Stuart Woods: Hothouse Orchid

“I’ll arrange it. How long will you be in town?”

“My boss told me not to come back for a month.”

They finished dinner, and Holly served them ice cream, then they took coffee in the living room. The door to the beach was still open, and they could hear the waves lapping at the beach.

“Nice house,” he said.

“I inherited it,” she replied, settling next to him on the sofa.

“From whom?”

“My late fiancé. He was a local lawyer. He went into a local bank the day before our wedding to get some cash for our honeymoon and wound up in the middle of a bank robbery. He got in the way of a shotgun.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.”

“So am I, but enough time has passed that it hurts less than it used to.”

“Were you ever married?”

“No. How about you?”

“Once, twenty years ago, to a nurse. Lasted three years.”

They sat quietly, sipping their coffee, listening to the sea.

Holly felt his naked body slide down hers, until his head was in her lap, face down. His tongue did wonderful things, and then she climaxed.

She woke alone, with Daisy sitting beside the bed staring at her. Josh had given her a prim good-night kiss the night before and had left her randier than he knew. It was the first wet dream she had ever had.

The phone rang, startling her. She grabbed at the sheet to cover herself, in case Lance was on the line, then she picked it up. “Hello?”

“Holly?” A woman’s voice.

“Yes.”

“It’s Annie Ryan.”

Annie was a female officer on the Orchid Beach force, one Holly remembered fondly. “Hello, Annie, how are you?”

“I’m not sure,” Annie replied. “Would you mind if I stop by this morning and talk with you?”

“Not at all,” Holly replied. “Any time after, say, ten?”

“Ten fifteen?”

“See you then.” Holly explained about the gate and hung up. She showered, dressed, fed Daisy and let her out, then made herself some breakfast. She was still on coffee when the phone rang, and Holly saw the gate button light come on. She buzzed Annie in and found another coffee mug.

Annie Ryan was a petite redhead, maybe five-two, who looked very good in her tailored uniform. Holly poured her a cup of coffee and sat her down on a counter stool.

“I see you made sergeant,” Holly said, gesturing at the stripes.

“Yes, last year. I’m a supervisor on the day shift now.”

“I’ll bet you’re a good one, too,” Holly said. “What did you want to see me about?”

“It’s this Colonel James Bruno,” she said.

“Ah, yes.”

“Jimmy Weathers told me about your experience with him in the army.”

“Good. I wanted all the female officers to know about him.”

“Well, I guess we do, now,” Annie said. “It’s just that we’re not quite sure how to handle him. I mean, the guy is our chief, after all.”

“My advice is, be pleasant but not friendly; keep him at arm’s length, and don’t ever get into a car with him alone. Always have a witness.”

“Does he have a thing about cars?”

“Apart from having a shot at me,” Holly said, “which I was able to fight off, he raped a young woman lieutenant, and he did it in a car.”

Annie was quiet for a moment. “If we do like you say, will that be enough to keep him off us?”

“I think it will, if you never give him an inch, if you never let him cross the line without calling him on it. I realize you’re walking a fine line here, but you have to give him the respect of his rank while seeing that he returns that respect. Believe me, he will take any display of friendship or warmth the wrong way.”

“How did this guy manage to spend thirty years in the military while getting away with that?”

“My guess is that his problem was sublimated for a long time. He had a nice wife, and after she died of breast cancer he started to get too friendly with female soldiers. He played on the sympathy he got from his wife’s death, used that to get friendly with women, then abused them.”

“Okay, I’ll have a talk with the other women.”

“You can protect each other,” Holly said.

“I guess that’s what we’ll do,” Annie said. The radio on her belt squawked, and she answered the call. “I’d better get going,” she said. “One of my shift has arrested two men on a drug charge after a traffic stop, and I need to cover that.”

“You go ahead,” Holly said, “and feel free to call me if you need to talk.”

Annie got back into her patrol car and headed back up the driveway.

Holly was glad to have talked to her. She wished she had had somebody to talk to when she was dealing with Bruno.

She cleaned up the kitchen, polishing the copper risotto pan she’d used the night before, then realized that, in spite of her shopping trip for dinner, she had little else to eat in the house. She made a list and drove into Orchid Beach to the market.

Holly had been in the store for a minute when she heard a woman’s voice behind her.

“Major Barker?”

She turned and saw a young woman with short, blond hair, wearing the Florida State Patrol uniform with sergeant’s stripes. “Yes?”

“You don’t recognize me, do you?”

Suddenly, the penny dropped. She was the lieutenant James Bruno had raped-Lauren Cade. “Lauren!” Holly said. “I’m sorry, the uniform and the haircut threw me off, and nobody has called me major for a long time.” They shook hands.

“I’d heard you were chief in Orchid Beach after you retired,” Lauren said, “but I thought you had left town.”

“That’s true,” Holly replied. “I’m working in Virginia now; I’m just back for a little while on vacation. I still have a house here.”

“I left the army a year after you did,” Lauren said. “I came to Florida for the weather, had a couple of nothing jobs to pay the rent, then I applied to the State Patrol and was accepted. I made sergeant a few months ago.”

“Congratulations,” Holly said.

“I just came in here to get a sandwich for lunch.”

“Why don’t we have lunch together, if you have the time?” Holly said.

“Thanks. I’d like that.”

They went to a deli a couple of doors down from the market, found a table and ordered sandwiches.

“Is Orchid Beach a regular part of your patrol duty?” Holly asked.

“Yes, I’m through here every day.”

“Lauren, have you heard the latest about Jim Bruno?”

Her face hardened. “Do I want to?”

“I think you’d better hear this; he’s the new chief in Orchid, my old job.”

Her face fell. “No, I hadn’t heard that.”

“I thought it best to tell you before you ran into him.”

“Thanks. I appreciate it. I’m sorry to hear he’s in the state, let alone on my beat.”

“I’d hate to see you have to transfer somewhere else just to avoid him,” Holly said.

“Not likely,” Lauren replied. “I just bought a house; I’m dug in here. I’ve applied to a new investigative unit that’s going to be based in Vero Beach. Haven’t heard anything yet.”

“The one that Hurd Wallace is running?”

“Yes, that’s the one. Do you know him?”

“He was my deputy chief when I was in Orchid. I’d be happy to put in a word for you, if you like.”

“Oh, yes, that would be great!” Lauren said. “What’s Captain Wallace like?”

“Good guy; no worries there. He came to see me to tell me about Bruno, said he would have done what he could to block his appointment if he’d known earlier who he was.”

They changed the subject and chatted through lunch, then Holly said goodbye and went back to the market to complete her shopping. When she was back in her car, she called Hurd Wallace and recommended Lauren Cade highly. He said he’d interview her.