The Rookie's Assignment

by Valerie Hansen

  “Yes, I do. Don’t look so shocked. I can tell you have the kind of basic instinct that makes a good cop.”

  “You can?”

  Chuckling, he shook his head. “Yes, I can. And I can also tell you’re getting much better at controlling your emotional reactions, although I did wonder if you were going to jump up off that couch and start lecturing me a time or two.”

  “I had complete control of myself,” she insisted. “Well, almost.”

  “You’re doing fine for a rookie.”

  “Thanks. Coming from you that means a lot more than it does when my brothers say it. They have to like me.”

  Nick’s laughter filled the car and lifted Keira’s spirits higher than ever. In her deepest heart all she’d ever really wanted to be was a cop—a good cop—and hearing praise from a veteran like Nick was akin to seeing the sun break through a bank of gloomy clouds over the Atlantic, bathing the shore in beams of light that made the sand glimmer like gold and tipped the waves with silver.

  She didn’t need the arrival of spring to make her feel euphoric. Not when she had a partner like this.

  In spite of careful analysis, there were no telltale clues on the rock that had shattered the window and interrupted Aiden’s family gathering.

  That didn’t surprise Nick. Rough surfaces seldom retained prints and, given the seeming triviality of the crime, there was no call for further laboratory examination. Besides, since there had been so many people in the house at the time of the incident, the condemnation “Liar” could have been meant for almost anyone.

  Nick and Keira were sharing her crowded desk in a back corner of the main police station while he made a list of the oddities they had encountered.

  “Okay. I’ve checked all the official reports but I want you to think back to a month or so before the break-in at the inn,” he said quietly, his pen poised over scratch paper. “Did anything else happen around that time that struck you as strange?”

  “Other than Olivia’s murder, you mean? Nothing. I already told you about Douglas’s problems regarding Merry and Tyler, her little boy. You met them at Dad’s. Now that Tyler’s father is incarcerated and his mother is deceased, there shouldn’t be any more trouble in that regard.”

  “Okay. The next thing was my arrival and my room being ransacked. Is that right?”

  “Right. Then you and I were followed. I would have ended up as roadkill if you hadn’t pulled me out of the way.”

  Nick was twirling his pen, mulling over the list. She leaned closer and tilted her head to peer at the paper. “What’s next?”

  “The biggie. The man-made avalanche.”

  Noting the way Keira shifted her position to draw slightly away from him, Nick focused an intent look on her face, then reached to lay one hand over hers. “What is it? You just thought of something else, didn’t you? I can see it in your eyes.”

  “You must be imagining things.”

  “No. I’m not. Talk to me, Keira. What is it? Did you remember something about Charles? Is that why you won’t confide in me?”

  She jerked away. “Of course not! How dare you say such a terrible thing?”

  “Then enlighten me. Prove me wrong.” Nick leaned back and laced his fingers behind his head in a purposely nonchalant pose. “I’m listening.”

  “You have no idea. You just have no idea.” Her chair went skidding when she stood abruptly. “Excuse me. I’ll be back in a minute.”

  Watching her walk stiffly away, Nick was struck by a sense of loss and sadness that surprised him. It was obvious his partner was hiding something. But what? If they assumed that all the unusual incidents were connected, there was no way they could lay the blame on Charles. After all, he’d been in the house with the others when the rock had sailed through the window.

  What about everything else? Nick shook his head. He’d decided long ago that there was no way any of the Fitzgeralds would take the chance of endangering Keira by pushing a boulder off a cliff while she was below. An out-of-town detective might be fair game but they’d never harm one of their own.

  That conclusion wasn’t enough to prove to anyone that the FBPD was totally on the up-and-up but it went a long way toward convincing Nick. Because his partner had been involved in the attempt on their lives at the murder scene, he was positive none of her extended family could have been responsible.

  If only the others had been successful in lifting discernible prints from the snowplow. Unfortunately, Aiden himself had insisted that there was nothing usable. That left them all in the dark.

