Clay managed to get to his feet by the time Brian and Joe reached his side. He immediately recognized both officers. Once standing, Clay’s left hand clutched his right wrist. It throbbed in pain. The pregnant woman he had caught breaking into his office now stood with a man whose arm protectively wrapped around her shoulders while she absently rubbed her left wrist. Neither the man nor woman wore visitor name tags. They, like his two officers, stared at him as if he had two heads.
“Clay?” Joe asked.
Now standing straight, Clay glared at Joe. “It’s Chief Bowman, Morelli.”
“What’s going on?” Brian asked. He looked at Walt and Danielle and back to Bowman. “Where’s the chief?”
“I’m sure you’re aware that Chief MacDonald is out on medical leave, and I’m stepping in as his replacement. But we can discuss this later.” He turned his attention to Danielle and pointed at her. “But first, arrest that woman and take her to lockup.”
“What are you talking about?” Brian asked.
Clay turned to Brian. “Does she work here?”
“Danielle? No. She doesn’t work here, but…”
“Then arrest her. I caught her breaking into my office. She’s not wearing a visitor name tag, so she obviously broke into this section of the building.” He turned his attention to Walt and said, “And if he doesn’t work here, detain him. He doesn’t have a name tag either.”
“Name tag? What are you talking about?” Brian asked.
“We don’t do visitor name tags,” Joe said.
“We do now.” Clay paused a moment and then groaned. “Did that incompetent Mrs. Harper forget to sign them in?”
“Colleen wasn’t even here when Walt and Danielle arrived,” Brian said.
Clay glared at Brian. “What are you talking about?”
“When Joe and I got back, Colleen needed to leave because of a family emergency, so I told her to go and we’d cover for her,” Brian explained.
“You had no authority to make that decision. But we’ll discuss that later.” Clay turned to Danielle and said, “But I still want that woman arrested.”
“On what grounds?” Joe asked.
“She attacked me.”
“My wife did not attack you. When Joe and I walked down that hallway, you were holding onto my wife’s wrist, and she asked you to let go because you were hurting her. She didn’t touch you. I’m sure both your officers saw the same thing I did.”
“Who are you?” Clay demanded.
“He’s Walt Marlow, and this is his wife, Danielle,” Brian introduced.
Clay looked unimpressed at Walt. “Mr. Marlow, you saw how she pushed me into that wall. Your wife attacked me. I simply detained her and asked her to identify herself, which she refused to do.”
Walt arched his brows and smiled. “She attacked you? My very pregnant wife threw you against the wall?”
“I obviously wasn’t expecting a pregnant woman to attack me. She caught me off guard.”
“You probably slipped.” Walt looked Clay up and down as if assessing the man. “You look a little clumsy.”
Clay took a step toward Walt, and the next moment, his feet jerked out from under him, and once again, his body slammed against the wall. While Clay lay on the floor a moment later, Walt looked at Brian and said, “Danielle and I are going home.”
Brian gave Walt a nod while Clay again stumbled to his feet.
“They’re leaving! Stop them!” Clay shouted.
“You just proved Walt’s point,” Brian said.
Clay narrowed his eyes at Brian. “What are you talking about?”
“We just watched you fall again, and no one was near you. Perhaps the floor is slippery,” Brian suggested.
Clay stood in silence for a moment before saying, “Get someone to watch the front desk. Sign in all visitors after checking for IDs and issue name tags. And then I want you both in my office in thirty minutes.” Clay turned abruptly and marched into the chief’s office, slamming the door behind him.
Now alone in the hallway with Joe, Brian turned to his friend, who looked dazed.
“Are you okay, Joe?” Brian asked.
“What just happened? He didn’t slip. He literally flew into the wall, like someone picked him up and body-slammed him.”
Brian smiled knowingly and put a hand on Joe’s shoulder. “Let’s go up front. We can hold down the fort until Betty gets here and discuss what just happened.”
* * *
Joe sat at Colleen’s desk, leaning back in the chair while resting his chin on steepled fingers and staring blankly across the room. Brian sat on the edge of the desk next to him, his arms crossed.
“What happened out there?” Joe asked again. “That wasn’t just a slip.”
“Sure it was. What else could it be? He obviously slipped, tried to catch his balance, and ended up sending himself into the wall.”
Joe’s gaze looked up at Brian while his body remained perfectly still. “You honestly believe that?”
“What else could it be?” Brian smiled.
Shifting his eyes again to look across the room, Joe let out a sigh. “This isn’t the first time something like this has happened. And you know what the common denominator has always been?”
“No. What?”
“Walt. Walt is always there when something like this happens.”
Brian grinned and looked down at Joe, who continued to stare across the room away from him. “Hmmm. Interesting. What do you think that means?”
“I have no idea.”
“Well, I’m not as concerned about Bowman’s clumsy moves as I am about how he’s technically our boss for the next few months. He wasn’t even here half a day, and he wanted to arrest Danielle. Heck, I didn’t even want to arrest her the first day we met.”
“Yes, you did.”
* * *
Brian and Joe stood outside the chief’s office. Brian knocked. Yet instead of going in after knocking, both officers remained in the hallway, waiting for Bowman to invite them inside. When Bowman did not respond, Brian knocked again.
“Come in!” Bowman yelled from inside the office.
