Promise Renewed

by Mitzi Pool Bridges

  As Darin looked into those blue-green eyes, he saw her sincerity. Even though Hunter’s death had opened up a job for her at HPD, she was clearly not happy about the circumstance.

  Darin pushed away from the wall and walked around the warehouse space, visualizing it in semi-darkness instead of bright daylight.

  But he didn’t remember a thing after two-handing his gun and inching his way into the warehouse.

  There was no undoing Hunter’s death—no happy ending, for either of them.

  Chapter Three

  “You home, Maddy?” Gina called out later as she opened the door to her sister’s apartment.

  “In the kitchen.”

  Of course Maddy was in the kitchen. Where else would she be? Maddy was a homebody. Her apartment showed it. There were pictures on the wall, drapes at the windows, photos of the two of them from babyhood to last Christmas when Gina came to Houston for a visit. There were books everywhere, lamps on several tables, and a collection of angels. Gina’s apartment in Dallas held the bare essentials. Not because she didn’t like a cozy place to call home, but because Dallas never seemed like home.

  The tantalizing aroma of beef enchiladas made Gina’s mouth water. She followed the scent into the kitchen. Moving the morning paper aside, she put her briefcase on the counter. “I should have known you’d fix our favorite,” she said with a grin.

  Maddy grinned back.

  They gave each other a hug. “Anything for my favorite sister.”

  Gina patted her on the rump. “Your only sister. It smells wonderful.”

  “You look tired. Didn’t it go well?”

  Other than Houston’s police chief, Maddy was probably the only other person in Houston who knew why she was really here. “So-so.”

  Maddy laughed as she took a pan out of the oven. “What does that mean?”

  Gina poured a glass of red wine from a bottle on the cabinet, took a sip. “It means I have a partner who is unhappy with me—a team divided into the likes and the don’t likes.”

  “Yeah! I’ll bet it’s the men who like, the women who don’t.”

  Gina frowned. “All the guys except my partner. He definitely does not like.”

  Maddy took down two plates, dished up the enchiladas, and added a dollop of guacamole. “Have you looked in the mirror lately? Could the women be jealous?”

  “They’re not that bad. A couple gave me encouragement,” Gina snapped, ignoring the question. “Callahan hasn’t decided yet if he wants to give me a chance.”

  “Your partner?”

  A partner who looked too damned good in boots and a Stetson. “That’s the one.” Plate in one hand, glass of wine in the other, she headed for the table.

  Maddy patted her sister’s shoulder as she took her place across from her. “Give him time, he’ll come around.”

  Gina took a grateful sip of wine.

  Suddenly, she felt better. Being with Maddy always made everything better. It had been the same since they were kids. They took up for one another, protected one another. God knew they didn’t have a choice then, but it felt good knowing Maddy was always there.

  “I’ve missed you,” Maddy said.

  “Same here.”

  “Will you go back to Dallas when your case is finished?”

  “You know my career took me there. Nothing else.” She looked at her sister, at her blue eyes—her blond hair curling around her face. Gina’s heart swelled with love. “You could work in Dallas, you know.”

  Maddy made a face. “I’m too entrenched here.”

  Gina laughed. “What you mean is that you have a case load of kids you want to protect.”

  “You’re right.”

  “We need to visit more often. It seems a long time since we’ve been together.”

  “A few months.”

  “Seems longer.” Gina took a bite. “You haven’t lost your touch. This is wonderful.”

  “I like to cook. It gives me a sense of, I don’t know, satisfaction.”

  Gina didn’t cook. In Dallas, she would eat a salad or order in. Now, her taste buds were in heaven.

  Finishing the last savory bite, Gina looked fondly at her sister. “Not me. I’m the take-out queen. I’m going to enjoy this stay.”

  “Are you really?” Maddy asked seriously. “Because there’s something in your eyes that tells me you’re not exactly happy about this job.”

  Gina finished her wine, poured another glass. “You’re right. For the first time I don’t want to take down a single person I’ve been sent here to investigate, especially not the main suspect. I want them all to be innocent.”

