“Since you were assigned to Robbery,” Brian agreed, nodding his head. “And how many partners before that?”
“Two,” Kane replied, again without hesitation.
“Three,” Brian corrected.
“Technically, Rawlins didn’t request a transfer,” Kane said, his voice devoid of emotion. “He was shot and decided he wanted to pursue a different career.” It was highly likely that had that not happened, the man would have requested a transfer, but Kane assumed the chief was dealing in facts, not conjecture.
Brian inclined his head as if willing to go with the younger man’s version of the circumstances.
“I’ll accept that,” Brian allowed. And then he got down to the heart of the meeting he had called. “You’re a good, reliable detective who is outstanding at his job,” he acknowledged. “At the same time, unfortunately, getting along with people doesn’t exactly seem to be your strong suit, Detective Durant.”
Kane didn’t waste his breath by denying the chief’s observation. There was no point, especially since what the chief said was essentially true.
“I do better on my own, sir,” Kane replied quietly.
“You may think that,” Brian allowed. “But no one does better alone.” He said the words like a man who was firmly convinced in his stand. He left no room for either argument or speculation. “You need a partner to pick up on things you might have missed, to watch your back and,” he continued, looking at Kane pointedly, “to keep you grounded.”
The last thing he needed was someone grounding him. To Kane that was just another way of saying “interfering.” He didn’t like being interfered with.
“With all due respect, sir, I don’t need someone yapping at my heels, telling me what they think I’m doing wrong,” Kane told the chief. Cavanaugh was a fair and reasonable man. There had to be a way to get the chief to agree to let him go solo.
“Agreed,” Brian replied genially. Then amusement curved the corners of his mouth. “Which is exactly why I’m not assigning you to partner with one of the department’s German shepherds.”
Brian leaned back in his chair and gestured first toward Kane, then toward his grandniece whose performance was at times a little bit unorthodox. But by all counts she was both professional and tenacious—and she got results, which was what he was ultimately shooting for.
He smiled at her now, just before saying, “Detective Kane Durant, meet your new partner, Detective Kelly Cavanaugh.”
Durant’s expression never changed, Kelly observed, but she thought she saw a flicker—just for a moment—in the other man’s eyes that told her the thirty-two-year-old detective was far from happy about this newest coupling that was taking place.
“I’m not an unreasonable man,” Brian went on to say. “If this partnership isn’t working for either one of you after, say, a couple of months, you can request a reassignment and I’ll consider the matter. Nothing is written in stone,” the chief went on to assure the duo.
“But before either one of you decides to make that request, I want you to give this partnership a decent try.” He emphasized the words decent try. “Remember, nothing worth keeping comes easy. The rewards that are the sweetest are those that are hard-won.” Deep green eyes swept over both detectives, one at a time. “Do I make myself clear?” he asked.
“Perfectly,” Kelly replied with all but unbridled enthusiasm.
“Yes, sir,” Kane said. His low-key voice was all but flat.
Satisfied, Brian nodded. “Good. Now good luck—and goodbye,” he added. Just like that the meeting was over.
Kane lost no time leaving the chief’s office. Walking briskly through the outer office, he headed straight for the elevators.
Kelly found she had to lengthen her stride to keep up with her new partner. The latter gave absolutely no indication he wanted her to catch up.
He certainly wasn’t willing to slow down long enough for her to accomplish that small thing.
Too bad, she thought, lengthening her stride with determination.
Kelly arrived at the elevators just after her new partner did.
The man was going to take some getting used to. Right now, he seemed to be all blustery, like a bull confined in the proverbial china shop. He couldn’t seem to turn around without knocking something down and breaking it.
The worst part, she thought, was that he was aware of what he was doing—and not even the most subtle display of remorse was forthcoming from the man. There was obviously a good reason for that—he was feeling no remorse. Or, if by some chance he actually was, he was exceedingly careful not to show it.
He wasn’t like the other detectives. Something had made him different. It was up to her to make different synonymous with extra capable. Her granduncle saw qualities in this man, she could tell. She’d heard that Brian Cavanaugh had never been wrong when it came to doing what was best for his police force.
Although she was somewhat skeptical about this particular arrangement working out, Kelly decided she was just going to have to proceed on faith.
“How do you want to do this?” she asked her new partner brightly, breaking what was beginning to feel like an ironclad silence. Kane had given absolutely no indication he would say anything if she didn’t prod him into it.
“‘This’?” Kane echoed. The elevator arrived and he stepped inside. He noted how she seemed almost to hop in, claiming the space directly next to him.
Terrific, the chief had assigned him to partner up with a rabbit, Kane thought darkly. A chipper, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed rabbit.
The idea did not inspire him.
“Yes,” she confirmed. After almost a minute went by, she realized that her new partner didn’t have a clue what she was referring to. So she elaborated. “You have your desk and I have mine,” she pointed out.
