informed him.
Matt supposed that was the best he would get for now. And maybe that was good because he could see himself being attracted to her, but that might complicate matters. And all he was interested in for now was a truce while he got his bearings. Later might prove to be another story, he mused, but right now, he just wanted to settle in.
He flashed an easy smile. “Sounds fair enough,” he replied.
Turning on his heel, he was about to leave. All his things could be packed up and transported in one trip. Unlike his new partner, once he closed a case, he didn’t hang on to the papers that went with it. Instead, he placed everything onto a flash drive and preserved the information that way. It took up a great deal less space. And it made for a neater desk. He worked better that way.
Matt got exactly three steps toward the squad room door when he heard his name being called.
“Hey, Abilene!”
When he turned around again, Matt found himself looking down at an older man with thick silver hair and a far thicker waistline. Rather than hiding the latter behind the all-forgiving folds of a jacket, the older man had left his jacket in his office and was wearing just his shirt. The sleeves of his slightly rumpled shirt were rolled up and his tie appeared to have been hastily loosened, as if leaving it in its initial position would have eventually wound up choking him.
“Abilene?” the older man repeated, this time turning the last name into a question.
From the looks of the man, this had to be his new boss, Matt thought. He doubled back in long, loping strides.
“Yes, sir,” he responded easily, extending his hand to the other man, who stood only slightly shorter than he did. However, his slumped shoulders gave the impression that he was shorter than he was.
After a beat, the older man took Abilene’s offered hand. The handshake was surprisingly hearty. “I’m Lt. Holmes,” Isaac Holmes told his newest detective. “You’re just in time.”
Abilene cocked his head, the very gesture a query. “For?”
“You and Cavelli—you’re still Cavelli, right?” Holmes asked Kendra, sparing her a quick glance, then turning away before she had a chance to answer. “Just caught a case,” he concluded.
Matt jerked his thumb in the general direction of the hall—and the elevator. “I was just about to bring down my stuff,” Matt told him.
“Your stuff can wait. It’s not going anywhere. But you are.” Tearing off the top page from his pad where he’d written down the incoming information, the lieutenant pressed the paper into Kendra’s hand. “Super found a dead body. Not the one he expected to.” Glancing over toward Abilene, he added, “Welcome to Homicide.”
Kendra glanced at the paper Holmes had handed her, then tucked it into her pocket. “The Super expected to find a body?” she questioned.
“Not expected-expected,” Holmes clarified. “Guy who lives there hasn’t been seen for three days, so his boss sent someone to his apartment. When he didn’t get an answer, the kid got the super.”
“And they found a dead body in the apartment who wasn’t the guy who lived there,” Kendra guessed.
Holmes nodded. “I want you to find out whose body’s in the apartment and see if you can get a handle on where the guy who pays the rent is. Apparently, he’s still missing.”
“You got it, boss,” Abilene promised as he fell into step beside Kendra.
“Jump right in, don’t you?” Kendra commented as she increased her pace. But even so, Abilene more than kept up. Man had legs that belonged on an ostrich, she thought darkly.
“Isn’t that what I’m supposed to do?” he asked innocently as they went into the hall. If this wasn’t going to be an all-out territorial war, he needed to do what he could to put her mind at ease. He was definitely not out to become king of the hill—at least, not this hill. “Look, I’m not trying to snag your territory, if that’s what you’re worried about. From what I hear, there’s more than enough work to go around for everyone. This isn’t a competition.”
He was analyzing her again. Kendra gave him a cold look as she yanked open the door to the stairwell. She hated being analyzed. “Nobody said it was.”
Abilene stopped short. Was she taking the stairs? “Hey, aren’t we supposed to be taking the elevator down?” he asked.
“Go ahead,” Kendra tossed over her shoulder. “Nobody’s stopping you.”
Like a door to a tomb, the stairwell door all but thundered as it closed behind her.
Peace at last.
Kendra’s heels met the metal steps, emitting a quick, rhythmic staccato sound as she hurried down to the first floor. She was only halfway down the first flight with three more to go when she heard the stairwell door above her opening again. She didn’t have to look to know that Abilene was now behind her—and catching up fast.
Couldn’t she get at least a couple of minutes away from this man? She wanted to be able to clear her head and having him around was not at all conducive to that.
He had no idea how the woman’s mind worked. Was she intent on trying to ditch him, or make him fail in front of the boss? Was she just playing some sort of a game where only she knew the rules? He wasn’t about to take a chance on being left behind on the first assignment that he—that they—had just caught.
He was a firm believer that you never got to redo a first impression—and he knew that they were the ones that tended to last.
Shadowing his new partner’s every step, Matt was half a beat behind her as they came to the bottom of the last staircase. She’d just reached the door when he stretched his hand over her head and pushed it open as she turned the doorknob.
Kendra bit back an annoyed retort. She felt as if she was almost encompassed by the man’s long arms. He seemed to take up all the space around her, she thought grudgingly. And all the air. There was no other reason why, just for a second, she’d felt so hot and so light-headed.
“I can push open my own door, Abilene,” she informed him crisply. Out of the stairwell, she took the opportunity to pull fresh air into her lungs. The feeling of heat began to recede.
“Nobody said you couldn’t, Good,” Abilene replied mildly. “Just doing what I can to help. It’s a heavy door.”
It was a heavy door, but she wasn’t about to say anything to that effect. She didn’t need some hotshot thinking he was her knight in dented armor.
Muttering a couple of choice words under her breath, Kendra all but marched into the parking lot. She went straight for her old Crown Victoria. Number 23, the one she used to share with Joe, before the man had been seduced by the idea of retirement.
“I’ve got the address, I’m driving,” she crisply informed Abilene.
Wide shoulders rose slightly, then lowered again in what seemed like the most careless of fashions, as if the matter of who drove was the last thing on her partner’s mind.
“Fine