  “This is so not like you. Normally, you want to find the culprit and bring them to justice, the faster the better—to hell with the consequence. If a cop is dirty, he or she deserves what they get. Isn’t that your motto? What’s different this time?”

  Gina shrugged. “I don’t know. All of their backgrounds check out. They seem nice. Like we could be friends.”

  “Maybe they will be.”

  “Sure. As soon as they find out I’m working undercover with the Internal Affairs Division what do you think they’ll do?”

  Maddy chuckled. “You’re a born worrier, aren’t you?”

  “Actually, both of us are. So stop snickering.”

  “Maybe they are all innocent.”

  “Then why am I here? Internal Affairs doesn’t send me out unless there’s ample reason.”

  “Plus you’re undercover. This job could be dangerous.”

  “Not unless the wrong someone finds out.”

  Gina’s thoughts strayed to Detective Callahan.

  His present troubles notwithstanding, she hoped he was as clean as he looked on paper. For some reason she didn’t want him to be the guilty one. Was she losing her dispassionate, unbiased approach? Her job was complicated enough. It didn’t need to be more so.

  ****

  The next morning Darin did his best to ignore his new partner as she sat next to him in his pickup. Today she had on a black pants suit, white blouse, and medium-heeled pumps. He missed Hunter. If he were here, they’d be talking, teasing. Instead, a strained silence stretched his nerves into a painful arc across his back. He didn’t want to be here. Didn’t want a new partner. He wanted to investigate his partner’s murder. But Homicide had taken over. At least the captain had the squad checking all of their resources for information on the drugs. So far, nothing had been found.

  Darin’s chest hurt. Would they ever find Hunter’s killer? Or the drugs? The longer this took, the less chance they had of finding either.

  An hour earlier a call had come in from a snitch about a drug deal. Would have been small stuff except the dealer was selling to school kids barely in junior high. Under the circumstances, it didn’t take long to get a search warrant.

  This call, however, wouldn’t take him an inch closer to the truth about Hunter’s death. It grated. He wanted to spend all his time chasing a killer he didn’t know and drugs they couldn’t find. His teeth clenched.

  “How far?” Gina asked, breaking the silence.

  “Couple of blocks.”

  “Who else is on it?”

  “Dwanda and Ernie.”

  When they pulled to the curb at the apartment complex Dwanda and Ernie were waiting.

  “What’s the plan?” Ernie asked.

  “According to the snitch, the dealer is in apartment two hundred. You two stay here,” Darin pointed to Dwanda and Ernie. “There’s no back exit so if he gets past us he belongs to you guys.”

  “Search warrant?” Gina asked.

  Darin patted his pocket.

  “Let’s make it happen.”

  The arrest went off so smoothly it seemed choreographed. The snitch was right. There were two kids, not even fourteen, in the process of buying when Darin and Gina walked up. The kids were too scared to so much as twitch a muscle when Gina drew her gun and motioned them to lie on the floor where she slapped on handcuffs. Darin pushed the stunned
drug dealer aside for Gina to cuff and walked into the room his gun drawn. He missed his Glock, but the 9mm Smith & Wesson he’d taken out of his ankle holster would do just fine. Gina followed him in seconds later. One guy, who had to be in his early twenties, was trying to crawl out the window.

  “You don’t want to do that,” Gina said, grabbing him by the collar and hauling him into the room. She looked out the window. “Long way down. You’re better off with us.”

  Darin chuckled to himself at the sight of the tall, husky kid being man-handled by a woman who couldn’t weigh a hundred and twenty pounds. With the scene under control, he made a call for a squad car to haul the kids and the suspects to headquarters.

  They executed the warrant and the four of them spent the next hour combing through the apartment where they gathered enough evidence to send the two guys to jail for several years.

  Back at headquarters spirits were high. The squad thought it their due to celebrate a takedown. It was always like this. Most of the time he was right in there with them. Today he wasn’t.

  “Got yourself a helluva partner,” Ernie told Darin.