“So? Is this where you tell me something informative about desks?” he asked with more than a touch of impatience in his voice.
“So one of us has to make a move. Amos cleared his desk out before he left,” she told him, hoping that Muhammad would opt to come to the mountain rather than deal with the mountain coming to him. “Your partner did the same when he transferred out of Robbery and into Vice,” she concluded.
Kane looked at her sharply. Just how closely had this eager little beaver been paying attention? His most recent partner, Woodward, had abruptly just picked up and left. Since the chief of ds had known all about it, Kane assumed Woodward had left with the man’s blessings—his didn’t count, even though he’d made no secret that he was glad to be rid of the man. Until just now, he’d had no idea where the detective had gone, nor had he cared, as long as it was away from him.
He just assumed it would be the same deal when it came to his current partner. A few weeks would go by—maybe even the two months to which the chief had referred—and then his newest so-called partner would bolt, and he would be more than glad to be rid of her.
But for now, he had a question he wanted answered. “How do you know which division Woodward transferred to?”
“I pay attention,” she answered simply. She waited for Kane to answer her question about which of them would be transferring desks, but that didn’t look as if it was about to happen. She began to doubt he was even listening to her.
In that case, the man had a serious attention deficit disorder. She tried again, since it was obvious that what she considered to be a possible dilemma didn’t seem to have occurred to her new partner at all.
“Okay,” she began again. “Now, do you want to switch desks or should—”
A curt “No” cut her down midsentence. Trying hard not to look annoyed, Kelly tried another approach to pin the man down.
Was he saying no to everything or just to the first part of her sentence? Kelly dug deep for her patience.
“Do you mean no, y
ou don’t want to switch desks? Or no, you don’t—”
Kane cut in as if she wasn’t saying anything—at least nothing worthwhile. “You want me to hire a skywriter? Would that help you understand?” he asked impatiently.
Words rose to her lips that would only fan the flames and turn this into a full-fledged raging forest fire. She practiced restraint—although it was far from easy. She settled for sarcasm.
“No need to go to that expense. Just use your words, Durant. Do you want to move?”
“No,” he bit off. “I don’t want to move.”
There was nothing to be gained by echoing his sentiment and saying she didn’t want to move, either. One of them had to and, apparently, at least for now, she had been awarded the role of the flexible one.
“Okay,” she agreed gamely. “Then I’ll be the one to move.”
Kane wanted to say no to that as well, but he knew he couldn’t, not without consequences. When the chief of ds said he wanted him to give the partnership two months, the man meant two months. So, for now, he was forced to go along with this most unlikely, not to mention unsuitable, coupling.
“See, that wasn’t so hard now, was it?” she asked, employing a cheerfulness she definitely wasn’t feeling. Just for good measure she decided to add, “Wait and see, we’ll have you talking in full sentences in no time.”
Kane’s eyes narrowed as he momentarily glared at her just as the elevator doors opened again, this time on their floor. Kane got out. She was quick to follow him.
“Although,” she continued as if they were actually carrying on a conversation instead of what was mostly a monologue on her part, “there is something to be said for silence, too,” she admitted, carefully avoiding getting on the wrong side of Kane’s dark expression.
She was bending over backward. This was not going to be easy. But then, her late mother had told her more than once that she had the ability to get along with the devil.
The devil, Kelly silently contemplated, turning the thought over in her mind. That definitely would go a very long way toward describing her new partner’s disposition.
Who would have ever thought that the devil was this handsome?
A small smile played along her lips. Who’d known her mother had had the ability to look into the future?
Now all she had to do was prove the rest of her mother’s statement right.
Chapter 2
“Good, you’re back.”
The abrupt greeting came from Captain Lawrence Collins, a ruddy-faced man of medium height who was currently in charge of the robbery division. He’d come out of his office the instant that Kane and Kelly had walked into the squad room.
Kane glanced at the stocky man with his fading red hair, but said nothing in response to his greeting. Clearly, he was waiting for the man to continue.
However, it wasn’t in Kelly’s nature to just sit back and wait when she could just as easily jump into the middle of whatever was going on.
So she did.
“Did you want to speak to us, Captain?” she asked, more than eager to sink her teeth into a case. Her last case had been closed right after Amos’s retirement party and she was itching to get involved in something that could, just possibly, bring her and the sphinx she was assigned to a little closer together.
Probably not, but a girl could dream, Kelly thought whimsically.
“Want to? No,” Collins retorted. The bags under his eyes, Kelly noticed, seemed extra deep today. “What I want is to find some way to retire and enjoy myself the way I’m sure Barkley’s doing right now.” The captain sighed, acting more put-upon than weary. “But that’s not going to happen for another ten years, so in the meantime I get to hand out assignments to hotshots and hope for the best.”
Collins hesitated for a moment. He looked tempted to hand the piece of paper he was holding to her, but after several seconds of what appeared to be deliberation, he turned over the paper where he had jotted down all the pertinent information that had come in and handed it to her new partner.
