She bit her lips together to hold back an incredulous sound as the chief went through the usual good-old-boy spiel. How’s the hunting? Pretty damned cold for December. Blah. Blah. Blah. Who gave a shit? Pissed her off that he didn’t put the call on speaker.
Then Spencer explained the reason for the call. A lot of “uh-huh”s and “yessir”s later and her chief finally said, “We’ll be happy to turn the evidence over to you for a look-see.” A nod. “Absolutely. We believe it’s quite significant. I’ll courier it down right away.”
Adeline waved her hands back and forth but the chief ignored her. “No way,” she piped up when he continued to pay no attention to her objections. “This evidence isn’t going anywhere without me.” So much for the respect thing.
“Yes, sir,” Spencer said with a glare in her direction, “that’s my detective you hear in the background. Why, certainly. One moment.” Spencer held the phone across his desk. “The sheriff would like to speakwith you,Detective.” Spencer’s eyes told her she had better not forget the warning he’d issued about three minutes ago.
Spencer was pissed, but that was too bad. No way was she allowing those yahoos down in Mississippi to get their hands on this evidence without answering some of her questions first. She knew the type who sought law enforcement opportunities back home. Not only were they bullies, but they liked doing things their way. No outsiders allowed. They would take this evidence, and she wouldn’t be permitted anywhere near their case. Nor would she get jack shit in the way of information. What the hell was the chief thinking?
She took the phone and settled it against her cheek. “This is Detective Adeline Cooper.”
“You will surrender that evidence, Detective,” the voice on the other end of the line ordered, “and you will not interfere with this investigation.”
About a million or so memories bombarded Adeline at once. This couldn’t be ...
No way in hell. When she’d left Pascagoula, Mississippi,hehad been a brand-new detective. He wouldn’t have sold out to the politics and become a sheriff. No way.
He was still talking.
It was definitelyhim.
Feelings she hadn’t experienced in almost a decade whirled around her, put a choke hold on her ability to respond.
The chief was staring at her funny. Probably because she no doubt wore the same expression as a vic slipping into shock from massive blood loss after a gutshot. Or maybe that face a person wore when they had just seen a ghost.
This man was a ghost from her past.
From a relationship that had been dead and buried for nine damned years.
“Have I made myself clear, Detective Cooper?”
As if nine years had not passed and they were sitting in the front seat of his souped-up old Firebird, she went off. “Don’t even think about telling me what to do, Wyatt Henderson. You may be the sheriff down there now, but that just tells me you got bored or lazy. This is my evidence. Evidence connected tome. I may be obliged by law to turn it over to you, but I will be hand-carrying it to your office and I will be a part of this investigation.”
Then, without waiting for his comeback, she leaned forward and shoved the phone back at the chief. Spencer could handle the damage control. She’d said all she had to say.
Spencer stared at her with just enough outrage to conceal the glimmer of pride she’d seen flash in his eyes as she’d said her piece. He might be talking the talk of full cooperation and respect, but he didn’t want HPD left out of this any more than she did. Not when it appeared to involve one of his people.
Unable to sit any longer, Adeline got up and paced the chief’s office while he smoothed things over with Wyatt. She didn’t have to hear the other end of the conversation; she had an idea how it would be going.
Adeline Cooper did not need to set foot in the state of Mississippi. It had taken years for things to calm down in Jackson County after her departure. If she knew what was good for her, she would stay clear.
If Spencer tried that line of crap with her she would turn in her badge here and now. Whatever the person or persons who’d abducted Prescott wanted, Adeline had a right to be involved. She’d gotten a personal invitation, by God.
Spencer hung up the phone and settled his full attention on her. “That little performance was completely out of line, Detective Cooper.”
“Sometimes stepping over the line is necessary,” she said bluntly. She stopped her pacing to stand in front of the chief’s desk. “Are you going to let them leave me out of this?” She leaned forward for emphasis, braced her hands on the edge of his desk, and looked him straight in the eye.
He had the power to put her on this case with regard to the sharing of evidence. Since the case apparently involved her, it wouldn’t exactly be SOP to assign her to follow up, but he knew about her past. Understood how this would go down if she was left out. No one else in HPD would ever get past Cooper law. In Jackson County, Mississippi, Cooper law ruled. And it was rarely on the side of true justice.
She was the only cop on this force who had a snowball’s chance in hell of protecting HPD’s interests in this case.Herinterests.
“Authorizing you to follow this investigation would be a mistake. Even you must see how that would look to an ethics review board.”
Okay, he hadn’t come straight out with a no. “Yes, sir. I am very much aware how it would look. But I also know how this will go down if you send anyone else. I understand how those people work.” She left out the part about being one of them. Adeline had stopped being a Mississippi Cooper the day she allowed one of them to die instead of her.
Unless she took the bull by the horns, Sheriff Wyatt Henderson would relegate HPD’s representative to a corner and that was where he’d stay until further notice. The idea that Wyatt was now the sheriff rattled her. Had her experiencing all kinds of crazy emotions. How the hell had this happened?
They had both despised the politics of the job. Maybe a wife and kids had sent him on a different path. After all, it had been nine years.