It was kind of lame. They both knew she would think twice about doing anything that could tarnish the reputation of her star investigator. As long as she didn’t have anything to pin on him, his position was quite safe, and he could get away with a lot. Though it didn’t pay to overdo it. He didn’t want the chief to be his enemy. He just wanted her to leave him alone.
“Is that all?”
“Yes. Please show Detective Donovan around. He can take the desk next to yours. I will inform tech to set him up. He also still needs his badge and weapon. Please help him with that.”
Andi nodded and rose from his chair. “Let’s go. See you, Chief.”
Donovan said his own goodbye, and they left the office. Every pair of eyes in the bull pen was directed at them. Andi knew people were wondering if the chief had finally managed to saddle him with a partner. They would find out soon enough.
Chapter 3—Setting up for Disappointment
GEORGE FOLLOWEDhis new partner out of the chief’s office and wondered if his involvement had been a good idea. While Andrew Hayes wasn’t openly hostile toward him—yet—he didn’t seem like a man who just rolled on his back and played dead. As much as this whole thing was only temporary in his eyes, he still had to be able to rely on Hayes to have his back. Homicide was a tough department, and detectives never met people at their best. Having a partner who didn’t like or even detested you could be a death warrant, so his main priority had to be making nice with his new partner.
“Hi, Andrew, can I call you Andrew? I’m George. Sorry about all that.”
Hayes turned around very slowly, his expression completely closed off. George was usually good at reading people, and it annoyed him that he couldn’t get a read on his new partner. It made him vulnerable in a way he rarely experienced. Usually he was the one in the control of a partnership, or any social interaction, come to think of it. He always knew how to handle people, how to coax and win and manipulate them to his advantage. Somehow, he got the impression Andi Hayes would not only see through any attempt to manipulate him but also take it very negatively. With no point he could attack, George was reduced to simply observing his reluctant partner.
This close, he could see Hayes’s eyes were a muddy mixture of blue and green he probably shouldn’t have found so intriguing. He could also feel another kind of interest stirring in his groin, which didn’t help the situation at all. George hated labels with a passion, and if pressed to define his sexual orientation, he could say without a doubt that he was an equal opportunity fucker. Which wasn’t the point here. He had to get on Hayes’s good side, not check him out as a potential adventure between the sheets. He was supposed to be his partner, not a hookup from a bar.
“People call me Andi. And it’s fine. You heard her; we only have to rough it for two months. After that, I’m free and you can get a decent partner you don’t have to babysit.”
Andi turned back and proceeded toward a door George hadn’t seen when he had first come to the precinct. He hurried to keep up with his reluctant new partner, while at the same time, he tried to make sense of what Andi had just said. It almost sounded as if he knew what Chief Norris had asked of George, which was impossible. He was being paranoid. Starting a new job and being immediately tasked with spying on the new partner could do that to a man. They entered another hallway, where Andi stopped in front of a double door.
“Here are the showers and locker rooms. You should get a key with your badge and all the other stuff you’re gonna need.”
Well, that wasn’t a complete dismissal. It wasn’t a glowing declaration of perfect partnership either, but at this point, George would take whatever Andi offered. So he followed his new partner through the precinct, acquainted himself with the break room and its nondrinkable coffee, the gym that also housed a sparring ring, and several other detectives and officers who all had problems hiding their surprise at seeing Andi with a partner. George kept up the well-meaning small talk while he tried to read people’s reaction to Andi. It was obvious that he wasn’t close to any of his colleagues, though he seemed to get along better with the officers than with his fellow detectives. Given his success rate, George wasn’t surprised. Envy was the same everywhere.
After two hours of walking and talking to people that weren’t Andi, George finally got his badge and keys, as well as his clearance for the entire building. Since it was already nearing five o’clock and it didn’t look as if a hot new case would land in their lap this day, George and Andi left. With every other new partner, George would have asked if they should have a beer together, but the determined way in which Andi went straight for his car, a beat-up white sedan, told him the man wouldn’t be receptive to the idea. Sighing, George went to his own car and drove home, trying to make sense of his new partner and the situation he found himself in.
THE NEXTmorning saw George getting his PC set up on a desk next to Andi’s, behind a portable room divider that created the illusion of privacy. Their desks were the only ones shielded in this manner, and George could see how people thought Andi was a lone wolf. The man wasn’t sociable in the least and seemed to be happiest when his colleagues ignored him. George’s tentative attempts at starting a conversation had all been shot down with monosyllabic answers and in one case even a grunt. If something didn’t change soon, he would probably never find out anything about Andi. George decided to give it one last try this morning before he gave up for the day.
“Hey, Andi, I was thinking about going to the Starbucks at the corner to get some decent coffee. Do you want some?”
Andi looked at him as if he had offered to bring him a cup of arsenic topped with rusty nails. “I don’t do coffee. The caffeine makes me all twitchy.”
“Sorry. I didn’t know. Anything else you want?” At least there had been a kernel of freely given information. No coffee for the loner. Although George wasn’t sure if this intel would ever be of any use—despite indicating that Andi was indeed kind of strange. Most cops lived on coffee, and if there were a possibility to get it intravenously, he was sure the country’s entire police force would run around with permanent access to an artery.
“A plain bagel.” The words cut through George’s musings. He hadn’t really expected an answer, not after his faux pas with the coffee, but Andi seemed to be getting into a sociable mood. What was it his father always said? Strike the iron while hot.
“A plain bagel it is. Be back in five.”
Andi didn’t bother to respond. Instead, he stared at his computer screen as if it had suddenly told him the secret to life. George headed for the door, intent on getting a decent cup of coffee. Perhaps then his brain would come up with an idea how to crack Andi.
“Don’t try too hard.” The female voice made George stop dead in his tracks. A woman in her late forties, if George had to guess, was approaching him from the side, a friendly smile on her face.
“Hi, I’m Rose, Rose Carter. I’ve been working reception forever, and I do know Andi.”
“Hi, Rose. I’m George Donovan. As you seemingly already know, I’m Andi’s new partner. If you have any insights as to how I can get to know him better, I’m willing to not only listen but also pay handsomely. The man is as closed off as an oyster with a precious pearl.”
The light banter paired with a flirtatious tone came easily to George and payed off almost immediately. A slight blush colored Rose’s light cheeks while she subconsciously patted the immaculate brown bob that framed her face till chin level.
“I don’t know about payment, but I can give you some advice, out of the goodness of my heart.”
“At this point, I’ll take anything I can get.”
A perfectly shaped eyebrow came up. “It’s only your second day. And yesterday hardly counts since you came in after noon.”
The bush drums apparently worked perfectly in the precinct. “And I’ve been running against a brick wall ever since. I have to admit, I’m getting desperate. At least he told me he doesn’t drink coffee. That was the most personable thing I got out of him.”