  Deep into paperwork, Darin didn’t look up. As far as he was concerned, anyone could have done well today, even a rookie. It had been almost too easy. Gina Carlson still had a lot to prove.

  His glance slid to the other side of the room. The guys were doing their best to get her attention. To her credit, she was focused on her work.

  Dwanda ambled by. “They actin’ like she pulled the raid off all by her pretty little self.”

  Darin chuckled. “Not her doing, Dwanda. It’s the guys. They’re all but drooling over her.”

  She turned to watch. “Sure ’nuff makin’ fools of themselves.”

  Dwanda was prone to street vernacular when she wanted to make a point. It was clear she didn’t approve of the male members of the team right now.

  Gina looked Darin’s way. He wondered what she was thinking.

  ****

  Gina’s thoughts were mixed. On the one hand, she was impressed at the professionalism Darin and the others had shown on the raid. On the other, she wondered what was going on beneath the surface. So far they acted like one, big, happy family. Was she missing something?

  She let out a silent sigh.

  Besides, she liked them. All of them. Joe told jokes that made her laugh. Henry seemed to enjoy the buzz around them, but didn’t say much.

  Before she left Dallas, Gina had had several conversations with the Chief of Police. He was convinced Callahan was innocent of anything more serious than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Yet Captain Wells oozed suspicion. Gina couldn’t figure out the wide divide.

  From what she could discern Callahan was determined to get to the truth. Or maybe this was his way to be part of the investigation and steer it away from himself.

  For the moment, Gina would reserve her opinion and do her best to come up with the truth.

  Feeling a headache coming on she rubbed her forehead. Where were those aspirins? She didn’t like drugs of any kind, not even over the counter pain relievers, unless she was forced to use them. She hated drugs—hated what they did to a person. She looked around at the squad members. They were doing a good job. But Houston was a large city. If you wanted drugs they weren’t hard to find.

  It was time to reevaluate. She wasn’t buying the idea the traces of drugs found at the scene could have been from an earlier occasion. It didn’t make sense Callahan would swear there were drugs on the scene unless he’d seen them. Otherwise, how would he know the evidence would back up his story?

  For the first time in her career, Gina wished her reputation weren’t quite so illustrious. The chief expected results. Though she hadn’t been given a timetable she knew he wanted a quick resolution.

  She didn’t blame him.

  So far she hadn’t come up with anything incriminating on any member of the squad. She had access to each and every one of their bank accounts. None showed an increase in funds. Not even Callahan, who was most involved.

  She looked around the squad room. It was barely large enough to hold a small desk for each member. A row of file cabinets lined one wall. A door at the end of the room led to the breakroom. No wonder they were a close-knit group. They had to be.

  A quick glance across the small space showed her partner bent over his papers. The overhead light made the reddish tint in his hair gleam. He rolled his shoulders, as if to relieve stress. Without thinking, she let out a soft sigh. Startled at herself she looked around. Luckily, no one had noticed.

  She wouldn’t mind getting closer to Darin Callahan. The thought made her frown. This wasn’t the way she normally worked, nor was it the way she normally thought. Other than on a professional basis she kept her distance from the male population. For good reason. But something about Darin made her look twice. Her frown grew deeper as she willed her thoughts back to her work.

  A minute later she looked his way again. Why did he seem different than other men? True, she knew a lot about him. He hailed from a ranch not far from San Antonio. One of his brothers was a sheriff, another a lawyer here in the city. The oldest ran the ranch. His sister and her husband owned a hi-tech firm fighting crime and fraud in the business world.

  On paper, the family looked commendable. It would be interesting to find out if they were the same in reality. Wouldn’t that be exploring outside her scope as an investigating officer? Not really, she rationalized. Family background could say a lot about who he was as a person.

  He looked up, met her gaze.

  She felt a trace of annoyance in those green eyes. Her heartbeat kicked up a notch. Not good. He wasn’t happy having another partner foisted on him so soon after losing his. Though she didn’t blame him, she sure as heck didn’t want to antagonize him.

