by Mary Stone
As soon as he spotted her, Jacob rushed forward and took the cup with his name on it. His smile was a welcome relief. His eyes closed when he took the first sip, then he nodded toward the hallway that led to the bathrooms, and she followed him back there.
“Have you turned on your cell phone yet?” he asked, his voice low.
She shook her head. “I barely got out of the apartment on time today.” She shrugged one shoulder, and it popped loudly. She grimaced.
Jacob’s eyebrows knitted together. “Maybe you should see a doctor.”
“I’m just stiff. More from battling him in the water than anything. The jump from the bridge was a cakewalk.”
Jacob chuckled. “He was trying to climb on top of your head to escape the vicious turtle.”
“Funny.” She was almost starting to feel sorry for the guy.
“Really. You should take the day off.” His eyes flicked to the right, then back again.
“No way.” She scowled. “What are you not telling me?”
“Danver is on the warpath. He’s been stomping around his office all morning, and he keeps poking his head out to see if you’re here yet. Maybe you should call in sick and pretend you were never here.” Jacob glanced down the hall as if he expected Danver to appear at any second.
She snorted. “And miss the chance to have Danver hand me my ass for the greatest collar of my career? Not a chance.”
“You’re out of your mind.” Jacob placed his hands on his duty belt, an obvious sign he wasn’t finished giving her his opinion. “He can fire you for what happened yesterday. You know that, right?”
“If he does, I’ll find a job somewhere else. There are plenty of other departments that would be happy to have me.”
“Not if you’re a liability. It’s one thing for you to risk your life to save another person, but a pattern of reckless behavior can really limit your options.” His dark brown eyes bored into hers, making sure she understood his meaning.
His words stung, but Ellie brushed them off, knowing he just wanted the best for her. “There’s no pattern of reckless behavior. I take my job seriously, and playing it safe loses suspects.”
“You can do your job and stay safe. It’s not an either-or situation.”
“Did you pull me out here to get a dig in before Danver gets ahold of me, or what?”
He recoiled a little, then pursed his lips. “You can be so frustrating sometimes, you know that? I brought you out here so you could prepare for what was about to happen. If you’ll at least pretend to be apologetic, Danver might let this incident slide. Then you have to be on your best behavior.”
“Well-behaved women don’t change the world.”
He quirked up one brow. “And cops who get fired don’t make detective. Think of your future. Please.”
The men’s bathroom door beside them burst open and Danver appeared, his displeasure written on every millimeter of his face. “Kline, my office. Now!” He was gone as quickly as he’d arrived.
Jacob gave her a sorry, not sorry look. “Told ya. Good luck, Kline. You were my favorite partner.”
“Stop.” She elbowed him hard in the ribs. “It’s not that bad.”
But it was that bad, and by the time she walked into Danver’s office and closed the door, he was red-faced and pacing. The flush of his face contrasted sharply with his gray hair. “Have a seat.”
“I’m fine.”
“Sit. Down,” he ordered through gritted teeth.
She plopped down into the stiff chair and winced, immediately regretting it. Her body ached all over, and even brushing her teeth last night and this morning, then drinking coffee had done nothing to wash away the odd aftertaste the river water had left in her mouth. “Sergeant, I—”
“Don’t,” he hissed before dropping his massive body into his own chair. He leaned back and closed his eyes. Fingers pinching the bridge of his nose, he was still for so long, Ellie worried he’d passed out or had a stroke. Finally, he sighed and leveled a cold, angry glare in her direction, his dark eyes boring into her. “You know jumping off bridges is dangerous, right? I just want to establish that you’re aware you could have died.”
“The perp went over first, and it’s not like I jumped off the Ravenel Bridge.”
“No. Then I’d be having this conversation with your next of kin.” Somehow, he’d both agreed with her and made his point.
“I made a decision based on the situation at hand, and I took action. I captured the perp and didn’t ruin my service piece or my Taser.”
“This time,” Sergeant Danver muttered. “Let’s not revisit what happened to your last gun belt.”
She nodded, trying not to grimace at the memory of her gun belt being trampled by the team of horses pulling a tourist carriage. “I’ve learned from my mistakes and adjusted my behavior. If I hadn’t jumped, he would’ve gotten away.”
“And if he’d hurt you in the process?”
Damn, she was tired of talking about the suspect—who was sitting in a jail cell—possibly drowning her. He hadn’t. End of story. “Would you ask Garcia the same question?”
Danver scowled then shook his head. “No. But I also don’t have to worry about him putting his life at risk once a week.”
“It’s not that often,” she countered.
“Really?” He picked up a piece of paper from his desk that was covered with his sloppy handwriting scrawled in haphazard lines. “By my estimation, this is the third time in October. It’s only halfway through the month.” She stiffened when he moved the paper, and she caught a glimpse of the form beneath it. “And then there’s this. Did you think I wouldn’t find out?”
“I can explain.”
“I’m sure you can.”
Shit. Maybe Jacob had been right. Maybe she was going to get fired. She didn’t have time to go there, though, she needed to pull her thoughts together.
