the professional arena, but he seemed to have completely disappeared shortly after he’d graduated high school. They’d been exactly a year apart, even though she had shared a couple of classes with him.
Was this where he’d ultimately wound up? Working in law enforcement and looking like someone badly in need of a haircut and a shave, not to mention new clothes?
Maybe it wasn’t Steve, she thought, reconsidering. As she recalled, the heartthrob of the gridiron had a grin that had a way of imprinting itself on the souls of every female, young and old, whom he ever came in contact with.
This man in her newly discovered uncle’s office had a somber, almost sullen expression. It was the kind of expression that told the casual observer that he didn’t know how to smile.
She directed her wayward attention back to her uncle. The latter smiled warmly at her as he gestured toward the empty chair.
“Please, take a seat,” he urged. When she did, he undertook the introductions. “Detective Esteban Fernandez, I’d like you to meet Detective Kari Cavelli-Cavanaugh.” He paused for a moment to allow the names to sink in on both sides, then he added the all-important words, “Your new partner.”
Esteban visibly balked, his impassive expression cracking just long enough for his complete displeasure to show through.
“Sir,” he protested, “I haven’t worked with a partner for three years.”
“Then it’s high time that you did,” Brian told him matter-of-factly. “You’ve more than earned the right to have someone else watching your back.”
Brian could see that the news was not being received well, but then he’d known it would take time. Rome wasn’t the only thing that hadn’t been built in a day. Neither was trust. But it all started with taking the first step. And this was Fernandez’s first one, even if he abhorred it.
“Your lone-wolf days are over, Fernandez, so you might as well get used to it.”
The expression on his handsome, tanned face was far from accepting. “Sir, could I have some time to think about this?” he asked in a clipped voice.
Brian shrugged. “You can take the time it’ll take you to go home and clean up.”
For form’s sake, the Chief pretended to glance at his watch. He was well aware what time it was. It was one in the afternoon. Fernandez had come to him straight from the safe house he’d been whisked to when he’d had to flee from the run-down apartment he’d been renting from his contact to the cartel.
“Tell you what,” Brian amended. “You can take until tomorrow morning to decide.” He knew he’d be doing the detective a disservice if he didn’t offer this option.
“But be aware of the fact that there’s nowhere else I can put you right now, so your choice, I’m afraid, is limited to yes or no,” he said as Esteban rose to his feet. Getting up as well, Brian leaned over his desk and shook the other man’s hand. “I’d hate to lose you, Detective,” he added with conviction.
Esteban had lived the past three years exclusively in a world where lip service was commonplace and actions spoke far louder than anything that could be said.
Still, despite his wariness of the spoken word, Esteban had the feeling that the Chief was being sincere. It didn’t change what he felt was going to be the ultimate outcome of this meeting, but it was still nice to be appreciated, even if just for a fleeting moment.
“Think long and hard, Detective,” Brian counseled somberly.
“I plan to, sir,” Esteban answered.
Deliberately avoiding any eye contact with either the Chief of D’s or the pretty blonde in the room, Esteban strode out of the office.
Kari watched in silence as the detective walked away. She was still debating whether or not this was the same person who had created such a stir in high school eight short years ago.
His gait was different, she decided. But the set of his shoulders... That definitely reminded her of the Steve she knew. She had a feeling that if she came right out and asked whether he’d attended Aurora High School at the same time that she had, he would just find a way to stonewall her.
No, this was going to require a little detective work on her part.
Kari made a mental note to dig out her yearbook when she got home and look through it.
Right now she was still on the job. Sort of. Turning around, she faced the man whom she had recently established a personal connection with and looked into his eyes.
Never one to beat around the bush, she said, “He’s planning on turning you down, you know.”
It was nice to know that gut instinct and intuition were alive and well in the next generation, Brian thought with satisfaction.
“I know,” he replied. “I also know he doesn’t have anything else in his life.” Brian had always made it a point to know everything that was pertinent about his people and about those who were going to become his people. Detective Esteban Fernandez was no exception.
Then this couldn’t be the Steve she’d gone to high school with, Kari decided. That Steve had had a mother, a stepfather and a younger half brother he’d doted on. Julio had come to cheer him on in all the football games.
She’d only been a detective for a short while, but she had learned very quickly how to read her superiors without making it seem as if she was trying to second-guess them.
“Would you like me to see if I can change his mind for you?” she asked.
For his part, Brian did not answer yes or no. What he did was tell her simply, “I’d like you to be Kari.”
It was enough.
She smiled, inclined her head and said, “Yes, sir,” before turning on her heel and leaving his office.
She had people to see and information to gather.
Chapter 2
Kari focused on her assignment the moment she walked out of the Chief’s office. As far as she was concerned, it was unspoken but understood that she could avail herself of all the resources she needed in order to bring Detective Esteban Fernandez back into the fold.
Being a Cavanaugh certainly had its perks, Kari couldn’t help thinking with a smile. Because there were so many Cavanaughs in the actual police department, as well as various offshoots’such as the D.A.’s office’she had access to places and entities she hadn’t even known existed before she discovered her connection to the large family.
Technically, she hadn’t actually “discovered” the connection’she, along with the rest of her siblings, had been told about it by her father, who also happened to be the head of the CSI day unit. He’d called a family meeting shortly after he’d been informed by none other than Andrew Cavanaugh, the former Aurora chief of police, that he was actually a Cavanaugh.
According to Andrew, her father, Sean, had been the victim of a distraught nurse’s error. Reeling from the news that her fiancé had been killed serving overseas, she’d completed her rounds