  Across the room, Keira was disappearing into the chief’s office. She closed the door behind her.

  Puzzled, Nick just sat there and stared. What had she remembered? And why was she in such a hurry to share it with her father? That reaction did not bode well for the department’s claim of impartiality and straightforward investigation. Not well at all.

  “I need to tell him,” Keira insisted. “He’s about to figure it out, anyway, and if we keep him in the dark any longer he might get hurt.”

  “Not yet,” Aiden insisted. “I want to have time to probe deeper into his record first. His file is too clean. Too perfect. I have the sense there’s something rotten going on.”

  “Not with Nick. He’s wonderful.”

  The look her father shot her way was anything but approving. “We’ll see about that. Has he been any help in the murder investigation?”

  “How would I know? I’m just a dumb rookie, remember?”

  “You’re not dumb, Keira, but you are too gullible. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

  “You know I’m always careful, more so now that I’ve been partnered with Nick. Besides, he’s saved my neck at least once.”

  “I didn’t mean what’s happened in the line of duty,” the chief said solemnly, his voice husky. “I meant in your personal life. I think you may like Delfino too much for your own good.”

  “I’ll take that warning under advisement,” she said, managing a smile only because she knew her father had her best interests at heart. “I’m a big girl, Dad.” The smile widened. “And I’m armed. I can take care of myself.”

  “I hope so,” Aiden replied. “Even the best of us can sometimes be led astray.”

  “I’m not going to let Nick lead me anywhere. Well, except to the Valentine’s Day Chocolate Extravaganza on the fourteenth. Are you going?”

  “Yes, primarily because it will be good for me politically. You know your mother was the party person in the family.”

  “Burke and his cronies will be there so you have to show up, too. Gotcha.”

  Keira sighed as she reached for the doorknob and prepared to return to her desk. “Are you sure I can’t tell Nick we got a hit on those snowplow prints? He probably has a perfectly logical explanation why someone else from Boston is in town. For all we know the perp may be Nick’s enemy.”

  “Or his buddy.” Aiden was shaking his head slowly, decisively. “As soon as I hear back from a few friends on the force, I’ll let you know. In the meantime, see that you follow my orders.”

  Saluting with a snap and a grin, Keira agreed. When she turned away, however, her smile vanished. Partners didn’t keep things from each other. Not when they shared the kind of trust she and Nick had developed already.

  Well, it couldn’t be helped. She’d tell him about the fingerprints and apologize profusely just as soon as she got permission. And until then she was going to do all in her power to steer Nick away from trouble. It was the least she could do.

  To her relief, when she returned to her desk, her partner was nowhere in sight. In his place was a terse note that simply said, “See you after lunch,” with no details and no invitation to join him. Oh, well. Even if he was mad at her, she figured he’d keep his promise to attend the Valentine’s party.

  She already had the perfect outfit for it, too. A silky, filmy, knee-length red dress that was totally out of character and guaranteed to knock Nick’s socks off. Hopefully, he’d still be
in awe when she finally got permission to tell him whose prints were found on the plow that had pushed that boulder down on top of them.

  The way Keira saw it, the more her partner admired her as an individual, the less likely he was to stay angry when he learned he’d been lied to by the cop side of her personality.

  Satisfied with that logic she grabbed her jacket, made sure she had enough cash with her to purchase the tickets and walked across Main Street.

  Since it was noon and the Sugar Plum Café was packed, as usual, she decided to stop at the desk of the inn.

  Victoria Evans looked as if she relished all the hustle and bustle. Her golden-brown curls were bouncing and her brown eyes bright.

  “Hi, Keira! What’s up?”

  “I came to buy tickets for your chocolate party on the fourteenth.”

  “Tickets? Plural? Well, well.”

  “Now you’re starting to sound like my family. I invited my new partner so he could meet more people.” Keira couldn’t help grinning. “That’s all there is to it.”

  “Right.” The Sugar Plum’s owner reached into a drawer behind the counter and brought out two crimson pieces of cardboard. “My daughter helped me make these so I hope you don’t mind the glitter flaking off. Paige insisted we add it.”

