Page 12 of Riding Danger

“You didn’t expect me to continue working with a man who had lied to me for almost a decade, did you?”

“Well, no.” She swallowed hard. “But surely he explained himself.”

“He tried.” I did not want to get into what Terrence had implied in front of Ethan. “But there is no excuse.”

“Now what?”

I smiled at both of them. “Now we continue with your normal evening routine.”

5

SHILOH

Working the night shift was unusual for me. In a small town like Marina De Ferrier, we didn’t have a lot of crime and our night shift was mainly skeleton staff. My captain had taken pity on me as a single mom and gave me the option to stick to day shift as often as possible.

It was for that reason, and the fact that most of the department was very understanding of my situation that I traded whenever possible. One of the guys needed to attend his kid’s recital and I chose to swap with him. He took three of my day shifts and I took his nights. He would have the overlap shift next and I would be off. And then we would be back to normal.

Fortunately, my partner traded as well, making sure that I was with someone familiar during the boring nights in our patrol car. That also meant he could tell that something was bothering me and forced me to talk about my problems.

Not that my baby daddy returning after nine years was a problem. Well, it was. But not in a bad way.

It was my turn to drive and as usual, I continued along my imaginary grid of the town. One block at time, I made sure I covered my section of Marina De Ferrier.

“He fired his manager, Joel.”

Joel had been my partner for the last two years. He was at least fifteen years older and had no intention of being more than a patrol officer. “So you said.” He took a big swallow from his to-go cup and faced me. “He may have done the right thing now. But just because he fired some asshole does not exactly make him Father of the Year. Your instincts about the man may have been correct. He didn’t even try to contact you.”

“I know.” I didn’t think telling Joel that my original instinct of moving across the country with the man, would help the conversation. For some reason I wanted to defend Ryder, even if I knew I had no reason to. “All I’m saying is that it looks like he wants to make up for lost time.”

Joel glared at me “There is no making up for lost time. A kid needs his father and Ryder failed on that account. Not to mention that he abandoned you. If he was any sort of man, he would’ve rushed back here to find out what was happening. And now he’s wrangled a dinner invitation from you, he could leave both you and Ethan broken hearted.”

“Invitation is a bit of a stretch.” I put on my flicker and made a right turn onto Main Street. “He told me he would be having dinner with his son every night he could. I mean, he won’t be in town for long, so I doubt it will continue after he’s done recording.”

Despite what he’d said last night, I had to believe that the glamor of LA would call him once more. Before Joel could respond to me our radio crackled.

“Unit 14 Bravo. Report of a body on the corner of Sixth and Leven. RA unit is on route.” The disembodied voice belonged to a nine-one-one dispatcher I was familiar with.

As I took another right turn Joel responded.

“This is Unit 14 Bravo. Dispatch, show us responding.”

Less than two minutes later Joel and I were exiting our vehicle. A couple was standing off to the side. Joel went to them while I went to the figure lying in an alley behind Bowzers, the diner which belonged to my family.

The first thing I did was check for a pulse. “Dispatch. Victim found with a deep cut to his throat. Not responsive, not breathing.” There were lacerations at the victim’s wrists and ankles, he was in his underwear and I could see bruising on his thighs. I checked behind his ear, and sure enough, the one detail not released to the press was evident. A small puncture wound where the victim had been injected. “Dispatch. This is Unit 14 Bravo. Please also send Special Agent Ray Newton from the CBI.”

There had been a spate of men being murdered in Southern California. This was the first victim as far south as Marina De Ferrier. The area between Los Angeles and San Diego had been the dumping ground for men in their thirties and forties. They were always dumped in their underwear. According to the confidential reports, all the men had markings carved into their backs before their throats were slit and they were left outside a popular business in a small town. None of the victims had any connection to the town or the business. At least none that law enforcement were able to find.

Fifteen minutes later, the ambulance was waiting for Agent Newton and Lilly Salinger to finish their initial processing of the scene. The crime scene investigators took samples and Joel was still taking the witness statement.

Lilly spotted me and smiled. She exchanged a word with Agent Newton and he walked over to Joel. No doubt, to follow up on the witness statement he was in the process of collecting.

“Shiloh.” Lilly’s smile had always been a thing of beauty. Even under the circumstances, it overshadowed everything else. “Can you come here, please?”

I walked over to her, making sure I went to parts of the scene that had already been processed. “Do you need my help with something?”

“Agent Newton contracted Salinger Security to help with this investigation. In particular, he wanted my skills.”

I knew Salinger Security had been called in. That was how I knew as much as I did. Still, I frowned. “But you’re a profiler. And you don’t work in the field.”

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