Page 24 of Tough as Steele

“No, it didn’t.” The soles of his boots thudded on the concrete sidewalk. With his long legs, she had to hurry once more not to fall behind, but at least she didn’t have to fight the grass this time. He climbed the steps without effort, and she followed him inside.

Nate faced Patrick, who was on full alert, his hand on his weapon.

“You may not work for me.” Nate’s stern tone was unsettling. “But next time someone says I’m expecting them, be sure Iambefore letting them in.”

“Sorry. I thought…” Patrick glanced at her, his face reddening.

“My fault,” she quickly said. “Turns out Detective Ryder wasn’t expecting me after all.”

Nate gave her a shake of his head then looked at Patrick. “We’ll be in the office.”

Nate crossed the marble tiles to the stairway and spun to face her. “Hold here for a moment. And I mean hold. I need to get forensics working on the stairwell.”

She nodded, but how she wanted to join him upstairs again to see if the criminalists gave him any information that he might not share with her. She wanted to trust Nate, but she wasn’t sure yet if she could. He seemed like he’d accepted the partnership, but it could all be for show.

He took the steps two at a time and stopped on the landing by a tall Tyvek-suited tech. “Randy. Good. I have another scene for you to work. Follow me.”

Nate commanded Randy to move when she would’ve asked, but each law enforcement officer had their own way of doing things. They learned over the years what worked for them in certain situations and used it to their advantage.

The biggest thing she’d learned was that people underestimated her. Especially men. She often used that, playing it up, making herself seem inexperienced when interviewing a suspect. And she’d learned not to take on a tough, hard-as-nails persona but to appear feminine and soft. She usually gained the information she sought that way. If it came to a physical altercation, she could surprise people with her abilities. Worked for her, but it might not work for other female officers.

So she dressed in tailored suits but wore feminine blouses and high heels and painted her nails. Tonight’s attire, though, really took things to the next level. She wished she could change into pants and reasonable shoes. She expected to work all night. Maybe she would find a few minutes to run home and change.

Zeke stepped down the hallway, a grim look on his face.

“Everything okay?” she asked.

“Other than I’m bored to death?” He grinned. “Yeah, it’s fine. Made a few calls to bring in relief for the morning if the big cheese wants to keep this place secured by us.”

“I’ll keep the place locked down even if he objects.”

“Will he call in his own deputies to handle the detail, or do you want us to continue to handle it?”

“We’ll do it. He probably won’t want to spend their money when our services are free.”

Zeke scratched his neck. “That’s gonna wreck our budget.”

“True, but when we get Mimi back, she’ll hear about how helpful we were, and I hope it will help make up for the fact that we didn’t protect her properly.”

“Hey, there.” His eyes narrowed. “We did nothing wrong. I still don’t know how they took her out of here.”

Londyn told him.

He scratched his neck. “You’re serious. A secret stairwell.”

“Yep. I’d tell you to go take a look, but it hasn’t been processed yet. The door comes out near the garage. It’s hidden from most angles. It’s covered with matching siding, so unless you were carefully looking for it, you wouldn’t find it.”

“I thought I’d seen everything on the job.” He spun to look at the landing.

Nate’s voice came from above when he told Randy to report in the minute he found anything. He soon jogged down the steps.

He gave Zeke a nod and then looked at her. “Thanks for waiting.”

She appreciated the earnest nature of his voice. “Zeke was wondering if you would like our guards to stay on tomorrow. If so, we need to bring in replacements.”

“If you’re willing, I’d be glad for it. We can only spring for one guy at the main entrance, and I know PPB isn’t in any better shape, manpower-wise.”

“Then we’ll plan to keep our guards here,” she said, glad to make it sound like she was doing him a favor. She might need to call that in before all of this was over.

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