  “Not a problem.” Tucking them into her shirt pocket, Keira handed over the correct change then dusted stray silver bits off her fingers. “I imagine most of my family will attend.” She paused for emphasis before pointedly adding, “Even Owen.”

  “That’s nice.”

  “That’s all you have to say?”

  Coloring slightly, Victoria didn’t comment. There had been a time, over ten years ago, when Keira had hoped Owen would make Victoria Evans a part of their family. That had been before Victoria’s alcoholic father had killed a Fitzgerald cousin while driving drunk. The loss of then seventeen-year-old Patrick Fitzgerald, one of Mickey’s sons, had hit the whole family hard.

  Soon after that, Victoria had left town and no one had heard from her until recently when she’d returned with her nine-year-old daughter, Paige. As far as Keira was concerned, the poor woman was nearly as much a victim of her drunken father’s sins as her cousin Patrick had been.

  “Okay,” Keira said with a sigh, “have it your way. What are you planning to wear? I have a knockout red dress.”

  “I’ll be spending most of my time in the kitchen, anyway so it really won’t matter.”

  “Well, I’m certainly looking forward to tasting more of your delicious pastries.”

  “That’s my plan,” Victoria said with a smile. “Devious, huh?”

  “Very. Well, see you.”

  As she was turning to leave Victoria said, “He’s in the dining room.”

  “Who is?”

  “Your yummy partner, as if you didn’t know.”

  “Actually, I didn’t. He said he’d see me after lunch but he didn’t mention where he was planning to eat.”

  The proprietor snickered. “Some detective you are. The guy’s on foot. Where else would he go?”

  “It’s only a couple blocks to the marina. He could have walked down there.”

  “Only he didn’t. Are you going to join him?”

  The idea was tempting but Keira wanted more time to herself while she struggled to justify keeping possibly important information from Nick.

  She shook her head. “Not today. Besides, I need to watch my waistline if I intend to fit into my red dress.”

  “Then I suppose you aren’t interested in sampling one of the new recipes I’m planning on using for the party. It’s a chocolate tart with raspberry topping.”

  “For you, I’ll make the sacrifice,” Keira joked. “But wrap it up for me, will you? I need to run a few errands before I stop to eat.”

  “Okay. Follow me.” Victoria led the way past the busy café hostess and into the kitchen.

  Keira’s attention was momentarily diverted by an intense urge to catch a glimpse of Nick. As she passed the doorway to the dining area, she could see some of the tables but he wasn’t seated at any of those. Judging by the reflections in the glass covering the myriad framed photos hanging on the walls in that room, every table was full. It was simply impossible to make out Nick’s face amid that overlapping jumble of images.

  “He’s sitting back in the corner by the potted palm,” Victoria teased. “Of course, you’re not a bit interested. Right?”

  “Right.”

  Keira didn’t care that she was blushing. Not when there was no one to see her rosy cheeks but Victoria. She had always shared a sisterly affection for the other woman, even when so many others were condemning her unjustly because of her father. No one could choose their relatives. Perhaps given a more stable home life, Victoria wouldn’t have felt compelled to flee Fitzgerald Bay in the first place.

  The kitchen was busy yet pristine, just the way Keira remembered it. “Mmm. Everything smells wonderful.”

  “Thanks. We try. Here are the tarts. Is one enough?”

  “Plenty, thanks.” Accepting a white bag containing the chocolaty treat, she offered payment.

  “Nonsense. It’s on the house. I just want your honest opinion and I know you’ll tell me the truth.”

  “Of course,” Keira replied, embarrassed to be lauded for her honesty when her biggest current problem was how to follow orders and withhold the truth from her partner without going against her own sense of right and wrong.

  It wasn’t going to be easy.

  Then again, what worthwhile task in life was?

  FOURTEEN

  Nick finally managed to reach his covert Boston contact while he was dressing for the Valentine’s party.

