“I heard from the Officer-Involved unit. The videos at the house and supermarket conclusively clear you both. Your actions were entirely justified.” Lansing shifted his gaze to Eve. “Though I wish you could have been gentler on the confiscated Rolls-Royce. It wasn’t insured.”
Duncan pointed across the parking lot. “I’ll swap you my Buick for the Rolls to make up for it.”
“I appreciate the selflessness of your offer, Duncan, but I’ll pass. Sometime in the next day or two, the mayor of Calabasas and I are going to give that security guard an award for his heroism. I’ll let you know when and where. I’m sure you’ll both want to be there.” His gaze settled on Eve for emphasis.
“Of course,” she said. “I wouldn’t miss it.”
“Good. I want this case wrapped up fast. I’ll tell the watch commander to give you a couple of deputies tomorrow to help you with the final grunt work.”
“That would be very helpful, sir,” Duncan said. “Thank you.”
“Now both of you go home. It may not feel like it right now, but this was your lucky day. It could have been you two in the morgue instead of those three assholes.”
Lansing got into the back of the Expedition. Eve and Duncan remained in place, like two soldiers at attention, until the sheriff drove off.
Duncan watched him go. “Hell of a thing Lansing just did for us.”
Eve wasn’t impressed. She knew Lansing too well.
“He was protecting himself and the department. Somebody had to take the fall for this mess and it just as easily could have been me instead of Collier and Moffett.”
“What about me?”
“You were always in the clear because you’re retiring. It’s like a temporary superpower. You’re invincible to reprimand.”
Duncan shook his head and started walking to his Buick. “How can you be so cynical?”
Eve walked beside him. “Lansing knew if he didn’t fire Collier, I’d probably go public with my beef and resurrect an embarrassing scandal that he’d like to see remain buried.”
“Which one?”
“The corrupt deputies,” she said.
“That doesn’t really narrow it down,” Duncan said. “All of his scandals involve corruption.”
“I’ve only been involved in one. He still could have used this disaster to demote or transfer me, but he knows that the public likes me, even if most of his rank-and-file deputies don’t, and there’s the possibility of that TV series, which would be good PR for the department. Moffett is largely unknown to the public, at least outside of Calabasas and Malibu, so sacrificing him was an easy call. Besides, the last scandal happened under Moffett’s watch. Now Lansing can use me and the security guard’s heroism to turn this mess into positive publicity. For Lansing, it always comes down to politics and public perception.”
“Or the sheriff simply did the right thing,” Duncan said as they reached his car.
“How can you be so naive?”
Duncan started to say something, but she surprised him and herself by pulling him into a long, tight hug. It had just dawned on her how close she came that day to losing him.
He gently patted her back, as if she were one of his daughters, silently reassuring her that everything would be all right.
And then, without a word, she let go of him. They gave each other warm smiles, and she turned and went to her car, wiping the tears from her eyes.
CHAPTER EIGHT
The Hilton Garden Inn was next door to Calabasas city hall, which was so seamlessly connected to the Commons that the seat of local government seemed like just another place to shop. The two-story hotel was also around the corner from the front gates of Vista Grande. It occurred to Eve, as she trudged to her room, that her temporary home was walking distance from the day’s two crime scenes, three if she counted the car crashes in the intersection.
The first thing she did when she got into her room was remove her blouse, peel off the boob tape, and toss it in the trash. She made a mental note to donate the rest of the roll to her sister, Lisa.
Eve didn’t like her reflection in the bathroom mirror. Her once flat tummy was getting chubby.
She used to ride her bike through the Santa Monica Mountains every weekend and to Lost Hills station each day. But because of two bone-breaking work-related injuries happening nearly back-to-back, Eve had been on her bike just twice in the last ten weeks.
It felt like she’d gained twenty pounds in that time. Eating every morning at the Hilton’s breakfast buffet didn’t help, certainly not on top of the fast-food lunches she usually grabbed with Duncan. She made another mental note to pick up her bike from her condo and start getting some exercise.