Just as well, Kelly thought. Durant most definitely had a chip on those big broad shoulders of his, and if the captain had singled her out to take lead on this new case, Durant probably would have felt slighted. He had, after all, been with the department longer than she had. And if it appeared that Collins favored her over Mr. Congeniality, she had a feeling the end result would be less than pleasant.
This way was better for both of them.
“Looks like you two just caught your first case together,” Collins told the pair. “Make me proud,” he added as he nodded at the paper he’d just given Kane. He began to walk away, then stopped in his tracks for a few seconds. “Oh, and, Durant?”
After reading the address written on the white notepaper, Kane looked up and waited for the captain to continue.
“See if you can hold on to this partner for longer than a month, okay? The paperwork that’s generated every time you break up with your partner is hell,” Collins complained as he made his way back to his office.
This time Kane’s eyes slid over the woman who had hurried to catch up to him and was currently standing less than an inch away.
“I’ll do my best,” Kane murmured more or less to himself.
“Do better than that.” Collins apparently had heard Kane’s comment despite the growing distance between them as he walked back to his glass-enclosed office.
To Kelly’s momentary surprise, Kane turned around and walked out of the office again. She found herself hurrying again just not to lose sight of him.
The sooner they got to the location the captain had handed over to Kane, the sooner they could start working on the case.
“Is that your personal best?” Kelly asked him as they went out again.
“Is what my personal best?” Kane asked brusquely. What the hell was she talking about? The woman apparently could jump from topic to topic faster than a frog touching down on a pond filled with burning lily pads.
“A month. With a partner,” Kelly added as clarification since Durant wasn’t answering her and gave no indication he planned to. Not if that disinterested look he’d just sent her way was any indication. “Is that the life expectancy of a partnership with you?” she asked.
Kane shrugged, apparently totally uninterested in her choice of topics or her edification as to his professional habits.
“Give or take,” he finally replied vaguely, aware of the way she was watching him, waiting for an answer. “I don’t keep track,” he added with an air of finality that was meant to close the subject once and for all.
Or so he had naively thought.
Kelly nodded. “Fair enough,” she told him. Then she explained, “I just wanted to know what I was up against, that’s all.”
His eyebrows drew together in an outward sign of confusion. “What’s that supposed to mean?” Kane asked.
She gave him a roundabout explanation. “I’m planning to look at this partnership as a challenge. If I can hang on beyond a certain point, say longer than your longest-lasting partner, then it’s okay. I made it. You know, kind of like staying on a bucking bronco for eight seconds.”
If the woman wanted a challenge, he had one for her. He’d challenge her to make sense out of the gibberish she had just spouted. Instead, though, he settled for a throwaway line that he assumed would tell her just how disinterested he was in anything she had to say beyond whatever pertained to the case they were about to investigate.
“Whatever floats your boat,” Kane muttered dismissively.
“Where are we going?” she asked as they got back on the elevator.
“To the scene of the robbery,” he told her matter-of-factly.
If he was trying to rankle her or get her to lose her temper, Kelly thought, it was going to take more than that. Having grown
up with four brothers, not to mention two sisters, she had learned how to survive under adverse conditions.
“Which is...?” she asked him patiently.
He seemed deliberately to wait several minutes before saying, “Quail Hill.”
Kelly whistled, impressed. For the most part, the citizens of Aurora were middle-class and upper middle-class. But Quail Hill was where the beautiful people with deep pockets lived.
After reaching the first floor, the elevator came to a stop and opened its doors. The moment they stepped out, Kane resumed his quickened pace, letting her know in no uncertain terms that he didn’t like the idea of being coupled with her. He was putting distance between them as quickly as he possibly could. She was welcome to keep up—if she could.
Too bad, Durant, but I don’t like this any better than you do, she thought, once again lengthening her stride.
“Well, if I was a thief, that’s where I’d go to pull off a heist,” she said, addressing Kane’s back. “The really filthy rich part of town.”
Kane merely grunted in response as he came to a stop before a dark sedan. He hit the release button on his key, opening all four doors simultaneously.
Kelly looked at his vehicle in surprise. He seemed to take it for granted that she was just going to let him take over every little aspect of their partnership.
“That’s it?” she questioned. “No discussion about which car we’re using and who’s driving?”
Rather than answer her, Kane opened the driver’s side door and got in behind the steering wheel.
“I guess not,” Kelly concluded, answering her own question.
Opening the passenger side, she slid in. The moment she inserted the metal tongue into the slot of her seat belt, Kane took off. Kelly felt the jolt. The sedan was instantly hugging the road, doing the speed limit—and just beyond.
Kelly gave it to the count of ten in her head, allowing her new partner to gather his thoughts together before he said something.
Anything.
When there was only silence riding along in the car with them, Kelly decided that the man she’d been assigned to was comfortable with this level of silence.
How to Seduce a Cavanaugh Page 2