right now she thought of him in a whole new way. Something that had more teeth than any old scary fish. Mentally doing a shakedown, she pushed all of that away for now. Her adrenaline had drained away, too.
“Then what do you think of me?”
His question caught her off guard. She’d noticed him. It would be hard for any woman to skip right over a man like him. But she knew better than to get involved with a coworker, especially since he was right. She’d worked hard in training and on the job to show everyone she meant business. She’d taken on the task of training Stella to make some points, but now she loved the dog with all of her heart and she planned to make Stella the best bomb-detection dog in this city. Stella had done a good job today, so Brianne knew her gut instincts had been spot on.
“Can’t even say it?”
Holding tight to Stella, Brianne shot him another glare and got her mind back on the conversation. “Yes, I can say it. I don’t know you that well, but I think you were given a bum rap. You might want to get promoted, but you wouldn’t kill anyone to make that happen. You’re too loyal to the department for that and besides, you have a solid alibi for when Jordan disappeared.”
Giving her an uncertain frown that made his eyebrows shift up, he said, “Thank you, I think.”
He took off and followed Tommy, his whole body on alert. Maybe the man just needed a friend.
“Look,” she said, tired but still full of enough tension to know that this man made her pulse beat a little faster. “It’s been a long hot day and I’m going home when I’m done. Then we get right back to it tomorrow.”
He didn’t argue with her. “Yep. I need to find some food and then I’m going to go over my report one more time. We have to keep looking for the man in the plaid hat.”
“Because he could strike again,” she replied, her eyes holding his.
Gavin nodded. “Yes, I have a bad feeling this might only be the beginning.”
* * *
The next morning, Griffin’s Diner was hopping as usual. People still enjoying what was left of the Fourth of July weekend were lined up at the double French doors of the quaint brick building located on a bustling corner near 94th Street in Queens.
Brianne had walked the couple blocks over from the K-9 Command Unit in search of some good coffee and a nice shady spot on the patio.
The old red bricks of the restaurant had mellowed to a deep burgundy over the years. Brianne remembered coming here with her parents as a child and seeing the pictures on the wall of fallen officers, one of them a brother to the owner, Louis Griffin. Most of the K-9s in service now had been named after those who’d died while on duty, including Gavin’s partner, Tommy, named after Officer Tommy McNeill.
The diner had been in the Griffin family for generations and easygoing baseball fanatic Louis “Lou” Griffin was a fixture in the place, along with his blunt-talking wife, Barbara, who had a no-nonsense attitude and took care of everything from bookkeeping to settling down unruly customers. Their daughter, Violet, a friend of Brianne’s, worked with them when she wasn’t at her regular job as a ticket agent at the airport. They’d lost their five-year-old son to meningitis nearly twenty years ago. She often wondered if that’s why they all poured so much love into this old building.
Brianne moved around to the right corner where an alfresco area lined with potted dish gardens led to the private space designated for the NYPD and the K-9 team’s four-legged partners. She opened one of the matching French doors there, smiling at the etched plaque over the door—The Dog House, Reserved for New York’s Finest.
She headed inside to see if Violet was working and get that big cup of coffee but stopped when she heard her name.
“Hey, Bree.”
Turning, she saw Gavin approaching, Tommy moving ahead.
Holding the door, she tried to hide her surprise. “What are you doing here?”
He pointed to where a big red umbrella cast a shade over one of the square metal tables near a side street. “I never ate last night. I’m going to order a big breakfast.” Then he lifted his chin. “Grab your coffee and meet me back out here. It’s cloudy and not too hot yet. Lou’s got the rotating fan going already.”
“Outside it is, then,” she replied, again noticing her good-looking coworker while she wondered why she’d stopped here today, of all mornings. Unless someone else showed up, they had the whole patio to themselves. Not that she minded. More like too intimate. Brianne wanted to keep things light and professional. But...a chance meeting over coffee, coworkers did that, right?
When she came back with a to-go cup, Gavin didn’t dare hold out her chair, even though he looked as if he might. They both sat down at the same time, facing toward the street, their partners curling up at their feet to wait for water and a special treat from Lou.
“So how ya doing?” he asked, his attitude more relaxed and laid back today.
“Peachy,” she replied. “Slept like a rock.”
“I never know if you’re being sarcastic or serious,” he replied, smiling over at her.
“And I’ll never tell you which.”
She hadn’t slept much at all. She kept reliving the moment when that bomb had exploded. But she’d made notes each time she remembered something and she aimed to get back to work. Like right now.
Barbara came out with a coffee pot. “Anyone hungry?” She refilled Gavin’s mug, her question causing Brianne’s stomach to growl loudly. “What else can I bring you guys?”
“Pancakes,” they both said, laughing.
“Pancakes it is,” she said, taking her pen out from behind her ear, loose strands of curling brown hair with gray edging escaping her bun. “How ’bout some bacon with that?”
“None for me,” Brianne said. “I hadn’t planned on staying.”
“Double stack,” Gavin replied to Barbara.
Brianne shook her head and smiled up at Barb. “Hey, is Violet here this morning?”
“Not yet,” Barb said with a smile. “But she’s due to stop by any minute now. We’re going to talk wedding plans. Have you seen her ring?”
“I have,” Brianne replied. “She and Zach seem so happy.”
“They are—finally,” Barb said. “Took them all of their lives living next to each other and then almost getting killed by some drug dealer to figure it out.”
When Barbara walked away, Gavin looked over at Brianne. “Zach needed someone in his life right now. It’s been tough on all of the Jameson brothers, losing Jordan.”
“I agree,” Brianne said, remembering Jordan’s funeral and how his brothers had stood so solemn and strong. “Now if we could just find his killer.”
“Yeah, I want that, too.” Gavin looked down, probably remembering being heavily questioned about Jordan’s
