“Effie Tsitak,” I heard behind me as I walked toward the elevator. I rolled my eyes and turned toward the voice, “We’re here to take you in for questioning in the killing of Timothy Milligan and for your connection to Devil’s Gate and Havoc Reapers MCs.”
“Took you the better half of the morning to get that sheet of paper Detective. Are you sure you don’t just want to call it a day?”
“Come on Ef. Stop being difficult,” Coop said.
“But being difficult is much more fun,” I said with a smirk, leaning casually against the post at the bottom of the stairs. “Look, I haven’t eaten anything today. You guys are more than welcome to stay for lunch and question me here after.”
I could see Coop practically drooling, “That sounds fair. Right, Sam?”
Sutherland gave Coop an incredulous glare, “This is exactly why you have a partner now Cooper. You are the most irresponsible detective on the force.”
“You just haven’t had her food yet,” Coop wiggled his eyebrows at Sutherland, causing me to snort. “I swear if you have her food you’ll change your mind about her and be completely content to question her here.”
“No!” Sutherland all but shouted. “I don’t care if she’s a friend of yours or even if she’s a consultant. She killed someone and now needs to face the consequences of that completely avoidable action.”
He took handcuffs from his belt and started towards me. “Sutherland. Seriously she’s just going to cuff you to the stairs.”
This time Sutherland didn’t get the cuff around my wrist as I caught his hands and pushed him against the balusters of the staircase, snapping the cuffs around his wrists. “You should listen to your partner more often, Detective,” I whispered in his ear while my hands fished his keys out of his pocket. “Coop, give me your keys too,” I said, holding my hand out for his handcuff key.
“Come on Ef. Give him a break.”
“No. Give me your key or I’ll cuff you to the stairs too.”
Coop sighed, “Cooper don’t-“
“How am I supposed to get you out of your cuffs if I’m also cuffed.”
I smirked, “I forgot you were a pretty good lock pick Coop.”
“Oh fuck.”
I stepped onto the elevator, waving at both detectives handcuffed to the stairs. “You can have your keys back once you’re done questioning me.”
As soon as the doors closed, I ported to my apartment. Cerberus picked up his head and gave a quiet bark as a greeting from where he was laying on my bed. I gave him a scratch on the head before changing into one of the few t-shirts I had left from Hades and a pair of yoga pants. I brought the t-shirt to my nose and inhaled what little smell from him there was left on it. Cerberus whined, sensing my pain and wanting to help. “I know,” I said as I sat down with him on the bed. I wrapped my arms around him and held him to me. I giggled as one of his hidden heads licked the side of my head. “Okay let’s get lunch started,” I whispered, wiping a tear from my cheek as I stood from the bed and headed for the kitchen.
I stopped off at my terrace garden, which because of my powers supplied me with fresh vegetables year round, and grabbed the necessary ingredients for the lunch I had in mind. I worked on two extra large batches of Greek farro and chickpea salad while the steaks for the pitas cooked.
Sutherland’s POV
“Manny! Do you mind?” Coop shouted next to me.
Manny, Effie’s doorman, shuffled over to us, “Sorry Detective Cooper. As you know, Miss Tsitak has very explicit instructions when it comes to people she’s handcuffed in this building.”
“Which are?” I asked, annoyed this had happened again.
“Manny and Timothy aren’t to uncuff anyone unless she asks them to,” a new voice said from behind me down the hall where Effie had come from earlier. I turned to see a group of people, most of them smiling or laughing at mine and Cooper’s expense. “Why don’t you guys head up stairs?” The man that was at the bar last night with Effie said before coming over to us.
“And miss all the fun?” One of them said.
“Vander go,” he said in a stern voice. Vander groaned but left with the rest of them. “How did you end up cuffed Coop?” He asked once the rest of the people he was with had left.
“She remembered I could pick locks,” he said defeatedly.
The man laughed, “Unfortunately for both of you, I can’t pick locks.”
Coop glared at him, “The hell you can’t Alex.”
Alex smiled and shrugged, “Sorry.”
He started up the stairs. “Coward,” Coop said as Alex reached the halfway point on the stairs.
Alex barked a laugh, but leaned forward against the railing. “How else is he supposed to learn, Coop? How many times did she have to handcuff you before you stopped trying to put handcuffs on her?”
