Brad’s shift should have ended at midnight. He’d extended it by a half hour, waiting for Bonnie to show up. Kind of a long night, more eventful than most.
He changed out of his uniform in the locker room, then stopped by the chief’s office on his way out. Dan Maguire sat at his desk eating an Egg McMuffin, which he’d insisted on picking up on their return.
“Good work tonight,” Dan said. “You might have saved your girlfriend’s life.”
Brad took a slow breath, then approached the desk. “Is there some reason you keep calling her my girlfriend?”
“Matter of fact, there is.” Dan put down the sandwich and licked a cheesy finger. “I know about it, Walsh.”
“About what?” The words came out flat and oddly hollow.
“About you and her.”
Brad phrased his next question carefully. “What is it you think you know?”
“I know you had a relationship. And I know it’s over.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. That’s so. One of your neighbors was paying a little more attention than you realized. I got it from that individual. But not until after the fact. After you had stopped seeing her.”
Mentally Brad scrolled through a list of his neighbors, hunting for the likely snitch, settling on Mr. Burgundy directly below him. A gossipy old man who probably could hear too much through his ceiling.
“How do you know I stopped?” he asked evenly.
“I kept tabs on you.”
“You followed me around? You watched my place?”
“For a while. Until I was sure.”
He took this in. The chief had tailed him, waiting for a new transgression.
“What if I had kept seeing her?” he asked, already knowing the answer.
“You’d have been out of this department.”
“Why didn’t you kick me loose anyway?”
“I thought about it. But see, at least you’d had sense enough to end it. And I decided it probably wasn’t your fault.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means Parker’s the type who can work on a kid like you. Twist you around her little finger, play to your vanity, pump you for info.”
“I never gave her any info.”
“Not even about Ohio? I always wondered how she tumbled to that.”
“I wasn’t seeing her then.”
“That’s what your neighbor said, too. Her visits to your place started later. Still, you might have told her.”
“I didn’t,” Brad lied.
“Not even to make a good impression? A man will do a lot of dumb things when he’s trying to get into a lady’s pants.”
“I didn’t tell her,” he said again, hoping the words carried conviction.
Dan watched him for a long moment, then picked up the Egg McMuffin again. “I believe you. If I didn’t, I’d shitcan your sorry ass right now.”
“Even when we were together, she never asked me for information.”
“Maybe not. But you can bet she expected to find a way to use you in the future. She’s like that. She’s crafty and sly, and she has no conscience. She’s a sociopath. I’ve always said so.”
“Yes. You have.”
“She’s not capable of normal human feeling. Whatever she pretended to feel about you, it was all an act. You were just one more rube to be conned.” Dan smiled at him. Given his choice of meal, it could be literally described as a cheese-eating grin. “But at least, when you found out the truth about her after that bullshit legal deal, you had the brains to walk away.”
“Why’d you keep all this to yourself? Did you still distrust me?”
“A little bit. I couldn’t be sure you wouldn’t backslide.”
“Then why are you being so open with me now?”
“Because you proved yourself tonight, kid. I saw the way you interacted with our girl. No love lost there. And really, why would there be? I should’ve realized you’ve got at least as good a reason to hate Parker as I do.”
“You said I was being suspiciously chivalrous.”
Dan waved away the comment. “I was just ribbing you.”
“Good one,” Brad murmured.
The chief didn’t hear. “No, you’re not being fooled anymore. We both know what she is.”
“What she was, anyway. You told me she’s been keeping her head down since February. There’s a chance she might really have …”
“Reformed? Don’t kid yourself. She can’t be civilized. She can’t be tamed. It’s not in her nature. You know what she’s like? Those hybrid dogs.”
“Dogs?”
“Part dog, part wolf. Some people raise them as pets. This wolf-dog, I guess you call it, lives with you, eats your food, acts just like a regular dog. He loves you. He’s affectionate. He wants his belly rubbed. And then one day, for no reason, that wolf-dog of yours just up and tears out your throat. Or your heart, right?” Dan nodded, a thin smile riding his lips. “Or your heart.”
Brad swallowed. “I can’t disagree with anything you’ve said.”
“Make sure you remember it.”
“It’s not something I can forget.”
“That’s good. Because I’m allowing you this one mistake. You won’t get another.”
Brad felt Dan’s eyes on him as he left the office and made his way down the hall.