Lullaby for the Nameless (Nolan, Hart & Tain Thrillers)

by Ruttan, Sandra

  The hands that had grabbed the papers reached for her then, and she was yanked up out of the chair before she had a chance to say anything. “You have any idea what kind of trouble you’re in?”

  “I—”

  Native. First Nations. What was she supposed to call him? Whatever the label, the man reeked with the acrid smell of smoke, though it wasn’t from cigarettes. It was like a heavily condensed version of what she’d smelled in the air outside earlier.

  Not what she’d call conventionally good-looking, but he had magnetic eyes, hair long enough to pull back in a ponytail and was made of lean muscle. She could tell from the grip he had on her.

  He looked down at the papers she’d tossed on the desk.

  They were the ones she’d found wedged in the back door. After a quick search of the station, Ashlyn had concluded it was empty. The only thing she was sure of was which room the sergeant worked from and which room was being used for the investigation, because a hastily scrawled sign with the name of her team had been stuck against the door with sticky tack. Inside, there were more desks than the room—which was shaped like a backwards capital L—had been designed to hold. Three were pushed up against one another at the far end of the room, with two facing each other in the center.

  She’d scanned the desks. Other than the usual assortment of family photos and a picture of a pretty girl on the desk marked Nolan, there hadn’t been much on the surface to take note of. The bulletin boards weren’t much better. Nothing had been left out, available for her perusal, and she was reluctant to leaf through closed folders on desks or files in drawers. After gleaning all she could from the few exposed scraps of paper lying around, Ashlyn had sat down at the one lonely desk closest to the entrance, tucked up against an extra corner where the room narrowed, presumably for a closet or storage space for the room beside this one. The desk shared space with a fax machine, while a portable metal shelf beside it held a printer. She’d sat down and pulled out the bag of papers she’d found.

  Jackpot. Copied documents detailing the investigation.

  In her initial excitement over having something concrete to study while she waited, she hadn’t even stopped to consider the obvious, and now, as she stared into the dark eyes of the man who held her by her shoulders, she realized just how bad it looked.

  “I—”

  “Tain, where the hell do you get—”

  As the voice cut in from the hallway, the man dropped his hold on Ashlyn’s left shoulder and spun, pulling her beside him by the right arm.

  “Not now, Nolan.”

  Nolan looked at Ashlyn, and his brow furrowed. “What’s going on?”

  “I—” Ashlyn started again.

  Tain cut her off. “If you’ve got nothing better to do, you can get lost while I have a little chat with our visitor. I found her snooping around my desk.”

  “Don’t worry. I doubt she found anything of importance there.” Said with more than a liberal sprinkling of sarcasm.

  The fingers dug into Ashlyn’s arm. “Coming from someone who wouldn’t know a lead if it slapped him in the face.”

  Nolan had dirty blond hair, eyes as blue as the summer sky and didn’t look much older than Ashlyn was. Now that she thought about it, the man who was still digging his fingers into her arm probably only had a few years on her as well.

  Nolan’s mouth twisted with a wry smile. Ashlyn detected the smell of smoke on him as well, almost unnoticed because of her proximity to the man called Tain.

  “You’re still pissed off because the sergeant won’t go for a search warrant. In case you’ve forgotten, you need a little thing called evidence,” Nolan said.

  “Take your shots now. You can read about them in the newspaper tomorrow.”

  The smile slipped from Nolan’s face. “She’s a reporter?”

  “Can you think of another reason she’d sneak into a police station and snoop around?” Tain had Ashlyn’s arm in a vise and didn’t loosen his grip. “Guess she’s about to get a jailhouse exclusive.”

  Nolan sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, then shrugged. “Drop her at the front desk. We don’t have time to waste with this crap.”

  “Who the hell died and made you my boss, Nolan?”

  Nolan’s voice had started off with the tone of lecturing parent but quickly filled with an acidic bite. He straightened up, adding half an inch to his height. “The sergeant gave you an order, Tain.”