  “Hey Gina,” Ernie called across the room. “How’d you like your first full day on the job?”

  “Any day we put another slime-ball behind bars who sells drugs to kids is a good day,” she answered back with a smile.

  “You got that right.”

  She stacked her paperwork into a folder, stood, and looked around at the group. She had to get closer to them—had to learn more about Callahan. Dwanda Jones shot her a questioning look and headed for the restroom.

  Threading her way through desks and chairs, Gina caught up with Dwanda as she was washing her hands. “Got time for a cup of good coffee?”

  Dwanda shook her head. “Gotta pick up the kids today. Not like I wouldn’t mind something besides the poison they serve here.”

  “I’m talking Starbucks. My treat.”

  “Nothing I would like better,” Dwanda groaned. “But I can’t keep the kids waiting. They’d get in trouble for sure.”

  “How old are they?” Gina asked.

  “Caleb is eight going on thirteen.” She let out a sigh. “Don’t know what I’m going to do with a teen. Thought makes me shiver. Our girl is six. Name’s Kimberly. She’s an angel.”

  A wistful look washed over Dwanda’s face. Gina felt the woman’s love for her kids.

  “They sound like angels.”

  “Not Caleb. He can get in more mischief than six kids his age.”

  She proceeded to tell a couple of tales that in the telling sounded more rambunctious than mischievous.

  “My sister and I got into trouble when we were kids, too. I think it’s the nature of the beast,” Gina said.

  “Where’s your sister?”

  “Here in Houston. She’s the reason I didn’t mind being transferred. Until I find a place of my own I’ll stay with her.”

  “Are the two of you close?”

  If Dwanda only knew. They were more than close. They’d shared a violent childhood, one that had shaped them both. “Very.”

  “There’s a look in your eyes, girl. You got secrets.”

  Gina chuckled. Scuttlebutt was that everyone in the squad looked to Dwanda Jones for advice or comfort in one form or another. Gina could see why. She
liked the woman. She threw up a silent prayer that Dwanda was as innocent as she appeared.

  There would be no way she’d tell Dwanda or anyone else about her background. It was something she and Maddy had promised each other when they were kids. It was a promise she meant to keep. “Just misgivings.”

  “About the job?”

  Gina nodded. “It’s hard to have to prove myself all over again. Sometimes I wonder if men face this same period of uncertainty when they switch jobs.”

  Dwanda chuckled. “They’d never admit to it even if it were true.”

  “You’re right there. “

  “Does the team always work together as well as they did today? It was quite impressive.”

  Dwanda rolled her eyes, threw a large black bag over her shoulder. “Not even close. There are times when nothing goes right. Times when you wish you’d chosen another profession. Course, that’s almost every day. We dream of busts going down like it did today.”

  “So today was an exception?”

  Dwanda shot a curious look at Gina. “Did I say such a thing? We know what we’re doing. Most of the time anyway. It’s the bad guys who don’t cooperate.”

  Gina laughed. She really liked this woman. “So fill me in. Is Callahan always so uptight? Does Ernie ever stop talking? And will Leya ever say more than good morning?”

  “They are who they are. You just have to get to know them.” She looked at her watch.

  Gina wanted more time to explore Dwanda’s thoughts. It wouldn’t be today.

  “How?”

  Dwanda shrugged. “It’ll take time, but they’ll come around. Even Callahan.”

  Gina made a face. “Not too sure about him.”

  “He’s one of the good guys,” Dwanda said, patting Gina’s hand. “Never mind his gruff manner. You did well today. Just keep it up. We watch each other’s back. Have to. The drug world is filthy.”

  Gina fingered the brooch on the jacket of her lapel. She wanted each and every member of the team to see it, to know she wore it every day. Inside, it held a camera. Its lens could be adjusted with a turn at the base. She’d used it today while they took down the drug dealer and later when they were searching the apartment. She clicked the shutter. She wanted a picture of every member of the squad in action. Not just the shots in her files.