Only the Strong by Ethan Cross

Author:Ethan Cross
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fiction Studio Books
Published: 2019-08-20T12:22:16+00:00

Chapter Sixty-Six

Baxter’s memory of Detective Natalie Ferrera was of a woman a bit younger and a few pounds lighter, but his former partner was as still as beautiful as ever. Her skin reminded him of white-sand beaches after the tide came in—pure, moist. Natalie was born in Cuba, but her parents had defected when she was in junior high. He had often thought of her family, washed up on a Florida beach like a message in a bottle.

Natalie wore a red blouse beneath a coal-black pantsuit. As she approached, she caught him admiring her. He could see it in her eyes. The beautiful brown mirrors to her soul filled with a warmth that he remembered fondly. But then her memory must have landed on one of the bad times because her eyes went cold.

Beside him, Jenny said, “That’s your old partner? She’s gorgeous.”

“Yes, she is.”

“You ever hit that?”

Baxter had tried to talk Jenny out of coming along to the police station, but it was her day off, and he couldn’t find an adequate explanation for wanting to leave her behind. He didn’t know why he should feel awkward. Jenny wasn’t his girlfriend. She was just his secretary, apprentice, or whatever. And Natalie was no longer his partner. She hadn’t been for quite some time.

In response to her blunt question, he smiled over at Jenny and winked. “A gentleman never tells.”

Detective Ferrera reached them and immediately said, “I don’t need your shit today, Baxter. This had better be good.”

“With me, darling, it’s always good.”

Natalie rolled her eyes. “Except when it’s bad. I remember a lot of bad, Bax.”

He glanced over at Jenny who was still questioning him with her eyes. “Well, I suppose this is kind of a bad case, but it’s a hell of a good lead.”

“I’ll bite. A lead on what?”

“An abduction. Girl’s name is Corin Campbell. It’s one of your cases, kiddo.”

“Cut to the chase. What do you want for it? You need a favor or something?”

“I want full access to the case.”

Jenny said, “We want full access.”

“My apologies, Jennifer. May I introduce Detective Natalie Ferrera, and Nat, this is Jennifer Vasillo. She’s my . . . apprentice.”

“Partner,” Jenny said.

Natalie grunted and looked Jenny up and down. “Good luck with that, little girl.”

Jenny attacked Nat with her eyes. Before things got out of hand, Baxter said, “This is the kind of lead that solves a case. I could pursue it on my own, which is what my client is paying me to do. But I figured that we might as well work together and possibly save this poor kid’s life.”

Nat’s gaze finally shifted from Jenny back to him. She said, “Don’t try to manipulate me, Bax. If you don’t inform us of something that could help save a life, then I would feel obliged to arrest you as an accessory.”

Baxter chuckled. “I always love it when you talk all professional like that, but as you said, let’s cut to the chase. I’ll give you the info. You know I will.

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