  “Yeah? And he sent you in here to check up on me?”

  “In case you’ve forgotten, I’ve got the lead on this.”

  “One thing you’re in charge of and you think you’re king of the world. Run off to your little meeting, Nolan. I’m doing you a favor. You don’t even want me on this.”

  Nolan’s shoulders stiffened. “The sergeant gave us an order, Tain, or I wouldn’t waste my time or breath.”

  “Good.”

  “Good?”

  “You’re catching on. You used to be too stupid to admit when you were in over your head.”

  Nolan took a step forward, jaw clenched as he pointed at the man who still had Ashlyn in his grip. “And apparently just stupid enough to think one of these days you might get it into your head to do your damn job. If you aren’t going to be part of this team, there’s the door.” Nolan pointed to the back entrance.

  Tain laughed. “Is that the best you can do? Get out of my face.”

  Ashlyn was still constrained by the grip Tain had on her, but she felt a tension in the man that was a direct response to Nolan’s approach. For half a second, she thought Tain was going to hit him. But instead of lashing out physically, he grew still. Initially, Tain had given Nolan his halfhearted attention, but now he was staring at the man with the same intensity she’d felt when he’d yanked her to her feet.

  Nolan hesitated as he stared back. Then he looked down at the desk.

  “What’s this?” he asked as he reached for the pile of copied papers Ashlyn had been reading.

  “None of your goddamn business.” Tain slammed his hand down on top of the stack of sheets.

  “Nolan, don’t you—”

  Another voice, from the hall. This one was familiar, and Ashlyn placed it immediately.

  Sergeant Mike Sullivan stepped into the room and around Nolan. In one hand he held a folder, but it dropped a little as his focus shifted from the papers inside to the people in the room. There was no color in his cheeks, no hint of a smile or lift of his eyebrows to indicate any surprise or annoyance at the scene in front of him.

  “Constable Tain.”

  “Sir.”

  “Would you care to explain why you’re manhandling Constable Hart?”

  Ashlyn felt the grip loosen, although Tain didn’t let go.

  “Sir?”

  “Constable Ashlyn Hart, the newest member of our team.” Sullivan stepped forward and extended his hand, forcing Tain to release her arm. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here to meet you this morning. A local hotel caught fire yesterday evening, and we were out there all night.”

  Which explained the smell of smoke.

  Sullivan glanced at Nolan and Tain. “I trust they’ve made you feel right at home.”

  Not an ounce of sincerity in his words.

  Ashlyn offered a slight smile. “It’s good to be here, sir.”

  “Since you’ve already met your partner, I’ll let him show you around. After he wraps up the meeting, that is.” Sullivan glanced at his watch, looked up at Nolan, then turned and started walking out the door. “She can have Winters’s old desk, Nolan.

  “Oh, and Tain? I’d like a full report on the meeting on my desk this afternoon.”

  The sergeant disappeared around the corner, far enough away to not hear Tain’s muttered “Yes, sir” response.

  Nolan almost smiled before he turned on his heel and marched out of the room without another word to Tain or his new partner.

  The Native wasn’t quite so forgiving. He yanked the top drawer of his desk open, grabbed the pa
pers Ashlyn had been reading and dropped them inside before slamming it shut. “I ever catch you snooping around my desk again, I’ll deal with you myself.”

  “I—”

  “Meeting’s down the hall, second door on the right.” He spat the words with such force Ashlyn felt her own cheeks color as she took a step toward the door, then another. She turned to go down the hall and glanced back at Tain. He was locking the desk drawer he’d put the copied reports in.

  Ashlyn took a deep breath. Only a few hours into her new assignment and a couple things were already crystal clear: two members of the team were at each other’s throats, and at least one of them wasn’t too happy with her either.

  One thing was certain: she’d never imagined this was how her introduction to her new colleagues would go.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Eighteen months ago

  The man called Nolan didn’t even pause when Ashlyn entered the room.

