Promises I Made by Michelle Zink Page B

didn’treally know where we were going. Neither did I.”
    Detective Castillo raised his eyebrows. “Mom and Dad keep those details to themselves, huh?”
    Now it was my turn to blush. A second later, anger rose behind my embarrassment. “It worked, didn’t it? Parker couldn’t tell you anything because he didn’t know anything.”
    He leaned in. “Worked for them. Parker’s in jail, and you’re trying to negotiate his freedom with information I don’t think you have.”
    I swallowed hard, my bluster gone. “I know all about them,” I said, a little desperate. “How they set things up, what they look for.”
    â€œDo you know where they are now?” he asked.
    â€œCormac was in Washington State when I last saw him.”
    â€œWhen was that?”
    I thought about it. “A week ago?”
    He nodded. “And Renee?”
    I looked down, trying to ignore the sucker punch I felt to my gut every time someone mentioned the only mother I’d ever really known. I couldn’t think about her, couldn’t hear her name without remembering how I’d felt that day in the hotel room when Cormac and I had discovered her betrayal. I’d had five months to get past the hurt and anger. Now I was just ashamed. Ashamed of being naive enough to believe she’d really loved me.
    â€œShe left right after the Fairchild job,” I finally said. “With the gold.”
    He sighed, drumming his fingers on the top of the bar.“What can you tell us about their operation? Do you have contacts? People who gave you fake IDs, provided you with financial information, that kind of thing?”
    I combed through our jobs in my mind, already knowing it was pointless. Cormac and Renee had kept Parker and me insulated from the details. They’d said it was for our own good, but I was starting to realize they were the only ones who’d benefited from the arrangement.
    I finally shook my head. “They didn’t tell us that kind of stuff. Cormac planned everything. He only told us what we needed to know to get the job done.” I paused. “What about the details of the Fairchild job? I could tell you about that: how we planned it, how Cormac came back from Allied with blood on his shirt . . .”
    He sat up a little straighter. “Were you there when the altercation with the guard happened?”
    â€œNo, but I saw the blood, and Cormac said they did what they had to do. Or maybe that was Renee. . . .” I thought back to that final, terrifying night at the Fairchilds’ when everything had come crashing down around us. “I think it was Renee.”
    Detective Castillo rubbed his chin. “It’s not enough. Parker was part of a major robbery—and so were you, I might add. Someone died. They could take my badge for having this conversation instead of bringing you in. I know you’re the best chance we have for nailing the people responsible, and I want to help you, but if you want to help Parker, you’re going to need real information: where they get their fakedocuments, who’s part of the underground network that supports them, where they get private data on their marks. None of those things are easy to come by. My hunch is that they have some heavy hitters on the payroll. That kind of information would be worth a trade to the prosecutor.”
    â€œI don’t know any of that stuff.” I heard the defeat in my own voice.
    He sighed. “I hate to say it, but that’s not our only problem.”
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œThey’ve put another detective on the case.”
    I sat up straighter. “You mean you’re not even working it anymore?” I fought against a surge of hysteria. “Then what am I doing here?”
    His eyes scanned the restaurant, like he was as afraid of being seen as I was, then spoke more softly. “I’m still on the case, but the chief