Joe opened the door, and both officers walked inside. They found Bowman sitting at the desk.
“Close the door behind you. Then sit down.” Bowman pointed to the two chairs facing him.
Brian closed the door and glanced around the office. He walked to one chair. The first thing he noticed, the photos of the chief’s wife and children were no longer on the nearby shelf. He sat down.
Bowman started the conversation with, “So that is Walt and Danielle Marlow?”
“Yes. And they are both close friends of the chief,” Brian explained.
“You mean Edward MacDonald? I’m currently the only chief around here.”
Brian forced a smile. “He also walked Danielle down the aisle when she and Walt got married.”
“I don’t care how close someone is to a member of the Frederickport Police force. There are rules and procedures in place to ensure the safety of everyone. She should not have been in this section of the building without first signing in, nor should she be walking into my office.”
“I’m sure Danielle assumed the chief was here. She often visits him. It’s not uncommon for her to just knock and walk in,” Joe explained.
“It may not be uncommon, but it is unacceptable.” Clay stood and began pacing the office while he continued to talk. “Before accepting this assignment, I had a long talk with Fred Lyons. He has been very concerned with Frederickport’s rise of crime—especially capital crimes—over the last five years. Coincidentally, that rise in crime seems to correspond to when Mrs. Marlow first moved to town. She was Danielle Boatman back then.” Clay stopped walking and looked at Brian and Joe, as if waiting for confirmation.
“You knew her last name used to be Boatman?” Brian asked.
Clay nodded and started pacing again. “Yes. While I’ve been waiting for you two, I did a little internet search on my attacker. It was enlightening. Trouble seems to follow the woman. And her husband? The man claims to have amnesia.” Clay stopped again and looked back at Joe and Brian. “What is he hiding?”
* * *
Danielle and Walt sat with Chief MacDonald in his living room. Danielle had just finished telling the chief about their encounter with Bowman.
“I’m so sorry, Danielle,” MacDonald said.
“I’m okay now. But for a minute there, I was afraid he might break my wrist.”
“He seemed to be upset that we hadn’t signed some visitors’ log and weren’t wearing name tags,” Walt explained.
MacDonald let out a sigh. “I admit, we’ve become lax regarding visitor logs, and we rarely give out name tags or check IDs before they come back to my office. But considering Clay’s experience, I understand why it’s a hot button for him.”
“What do you mean?” Danielle asked.
“I remember Lyons telling me, a couple of years ago, that the station Clay was at had an incident where someone on their staff was being stalked, and the stalker got into the offices without showing an ID and getting a visitor’s badge. Clay noticed the guy poking around the offices and saw he didn’t have a visitor’s badge. When he approached him, the guy pulled a gun on Clay. Fortunately, Clay disarmed him with no one getting hurt.”
“I can understand how he could disarm someone. I thought he was going to rip my hand off,” Danielle grumbled as she again rubbed her bruised wrist.
MacDonald leaned back on the sofa. “This all happened too quick. To be honest, Lyons blindsided me when he told me he and the rest of the city council wanted to hire Clay. When I told him my surgery date, I figured that would kill his plans to hire his brother-in-law. I thought, no way could Clay put in his notice and then move in that short of time. The guy’s married with two kids.”
“Who did you think would cover for you?” Danielle asked.
“Joe and Brian. Even though I won’t be able to do much physically, I don’t know why I can’t still come in and supervise. Hell, it’s not like I’m in the field arresting people. I know we’re shorthanded, but I figured we could be more aggressive with hiring.”
“I doubt we’ll be stopping by the station anytime soon,” Walt said.
“So… umm… how did Clay handle being thrown to the wall—twice—by an invisible force?” MacDonald asked.
“I’m more concerned about what Joe thought,” Danielle said.
MacDonald cringed. “I am sorry for all this.”
Danielle flashed the chief a smile. “It’s not your fault. But I didn’t know you were already on medical leave.”
“I didn’t know I was starting my leave today, either. So, any special reason for stopping by my office?”
“I knew you had your pre-op appointment today. We just wanted to see how you were doing, and wondered if there was anything we could do for you,” Danielle explained.
“Honestly, I haven’t had time to think about everything. Maybe Lyons was right about one thing; I need this week to get things in order. Before I scheduled my surgery, we were going over to my sister’s for Easter dinner on Sunday. But Sissy suggested making dinner over here instead. Which is probably a good idea. I was going to take Evan to the Easter egg hunt that morning. I figured it would probably be the last time he’d want to go. But that’s not happening now.”
“We could take him,” Danielle offered. “Lily and Ian are taking Connor. We were thinking of going with them.”
“That would be wonderful. I know Evan would love going with you.”
“One reason I went ahead with the surgery this week, I thought it might be easier not having to worry about getting the boys off to school and dealing with homework since they have spring break. Of course, it may end up being more difficult.” The chief laughed.
“Do you have to spend the night in the hospital?” Walt asked.
MacDonald shook his head. “No. I’m having it done at the surgery center, and I’ll come home that afternoon. Sissy offered to take the day off work to get me to the surgery center and pick me up, but I’m going to try working out something else.”
“Let me do it,” Walt offered. “I can take you and pick you up.”
MacDonald grinned at Walt. “I accept your offer. You’d be a good one to have around if I fall after I leave the surgery center.”