In Too Deep Read Free

of him. Apparently, since he had quit smoking, he was popping all sorts of things in his mouth to distract himself from the nicotine cravings.
    He glanced over at her and she quickly looked away and concentrated on the detectives seated directly next to her. Erin McKenzie and Gary Jacobs were deep in conversation, poring over the homicide files. The two had been working closely with Hernandez and Stewart since the third killing, much to Stewart’s dismay.
    Patricia had been Erin’s self-defense instructor as well. Extensively trained in martial arts, she had been assigned to teach at the Academy, something she’d enjoyed doing up until a couple of years ago, when she was promoted to homicide, a position she had always hoped to achieve. She fingered her small silver hoop earrings and returned a polite smile from Erin. She noticed that the large diamond ring Erin used to wear on her left hand was missing. Jeff had mentioned the young detective’s recent separation from her husband. Patricia eyed her own barren third finger and wondered if someday she would wear a ring there signifying commitment.
    Shaking the loneliness from her mind, she lifted her gaze to her longtime partner, Gary Jacobs. Gary was a serious, no-nonsense kind of cop, someone who rarely cracked a smile. He was always well mannered and polite, but she had always found it hard to get him to laugh. She grinned as she remembered a time not so long ago when someone had hired a drag queen to come in and sing happy birthday to Stewart. She had been in tears with laughter as the better-than-Cher look-alike straddled a red-faced Stewart and rubbed his bald head while she sang. Gary had sat and watched from his desk with a blank expression on his face, almost as if he were watching grass grow.
    Patricia tossed down her pen and rubbed her temples. The headache she had awoken with was not letting up. Sleep had not come easy the night before. She had stayed up late going over the victim files until she knew them by heart. Then, she had studied their main suspect, Elizabeth Adams. With all that she’d read and all she knew, she was worried for Erin McKenzie.
    The Homicide Department had pulled Erin from Narcotics, specifically to work on the Adams case. It seemed she had quite a reputation for her undercover work, having obtained the key evidence that put several major drug dealers away. Of course, now she’d have to prove herself all over again in Homicide, and this was what concerned Patricia. A young detective trying to show she could handle herself on a tough new assignment might be tempted to take more risks than she should. Elizabeth Adams was a dangerous target, a skilled seductress who would not only take full advantage of an innocent but would enjoy doing so. And if she suspected Erin was a cop…Patricia didn’t want to think about that possibility.
    “Good morning, everyone.” Sergeant Eric Ruiz marched in with a smile on his face.
    Ignoring the unenthusiastic group reply, he slapped a thick stack of files down on the end of the table and adjusted his wire-rim glasses. He was a shorter man, about five eight, with a head full of thick black hair threaded with silver. Despite his modest stature, the overzealous Ruiz managed to intimidate almost everyone, Patricia included. He demanded a lot from his detectives and had a fiery temper with a very short fuse when things didn’t go as planned.
    “Okay. You all know why you’re here, so let’s get to it.” He rubbed his hands together and began his infamous pacing. The man did not know the meaning of sitting still. “McKenzie, how are you feeling about all this?”
    Erin sat up straighter in her chair. “Fine, sir.”
    “Think you can be ready to roll by Saturday?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    Patricia watched the young detective squirm and doubted that she was as fine or as confident as she claimed. Stirring slightly in her own seat, she directed a question to Ruiz. “What, exactly, is the plan for Saturday,