Internal Affair by Marie Ferrarella Read Free Book Online Page B

do.”
    Patrick heard the pride in her voice, and the affection. It was the same tone he heard in his cousins’ voices when they talked about their fathers. He wondered what that was like, having a father you were close to, you were proud of. It seemed like such a foreign concept to him.
    “A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing,” he pointed out.
    Her father had taught her how to take a gun apart first, piece by piece, and then clean it before reassembling it. She’d had to wait a long time before he allowed her to handle cartridges.
    “Maybe, but enough of it sets you free,” she countered.
    “Whatever.” Getting into the car, he waited until she buckled up. “So, how does your father feel about you being on the police force?”
    “He worries.” Maggi slid the metal tongue into the groove, snapping the belt into place. “He’s a father first, a police officer second. But he’s proud of me.” She knew that without asking. It made her determined never to let him down. “He’s the reason I joined up.” She thought of the upbringing she’d had. Blue uniforms populated her everyday world. “I never knew anything else.”
    Starting the car, he backed out of his space. “What’s your mother got to say about it?”
    Maggi kept her face forward. “Nothing. She died when I was nine. He and his buddies raised me.”
    Her profile had gotten a little rigid. He’d hit a nerve, he thought. Miss Sunshine had a cloud on her horizon. Interesting. “His buddies?”
    Maggi nodded. Her profile was relaxed again and she was as animated as before. Just his luck. “The other police officers. I was their mascot.”
    He laughed to himself, taking a hard right. “That would explain it.”
    Maggi found she had to brace herself to keep from leaning toward the window. “Explain what?”
    “The cocky attitude.”
    “I don’t have a cocky attitude,” she informed him. “I just know what I’m capable of and, since you’re my partner, I wanted you to know, too,” she added quickly before he could accuse her of showing off.
    “You shouldn’t have put yourself out.”
    Turning her head, she caught him sparing her a glance. She couldn’t fathom what was in his eyes. “Why?”
    “Because you’re not going to be my partner for that long.”
    Guess again, Cavanaugh. “You know something I don’t?”
    Arriving at the station, he pulled into his spot and stopped the car. Sure shot or not, someone who looked like her didn’t belong out in the field. It was like waving a red flag in front of every nut case in the area who wanted to get his rocks off. The sooner she wasn’t his responsibility, the better.
    Patrick got out, slamming the door. “Yeah, I know how long people in your position last, on the average.” He took the front stairs to the entrance quickly, then paused at the door. She was right behind him.
    Maggi grinned up at him as she walked through the door he held open for her. “Haven’t you noticed, Cavanaugh? I’m not average.”
    Yeah, he thought as he followed her inside the building, that’s just the trouble, I’ve noticed.

    “Definitely died before she went into the water,” the medical examiner, Dr. Stanley Ochoa, informed them with the slightly monotonous voice of a man who had been at his job too long.
    Maggi couldn’t help looking at the young woman on the table, stripped of her dignity and her clothes, every secret exposed except her identity and why she’d died.
    Poor baby, you look like a kid. Maggi raised her eyes to the M.E. “And we know this how?”
    Instead of answering immediately, Ochoa turned to Patrick. A hint of amusement flickered beneath his drooping mustache. “Eager little thing, isn’t she?”
    “And, oddly enough, not deaf or invisible,” Maggi cheerfully informed the M.E. as she placed herself between the two men, both of whom towered over her. She missed the glimmer of a smile on Patrick’s face. “Now, how do you know she didn’t drown?”
    “Simple. No