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I shut down ht forinto his doorway, his eyes narrowing at the expression on er ason?" he asked

I took another deep breath "I’ve been called to the mayor’s office," I said "Is the chief here?"

Crawford scowled blackly "No, he’s in Baton Rouge for a " He pushed back his chair and stood "And I’m sure the mayor knows it Did he say why he wanted to meet with you?"

I shook ive me a puppy and flowers I’m pretty sure I knohat this is about"

"Ben Moran," Crawford said, yanking his jacket on "And yes, I’lanced at me "You have a voice recorder on your phone?"

I blinked, then save a curt nod "Good, and I have one too We’re gonna nip this shit in the bud"

Chapter 16

The mayor’s office was across the street froe to skip and bounce on the way over Funny hoing that someone has your back makes all the difference in the world But oing to let the weirdness of the other day influence his support of me as one of his detectives I could accept that he wanted to keep his head in the sand with regards to the bizarre stuff I was involved in It was unrealistic for me to expect--or even hope--that everyone could be as readily accepting of the arcane as Jill was

But ht with nerves as we crossed the street My job was not civil service, which et ht definitely be nuave Crawford a suh I carefully censored out the not-so-normal aspects An oddly pained expression crossed his face briefly after I finished, as if he kneas holding so back, and I felt an unexpected wave of syood cop and an effective sergeant, and I’d unintentionally created a harsh dilemma for hirets stopping to help hbad would have happened I knew that Probably he did too But I couldn’t really bla the city ad, I forced myself back to the here and now Crawford and I rode the elevator in silence to the third floor where the ave the receptionistme, and was completely not surprised when she replied that the mayor was on an important phone call and that it would be a few ," Iarea "Establish his control over the situation I’ a beer that it’ll be at least tenrude under his breath and dropped his eyes to his watch "Fifteen"

"That’s a bet"

At the ten minute mark he tipped his watch toThirty seconds later the receptionist told us we could go in, and I had to bite back a laugh "Beer’s on you, Sarge," I whispered

But I carefully wiped all traces of huh I took a small amount of pleasure in the annoyance that flicked across thewith me Mayor Peter Fussell was a relative newcorocery stores, he’d made a run for mayor when the previous officeholder had to step down because of ter an In his late forties or so, with a trim build, brown hair, and blue eyes, he had the co that Peter Fussell would be running for a higher office in the not-so-distant future

"I requested to ruffly "There’s no need to waste Sergeant Crawford’s ti to accoht be discussed," Crawford replied, just as gruffly "Unless, of course, this has nothing to do with anything police related, in which case I’ll excuse myself"