  “Evening, Chief. Glad I finally got through. It’s Nick Delfino.”

  “About time you called in. I was sure I’d hear from you after we sent the results of the prints you lifted.”

  “What prints?”

  “Whoa,” the chief drawled. “Let’s start over. Did you or did you not almost get crowned with a rock the size of a city bus?”

  “It was more smart-car size but yeah. Somebody stole a snowplow and shoved a boulder over a cliff while I was examining the shore below.”

  “Right. And they lifted prints off the plow.”

  “I’d heard there was nothing usable.”

  “Oh? Who told you that, the department you’re supposed to be investigating?”

  “As a matter of fact, yes.”

  “Well, you’d better sit down, Delfino. Those prints belonged to your favorite fugitive, Anthony Carlton.”

  “What?” Staggered, Nick sank onto the edge of his bed and stared, unseeing, while he tried to reason.

  “I said…”

  “I heard you. Who did you tell?”

  “Talked to the Fitzgerald Bay chief myself. At least, that’s who he said he was. I had no reason to doubt him.”

  “And you told him you had a positive ID?”

  “Yes. He asked for more info on Carlton so I’m going to send it—as soon as I clean it up so your name isn’t in the file.”

  “Thanks. That’s comforting.”

  “I’d ask how the investigation is coming if I didn’t sense the answer already. Do you think they made you? Is that why they’re withholding information?”

  “I don’t think so.” His frown deepened. “I can’t see any good reason why they’d lie to me about that.” Or why my supposedly supportive partner would be a party to it, he added. Was that what had been bugging Keira? Was that the dilemma she’d been struggling with?

  “Well, good luck figuring it out. Just watch your back, Nick. If Carlton is still around there, and I have no reason to think he isn’t, you’re in danger.”

  “So is my partner and the whole department,” he said flatly. “That’s why the secrecy makes no sense. Can you email me the file you alter so I don’t make any mistakes when I bring it up for discussion?”

  “Sure. On its way. The only reason we gave the ID info to the FBPD in t
he first place is because the original lab request came from them. Keep in closer touch, okay? I don’t want any more slipups.”

  “Hey, if you’d stop taking time off I’d be able to reach you in a timely manner.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean? I haven’t had a vacation in years. You know I’m lucky to get a free weekend.”

  Nick gritted his teeth. Things were starting to make more sense. “Then you’d better monitor incoming calls more closely,” Nick said. “I’ve been trying to reach you for over a week. Something tells me my messages are being intercepted.”

  “I’ll take care of it. We’ll get this office cleaned up if it’s the last thing we do.”

  As Nick bid him goodbye and powered up his laptop, he found himself hoping that innocent vow didn’t turn out to be prophetic.

  Pirouetting in front of the mirror in the Sugar Plum’s powder room, Keira was already so nervous she had the hiccups. Her dress was perfect, her hair was perfect, her makeup was perfect and she’d even let Fiona do her nails although she’d insisted they be kept short so she could draw and fire her gun without hindrance.

  Nick had agreed to meet at the party, meaning Keira was going to be able to let him see her for the first time without a heavy coat or her snow boots.

  Picturing herself in clunky winter-weather boots below the handkerchief hem of the filmy red dress made her chuckle. There was definitely an advantage to wearing the right shoes. If Nick hadn’t been a good five inches taller than she was, she might have opted for a lower heel. Thankfully, she’d been able to choose a perfect height to set off her shapely legs without feeling unbalanced.

  Now, if she could only stop wanting to giggle all the time, she’d be in good shape. Every time she envisioned the upcoming festivities, her grin spread so wide her cheeks hurt.

  “By the time of the party, I’m going to be exhausted from all this smiling,” she told herself, immediately laughing again at such a silly thought.

  Tonight was the night. Tonight she’d warn Nick in spite of the chief’s orders to the contrary. There had to be a way. There had to be. Even if she wasn’t certain how to accomplish it, she was going to tell him about the fingerprint ID. Somehow.