The Rookie's Assignment. Valerie Hansen

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СКАЧАТЬ don’t think so. It had been months since Olivia had stayed at the Sugar Plum.”

       “Still, there’s always a chance she left something behind, either by accident or on purpose.”

       “Well?” Keira faced him, hands on her hips. “Did you find any clues?”

       “No. But that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t have looked just the same. You never know. She did leave that letter to her ‘Sweetheart’ with—who was it? Merry?”

       “Yes. I told you they were friends. That info is all in the file, too. Why do you keep acting as if we’re either foolhardy or hiding something?”

       “I don’t mean anything of the kind,” Nick insisted. He squared his cap on his head. “So, where shall we go first?”

       The car Keira chose for their official use was a black-and-white, four-wheel-drive, short-bodied utility vehicle. Other than her personal motorcycle, which she’d had to forgo riding due to the snow and ice, she liked this unit best.

       Right now, she figured it was important to acquaint Nick with her town, with the interesting if quirky residents, and get him used to patrolling these narrow, cobblestone streets. Unfortunately, he didn’t seem to be paying much attention to her spiel or to the passing points of interest she was mentioning.

       She frowned and quieted. All she could see was his profile. What was he studying so intently? And why did he keep peering into the side mirror that way?

       “Hey. What’s wrong?” she asked, surprised to see him twitch at the sound of her voice. Boy, when that guy concentrated, he really concentrated.

       “Nothing. Why?”

       “Because you keep looking behind us as if you think we’re being followed.”

       His head snapped around. “Did you notice something out of place?”

       “Of course not. Why are you so nervous? I wouldn’t think catching a prowler in your room would upset you so much. Is your head bothering you? Maybe you have a concussion. Do you need to see a doctor?”

       “My head’s fine. Let’s drop the subject of my fitness for duty, shall we?”

       “Sure. No problem,” she said, although what she really wanted to do was insist he tell her why he was acting so edgy. Everything looked normal to Keira. Then again, she did see one strange pickup truck traveling in their direction about half a block back.

       Disgusted, she shook off her misgivings. They crossed Oak Street, heading past the red-roofed old lighthouse keeper’s quarters where her brother Charles and the twins resided. Keeping an eye on the reflections in her mirror she watched the nondescript truck turn and disappear down an alley.

      See? There was nothing to it, Keira assured herself. So there were one or two vehicles around town that she couldn’t readily ID. So what? That didn’t mean there was any reason to jump at shadows the way her new partner seemed so prone to do.

       Maybe he had personal problems, she concluded. If so, he’d come to the right place for healing. Except for the one recent murder—the first they’d had there in over forty years—he’d have absolutely nothing to worry about. Fitzgerald Bay was probably the safest town in the whole state of Massachusetts.

       “I’ll swing by Douglas’s condo so you can see if it suits you,” Keira said. “It should feel more like a real home than the inn does.”

       He shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. Any port in a storm.”

       “Really? What kind of place do you have in Boston?”

       “The usual.”

       The last thing he wanted to do was discuss his private life, not that he had much to talk about beyond his job. His Boston apartment was little more than a convenient place to crash. And the few romances that had crossed his path had always faltered because of his dedication to duty. At least that’s what those women had each claimed when they’d broken up with him.

       Nick glanced in the mirror for the hundredth time. His eyes narrowed. Could that be the same old truck he’d been watching a few minutes ago?

       “Do you recognize the tan pickup behind us?” he asked.

       “Not offhand, although I saw a similar one earlier. Want me to slow down so you can get a look at the license?”

       Swiveling, Nick loosened his seat belt. “Don’t bother. There’s ice or snow plastered on the plate. I can’t even tell what state it’s from.”

       “I could pull over and let him pass.”

       “No. Keep driving steady.”

       “Why am I getting the idea this is more than curiosity on your part?” Keira asked, hands fisted on the wheel, eyes on the road.

       “Just being cautious.” He wasn’t about to reveal the nagging notion that someone was already bent on stopping him from doing his job in Fitzgerald Bay. Whether he was dealing with a conspiracy or with an individual was a moot point. Danger was danger no matter who was behind it.

       Of course, there was also a chance that his imagination was playing tricks on him. It had before.

       Yet it was that kind of keen awareness of surroundings that kept veteran officers alive. He’d be a fool to laugh it off.

      THREE

      Nick was out of the vehicle the moment Keira came to a stop at the curb in front of the condo. Remaining close to the SUV he waited for her to join him.

       “See anything now?” she asked.

       “No.” Although her position wasn’t too exposed, it didn’t suit him so he nudged her between himself and the side of the car.

       “Then why are we skulking around? This is broad daylight in Fitzgerald Bay, not the middle of the night in some dark alley in Boston.”

       He forced himself to relax on the outside while his heightened senses continued their vigilance. “Look. Whoever was ransacking my room might have been no more than a run-of-the-mill thief. Or—” he cleared his throat “—he might have been somebody who knows why I’m here and intends to stop me, one way or another.”

       “Hardly anybody was aware of your assignment yesterday when you surprised the burglar, though.”

       “I’m not so sure of that. By the time I had a little chat with the proprietor of the inn around suppertime, she seemed to know all about me. She even understood why I wanted to transfer into Olivia’s old room for the night.”

       “What can I tell you? It’s a small town.”

       “Okay. So what if somebody is trying to convince me to give up and go back to Boston? Who do you know who might object to my being brought in to investigate the Henry killing?”

       Keira chuckled quietly, grinned and arched her eyebrows at him. “Is that a trick question?”

       It was frustrating to see that she wasn’t СКАЧАТЬ