Promise Renewed Read Free Page A

captain didn’t think he had to pass the likeability test with his squad and didn’t try. Melanie Harris had made detective a year ago and was placed immediately in their squad. She fit right in. Friendly, got along with the women as well as the men, and carried her weight in the field. She was an efficient cop who had stepped up to the plate from the beginning.
    “Captain, Melanie.”
    She came up to him, took his hand. “I’m so sorry, Darin. Who could have done this?”
    He couldn’t answer.
    “Are you all right?” his captain asked.
    “Not really. My partner’s dead and I don’t know why. Millions of dollars in drugs are missing and I don’t know where. Plus, I have a headache.” He paused. “I guess that about sums it up.”
    “Do you know where your gun is? You didn’t have it when we arrived.”
    Darin blinked. Apparently he’d been hit on the head harder than he thought. He’d forgotten about his Glock, or maybe he’d assumed it had been retrieved at the scene. “I don’t know. I had it in my hands when I walked into the warehouse. Haven’t seen it since. Did you find it?”
    “No such luck. Dammit. It’s probably on the street now.”
    Darin was at a loss. Who had his gun? Hunter’s killer?
    HPD didn’t take a missing cop gun lightly.
    “We’ll find it,” Melanie assured him.
    “Do you feel up to a trip downtown?”
    “That’s where I was headed.”
    “Good. We’ll take you.”
    “I’ll be glad to drop him off, Captain,” Douglas offered.
    “No need. We’re headed that way.”
    “Let me have a minute with my brother before you leave.”
    “Of course. We’ll be right outside.” The captain and the detective stepped out of the room.
    Douglas walked over to his brother. “For some reason, I don’t like your captain.”
    “Not many people do.”
    “Promise to call if you need me.”
    “I will.” He turned to his sister. “I’m going to see where they’re going with this. I may take you up on your offer.”
    “Be careful, Darin,” she said, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.
    “What do you really think about all of this, Darin?” Douglas asked.
    “I think someone either stole millions of dollars in drugs, or picked up their stash and moved it to another spot. If they were stolen, whoever owned them will be after those who took them. Either way we may not find them until they hit the street.”
    “I hope to hell they don’t lay this on you,” Douglas said.
    “Not as much as I do,” Darin agreed.

Chapter Two
    Silence enveloped the trip to the station. Melanie and the captain sat in the front seat, Darin in the back. Every so often Melanie would turn to look at him with a reassuring smile. It didn’t help the way he felt in the least.
    He’d been released from the hospital with reservations. A prescription lay in his shirt pocket. He could use one of those pills now as his head pounded with the knowledge he’d be walking into the station without his partner. Damn! Hunter had had no reason to go against the rules. No reason to try and stop drug dealers on his own, and no reason to keep everything to himself.
    Hunter was—had been—a seasoned cop. It wasn’t like him to be irresponsible.
    Unless the reason was one no one knew about. One Darin would have to find. One he would find. No slime-ball drug dealer was going to kill his partner and get away with it. Not in this lifetime.
    His head pounded harder.
    When he walked into the squad room his fellow detectives looked at him with questions, and sorrow in their eyes. When he headed toward them the captain told him to go to his office. Darin gave the group a quick nod. “Later," he mouthed. To tell the truth, he was glad to leave. Being in there and knowing he’d never see Hunter again made his stomach curl.
    Darin wondered if he’d ever get over it.
    The captain waved him to a chair and shut the door. A bad sign.
    “I’m sorry about your partner. But I have a few questions that have to be answered. Then