Conviction of the Heart by Alana Lorens Read Free Book Online

hands, protecting them from the bad guys.
    The mission wasn’t as easy as it had looked back in the days when Nick spent his time reading superhero comic books, especially Batman. The Dark Knight didn’t have any superpowers. What he accomplished, he did with the product of his own mind and hands. Like a cop. Sure, he used some fancy gizmos, but for the most part, he relied on his own inner strengths to get the job done. Nick tried hard to do the same.
    Mid-morning re-assessment and assignment called for several detective teams to hit the street as assorted crime reports came in. Nick dispatched Crime Scene Investigation techs to meet his guys around the city as necessary and stacked the initial paperwork in a file basket marked “Pending,” until he had more information.
    He observed through the glass windows of his ten foot square office as most of the squad members he’d assigned filed out of the communal room to their endeavors. His workstation looked much like every other supervisor on the floor, furniture too old, too piled with paperwork, too small to meet in, even if he could have cleared space for more than three people to sit down.
    The budget office finally allotted him the funds to install blinds on the front windows of the cubicle, but the janitorial staff hadn’t found time to hang them yet. Admin forbade Nick to do it himself. So, he still waited.
    He stretched weary legs, pointing toe and then heel to stimulate the circulation. Leaning down to rub off a scuff on one of his black shoes, he groaned at an ache in his back he’d first noticed earlier in the week. He was spending too much time at the supervisor’s desk.
    He stood up, rotating his shoulders a bit, hoping to shake the tension in them. His dark blue jacket hung on a coat rack shoved behind the door. He’d gone to shirt sleeves by ten a.m. Police work was no nine-to-five day of looking fine and chatting at the water cooler during breaks, particularly in the detective division. All his guys worked hard, worked long, and Nick didn’t cut himself five minutes of slack more than they got. They deserved that much.
    The overflowing basket of paperwork on his desk awaited his attention like a long-neglected wife, sullen and bound to be more trouble than it was worth. He knew officers who liked filling in the blanks, making sure all the t’s were crossed at just the right angle. He wasn’t one of them.
    This particular trait seemed to bite him harder the farther up the promotion ladder he went. As a lieutenant, he’d discovered he now carried some responsibility for budget issues—at a time when both the federal and state funding streams were drying up faster than a flash flood in an Arizona wash.
    There ought to be a penalty for hidden job descriptions, he thought. Clipping, at the least. Offensive holding. Certainly something offensive. He already didn’t have enough hours in his day. And now another distraction had raised her head—attorney Suzanne Taylor.
    He still couldn’t believe she’d finally agreed to have dinner with him. Her decision must have had something to do with the guy with the crazy expression on the courthouse steps. Nick was sure he intended harm. But then, Nick always tended to lean toward a paranoid view. It’s why he was still alive.
    A smug satisfaction settled over him as he realized he’d guessed spot on about her on many counts. Not surprising, exactly, because he read people pretty well. All the same, he was pleased he’d been right this time.
    He returned to his seat and reached for the offending pile with a glance at the clock. An hour until lunch. If he screwed his determination to the wheel, he might be able to clear at least half the stack. His eyes wandered away from the columns of figures in the budget report before he’d spent five minutes on them, his mind recalling the faint musky scent of Suzanne’s hair. He’d never seen it loose till that night. He liked it.
    What about her appealed to him so