“Captain Browning and I were chatting at an event, and when I mentioned that I always wanted to join Homicide, he told me to put in my application. That’s it.”
“You should’ve put it in with me. But the fact is, whether you went over my head or not, you still need my signature to be considered for Homicide Division. Do you honestly think I’d suggest someone as hotheaded and reckless as you?”
She wanted to squirm in her seat, but she forced herself to remain rigid. “I think it’s exactly what you should do. Detective work requires out-of-the-box thinking. Cops who play it safe don’t catch criminals.”
Danver shook his head, laughing without a hint of humor. “I’d ask if you were serious, but I know you are.” He leaned forward over his desk, his thin, closely cropped gray hair sticking straight up, his expression almost threatening. “Reckless cops lose cases. If you screw up in Homicide and they have to let someone walk because you’re too busy showboating to make good choices, the captain will be the first after your head. Being a Kline won’t change that.”
She remained passive, though beneath the surface, her blood heated.
But Danver wasn’t the first to insinuate that any success she achieved was because of her family’s influence, and he likely wouldn’t be the last. She just had to get through this, and she’d be back on patrol with Jacob, biding her time until she found a way into Homicide.
“Is there anything else?” she asked, working to keep her tone cool and unaffected.
His eyebrows shot up, then he chuckled. And this time, when he reached into the stack of papers, her heart jumped into her throat. Would he fire her? Was his smile proof that he’d already put her termination in?
She took the paper when he slid it toward her. As she read the words, it took a moment for the wording she’d been dreading to make sense in her brain.
Her head snapped up. “You wrote me a letter of recommendation?”
“Glad to see that you can read.” He was smiling, looking like he’d just given his favorite niece a Christmas present that he’d bought for himself too.
“I thought y
ou didn’t like me?”
“I don’t.” He laughed when she scrunched up her nose. “But I didn’t get this close to retirement by letting loose cannons like you run amok on my watch. I’m not a babysitter, but if you want to play cop and run around solving crimes during the day and attend charity balls at night, be my guest.” His eyes crinkled at the corners, and his expression warmed. “I honestly wish you the best. It’s really the only way to keep you out of my hair. Good day, Officer Kline.” He smiled and winked. “Detective Kline.”
She stood, and he held up his hand. “One more thing.” He turned the computer monitor around so the screen faced her, then he highlighted a number with the mouse.
“What’s this?”
“The stats on the recruitment page. See that number in the corner?” He clicked over to another tab on his desktop. “This is the stats from the past week.” He clicked back to the first page. “This is how high the number has leaped since you were on the news, jumping off a bridge, then dragging a screaming, half-naked thug out of the water.”
“That’s almost four times as many.” She sucked in a breath, shocked. “Maybe it’s a glitch.”
“Not a glitch. We only get an email if the prescreening online is completed. HR has more emails to sort through since yesterday than they usually have in a month. Many of them are good quality.” He groaned. “A few of them remind me of you.”
She couldn’t wipe the grin off her face. “Why, Sergeant Danver, I do believe you’re going to miss me.”
“I’m looking forward to it. Enjoy the rest of the day off. You start Homicide Monday morning.”
“I just got here,” she said in an awed whisper.
“I know. You’re getting a paid day off. If you want, though, head on over to Homicide and introduce yourself to the lead detective. He should probably be warned, but we’ll let him figure you out on his own. Otherwise, enjoy your weekend.”
“I appreciate you giving me a chance to make a good first impression.”
“That ship has sailed. There isn’t anyone alive in Charleston who doesn’t know who you are by now.” His eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” she gushed, thrusting her hand across the desk and shaking Danver’s hand vigorously. “I can’t tell you how much…I can’t believe that I’m going to be a detective.” She quickly composed herself, then nodded. “Thank you, Sergeant,” she amended. “It’s an honor to have worked with you.”
She turned and exited his office before he could change his mind, walking on the balls of her feet, light as air.
Jacob was waiting for her, and he motioned in the direction of the back exit.
She followed him out, buzzing with excitement.
“I can see you’re about to burst,” Jacob said. “What happened? I’m guessing you still have a job.”
“Better,” she retorted.
“Okay. Care to elaborate?”
“I made detective, effective immediately.”
He skidded to a halt on the pavement and blinked at her. “What?”
“I put in for detective after meeting with Captain Browning, and he sent it over for Danver to sign off on.”
His eyes went wide. “You went over his head, he found out, and he still signed off on it? How the hell did you manage that?”
She shrugged, a little embarrassed to admit the reason he’d given for his sign-off. “Apparently, he’s tired of my antics.”
“Who isn’t? But come on. You don’t give a promotion for that.”
“I thought you’d be happy for me.” Her eyes narrowed. “I didn’t know you were tired of me already.”
He sighed. “It’s not like that, Ellie. I just never know when you’re going to go off-script, and it’s exhausting. Your job isn’t the only one at stake, you know?”
“I guess I didn’t think of that.” She’d gone from flying high to feeling like she had been shuffled over to Homicide to get rid of a problem.
“Don’t worry about it now,” he said with a shake of his head. “At least working with you was never dull. I’m going to miss that.”
