Above the Law

Chapter Three

Eden sat in the small room, her arms folded as she scowled at her reflection in the glass. She knew the detectives were on the other side, staring at her, analyzing her, waiting for her to talk. But she wasn't going to talk, not to Detective Fisher. She'd had him in the VIP room a few nights ago. He'd wanted a lot more than he paid for, and a lot more than she'd ever sell. As soon as he'd seen her, his face dawned with recognition and he smirked, looked her up and down, then asked if she remembered him, because he sure remembered her.

She'd glowered at him as she sat on her living room couch that smelt like vomit and he asked questions she wasn't going to answer, especially not for him. Eden's father had lingered in the living room with a smug look as Eden refused to speak to the man, but Detective Fisher got annoyed fast, and told her if she wasn't going to cooperate like she had a few nights ago, he'd take her to the station for questioning.

Eden had laughed at that, thinking there was no way in hell her father would let her anywhere near the station. She knew too many incriminating details about his job. But Chad had surprised her yet again. He told the detective Eden would be happy to comply, but not here, he was too busy.

Not that taking her to the station made her talk to him. Detective Fisher found that out relatively soon.

Detective Parker Yates watched from the glass as Fisher asked yet another question the girl refused to answer. Yates was impressed; kids usually talked, the silence between questions usually scared them, but not her. She had that look in her eyes, that cold, detached look of someone who'd been through an ordeal so wicked it broke them. Fisher stood abruptly, stalked towards the door and ripped it open. Yates looked over at the other detective, a small smirk playing on his lips as Fisher slammed the door.

"Filthy fucking whore," Fisher spat, though the words sounded more lustful than hateful to Parker's ears. It was sickening to hear. "Matthews was right. You'd have better luck in there with your pretty-boy charm. Seems to be the only thing your good for around here." Fisher pulled open the outside door and left.

Yates's eyes wandered back to the girl in the room and over her every sharp feature. Her large green eyes were unfocused and rather sad looking. Her jaw was clenched tightly, her full lips drawn down in a scowl. She looked like a severely unhappy person. But she was beautiful. Beautiful in a dangerous way. She was the kind of beautiful every man wanted, and would almost certainly take.

Yates knew Fisher had a bad temper; he was surprised the young woman hadn't cracked from the jeering taunts. But she looked bored rather than shaken. He glanced back down at her file and frowned. She'd grown up like he had, in more ways than one. And she'd come out the same way he had: hostile and detached, not to mention unforgiving. He shouldn't be surprised she kept her own with Fisher.

"Yates?"

Detective Yates turned around and looked at the timid intern, Todd. "Yes?"

"Fisher said we should just go ahead with the DNA test since she's not talking. Since, you know, DNA tests tend to scare people into spilling the beans," Todd said, he glanced over Yates shoulders, his eyes widening and cheeks reddening. "That's her?" Todd moved to look out the one-way mirror.

"We're not doing a DNA test, Todd. She has to agree to that. I'm going to see if I can get her to talk," Yates said, his voice determined.

Eden looked up when a second detective entered, her eyes drifted from his black rimmed glasses to the ID badge that read P. YATES on his chest. He was a lot younger than Fisher, and a lot shorter—definitely not taller than six feet, but maybe it was the way he held himself, all hunched over. But he was handsome, even with the dark circles under his eyes and the few scars on his face; a large one cut through his bushy eyebrow leaving that spot bare, and under his opposite eye a jagged scar ran across his high cheekbone. He had short, tousled brown hair and kind brown eyes that didn't drift to her chest upon seeing her. He sat down across from her and just stared, his eyes roaming over every inch of her face, noticeably lingering on her full lips before returning to her eyes.