Intimate Danger (Empire Blue) Read Free

name?”
    She made a face and waved her hand at the comment. “All I’m saying is you only do that here. Trust me, if you’re trying to get me to fit in any more, the guys seem to have taken notice that I’m a woman, so it isn’t working.”
    He made an exasperated sound. “Charlie, it’s the detective’s bureau, and while I know you’ve only been on this side of the house—the investigative side—for a few years, you can trust me when I say these boys notice a hell of a lot more than the fact that you’re a woman. And please, spare an old man’s heart, don’t remind me of that any more. All I still see when I look at you is a little bratty kid with uneven pigtails, trying to chase after the boys. Only then, it was all about the ball, not the person.”
    She shrugged. “It still might be about the ball today. So anyhow, what’s up?”
    “God, sometimes I wonder about you .” He studied her, seeming to weigh a hearty decision.
    She rolled her eyes. She had never met a more dramatic bunch than cops, and seeing as she was one, and had grown up with one, that said a lot. Leaning forward, the chair creaked, and she braced her elbows on her knees. “If you got something for me, Uncle Ben, then now is the time to speak.”
    His hardened expression softened at her private name for him. Her father and he grew up together, joined the academy as a unit, and became partners on the force. He served as the best man at her father’s wedding, the godfather for her birth, and as a hand to hold during her father’s dying breath. Chief Woolsey was the closest thing to family she had left.
    “I have a case for you. It’s not in your normal operational area of expertise, but I have faith in your abilities to handle this. And before you open it up, let me just tell you that this came down from the council and also from one of the big three-letter agencies. We were containing it, or at least trying to, but there’s been some sort of link between a bunch of calls we’ve been getting here. I think you’re going to be the best to handle it.” He slid a thin manila file across the desk.
    She picked up the folder and skimmed the first page, her brows lifting as she read. Surprise, shock, and confusion ran through her system, each one stronger than the last. No way in hell could she tell the chief about last night now. Not if she wanted to move away from her petty embezzlements and prove that she could do the job of a detective.
    Once finished with the short report, she glanced up to meet Ben’s troubled gaze. “You’ve got to be kidding me. What in the hell is this? A joke?”
    “ Watch your damn mouth,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m afraid it’s no joke. I need you to check it out. Go talk to the victims. Give us a leg up on this before the community cries foul.”
    “I’ve heard worse from you.” She flashed a smile that would most likely give him cavities for months, then dropped it as quickly as it appeared. A foul feeling crept up her neck, a disturbance over what she’d read.
    He opened his mouth, but she forged on. “You send me on nothing but petty shoplifting, bank forgeries, and crimes nowhere as serious as this. I can understand the sensitivity of it, seeing as some pervert peeked his way in on a few women undressing. But what I don’t get is why now?”
    He sat up straight , as if she smacked him across the face. “You complaining? Do I need to remind you of the order of rank here?”
    She stuttered. Shit, that did not come out right. “N—no, not at all, Chief.”
    “Hell, Charlie, maybe you’re not ready.” He reached for the file and she jerked it out of his reach.
    Damn it, she was messing this all up. The good ole ’ boy club was evident in her small town and even smaller police unit. With a village of seven thousand residents, if someone sneezed on one side, they’d hear about it fifteen minutes later on the other side. Only two females were on payroll, minus the chief’s secretary,