Intimate Danger (Empire Blue) Read Free Page A

and the other woman worked nights on the road in patrol.
    “No, I am ready. I’m just curious as to why now. On something like this?” She shouldn’t push her luck, knew without a doubt that this was her chance. But damn if she understood why.
    He let out a deep sigh, one speaking of frustration, and sat back in his chair. The loud, dreadful creak gave away its age and the burden it held. Chief Woolsey lifted a hand and rubbed the bridge of his nose, his thick fingers weathered with age. “Listen…” He pinned her with a sympathetic gaze. “I need you to handle this because you’re my only female detective. I hate to say it, but this isn’t the first Peeping Tom we’ve had in the recent months. Patrols were responding before, then the mayor got wind of it, and asked us to step in. That’s when you responded to a couple calls. The boys have also been out on one or two.
    “ Something must have happened for this guy to increase his acts of perverseness. Others have reported strange men standing outside their windows, but nothing was taken seriously, and before last month, nothing was passed off to us. If I send someone like Peter or Dwayne out there, I’ll have the mayor on my ass faster than Pete can put down a cheeseburger.”
    Well, hell, he did have a point. Peter was abrupt, tactless and somehow, despite being married to the sweetest lady in Nyack, lacked any sympathy. Dwayne, on the other hand, well , his hobbies included trolling for women. Twenty-four, seven. This —she glanced at the file—was not a case for them. On one hand she wanted the chief to look at her and value her skills, to trust her as a detective. On the other, she shouldn’t press her luck. This could be her chance. Holding in last night’s secret sat in her throat like a rock.
    She stood. Her palms sweated with excitement and her mouth went dry. “Al l right, I’ll go check it out. But I’m going to ask for one thing.”
    He held up his hands. “Anything you need.”
    “This one doesn’t get taken away.” She sucked in a quiet breath and waited. Too many damn cases in the past had been stolen from her. The first sign of trouble or violence, and she was pulled from the investigation, tucked away in a tidy little hole of safety. Despite the circumstances surrounding this incident, she wanted to use this as her chance to prove she was as good as any one of the boys.
    He frowned and laid his head back on the chair. “Like I said, Charlie, I need you on this. Someone is out there, pardon the pun, poking his nose where it doesn’t belong. I need a softer hand on this, one who will be the face for these victims and fight for them. I won’t take it away. I will warn you that I have a few feds poking their way into this, too, and I’m not getting a warm and fuzzy feeling about that. But you have my word. Consider it yours till it’s closed.”
    She grinned so wide, she thought her face would crack. “Thanks, Chief.” She gestured over her shoulder. “I’m going to head down now, talk with some of the additional victims and see if we can pick up on anything the responding officers didn’t.” Half the damn time, due to the size of their office, and because they didn’t see a whole lot of crime in the village, the patrolman didn’t get all the details and left gaping holes in the victim’s stories. It wasn’t anything on the officers not doing their jobs, just that this area wasn’t equipped for major crime.
    Woolsey nodded. “You taking Pete or Dwayne with you?”
    The other two detectives made up their small unit, and had plenty to work on. “Naw, I can take this on my own. Should be a simple response. Besides, I hear someone broke into the Ms. Fisher’s kitchen last night and took the two dozen lemon cheesecakes she made for the PTO bake-off.”
    The chief cursed and she fought her smile. He didn’t put on extra pounds around his waist from eating healthy. No, he was often the first in line whenever the ladies were