“But you’re not going to miss my ‘antics.’” She held her fingers up in air quotes.
“That came out wrong. This is all so sudden, I’m just a little shocked is all. How am I going to get used to a new partner after you? Maybe I should put in for PTO so I can adjust to losing you.”
The smile slowly returned to her face. “I’m sure you’ll be fine.”
“What if my new partner doesn’t run as fast as you?”
“Then you’ll have to start catching the bad guys yourself. Like me.”
He snorted. “And what if they want to drive?”
“I wouldn’t let them.”
His chocolate-brown eyes softened. “It’s going to be quiet without you, Kline.”
“I’ll visit.”
He held up a hand. “Please don’t. I don’t think Danver can handle it.”
They both laughed, then went silent. For a moment, they were both sullen, the stillness of the back lot magnifying the finality of the moment.
Ellie was the first to crack under its weight. “I’m going to miss you.” She slid her arms around his neck and hugged him tight. “You’ll always be my fourth and favorite partner.”
He chuckled. “You’ll always be my favorite.”
“I know.”
His body shook long before the first note of laughter left his lips. “You’re something else,” he told her. “I hope your future partner is prepared for you. When do you start?”
“I have the rest of the day off, and I start Monday.”
“Danver gave you the day off?”
“He gave the impression that it was more for him than me.”
Jacob shook his head, a grin overtaking his face. “I don’t doubt that. I guess I’ll suck it up and go find out who my new partner is going to be.”
“Whoever she is, don’t underestimate her.”
“I’ve learned that lesson,” he teased. “As long as I don’t end up with another fiery redhead, I’ll be fine.”
They reentered the building, Jacob heading for the briefing room as the door opened, and someone announced it was time for the morning’s patrol assignment.
“I’ll see you around, Garcia.”
“Good luck, Detective Kline.”
They held eye contact for a second, then Ellie gave him a sad smile and turned away, walking down the hall.
Yesterday, when she’d sat next to Jacob in the high school style desk, writing down their duties for the day, she’d had no idea it would be the last time she rode with Jacob Garcia. The promotion to Homicide was everything she’d ever wanted, but the moment was bittersweet. She knew she would never have another partner like Garcia, and to her surprise, her eyes filled with tears.
Swiping angrily with the sleeve of her shirt, she wiped them away and blinked until the moment passed. She would not cry over Jacob. This was a new and exciting time in her life, and she wasn’t going to ruin it by pining over losing the first partner who hadn’t dumped her.
Instead of getting a jump on her weekend, she took a detour.
Climbing the stairs to the second floor, she made her way down the long hallway.
There was only one thing that could chase away her blues.
It was time to pay her new boss a visit.
7
The room had an entirely different energy than the main office when Ellie stepped through the door that read “Violent Crimes.”
Six desks were placed strategically throughout the space, each covered with framed photographs of family, stacks of files, and computers with two monitors. In the back of the room, on the other side of a glass-paneled wall, a man in his mid-forties with tanned skin and tight, coarse brown curls cut close to his head worked behind a desk. When she moved closer, he looked up, and his piercing hazel eyes, gold like rich honey, drew her in until she’d crossed the entire room, and her hand was on the d
oor.
The man tilted his head and beckoned her into his office, setting aside the file he’d been holding. He stood, and a tentative smile spread across his face. Warm, but not too inviting. Cautious. “With hair that red, I’m going to bet you’re Eleanor Kline.”
He reached his hand out, and when she took it, his large fingers curled around hers, completely engulfing her smaller hand. “Yes, sir. Please call me Ellie.”
“You can call me Fortis. Lead Homicide Detective Harold Fortis.” Gesturing to the chair across from him, he sat down and leaned back. When she didn’t sit right away, he continued as if it didn’t matter.
He’s nothing like Danver, she mused, then slowly, she sank down into the chair. “I’m sorry to barge in. I just wanted to introduce myself and see where I would be working.”
He nodded. “I’d be lying if I said your reputation didn’t beat you in here, but it’s nice to meet you all the same. You’re a bit taller than I imagined, but it’s hard to judge a person’s height when they’re jumping off a bridge on live television.”
Her cheeks heated. “All in the line of duty, sir.”
“You can cut that out. Homicide isn’t like working the beat. We’re a family here. The sooner you get comfortable with that, the better.”
“I understand, sir, I mean, Fortis.”
“You’ll get there.” He opened a folder with her name on the front, glanced at it, then closed it again. “You do realize you don’t start ‘til Monday?”
“I do, but I wanted to swing by first. Get a look at my desk and maybe meet my partner.”
His smile was dazzling. “That’ll be easy. You’re your partner.”
“Oh.”
“And I don’t have a desk for you yet. This was all pushed through late yesterday afternoon, so I didn’t have a chance to get things situated.” He pointed to a corner table along the outer wall in the main room. “I hope you like a window seat because this office wasn’t set up to house this many detectives.”
“That’s perfect,” she said, but couldn’t keep herself from wrinkling her nose slightly. “Any idea when I’ll have a desk?”
