Читать книгу Badge Of Honor - Carol Steward - Страница 14

Nick reflected on his first night back on the job as he drove up the canyon west of town in the Colorado foothills. Officer Roberts wasn’t far from his mind. It was difficult enough that his trainee was a former federal agent, but that it was brainiac Sarah Roberts made the assignment pure agony. Even though he knew it could be worse—he could be training a young rookie fresh out of the academy—he now regretted the day he’d accepted a field training officer assignment. That seemed a lifetime ago….

Before fellow officers had accused him of selling evidence to their drug ring.

Before his fiancée had walked off, worried that the scandal would ruin her journalism career.

Before his honor had been assaulted from every direction.

“I’m not sure how much more You think I can handle, God, but it might be time we have another discussion. Bringing an FBI agent to the department is one thing, but making my former high school crush my trainee is a really low blow.”

As Nick pulled into the gravel driveway of the custom-built log home, his black Labrador greeted him from behind the six-foot chain link fence. She ambled toward the gate, her tail wagging and cheeks lifted in a smile. “Morning, Lexee.”

She yipped a greeting, stretching her lanky body.

“You ready to go inside?” Though the dog had a door of her own into the garage, he opened the gate and brought her in through the main entrance with him.

The dog ran across the room, fetched a stuffed animal and attacked him with her toy. He couldn’t help but smile. “You don’t care what kind of night I had, do you?” he said as he tossed the toy down the hall for their early morning ritual. He filled a glass with orange juice and sat on the sofa to catch up with the news and baseball scores on his digital television recorder. The dog toy dropped at his feet and Lexee smiled at him again, eagerly awaiting the next toss. “You don’t want to hear me complain about my cute new partner, do you?”

Lexee cocked her head to one side, as if to say, “Of course I do.” Then she flung the toy at him and crouched, ready for him to throw it again.

The phone rang, and Nick jumped. He figured it had to be one of his brothers calling to see how his first night back on patrol went. He checked the I.D. display to be sure it wasn’t someone else calling at three in the morning.

“Hey, Garrett, what’s up?”

“That’s what I was going to ask you,” his younger brother said. “I’m taking a break while it’s quiet. Sounds like you had a fun evening. It’s deader than a doornail now. Man, I’d have loved to have been in your boots!”

Nick smiled, thankful that he could share the peculiar sense of humor of the law enforcement officer with his family. What was bad to most people was great to a cop. “Yeah, it was a good evening. I suppose you also know that I finally made it as a field training officer,” he said, waiting to see if his brother had heard that, too.

“Did you get the FBI agent?”

“Ten-four,” he said with a chuckle. “What’s worse, she went to high school here. I played basketball with her twin brother. We used to call her the brainiac. I guess I’m not done being investigated, after all.”

“Get over that already, Nick. If they didn’t trust you they would have come up with some reason to can you. I hear she whipped the bank robber. What’s her name again?” his brother asked.

“Sarah Roberts. And yes, she has some pretty amazing defensive moves. She’s the shortest trainee with long dark hair…”

“Yeah,” he said, obviously distracted. Nick could hear the radio in the background. “She didn’t look familiar. Did I know her?”

Lexee dropped to her belly and squeaked the toy. Nick wrestled it away so he could hear Garrett, searching for something quieter to play with. “Probably not. Sarah and her twin brother are two years older than me, so she’d have been long gone by the time you and Kira were in high school. She remembered we’d adopted Kira.”

“I think everyone remembers that. It was still pretty odd around here to see a mixed-race kid in our family.”

“Yeah, I suppose so.” Nick put his feet up and closed his eyes. “Her brother was the kid that I replaced in the championship basketball game my sophomore year. She razzed me about it. That was kind of weird.” He didn’t tell Garrett that she was even cuter now than she’d been in high school. “But all in all, it was a good night. It’s definitely good to be back to work.”

“And how’d the guys respond?”

Though Garrett couldn’t see him, he shrugged. “About like we figured. Some were okay, but there were a lot who seemed sure I would kill their careers if they showed any support.”

“At least you knew what to expect,” Garrett conceded. “I thought you were imagining things until I saw guys avoiding me when they found out that we’re related.”

“I hate to say we told you so. I just can’t help but wonder if they still suspect I was involved, and are trying to dig up some dirt. The captain either gave me the FTO to show his faith in me, or to let Sa…Roberts dig for more information.” Nick cringed, hoping his brother didn’t notice he’d almost called Sarah by her first name.

“Keep believing the first option, Nick. You have a good record on the force. Plus, it’s only a few weeks. It won’t take long for things to return to normal.”

Nick gave a quick overview of the bank robber call, hoping Garrett would overlook his slip. “Has anything new been mentioned about the assault victim?”

“Yeah, didn’t you hear rumors that the mayor is raising a ruckus over it? This is the second woman assaulted in the last five months. The last victim was leaving a church meeting….”

“And who would tell me the latest rumblings from City Hall? It’s not like Kent hears the downtown rumors from the undercover narcotics office.”

“Are you kidding? Half the time they’re the first to know. It’s like they have a bug in the locker room sometimes.” His younger brother hesitated. “Well, rumor has it we may all be assigned partners until this rapist is caught.”

Lexee dropped the toy and Nick snatched it away. She jumped for it as he tucked it behind his back. He tossed the dog a tennis ball, hoping it would keep her busier than the squeaky stuffed animal.

“You haven’t heard a name yet? No suspects?” he asked.

“We’ve just been told to keep a close eye on the university, so I presume she was a student or an employee there. Why?”

“I don’t know. It seemed kind of odd that Roberts didn’t mention it. I mean, everyone in the men’s locker room was discussing it. Roberts and I were right there on the east side of campus, and she never said a word about it.”

The line was quiet for a minute before his brother responded. “She was probably overwhelmed from the bank robbery. I’m guessing that’s her first really good incident on street duty. Give it some time. She’ll be talking your ear off as soon as she gets comfortable.”

Nick didn’t dare admit that he was probably as hyped up about the robbery as she was. She’d been one hundred percent in control of the situation. Completely sure of her every move, which made her that much more dangerous as a trainee.

He’d have to make sure she didn’t push too far. Take too many liberties. Do any damage to his already tenuous reputation.

“Nick?” His brother’s voice broke into his thoughts.

“Yeah. I should let you get back to work. I need to go in early to order some new uniform shirts. Seems I gained a little weight in the last three years in plainclothes.”

“Maybe you should reconsider playing basketball with the police team this winter. I’ll work it off of you,” Garrett said with a chuckle.

“I’m sure nothing would make you happier than to do it, either.”

Nick set the phone back on the charger and locked up the house.

Instead of falling asleep like he usually did right after coming home, he found himself wide awake thinking of Sarah Roberts. He pulled his high school yearbook off the shelf and thumbed through the slick pages, admiring a much younger version of his partner.

She wore her hair down in those days with bangs hanging into her eyes. He remembered it as if it were just yesterday. He’d been too shy then to talk to her let alone ask a senior girl out.

He couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if he had?