Rose watched him long enough to make George squirm a bit. He wanted to get along with the people on the force, because it never paid to be an asshole. At least not in the long run and with the career aspirations he had. When Rose finally spoke, her tone was softer, almost pondering, as if she wasn’t entirely sure how much she should tell him but wanted to help him regardless. For his first—or second—day, that wasn’t too bad.
“Andi started out as a beat officer here and worked his way up to detective in the shortest time possible. You may have already heard how spotless his statistics are. In that regard, he’s the best partner you could have hoped for. Unfortunately, he’s always been a loner. I think most people simply annoy him. He’s not malicious, though. He just wants to be left to his own devices.”
George sighed. He had already assumed as much. “I get it. But for the next few months, we’re stuck with each other. Is there anything I can do to make him at least tolerate me?”
“Do you ride, George?”
“No. What has that to do with Andi? Does he like horses? Should I start riding?” At this point, no idea seemed too ridiculous.
Rose shook her head. “No and no. I do ride, though, and sometimes a horse can be wary of humans for various reasons. Do you know how you get their attention and—ultimately—their trust?”
George looked at her blankly. His experiences with horses were limited to watchingLord of the Rings.
“You very pointedly ignore them while being in their vicinity. It makes them curious, and eventually they gain the courage to approach on their own because you appear nonthreatening.”
“Do you want to tell me Andi had bad experiences with other people?”
“Nobody knows. What I do know is you won’t crack his armor by doing direct attacks. That’ll only make him retreat further into his shell and detest you for being a pain in the ass. Pardon my language. Giving him space while at the same time being there could be the key.”
“You don’t know if it works? Then why are you telling me this?” George was beginning to think this whole conversation was fruitless.
“No, I don’t know if it works. He sometimes talks to me because I bribe him with baked goods now and then, which is also a way to a horse’s heart, by the way. I wouldn’t say we’re friends, because I don’t think Andi understands the concept, but he does communicate with me more than with anybody else in the precinct. You’re already at a disadvantage because you were forced on him. Don’t make it worse by wanting too much too fast. Give him room to breathe and he might surprise you.”
“And if not?” George had a sinking feeling.
“Then you’d get exactly as far as you would have by keeping your current strategy.” She patted his hand. “It’s up to you, of course. I wouldn’t dare meddle in your affairs.”
She turned and walked back to where she had come from, leaving George with more questions than answers, which seemed to be his natural state as of yesterday. He squared his shoulders. He was a Donovan. Donovans never backed down when there was a challenge. He would crack Andrew Hayes if it was the last thing he did.
Chapter 4—A Feast for Ants
ANDI WATCHEDRose intercepting George on his way out. She talked to him intently, probably filling the poor man in on all of Andi’s misgivings. If it weren’t for her delicious cakes, Andi wouldn’t talk to that nosy busybody at all, but who was he to pass up cake? Especially since his cooking skills were next to nonexistent. After Rose had imparted her wisdom to George, the man left the precinct, which gave Andi a few much-needed moments of utter peace. His other colleagues knew better than to disturb him, especially not when he was trying to write a report. Chief Norris had put him on a cold case, no doubt to test him and at the same time keep him from working recent cases. Unfortunately for her and the poor young man, finding him had been a matter of minutes. Two hours if he counted the time it had taken to dig up his bones.
The young man had gone missing some fifteen years ago. His conservative white parents had reported him two days later, but the police hadn’t been able to find any trace of him. Back then there had been no reason to suspect the grieving parents, and so the case had gone cold within a few weeks. It took Andi one visit to the house in Harleston Village to know the corpse was under the floorboards in the cellar. The ant colony living in the wood under the porch still remembered the tantalizing smell of the feast just outside its reach. They had only gotten some skin and blood with a few crumbs of brain from the place in the garden where his own father had killed him for dating a black girl. Finding an excuse to search the cellar had been the biggest obstacle, but once Andi had convinced the judge to let him do a sweep of the house due to new studies regarding the psychology of killers and the most likely suspects in abduction cases, it had been easy to get a cadaver dog down into the basement. That the father had been stupid enough to bury the murder weapon with his son, including all the lovely DNA traces on it, had only served to close the case that much faster. Now all Andi had to do was make the report look convincing enough to not raise Chief Norris or IA’s suspicions.I had a hunchworked only on a restricted number of cases, and only when there actually was any evidence that could have triggered a hunch. Going straight to the basement in the house of the parents of a missing person and then finding a corpse was way out of the range of hunches and deep inwe need hard evidenceterritory. It was almost cynical. Writing the reports about his successfully closed cases was most of the time a lot more tedious and hard than solving the crime. Andi stared blankly at his computer screen. Hisomawould say that such was life, and tough shit if you couldn’t deal with it, while his gran would go and make him hot chocolate with lots of little marshmallows in it. Sometimes Andi wondered how two so vastly different women could have produced offspring that fell in love with each other and ultimately produced him.
A soft thud next to his mouse caused him to look up. It was his new partner, who was back from the Starbucks. “Your bagel.”
“Thank you. What do I owe you?” Andi reached for his wallet in the back pocket of his ratty jeans. George furrowed his brows.
“It’s fine. We’re partners. Next time, you pay.” With that, he sat down at his own desk, placed his extra-large cup of coffee next to his computer, and started clicking away as if he already had something worth his attention on it. The ringing of his phone spared Andi from reacting to this strange behavior. Then again, who was he to judge other people?
“Detective Hayes.”
“A corpse has been found at the Extra Space storage unit on St. James Avenue in the Goose Creek area.”
“I’m on my way.” Andi ended the call and got up, realizing that he now had a partner who was looking at him expectantly. “We have a body.”
George nodded, grabbed his cup and his car keys and got up. “Where are we headed?”
“Goose Creek area.”
“Should I drive?”
Andi hesitated. Since he was always on his own, he usually drove himself, even though he hated it. It required a huge amount of concentration to block out all the impressions he got from the insects in the air and on the ground to drive safely. Suddenly seeing the street from high above through the kaleidoscope sight of a dragonfly while still driving was a sure method to produce a crash and one of the many reasons Andi didn’t bother getting a new car or having the dents in his sedan repaired. It wasn’t worth the time and money.
With George, he wouldn’t have to face this particular problem today.
“Thank you. That would be great.”
