A MAN TO TRUST by Justine Davis

Author:Justine Davis [Davis, Justine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2010-12-24T00:40:40.043000+00:00

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Chapter 11

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It had been nearly fifteen years, yet it seemed like just yesterday that she had been in a building like this one. She had to suppress a shiver and remind herself that she was no longer a scared, helpless kid, that this time she could get up and walk out if she wanted, that there was no man with a smiling face and a black heart on his way for her.

She felt a gentle touch, stopping the ugly memory before it could form. Cruz, his hand on her shoulder, comforting, as if he'd guessed something was wrong, as if he'd sensed the horror that tormented her. She glanced swiftly at him and saw the accuracy of her guess reflected in the warmth of his eyes.

She looked away before foolishness made her do or say something she shouldn't. She made herself study her surroundings instead. She supposed there were certain things common to all police stations; the constant ringing of phones, the cubbyhole offices, the piles of papers, notices on the walls, wanted posters. The computers hadn't been in evidence when she last set foot in one, but apart from that, this one didn't look very different.

Except that the officers all looked younger, she thought with a wry smile at herself.

Sam wandered ahead of them down the hall. The girl was clearly quite at home here, and Kelsey couldn't help contrasting the child's ease with her own discomfiture. The irony of it made her smile—outwardly, this time. And she noticed, as well, that Cruz, who had never let the child out of his sight or reach all day, seemed unworried about her here.

"Kit!"

She looked up as Sam cried out the name in the tone of one greeting a dear friend. Coming toward them was a tall, slender, attractive woman with a short, tousled mop of light blond hair, dressed in a pair of yellow slacks and a yellow-and-white-striped blouse that emphasized a trim figure. The woman's face lit up at the sight of the little girl.

"Hi, Sam!" she exclaimed, and when the child was close enough, the woman bent to hug her rather fiercely. "How was camp?"

Sam chattered away happily for a moment, until Kelsey and Cruz came up even with them. The greeting between Cruz and the woman was that of old friends, Kelsey thought, full of warmth, but devoid of heat.

Or at least that's what you want to think, Kelsey told herself ruefully as the woman looked at her. Kelsey was aware of the intensity of the other woman's scrutiny, but not of what it meant. Before she could dwell on it, Cruz was performing introductions.

"Kit, Kelsey Hall. Kelsey, this is Kit Walker, detective sergeant and stand-in animal feeder extraordinaire."

"She takes karate classes where Lacey and I do, huh, Kit?"

"That I do," the woman said with a smile at the child.

Cruz eyed Sam then. "Did you thank her for feeding your critters?"

"Of course," Sam said. "Didn't I, Kit?"

"Yes, you did," Kit said, tugging on the girl's hair, which was almost as sunnily blond as her own.

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