Open Wounds (Harbour Bay #2)(13)
He’d seen the emotion in her eyes earlier and knew despite the coolness she projected that there was hot passion flowing beneath the surface. He would love to see it put to good use. He almost came just thinking about it.
The elevator door opened and he indicated with a gesture for her to precede him. She hit the button for the fourth floor and leaned back against the walls of the carriage, her hands reaching out on either side to hold onto the silver safety railing. The elevator began its ascent. They rode in silence for a moment before she spoke.
“Detective Hill, I would like to ask you a question—off the record. Do you trust Amelia with your life?”
He didn’t have to think about the question, and replied truthfully.
“Absolutely. We’re a small team, a family. If you can’t trust your unit you shouldn’t be here. We have enough trouble with everything out there,” he said, indicting to the outside, beyond the LAC’s walls to the streets of Harbour Bay, “…without fighting each other inside.”
Kellie nodded. “Do you believe that she uses excessive force? Are her actions one step too far? Do you think she could handle these situations differently?”
If Amelia had done something wrong, he wouldn’t lie to Internal Affairs about it. She was a great detective and they had to protect their own, to a certain degree. If Amelia were a dirty cop, he’d have no issues hanging her out to dry…but he knew she wasn’t.
“No, I don’t,” he told her, absolute conviction in his voice. “Sure, sometimes she has to rough them up a little, more so than any man would need to. I don’t mean to sound sexist here, but even though we don’t treat her any differently, the fact of the matter is that Donovan has to prove herself out on the streets. She has to be harder, tougher than anyone else, because they see her as a woman and not a cop. They think they can run roughshod all over her and walk away. I’ve seen it happen and she can’t afford to give them an inch.”
Kellie stared at him for a beat and he wondered what she was thinking. She suddenly smiled and he felt like he’d been punched in the stomach.
“Thank you for your honesty, Detective. Believe it or not, I’m not out for blood. If neither of us does our jobs right, then chaos will ensue. Rules will be broken and advantages will be taken. I’m going to see this case through whether Mia likes it or not, but I am on her side and I wanted you to know that.”
“Might I ask why you two aren’t friends anymore?”
She looked taken aback, as if that was the last question she had expected. She swallowed hard.
“People change, Detective. They grow apart.”
“I know, and she’s a hard person to love. I can see how she might push someone away.”
“You’ve got it wrong. She didn’t push me away. I pushed her. Some things are hard to forget,” she told him bitterly, then gave him a look to say she wasn’t about to discuss it further with him.
“Maybe you should try. She needs someone in her life, someone outside of these walls. Someone who can put up with her bullshit.”
She slid him an amused look. “Thank you, Detective Hill, but why do you think I’m the one who needs to do the forgetting?”
He watched Kellie walk down the hall, just barely holding in a whistle of appreciation, the gentle sway of her hips forever burned into his mind as they moved to the left and right under her navy blue skirt. He sighed loudly. It had been a while since he had spent any time with a woman, and Donovan didn’t count. She was one of the boys no matter what chromosomes she had coursing through her body.
He waited until Kellie was out of sight before he pressed the button to return to his floor and had leaned back against the wall in something almost like pain. He had spent the last several years focused completely on his job, with no time to spare for anything else.
He was a goal orientated person, having come from a structured career military household. His days had been mapped and timed, leaving no room for error. His father, a brilliant and strict man had been a little too hell-bent on the rules that governed his family. Although, looking back on it, raising three unruly boys meant his father may have had a point. He and his brothers, Jack and Chase, had not made things easy on the colonel.
His father must’ve done something right, he reflected, since all three Hill boys served their country. His two brothers followed his father’s footsteps and joined the army. Chase, the youngest, was currently serving in Afghanistan. Although Darryl chose law enforcement instead, his father couldn’t be more proud. He’d known from a young age that he wanted to be a police detective and his whole life had been planned around it. Though now that his dream had finally come true, maybe it was time to redefine his needs.
Darryl logged into his computer. Donovan glanced up from the folder she’d been reviewing.
“Doyle reported in,” she said. “Lambert hasn’t shown any signs that he knows they’re tailing him.”
“He won’t, either, if Matthews is driving,” he replied. Dean had mastered tailing people, just as he mastered everything he put his mind to. The man was skilled.
He reviewed the recent interview, pissed that they had to let Lambert go. He knew in his gut the man was guilty but that didn’t hold up in court. Still, he hated to lose. It was another thing he had in common with Donovan other than a strong work ethic. Neither of them wanted to go home before a case was closed and put to bed. It was probably the reason why they worked so well together.