Yuletide Defender. Sandra Robbins

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СКАЧАТЬ down the hallway at the Lake City Youth Center. 1:00 a.m.? Where had the time gone? When he’d dropped by after the Bible study, he’d only meant to stay a few minutes, but he’d soon lost himself in planning next week’s activities for the young boys he mentored. A light in the staff break room caught his attention and he stopped at the door.

      David Foreman, the center’s director, sat at the round table in the middle of the room. He sipped from a cup of coffee but looked up and motioned for Matt to enter. “What are you doing here so late? You had a busy day with this latest murder. You must be dead on your feet.”

      Matt walked to the table and pulled out the chair across from David. “I didn’t mean to stay so long. I thought you’d already left. I heard you go out the back door several hours ago.”

      David nodded toward the counter where the coffeepot sat. “I wanted some coffee and there wasn’t any left in the canister. I went down the street to that all-night market and got some. I knew the staff wouldn’t like it if they didn’t get their fix tomorrow morning.”

      Matt couldn’t suppress the yawn that overwhelmed him. He tried to cover his mouth. “Sorry about that. I guess I’m more tired than I thought. But I’m used to missing sleep. It seems to go with my job.”

      “You need to take care of yourself, Matt.” David regarded him for a moment. “Don’t you have a life outside of the police department and the Center? I appreciate your help, but you spend most of your off-duty hours here. Isn’t there some nice woman that you could take out every once in a while?”

      Matt chuckled. “I haven’t found one yet. Maybe I will.” He swallowed before he dared voice what he’d wanted to ask David for several days. “I have met an interesting woman, though. Rachel Long. I think you know her.”

      David’s eyebrows arched. “Rachel? She’s my goddaughter. I’ve been a friend of her mother’s since we were children. In fact, I helped Rachel get her job at the Beacon. So you’re interested in Rachel?”

      Matt straightened in his chair and clasped his hands on top of the table. “I don’t know. She just seems nice. I thought she might come to the Bible study tonight, but she didn’t show up.”

      David shook his head. “Sounds like her. She hasn’t gone to church much since she got out from under her mother’s influence. I guess it’s a kind of rebellion for being made to go all the time when she was younger.” David paused and ran his index finger around the rim of the coffee cup. “All she thinks about is work and how she wants to make a name for herself at the paper.”

      “I’ve noticed she’s really dedicated to her job.”

      David chuckled. “Dedicated is hardly the word for it. Obsessed describes it better.”

      Although Matt had talked to Rachel several times, he’d never suspected she might be so driven to succeed. “But why?”

      “It has to do with her family.”

      Matt nodded. “Oh, I see.”

      If there was anything he understood, it was how a family could influence the way a person approached life. He should know. His life was the perfect example of what a dysfunctional family could do to a person. Thankfully, he’d escaped them and found God in the process.

      Matt pushed back from the table and stood. “Maybe she’ll get active in the church.”

      David picked up the cup and took a sip. As he put it down, he smiled at Matt. “Or make new friends there that will occupy some of her time.”

      Matt’s face burned, and he stuck his hands in his pockets. “Maybe so. Well, I guess I’d better get on home. I’ll see you later.”

      As he walked to the parking lot, Matt thought about what David had said. Maybe Rachel was so involved with her job that she didn’t want anything else.

      After they first met, he knew he wanted to know her better. He’d been in the middle of giving the local television station a statement about one of the gang-related murders when she had walked up beside the cameraman and proceeded to write down every word he said.

      The sun had sparkled on her shoulder-length blond hair, and she had chewed on her lips in concentration, nodding every once in a while as if she agreed with what he was saying. When she had glanced up, her piercing blue eyes had stared at him with an intensity that made his heart do flip-flops. Then she had smiled, and he couldn’t finish his interview quickly enough. He had to find out more about this willowy blonde who took his breath away.

      Now two months later, he still knew very little about her. One of the reasons for going over to her at the crime scene today had been to ask her to go with him to the ballet at the Fox Theater. Instead he’d lost his nerve and they’d discussed the murder.

      He reached his car and climbed inside. Weariness surged through his body. He hoped he wouldn’t be called out tonight for the murder of another kid. This last one had been younger than the others, not much over sixteen. It troubled him to think of the wasted lives he’d seen in the past few weeks. Gang violence in Lake City was escalating out of control and he had to help the department find a way of stopping it.

      There had to be a solution, but what it was he didn’t know yet.

      The next morning, Rachel strode down the hallway of the Lake City Police Department toward the open office door a uniformed officer had pointed out. She peered inside at Matt Franklin. He looked tired this morning. His dark eyes, usually filled with excitement, appeared bloodshot.

      The pencil he held dropped to the pile of papers in front of him. He yawned, rubbed his hands across his eyes and then ran his fingers through his thick dark hair. She knocked on the door frame. “Good morning. Are you up to having a visitor?”

      His eyes lit up when he saw her. “Rachel? What are you doing here?” He rose and came around his desk.

      She laughed, dropped her briefcase on the floor and shrugged out of her coat. “You look tired this morning. Did you work last night?”

      He shook his head. “No, I went to the Bible study at church, then dropped by the Youth Center to do some work.” He took her coat, hung it on the rack and pulled out a chair for her. Walking behind his desk, he sat down and folded his hands on the top. “And to what do I owe the pleasure of a visit from Lake City’s favorite investigative reporter so early in the morning?”

      Rachel chuckled. “Favorite reporter? I don’t know about that. You should see some of the emails I get. You might change your mind.”

      Matt’s tired eyes twinkled. “If they’re anything like mine, I completely understand. If we don’t solve a crime, we’re wasting the taxpayers’ money. If we do make an arrest, the jailed person’s friends think we’re persecuting him. Sometimes it’s a no-win situation.”

      Rachel nodded. “I guess we have something in common.”

      Matt smiled. “So tell me, what brings you to the station this early in the morning?”

      Rachel took a deep breath. “I’ve been thinking about what you said yesterday about being careful about the stories I write.”

      “Good. I’m glad you listened. I wouldn’t want to see you get hurt.”

      “I don’t either, СКАЧАТЬ