“It means that sooner or later, word is going to get out that you have me in an interrogation room. Rafe can move fast when he needs to. I think it best if I’m long gone before he gets here.”
“We’re offering you protective custody in exchange for your testimony against Rafe Cordeau.”
She stared at him for a moment and then burst out laughing, noting she just might be on the edge of hysteria. “Have you not heard one word I’ve said to you? I will not testify against him. I don’t have any information to help you. And people in your protective custody are not safe from him. He would be able to find me. Once he’s here and he gets my scent, my trail, he will find me. He’d kill every single one of you and your families to get to me. He would kill every officer you have guarding me. And then he would kill me.”
Tuttle sank back in his chair, smirking. “So he’s Superman with incredible powers. Can he fly through the air as well?”
“I want to leave. You aren’t charging me with anything, so I want to leave.”
“He already knows where you are.”
Tuttle dropped the words so softly she nearly missed them. For a moment her lungs seized. Her throat closed. She stared at him. Stricken. Horrified. And then she knew.
“You told him. You have someone in his organization trying to climb the ladder and you gave that information to your man so he would gain Rafe’s marker. You sold me out and then expected me to put myself in your hands.” She whispered it. She knew she was right.
She’d been certain once she’d heard some of the information they had on her that the DEA had a man undercover. They must have fed him her location in order for him to curry favor with Rafe. They told him where she was. The police. The ones who were supposed to serve and protect. They’d put her directly in the line of fire. She swallowed terror and looked up at him.
“How long ago did Rafe get this information?”
Tuttle looked at her, noted her shaking hands and tried not to smile. “We can protect you. We’ll get you to a safe house.”
She stood up, pushed back her chair. “There is no safe house, you idiot. There’s no such thing. How long ago did you inform him of my whereabouts?”
Tuttle glanced at his watch. “A few hours before we brought you in.”
She shook her head. “You don’t have any idea what you’ve done. You’ve killed at least three good men. You need to make certain you put them somewhere far from here. David Belmont at Poetry Slam. Malcom Hardy at the martial arts studio. And Ridley Cromer. He’ll kill them all to get to me. To teach me a lesson. You can’t hang them out as bait and hope he does it so you can build a case against him. You’ll never know it was him. God. You people. You don’t get it.”
“I think that can be arranged if you choose to testify.”
“Damn you, do you hear yourself? Are you really willing to risk all three of them? I’m not testifying. I don’t have anything I can help you with. I don’t have one single thing I can help you hang him with. Not one.”
“He’s been under investigation for over two years.”
“And you’ve got nothing on him. You won’t get anything on him. He was investigated before that and again before that. What’s wrong with you that you’d tell him where I am? Did it once occur to you that you were putting my life in jeopardy? Did you even care?”
“Sit down, Ms. Benoit.”
“I want to leave.”
“Sit down. You’re becoming agitated.”
She placed both hands on the table and glared at him. “I. Want. To. Leave.”
“I said sit down. If you force me to, I’ll put you back in handcuffs.”
“I want a lawyer.”
“You aren’t charged with a crime.” He ran a hand through his thinning hair. “Be reasonable, Ms. Benoit. There’s a good chance Cordeau is already on his way to find you. We can’t protect you from him unless you agree to protective custody.”
“You can’t protect me, and I wouldn’t help you now if my life depended on it. You’re no better than him.”
“I’m a cop, Ms. Benoit,” Tuttle reminded. “It’s my job to catch criminals, especially ones as bad as Rafe Cordeau.”
“You had no problem throwing me under the bus so you could give your undercover man a leg up the ladder with Rafe. You knew if Rafe found me he might kill me, but that was of little consequence to you, wasn’t it?”
“That’s not true. We can protect you.”
Catarina stabbed a finger toward him. “You were so smug, you were certain I’d come running to you for help. Was that because I have no education and you figured I was stupid and easily manipulated?”
She could tell by the way his face stilled that she’d hit very close to the truth.
Tuttle shook his head. “Please sit down, Catarina. The bottom line right now is that your life very well could be in jeopardy. Whether or not we made a wrong decision is a moot point. We have to keep you alive. That’s what matters now.” His voice had gone soothing.