In Pursuit of Justice by Radclyffe Page B

person for that. What did it take, and what did it cost, to face that every day?
    “Yes.” Again, the hesitation, and this time she averted her gaze. “I hadn’t heard any response to my call for backup, so I assumed that no one was coming.”
    “Is that usual?”
    The officer’s hands were fisted tightly around the ends of the leather chair arms. Her pupils were dilated, but she maintained her rigid posture. Her tone was flat, empty. “It can happen. On a busy night, there might not be anyone in the immediate vicinity. Depending on the nature of the call, something like that might be low down on the list of priorities.”
    Might be? Catherine knew there had to be more to it, but this was not the time to explore that. Right now, this was about one young woman alone in the dark. “I see. So you confronted him by yourself?”
    “Yes. By myself.”

    *

    “You back in the saddle?” Watts asked, looking over Rebecca’s shoulder as she poured a cup of coffee at the long narrow table in the rear of the squad room. “Sarge?”
    “What are you doing, Watts?”
    “What? You mean now?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Shuffling folders. Why?”
    She sipped the coffee. Terrible—bitter, thick, and suspiciously filmy. She sighed contentedly as another piece of her life slipped back into place. “Let’s go to the range.”
    “And shoot?” His surprise showed in the sudden rise of his voice.
    “Yes, Watts. To shoot. Jesus.”
    As usual, she didn’t wait, and he found himself hurrying to keep up. Just like old times.
    “What did the cap say?” he ventured to ask as he lowered his butt into the contoured front seat of the Vette. Man, he’d missed that car. She was silent for so long, he risked a sidelong glance in her direction. “What did—”
    “I heard you.” She spun the wheel, pressed hard on the pedal, and rocketed onto the on-ramp of the expressway that ran through the center of the city. The firing range was at the police training academy, which was now housed at One Police Plaza, a newly built complex of administrative offices and classrooms. Although it was inconvenient for working cops to drive there for their semi-annual qualification exercises, no one complained. It was worth the twenty minutes to have the brass tucked away in some out-of-the-way place where they couldn’t interfere too much with the real work of policing. “He assigned me to a task force the feds are setting up to chase down kiddie porn peddlers and chicken hawks.”
    “Huh.” Watts shifted in his seat and tried to find someplace to stick his knees. He didn’t see how the sarge managed to fit behind the wheel, her being so tall. “What’s that mean?”
    “Nothing good.”
    “What about me?”
    Slowly, she turned her head and looked at him.
    He stared back. “Us being partners and all.”
    “We’re not…” She stopped herself, remembering that something in the man, something that rarely showed but that she sensed nonetheless, had made her trust Catherine’s life to him. He would never be Jeff, and it would never be the same. But then, what was? “I’m supposed to be the desk jockey. I’ll need legs.”
    “Yeah, sure. I can think of worse things than driving around talking to whores and pimps and perverts.” He fumbled in the inside pocket of his shapeless sports jacket for his cigarettes, then caught himself. She wouldn’t let him smoke in her ride. Shit.
    “Look. I can get a uniform. I wouldn’t want you to actually have to work—”
    “No way. I’m getting a hard-on just thinking about it.”
    Rebecca’s hands tightened on the wheel as she suddenly recalled all the reasons she couldn’t stand him. “Just forget it.”
    “Hey,” Watts said quickly. “Joke. That was a joke. It takes a lot more than that to give me a—”
    “I don’t need to know about that, Watts,” she assured him as she smoothly changed lanes to avoid a slower driver. “I’ll fill you in when I’ve met with the suits from DC. If there’s