Valerie Hansen - The Rookie's Assignment

“Of course it is. Why wouldn’t it be?” she countered, bracing for another dose of his unwarranted skepticism.

Although Nick shook his head at her and appeared incredulous, he nevertheless answered, “Because not everybody in this world is on the up-and-up, rookie. One of these days you’re going to take off those rose-colored glasses and see people for what they really are. Liars. Cheats. Self-serving hypocrites.”

“It must have been really hard to work in Boston,” she said with a tinge of sadness. “I’m sorry for you.”

“Don’t be sorry for me. Be sorry for all the nameless, faceless victims who never get justice because others decide to bend the truth for their own sakes.” His pause didn’t give Keira time to reply before he added, “Or for the sake of their friends or family.”

That was another veiled accusation if she’d ever heard one. “Knock it off, mister. My family is innocent of any crimes, now or in the past. We’re the good guys around here, in case you haven’t noticed. My dad has devoted his life to upholding the law, my uncle Mickey is the fire chief and my grandfather is mayor.”

“And three of your brothers are cops. I’ve never seen a town with more nepotism or more chances to sweep dirt under the rug than this one has. Look at it from my point of view, Keira. If you were an outsider, what would you think?”

“I wouldn’t condemn people just because they’re in a position to falsify evidence, that’s for sure. My brothers would never be a part of any kind of a cover-up.”

The rumble of his voice made the hair on the nape of her neck prickle when he stared at her and replied, “I sure hope you’re right.”

“I am. And once you’ve talked to all the people who were there and seen the truth for yourself, I’ll expect an apology.”

“If it’s due, you’ll get it,” Nick said. “Nothing would please me more.”

Nick welcomed the timely arrival of Captain Douglas Fitzgerald and one of the regular officers, a stocky guy named Hank Monroe. Monroe was a bit of a blowhard and thoroughly unlikable from the get-go but the captain seemed genuinely concerned about the incident.

“You didn’t get a good look at the guy?” Douglas asked, his pen poised to take notes.

“No. Sorry.” Nick was only half listening as he watched Monroe dusting for prints. “He was wearing a ski mask and a knit cap. I think he probably had on gloves, too. It felt like it when he hit me.”

“Age? Weight? Distinguishing marks?”

Shrugging, Nick felt a muscle in his shoulder cramp so he kneaded it as he answered. “I’d have to guess by the way he moved. Maybe forties, maybe a little older. And he outweighed me, although it was hard to tell if it was muscle or flab under his heavy black coat. Like I said, I was pretty groggy after he conked me.”

“Any notion what he might have been after?”

Nick shook his head. “Not a clue. I don’t think he’d been in the room long because he didn’t touch my suitcases or my laptop. Most of this damage was caused when we fought.”

He could tell that Douglas wasn’t satisfied but there was nothing he could do to remedy the situation—other than suggest that someone might have targeted him because he had come to Fitzgerald Bay to investigate the unsolved murder. It would be interesting to find out how many people already knew why he was in town.

“Okay,” Douglas said. “If you think of anything else, you know where to find me. What are you planning to do for the rest of the day?”

“That’s up to Keira.” Noticing the other man’s raised eyebrow Nick smiled and added, “I’d call her Officer Fitzgerald but there are so many of you floating around, I figured it would get too confusing.”

“Sometimes it does,” the captain replied. “See you later, then.” He touched the brim of his cap, nodded to his sister and started to leave.

“Wait, Douglas,” Keira said. “Nick needs a place to live, especially now. How about renting him the condo?”

“Well…”

Nick could tell the other man wasn’t particularly keen on having him for a tenant so he provided a way out. “Don’t worry about it. I can stay here.”

“That’s okay,” Douglas said, visibly relaxing as he spoke. “I converted an old flour mill down by the river. It’s not fancy but I’d be glad to rent to you. Just got the second unit finished, as a matter of fact, and my sisters decorated it a bit.”

“Sisters?” Nick eyed Keira. “Oh, that’s right. There is one more sibling, isn’t there?” He grinned. “Is she a cop, too?”

“No way,” Keira said. “I wasn’t supposed to be one, either. Everybody expected me to go to work with my big sister, Fiona, in her bookstore, but I had other ideas.”

“Now, why does that not surprise me?” Nick said, sharing a conspiratorial glance with her brother.

“That’s what we got for letting Keira tag along too much when we were kids. She was always trying to outrun or outclimb or outswim us boys.” Douglas smiled. “And she did, too. More often than I care to admit.” He reached over and playfully attempted to ruffle her hair as she ducked out of reach. “She’s one tough cookie.”

“You could have fooled me until I saw her in action,” Nick said, figuring it was better to join in the teasing than to behave too stiffly.

To his surprise, the captain sobered as his gaze swept the messy room. “I don’t like this. See that you look after her well, Delfino.”

“Spoken as her brother or a brother officer?”

“Both,” Douglas assured him.

One glance at Keira told Nick she was not happy with the direction their masculine discussion had taken. That was no surprise. Her academy records had already told him she was smart as well as being a crack shot.

Although he understood her desire to serve in her hometown with other members of her family, she would have been able to pass muster in just about any department in the state. Given the way her brothers and father were trying to coddle her, perhaps that career choice would have been a better one.

Nick began to smile as he made up his mind how to play this. “Okay, if you insist,” he drawled. “But only if she promises to keep saving my skin, too, like she did a few minutes ago.” He held out his hand to her. “Thanks, partner. I owe you one.”

Keira grinned from ear to ear as they shook hands.

It was not going to be a struggle to treat her as an equal, Nick decided. She’d worked hard to make it this far and she deserved the badge she wore so proudly.

He just hoped the rest of her family was as upstanding and honest as he’d already judged her to be. If, as he suspected, the Fitzgeralds were the only ones who had known why he was in town—to a point, anyway—then the ransacking of his room led straight back to them.

In that event, would it be foolish to rent an apartment from Douglas? No, he decided. Although Douglas probably thought he could keep an eye on Nick that way, there was a good possibility Nick could turn the tables and do a little snooping of his own.

There was an old saying he often thought of in situations like this. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

That motto had never failed him before. The hardest part of his Internal Affairs job was telling the difference between his friends and his enemies.

After Nick had returned from a working lunch with the chief, Keira had spent the rest of the afternoon listening as Nick casually interviewed her brothers Ryan and Douglas, plus Hank Monroe, mainly because they happened to be the ones he encountered in the office.

When Nick arrived at the station the following morning she jumped to her feet, more than ready to give him a promised tour of the town.