My brow furrowed, “You’ve tried to arrest her before?”
Coop looked at me sheepishly, “More than a few times yeah. Eventually though I learned to work with her and follow the leads she was giving me instead of being an asshole to her.”
Alex gave him a pat on his chest, “Took you a little longer than most though.” He looked over at me, “Hope you’re a faster learner than this dumbass.”
“Fuck you, Alexander,” Coop said.
“How did you guys end up friends if you continually tried to arrest her?”
“I stopped trying to arrest her and actually gave her a chance,” he said in a are-you-really-that-dense tone. “You look like shit by the way,” he said, looking up at Alex.
He laughed, “Sephie didn’t take it easy on me today.”
“Jesus. Did you even get a hit in? She didn’t have a scratch on her,” Coop responded.
“I got a few hits in, but mostly to her midsection. I was trying to grapple whereas she was turning my momentum against me which often resulted in hits to the face on my end.”
Coop laughed, “Serves you right for not letting us go.”
Alex grinned wickedly, “Speaking of which you guys have fun down here. I’m sure Seph will send someone down once we’re done with lunch.”
“No. Alex. Please, you gotta let us go. I’m so hungry.” Coop clasped his hands together, “Please I haven’t had Ef’s cooking in so long. I promise he won’t try to arrest her again,” he looked over at me, “or at least I won’t let him go if he does.”
Alex smirked, “I doubt that Coop. You’re a big softy. You could never leave your partner handcuffed somewhere.” He began his ascent again, looking back one last time, “Sorry I can’t let you guys go. If there’s any leftovers I’ll be sure to send them your way though.”
“Bastard,” Coop cursed under his breath as Alex disappeared. He glared at me, “This is all your fault you know. If you’d just give her a chance and trust that I know what I’m doing, we’d be having a delicious lunch and we’d get to ask our questions. But nooo instead you have to try to handcuff her.”
“You have to start backing me. I’m your partner,” I started.
“No. You never listen to me. Why would I back anything you say or do when you never listen?” He interrupted. “Effie has been a consultant with us for years. She has worked hard to clean up the city and while her methods early on were questionable, she changed so that she followed the law to the letter and still got the job done. She’s done so much good for this city, so yes I give her a pass when she kills a horrible person who shot her.”
I sighed, “Okay. I’ll give her a chance.”
He nodded, “‘The most irresponsible detective on the force’ really?”
“Yes. There’s a reason you haven’t had a partner, and it’s because no one wanted to work with you because they were afraid you would get them seriously injured or killed.” He scoffed, “It’s true Coop.”
“Why are you here then?”
I kicked his foot, “My sense of self preservation is lower than the rest.”
He snorted but didn’t get a chance to respond, “You tried to handcuff her again?” Special Agent Fletcher asked as he walked up to us.
“She didn’t want to go to the station for questioning.”
“Coop, what happened to you?”
“She remembered I could pick locks,” he said, hanging his head.
Fletcher laughed and pulled his keys out of his pocket. “Ef texted and asked me to uncuff you guys when I came to pick up the file she’s been working on for me.”
“See she’s not all bad,” Coop said, causing me to roll my eyes.
“She did say if you try to handcuff her again, Sutherland, that she was going to handcuff you to her terrace naked, so keep that in mind.”
“I’m not going to try to arrest her again.” I said, letting out a frustrated sigh. “How many times did you try to arrest her before you stopped?”
Fletcher barked a laugh, “Never. I met her through a mutual friend who works for the government and had worked with her in the past. She gave me a list of dos and don’ts, so I knew from the start not to try to put handcuffs on her.”
“What’s the deal with that?” I asked.
They both shrugged, “She hasn’t said and we don’t ask.”
“Why? Aren’t you guys curious?”
Coop shrugged in response. “We’ve known her long enough that if she wanted us to know or wanted to talk about it, she would tell us, but she clearly doesn’t so we just don’t push it,” Fletcher said. We stepped onto the elevator, “Look man, Ef’s not shy. If she wants you to know something, she’ll tell you, otherwise, you’ll just have to leave it alone and hope that one day she trusts you enough to share.”
Author: Kailan Counahan 