High Risk by G.K. Parks (books for 10th graders TXT) 📕

and fruit cup, “someone has to, and obviously, Bradley isn’t doing a very good job. After all, he let you go home with a strange man.” She squinted in the direction of the dugout. “So that was Jack?”

“Jake.”

“Right. He’s kinda cute. I bet he cleans up nicely.”

“No.”

“Not for you.” She gave me a look. “Well, you get first dibs. Did you call dibs?”

My headache had gone from an annoying buzzing behind my eyes to a constant throbbing and an annoying buzzing in my ears. Or maybe that was just Emma. “The last thing I need is for you to date someone in homicide. I just transferred. Lt. Winston doesn’t like me. My coworkers don’t know what to make of me.”

She let out a huff. “Fine.”

We silently drank our green smoothies. I picked the orange and banana slices out of the fruit cup and ate them. But I couldn’t stomach the pineapple or kiwi, so I gave those to Emma. By the time I finished breakfast and most of my water, my headache had dropped to a tolerable level and the guys had finished their warm-up.

After some sort of ceremonial sports thing I didn’t understand, the players jogged out to take their places.

“Go Brad,” a pretty blonde called from the other side of the stands. Brad smiled at Carrie and gave a little wave without waggling each of his fingers separately. Or maybe he did, but I couldn’t tell since he had a glove on.

“Yeah, go Bradley,” Emma cheered.

Brad turned at the unexpected sound of Emma’s voice. His eyes zeroed in on me. I held up my palms and shrugged. He tucked the ball into his glove and pointed at his eyes and then at me. Perhaps, I should have waggled my fingers at him coquettishly, but I knew my partner. He wasn’t mad. He just wanted me to think he was.

Emma nudged me in the ribs. “Who’s that?” She jerked her chin in Carrie’s direction, and I turned to look at the medical examiner’s assistant with a smile and friendly nod.

“That’s Carrie.”

“Carrie? When did Brad get a girlfriend?” Emma asked.

“She’s not his girlfriend. They’re friends.” Except that might have changed in the last twelve hours. After all, she was here. That had to mean something. Maybe after the game, they’d go shopping for rings.

“Right,” Emma exaggerated the word. “How long has she been sleeping with him?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” Emma cocked an eyebrow. “I don’t believe that. You and Brad don’t have any secrets. Though, that does explain it.”

“Explains what?”

“Never mind.” She linked her arm through mine. “So how long has Brad been playing softball?”

I watched him throw out another pitch. The ball whizzed past the batter, and Brad took a step back to reposition for his next pitch with the same cocky swagger he had whenever he noticed something or found a piece of evidence at a crime scene that everyone else had missed. “According to Jake, he’s been on the team for years. He just never told me. See, we have secrets.” But I couldn’t figure out why.

Three innings in, my phone rang.

Thirteen

“Fennel,” I shouted, holding up my phone, “we have to go.”

Someone called a timeout or whatever the equivalent was in softball, and Brad jogged over to me from where he’d been waiting on the bench for his turn at bat. “What’s going on?”

“We caught a case.”

“So much for a morning off.”

“It’s not a morning off. We’re on call. You know that.”

“Up until now, it felt like a break. You don’t mind giving me a ride, do you?” He took off his cap. “I don’t have my car.”

“See, it’s a good thing I showed up today to watch you play.” I gave him a teasing smile, though my insides were currently doing the mambo. I’d been on the force long enough not to have jitters. It must have been the hangover or fear of what this call meant. I hadn’t gotten many details, just that more security guards were dead. I didn’t know if it was connected to our current case, but I had a bad feeling. I just hoped this scene wasn’t gruesome. I didn’t think I could stomach gruesome at the present.

“Okay. Give me a minute. I’ll meet you in the parking lot.” His gaze darted to Carrie.

I took a step back. “Sure, no problem.” I tried to wave goodbye to Emma, but she had lost interest in me the moment I answered the phone. She knew what it meant. Instead, she continued to eyeball the fire department’s third baseman. My mind made several inappropriate hose jokes, which made me snort. At least I amused myself.

I’d just unlocked the car doors when Brad sprinted toward me with his bag thrown over his shoulder. He hadn’t bothered to change, but at least he’d taken off his cleats. He climbed into the passenger seat.

“Two dead. Responding officer said it looks like an armored truck heist gone wrong.” He unzipped his bag and pulled out his holster. “At least that’s what Lt. Winston left on my voicemail. For some reason, he thinks this is related to yesterday’s robbery.”

“I guess he called you too.” I checked the rearview mirror before backing out of the space.

“What did he say when he spoke to you?”

“The same thing. You know the LT. He doesn’t give anything away.” I glanced at my partner from the corner of my eye. “I’m still not sure if that means he doesn’t know, doesn’t care, or just doesn’t want to cloud our judgment.”

“Who knows?” Brad dug through his bag, pulling out his cuffs and badge. He clipped them to his belt and unbuttoned the softball jersey and slipped into a long-sleeved t-shirt and police windbreaker. “Do you think anyone’s going to notice I’m not wearing regulation attire?”