way.

      Leah paused when she got to Noah’s room. The door was unexpectedly open and she heard a woman laughing. Leah walked in as the nurse was pulling the privacy curtain. “Good morning!” she said brightly. She was a full-figured, cocoa colored woman, somewhere in her thirties. She had sparkly brown eyes and pearly white teeth. Her hair was swept up into a swingy ponytail.

      “Good morning.” Leah smiled at her.

      “Just give us a second. I’m trying to get a pair of shorts on Mr.

      Ramsey. We’re almost there.”

      “Sure thing.” Leah set her bag on the little table that swung across the bed, and put her purse down.

      Leah listened to Noah’s banter with the nurse. His voice sounded low and raspy, but he sounded like himself — he was flirting outrageously. Leah smiled, not even mad at him. She was ecstatic that he was okay. She felt more for that man than she’d ever admit to anybody, herself included.

      The nurse threw back the curtain and raised Noah into a sitting position with the remote. Leah stepped around the curtain as the