Page 50 of Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad World

Abasi shrugged like it was no big deal. “She good?” He lifted his chin toward Annabelle, who’d calmed down somewhat.

“I don’t know.” Noah gently nudged Annabelle. “You okay?”

She’d been staring up at the stars and slowly turned her attention to him, her expression one of pure awe. “I’m outside,” she whispered.

“Yes, you are.” He smiled down at her as he held her tight.

Chapter Seventeen

Detectives Johnson and McMillan stood beside Noah and Rochelle on the sidewalk outside the warehouse. Together, grim-faced, they stared at the building in the early morning light. It didn’t look good. Windows were smashed, soot clung to the brick on the ground floor, and the shop was completely burned out. The stench of smoke and fire extinguisher chemicals hung in the air.

The fire crew were packing up and the chief walked over to join them. “Most of the damage was contained to the shop area.” She brushed back the hair that’d worked loose from her ponytail, smearing soot across her cheek. “The damage is cosmetic, with the worst of it contained to the store—mainly because that had the most to burn. Aside from some isolated patches of fire damage on the other two floors, from the Molotov cocktails before they were doused with fire retardant, it’s mostly smoke damage.” She glanced back at the building. “Helluva clean up, though.”

“But it’s safe to remain in the building?” Rochelle asked.

“I’m not sure why you’d want to stay in there, but yeah, it’s safe.”

“Thanks,” Rochelle said with sincerity.

The fire chief nodded at them before striding off to join her team.

“I’ll get the team to board up the shop windows,” Noah said once she was gone. “No point in replacing the glass right now. We need to look into protecting the sprinkler system too.”

“You reckon they’ll try this again?” Johnson asked, making no effort to hide his skepticism.

“Who knows what they’ll do next?” Noah said. “It’s clear this isn’t the end of it, though. How many Demons do you have in custody?”

“Eleven,” Johnson said. “That includes the ones taken out by beanbags while climbing the fire escape. Of course, we have another three in the hospital with gunshot wounds. No dead. This time.” He shook his head, a grin on his face. “I gotta ask—beanbags?”

Noah inclined his head toward Rochelle. “The boss made the mistake of telling the triplets to use their brains to defend the place, seeing as she won’t let them near a gun until they’ve had some training. They took that to mean they should improvise—hence the megaphone and beanbags.”

McMillan frowned. “Would have been good if they’d stopped at that. Your boy blew up some bikes, taking out a streetlight and windows in the process. You might want to tell Ms. Simmons that she’s pissing off the neighbors.”

“I’ll get right on that,” Noah said drolly.

“What I’d like to know,’ Rochelle said. “Is where was the patrol car that should have been keeping an eye on the place?”

The two detectives exchanged a look, their expressions dark.

“We don’t know,” Johnson said at last. “Somebody gave the order to stop patrols. They pretended to be Mac to do it.”

“Trust me,” McMillan growled. “We’re just as pissed as you are about this.”

“I doubt it.” Rochelle’s eyes were ablaze. “You didn’t spend half the night fighting off people intent on barbequing you.”

McMillan glared at her. “They usedmyname to put you in danger.”

Rochelle was unmoved. “Again. We were the ones dodging flames.”

“Hey.” Johnson held out his hands, asking for peace. “Nobody’s saying you guys haven’t been through it. Mac’s just angry at being used. We’re all on the same side here, remember?”

“Are we?” Rochelle’s eyes narrowed at them.

McMillan exploded, his head turning purple, which couldn’t have been good for his heart condition. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Unintimidated, Rochelle took a step closer to the man. “There’s a leak, and I’m wondering if it’s in the DA’s office or your department. Where do you think it is, Detective?”

“Okay, enough.” Noah stepped between them. “This isn’t helping.” He looked at Johnson. “You’re investigating that order, right?”