Harlequin Superromance January 2014 - Bundle 2 of 2: A Ranch for His FamilyCowgirl in High HeelsA Man to Believe In
Page 82
Fifteen minutes later, he’d walked into the police chief’s office and said his piece.
Colin McAllister’s face had gone hard the minute Noah had started. He listened in silence, not rising from his chair behind the desk. “I deserve to know why I wasn’t hired.”
Only thirty-four years old, he’d been with the department since he’d started as a rookie right out of college. He had risen fast, making captain—only one rank below chief—two years ago. Noah understood him to be well liked by his officers, although he also had the reputation as a tough son of a bitch when being tough was called for. He was the one who’d uncovered the corruption in the Angel Butte P.D. and brought it to Noah. It was thanks to McAllister that Noah had been able to ask for the former chief’s resignation. McAllister had handled the beginning stages of the investigation into the deeper layers of corruption well, as far as Noah could tell.
“I blocked your hiring,” he said.
A man as tall as Noah if not quite as bulky, McAllister stood now, his hands flat on the desktop. Fury glittered in his steel-gray eyes. “Why?”
“I can’t take the risk that you’re part of whatever crap is infecting this police force,” Noah said bluntly. He held up a hand to silence his acting police chief. “I have to ask myself how could you have worked here this long without seeing that something was wrong. You’re young to make captain, even in a department this size. You’ve been rewarded with promotions a hell of a lot faster than is the norm. I’m making no accusations, but I also can’t ignore the possibility that you got where you are by sharing information or worse. Even a willingness to turn a blind eye to illegal activities might have won you brownie points. I like you. I still had to make the best choice for this town.”
“No accusations?” The gray of those eyes made Noah think of gun barrels now. “Sounds to me like you just made some. Tell me why, if I were dirty, I’d have been stupid enough to open this department to a top-to-bottom investigation.”
“You might have thought you could get rid of Bystrom, step into his office and then block some turns of the investigation.”
“If you’d asked, I would have shared my financials with you.”
“You might be honest enough not to have accepted bribes, but not so honest you weren’t willing to look away when fellow officers did.”
The sound that came out of McAllister’s mouth could have been a snarl. “You know you’ve opened yourself to a lawsuit.”
Noah met that burning stare. “Tell me you wouldn’t have made the same decision if you were in my shoes.”
“So now you want my resignation.”
“No, I don’t. My gut says you’re clean. I want you to stay on as acting chief for the next month and to return to captain of investigative services after that.”
Colin McAllister gave an incredulous laugh. “You’re a son of a bitch. You know that, Chandler?”
Yeah. He could be. Today, a son of a bitch who felt like he was developing an ulcer. “Tell me you wouldn’t have made the same decision,” he repeated.
“I wouldn’t have made the same decision.” Muscles knotted in the other man’s jaw. “Are we done here?”
“Think about what you want to do.”
“Oh, yeah, I’ll be thinking.”
Noah nodded. “Then we’re done.”
He walked out, deciding he might have a beer with lunch, something he never did. He was also thinking he’d just made an enemy—and the new police chief and he weren’t set up to be good friends, either.
Leaving the building and ignoring curious glances, it occurred to him that Colin McAllister and Alec Raynor were unlikely to have a real cordial relationship, either, not when one was taking over the job the other had wanted, and thought he’d earned.
Had earned, Noah admitted, if only to himself.
He paused on the sidewalk to let two lanky boys on skateboards shoot by before he turned back toward downtown.
Half the city council members despised and feared Noah, who despised them in turn and was plotting to get rid of them as soon as he could.
His mouth tilted up at the black humor. Yep, city government, as usual.
This called for two beers with the burger and fries he intended to have for lunch.
Copyright © 2014 by Janice Kay Johnson
ISBN-13: 9781460324578
A MAN TO BELIEVE IN
Copyright © 2014 by Kathleen Pickering
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The publisher acknowledges the copyright holders of the individual works as follows:
A Ranch for His Family
Copyright © 2014 by Patricia MacDonald
Cowgirl in High Heels
Copyright © 2014 by Jeannie Steinman
A Man to Believe In
Copyright © 2014 by Kathleen Pickering
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All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
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