Hothouse Orchid Read Free

grabbed the phone and looked at the TV. This time, it was just CNN. “Hello?”
    “Holly? It’s Hurd Wallace.”
    Holly had retired from the army with the rank of major after twenty years and as the commander of a military police company. An old army buddy of Ham’s, Chet Marley, had been chief of police in Orchid Beach, and he had offered her a job as his deputy chief, which she had jumped at. Hurd Wallace had been the man she had displaced when she was hired.
    Chet Marley had been murdered, and Holly had become chief, with Hurd as her deputy. After a rocky beginning they had established a good, even warm working relationship, and by the time she had left to join the CIA, they had become friends. Hurd was now chief of police in Orchid Beach.
    “Hey, Hurd,” she said.
    “Too early for you?”
    “Nah, I’m wide awake,” she lied. “What’s up?”
    “Just wanted to welcome you back; Ham told me you were coming. Can I buy you some lunch today? There’s something I’d like to talk to you about.”
    “Sure.”
    “Ocean Grill at one o’clock?”
    “Sure. See you there.” She hung up, and by that time she was wide awake. She struggled out of bed and into a shower.

3
    H olly walked into the Ocean Grill in nearby Vero Beach, a barnlike, old-fashioned Florida seafood restaurant, and found Hurd Wallace waiting for her. Hurd was still tall and thin, but his black hair was half gray now. They hugged.
    “Long time,” she said.
    “Too long.”
    They were shown to a table and given menus.
    “What brings you back to Orchid Beach?” Hurd asked.
    “Something really weird,” Holly replied. “A vacation.”
    Hurd laughed. “You haven’t changed; you always worked too hard.”
    “Well, there’s always too much work and never enough time to do it,” she said.
    “Are you enjoying your work?”
    “I really am.”
    “I guess you have a bigger ocean to cast your net.”
    “Bigger than you can imagine. I wish I could tell you about it.”
    Hurd held up a hand. “I didn’t mean to fish; I know you folks never talk about anything.”
    “Thanks for understanding.”
    They ordered iced tea and lunch, and soon Holly was enjoying tiny bay scallops in a lot of butter. “So, how’s police work these days?”
    “Much the same, but we do more drug work now.”
    “Yeah, I still get the local paper, and I read about that.”
    “Most of the officers you knew are still with us; a few new ones.”
    “I’ll stop by and say hello.”
    “I’m retiring,” Hurd said without preamble. “Today’s my last day.”
    Holly was shocked. “I thought you’d never do that,” she said.
    “I’ve been offered a job with the state police as head of a new investigative unit. The money and the pension are better, and I don’t have to move to Tallahassee. I can work out of the department’s offices here in Vero.”
    “Well, congratulations, Hurd. Who’s replacing you? Anybody I know?”
    “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about,” Hurd said. “I expect you recall the circumstances under which you left the army.”
    “Of course.” Holly and another female officer had brought charges against their commanding officer for sexual harassment, attempted rape and rape. Holly had managed to fight him off, but the other woman, a young lieutenant, had not. When the man was acquitted by a board of his fellow officers, Holly realized that she had no place to go in the army, so she retired. The chief at Orchid Beach, Chet Marley, an old army buddy of Ham’s, had offered her the job as his deputy. When he had been killed, Holly had replaced him. “Why do you bring that up?” she asked.
    Hurd unbuttoned his shirt pocket and took out a sheet of paper. “I Googled you,” he said. He unfolded it and handed it to her. It was a newspaper account of the trial and her testimony. “I wish I had done it sooner.”
    Holly scanned it. “It’s accurate,” she said.
    “The city council has hired Colonel James Bruno as the new chief,”