I nodded.
Then her eyes narrowed. “I’m good at keeping secrets, though.”
Then Memphis and Downy walked up, effectively ending our conversation.
“Lolita! Did you bring me some tamales?” Downy asked loudly.
Lolita blushed. “No, my Downy, I didn’t. But I’m making some tomorrow, so I’ll be sure to bring you some by the station.”
Downy grinned.
“Score!” he said, pulling his arm down quickly from head height. “Make ‘em hot! You know how I like ‘em!”
Lolita rolled her eyes, and I turned to Memphis, only to see her looking at Nikki oddly.
She was staring at the glass of champagne in Nikki’s hand like it was a viper.
“What?” I asked her.
Memphis turned and looked at me with wild eyes.
The first thing I noticed she saw was my bare arms, causing her eyes to widen further.
“Holy shit!” She announced loudly. “You got a new one!”
I looked down at my bare arms and grimaced.
I’d gone without the long sleeves tonight for Nikki.
I knew she liked when I showed them off.
And, although I did it for her, I wasn’t comfortable with it.
I didn’t like explaining why I had so many tattoos. Because with that explanation came the explanation of the fact that I suffered from depression and I was bi polar.
Which only launched into more conversations that I didn’t want to have.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nikki turn to place her champagne glass down on a nearby table and turn to me.
I raised a brow at the move, but she only winked and walked away, talking to even more of her friends and family, leaving me to explain to Memphis something that I didn’t even want to get into.
***
Two hours later, the champagne dilemma was brought up again.
“Nikki, why aren’t you drinking any champagne? I bought it specifically for you!” Georgia asked, thrusting yet another glass at her.
Nikki once again waved it off. “No, I’m not interested in champagne tonight. I want to enjoy this night, not forget it.”
Somewhat mollified, Georgia took the drink to her lips and sipped, keeping her eyes on Nikki, studying her.
I studied Nikki, too.
She’d not had a drink in a very long time, now that I thought about it.
Why?
Making a note to question her later, I turned back to the conversation at hand.
“So they’re making budget cuts? Where? Are they going to take away our new body armor? The vehicles that they promised? The overtime pay that they force us to take?” Nico asked in outrage at hearing what Luke had just said.
Luke shook his head. “I’m only telling you the rumors I’m hearing, and explaining why I’ll be attending the town hall meeting.”
“Well, how about they lower the amount of pay the mayor makes, or some of the city officials? Why not take the budget cuts out of the fuckin’ flowers that they plant in the middle of the road. Or the new red lights they keep putting up that only do more problem than good,” Nico muttered darkly.
Luke held his hands up in surrender.
“That’s why I mentioned it. I want y’all to go to the meeting with me this Friday,” Luke said.
After a few grunts of confirmation, Luke turned to me.
“I’ve also wanted to talk to you today, too, but I could never get you. Have you heard any more about those murders?” He asked.
We all knew which ones he was talking about.
Everyone did.
It was now public information after the fourth one in forty square miles and two weeks happened.
“Wolf is up and talking, but he’s only been able to give the minutest of details. He can attest to the black clothes, the black hoodie, and the black boots. We know he had black hair, and he was about five foot nine or ten. Whipcord lean. About one hundred and eighty pounds,” I told them. “But y’all already know that. Parker and Elliott aren’t sharing much else yet. Wolf is getting released on Monday, though. And, hopefully, he’ll be approved to adopt Nathan like he’s looking to do since he has no other family,” I informed them.