  Her own hesitation lasted only a second before she sat in a chair near the door.

  Someone entered behind her, and that caused Nolan’s eyes to narrow. Ashlyn turned her head. Whatever was between Nolan and Tain, it wasn’t thinly veiled loathing. It was open contempt.

  Tain leaned against the wall, not claiming one of the few remaining chairs. They were pushed in tight, a long table in what would have been an interview room, the usual desk and chairs removed. Nolan stood at the other end, and three men sat at the desk, two on Ashlyn’s left, one on her right.

  They all looked older than Nolan, but she knew none had more than fifteen years on her from what she could remember from the newspaper accounts. Two closing in on forty, with the third in his early thirties.

  “We lost a lot of time with the fire. Not much further ahead than we were when you left us last night.” Spoken by a man on the far side of the table, to her right. Ashlyn put him as the oldest of the bunch, a rapidly receding hairline with thinning straw hair that probably masked the advancing gray. What had lost its color fell away first, the remaining strands looking tired, defeated, as though seeing the end of their fallen comrades had convinced them of the inevitable.

  “Not further ahead at all,” the man across from him said as he tapped a pile of message slips in front of him. “Two dozen new calls came in during our shift. Probably cranks and crazies, just wastin’ our time, but…”

  “We have to follow up on all of them, Aiken,” Nolan said. “Hopefully there won’t be a fire, snowstorm or other act of God that interferes with the case today.”

  The muttered words came from the back, where Tain stood. “More like act of man where the fire’s concerned.”

  “You know what I mean,” Nolan snapped back. He looked around the room. “Questions?”

  Ashlyn paused. “Are—”

  “Okay, we’ll see you guys tonight, let you know what progress we’ve made,” Nolan said.

  After a moment of awkward silence, there were halfhearted mutters of agreement as the three men seated closest to Nolan stood and moved toward the door. Ashlyn wasn’t sure if she should stay seated or stand up and step out into the hallway. She was too busy thinking about the way Nolan had shut her down. There was just enough room to move around her, and in her hesitation she noted Tain stood stone still, leaning against the wall, so she stayed seated at the table.

  “Oh, yeah, latest addition to our team,” Nolan said. “Constable, uh…” Nolan snapped his fingers a couple times.

  “Ashlyn Hart,” she said as she turned in her chair, toward the three men, who hadn’t reached the end of the table where she sat yet.

  “That’s Oliver, Campbell and Aiken,” Nolan said. “They’re pulling second shift right now.”

  She nodded and took the opportunity to respond as the second officer on her left side started to walk around her.

  “I was going to ask, who are we coordinating with from the tribal police?”

  The entire room fell silent.

  “Hart, we’ll discuss this later.” Nolan pushed the words out between clenched teeth, looking almost as angry as he had only moments earlier, when he’d been arguing with Tain.

  “She’s been on this team all of five minutes and already she’s questioning how things are being run and whether we’ve screwed up this investigation?” The words came from one of the men behind her as he slammed his fist against the table.

  She jumped, instantly wishing she hadn’t shown a physical response.

  “Calm down, Campbell. I didn’t hear her accuse anyone of incompetence,” Nolan said in a low growl. “Did I, Hart?”

  “No. I—” She glanced at the Native officer who still leaned against the wall, his expression a blank slate that didn’t betray any of his thoughts as he stared back at her.

  She turned around. The older members of the other team hovered near the door. Campbell was right behind her.

  “You don’t understand the first thing about policing out here. Some of us, we’ve got to be able to live in this town after the rest of you are gone. You want to push your way onto the Reserves, really offend the locals? Let me tell you something. Those goddamn Indians only care about using this as another excuse to beat up on white people and throw a pity party for themselves. If you think they actually give a damn about this investigation you can think again.”

  “What did you say?” Tain stepped toward them. Ashlyn could see him move from the corner of her eye.

