Terri Reed - Scent Of Danger

She sent up a silent plea for God’s protection over the center. They were doing good work here. It would be a shame for everything they’d accomplished and all they could do in the future to end now. There were still so many kids who needed the help, the guidance the center offered. She’d made a promise to herself she’d do all she could to see that teens like Daniel were given every opportunity to choose a path other than drugs.

“I’ll keep an eye on things,” Ally assured Melody.

Melody wanted to trust Ally. The young woman had been a faithful volunteer from the beginning. They shared the bond of grief. Ally had been Daniel’s girlfriend. After that horrible night, Ally had pulled her act together and had been clean ever since. At least Melody believed so. But at the moment, she wasn’t sure what to think or who to trust. Someone with access to the center had stored his or her drug contraband in the locker.

“That’s okay, Ally. I think it will be best if we close the center for the rest of the evening,” Melody said, hating to cancel the classes and programs scheduled for the night. But Parker was right. The place had to be shut down. At least temporarily. “Would you mind posting a note on the doors?”

Ally sighed. “No problem.”

Melody caught Parker’s gaze. She detected a hint of approval mingled with the surprise in his brown eyes. Her hackles rose. She wasn’t doing this for his sake. “Best to close now and sort this out than...”

Let you close us down for good. She let the unspoken words form in her mind.

He nodded as if he’d heard and understood.

Rose put all the bags of cocaine into a large evidence bag. “We’ll take all this to the station. There’s too much to print to do a good job here.”

“I’m done,” Clay added. “I got everything I could off the locker.”

He and Rose gathered their things and exited the center. Jim followed closely behind.

Melody ushered the teens out the door. Hating to see the disappointment and confusion on the kids’ faces, she said, “You all can come back tomorrow.”

She could only hope and pray she’d be able to keep that promise. Would God come through for her? She’d find out soon.

“I’ll give you a lift to the station,” Parker said as he and Sherlock followed her while she locked up.

She shook her head. “I can manage to walk over there by myself.”

“I’ve no doubt you can,” Parker said. “But the captains are waiting.”

“True.” Realizing that it would be quicker to accept the offer of a ride, she followed Parker and Sherlock to the SPD vehicle.

The thick tension between her and Parker made her shoulder muscles tighten. Despite what Parker might think, she knew she’d done a good job with the youth center. And she’d do whatever it took to find who the drugs belonged to. She couldn’t allow these kids to be in harm’s way.

She rolled her shoulders, trying to release the tightness. Someone had breached the center with their

poison.

After arriving at the station house, they went straight to the conference room. An oval table with leather chairs dominated the center. A floor-to-ceiling window stretched across one wall while the far wall was lined with shelves full of procedure books.

Jim was already there as were Rose and Clay. They’d filled the captains in on the situation. Captain Drexel stood by the window. A tall, African-American man in his late forties, he had his hands clasped behind his back as his dark eyes assessed them.

Captain McNeal sat at the table, his piercing blue eyes no less intense than his colleague’s. He waved her and Parker in as Rose and Clay exited. “Any ideas who stashed the drugs?” he asked.

Melody shook her head and answered honestly. “No, sir. But the kids did give me a name of someone to question. Another boy that wasn’t there tonight.”

“It could belong to any one of those teens or even one of the other volunteers who come in,” Jim stated. His gaze shifted from Melody to Parker and back to the captain.

The idea that one of the adult volunteers who came to the center to help the kids would be involved with drugs made Melody cringe. “I can’t believe that.”

“Can’t? Or won’t?” Parker’s voice held a note of cynicism. Sherlock sat at his master’s heel. He seemed to be staring at her with the same cynical look as his handler. Great. Now a dog was judging her, too.

“Both,” she shot back, resenting his insinuation. She understood where his animosity stemmed from, but it didn’t stop her from wishing he had some confidence in her. Though why she felt the need for his approval, she didn’t know. She hardly knew the man. His opinion shouldn’t matter in the least.

She turned her attention back to her captain because his opinion did matter. “Sir, I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

“How do you propose to do that?” Drexel asked, stepping forward until his thighs hit the edge of the table. His sharp gaze speared through her.

Good question. She racked her brain for ideas. Her gaze landed on the bookshelves behind where Captain McNeal sat. “More education. More security measures.”

“Like?” Drexel pressed.

Before she could answer, she felt something nudge her ankle. Sherlock had moved closer. His nose pushed at her pant leg, hiking the material up until he could lick her skin. His wet tongue was warm and rough. She lifted her eyes to meet Parker’s.

Mild surprise reflected in his chocolate eyes. “He likes you.” He gave a slight tug on the leash, bringing the dog back to heel.

An idea formed. “A formal demonstration of how easily drugs can be detected by the police would be a start.”

Parker’s eyes widened, then a grin tugged at the corners of his mouth and knocked some of the air out of Melody’s lungs. Boy, talk about devastating.

“Sherlock and I could do that,” he said.

“That takes care of the education part,” McNeal conceded.

“We could search the kids as they come in,” Jim suggested.

Melody’s gaze snapped to Jim in disbelief, then to Captain Drexel. “We can’t treat the kids like criminals. That will only drive them away. We’ll keep a closer eye on things and manage the facility better.”

With a thoughtful expression, Drexel exchanged a glance with McNeal. “Okay. For now. But there can’t be a repeat of this incident.”

“I’ll do everything in my power to see that drugs never make their way through the doors of the teen center again.”

“And I hope, Officer Zachary,” Drexel intoned with a good dose of censure, “that you will think twice before confronting known drug addicts alone.”

“Yes, sir,” she assured him with a sidelong glance at Parker. Obviously, he’d informed them of the need to run off Zane and his buddies when he’d called the captain earlier.

“Drug addicts?” Jim interjected harshly. Clearly he was affronted that his partner would act without him. “What’s this?”

She slid him a glance. “I was asking Zane Peabody questions about Daniel.”

“Your nephew?” He shook his head. “You need to let that go.”

Anger bubbled and threatened to explode like a geyser. This was an old argument. He’d made his position clear on her quest to find her nephew’s murderer a long time ago. “I can’t.”

The empathy in Jim’s gaze made it clear he thought she was working a lost cause. “You’ve done everything you can and still haven’t been able to solve this crime. You need to accept the fact that you’re not going to.”

“You don’t know that,” she shot back, hurt by his lack of faith in her abilities. Captain Drexel had given her permission to work her nephew’s case on her own time when she’d hired on with the department. “This case isn’t unsolvable. No case is,” she said. “It just takes time and effort. It’s not a waste.”