  “Stay out of this, Red.” Campbell straightened as he turned his focus on Tain.

  “Okay, enough.” The men waiting by the door stepped in, keeping their faces toward Tain as they edged between him and Campbell. One of them—Aiken—turned and grabbed Campbell by the arm. He pulled back, but after a second tug, he murmured something too low for even Ashlyn to hear. Campbell relented.

  The three men exited the room and walked off without another word.

  Ashlyn wondered if Tain got along with anyone. Wondered why she hadn’t been able to get an answer to her question. Wondered why it had made Nolan so angry. Wondered if there was a third shift. Wondered if and when more manpower would arrive.

  Wondered what she’d done to piss off the karmic gods who’d stuck her on a shift with Tain and with Nolan as a partner.

  “It’s eight to eight. Long days or nights, but this is all we’ve got to work with.” Nolan looked up past Ashlyn and to her right. “Tain, someone needs to—”

  “Yeah, later.”

  As he turned and marched out the door, Ashlyn let her gaze settle on the table in front of her. When she glanced at Nolan, his jaw was clenched, cheeks simmering with what she decided could only be called a cool burn. Nolan had a strange way of looking stone cold and enraged at the same time. He stared past her at the empty doorway, rapping the knuckle of his index finger against the table a couple of times before he reached down, grabbed the stack of messages and the notebook in front of him, and started to walk toward the door.

  He was behind her and halfway out the door before she realized he intended to keep walking and leave her there. It was possible he was deliberately ignoring her because he was angry about her question, but it was also possible it was an oversight, innocent forgetfulness caused by distraction over his conflict with Tain. To be fair, she didn’t want to jump to any conclusions.

  Although she had a hunch she knew which one it was.

  Ashlyn got up and followed him down the hall, back to the room with the desks. Nolan went for one in the center. A desk was pushed up against it on the other side, holding nothing but a telephone, notepad, pen, and nameplate that said Winters.

  Her desk now.

  The three other desks in the main body of the room were grouped together, two pushed up against each other, with the third one pushed up against the two ends to form a rectangle. From where she stood she could make out the names. From where she’d be sitting Oliver was to her left, Campbell to her right and Aiken’s back was to hers.

  Tain’s desk isolated on the other side, nearest the door, farthest from the oth
er desks.

  Nolan closed the gap between the door and his desk, tossed the stack of slips down and riffled through the loose papers scattered over the surface. As he skimmed them, he added some to the pile, then pulled his desk drawer open and tossed half a dozen or so inside.

  Some of the papers were ones she’d skimmed when she’d looked around earlier. Others were new ones that had come in during the short time she’d left the room for the meeting marking the shift change.

  Eight to eight, but a quick glance at the clock on the wall said it was 10:57.

  Ashlyn walked around to her desk, which faced Nolan’s, but didn’t pull the chair back. He hadn’t, so she doubted they’d be there for long.

  Nolan glanced up from the slip in his hand, gaze darting back to take in the last few words before he looked up again. As he folded the paper and stuffed it in his pocket he said, “Something that needs to be followed up on.”

  “Okay,” she said, body turning to walk back to the door automatically.

  He took a step backward and held up his hand, then stepped forward, picked up the pile of slips he’d just tossed down and held them out to her.

  “There are names and numbers on all of these. Follow up, see if there’s any substance to them. I, uh…I just need to check on something. I’ll be out for a bit.”

  Ashlyn took the papers from him and watched as he grabbed the jacket off the back of his chair and put it on while he walked to the hallway. She pulled her chair out and sat down across from Nolan’s empty desk and jumped at the sound of the back door slamming shut.

  The man leaning back in a chair at the corner table of the bar grinned when he looked up, which emphasized the jagged scar that curved up his right cheek.

  His smile also showed off the broken front tooth he sported. Fresh since the last time Tain had seen him.

  “I cud smell ya the minute ya walked in the door, man.”