Free Believing Again by Peggy Bird Page A

the salad, and the perfect red wine. After they ate, Jake suggested they wait for dessert. Danny volunteered to help clean up the dishes. Then, when the kitchen was spotless, he admitted that she was the only dessert he wanted.
    She was happy to volunteer for that, too.

Chapter Eight
    Monday morning Danny was humming her favorite Blind Pilot song as she got off the elevator, and accidentally plowed right into her boss, Lt. Chris Angel.
    He squinted his eyes at her and reared his head back. “Did I mistake the day? It’s Monday, isn’t it? How come you’re so damn cheerful? Must have been some weekend.”
    “It was okay.” Sure her expression would betray
how
okay it had been and invite curiosity, she moved the conversation to his five daughters, a subject she knew would divert him. “How about you? You have college kids home for the weekend?”
    “No, we took the two high schoolers to Eugene to visit their sisters. I swear, with the amount of money we shovel into the University of Oregon for those three, you’d think the university would have champagne and caviar waiting for us when we visited.” His smile was rueful as he shook his head. “But it
is
Monday, no matter how cheerful you are. And as soon as you get yourself organized I want you and Sam in my office to bring me up to speed on the transient camp murders.”
    “Murders? Plural?”
    “Yeah, the guy on life-support died yesterday. Guess you were too busy having a good time to hear.” He clearly had his own ideas about what she’d done over the weekend. And, judging from his comment, they were uncomfortably close to reality.
    Sam was at his desk already. “L.T. wants to see us in a half hour, Sam. The second vet from the camp died.”
    “Yeah, I know.” He looked her up and down. “You look remarkably happy this morning. Apparently he finally asked you out.”
    Sam, she knew, would not be as easily diverted as their boss had been but she had to try. “Who’s he?”
    “The doc. He finally made his move. It’s about damn time. He’s been sniffing around you for weeks.”
    “Sniffing around me? Jesus, Sam, you make me sound like a bitch in heat.”
    He had the grace to look abashed. “You know I didn’t mean that. He’s just awfully slow. I’d have asked you out weeks ago.”
    “Oh, for God’s sake, don’t even go there. That’s too weird for words.”
    He was doing a poor job of looking offended. “What’s wrong with me? There’ve been plenty of women who’ve thought I was a hot guy.”
    “Yeah, your wife — my friend — included. And none of them your partner.”
    “Since all my partners until you have been men, it’s goddamn unlikely any of them thought I was a hot guy.” However, he was not about to be deterred. “You haven’t answered my original question although your need to move this conversation in another direction leads me to an affirmative answer. What did you do?” He was smirking as he asked the question.
    Danny played it straight. “We had dinner.”
    The smirk changed to curiosity. “Oh? Where? Was it good? I’m looking for someplace to take Amanda for our anniversary.”
    She hesitated for a few moments. “He made coq au vin for me at his house.”
    “Christ, I don’t need to ask what you did for dessert. I assume you were putty in his hands after that.”
    If she’d been prone to blushing, remembering what they’d done for dessert would have turned her flaming red. “When have you ever known me to be putty in anyone’s hands, Sam?”
    “You have a point.” He waited for her to continue but when she didn’t, he collected some notes from his desk. “If you’re not going to give me any details, we might as well work. Let’s go see what we can thrash out about this asshole who’s shooting up the city’s homeless. That way the doc can concentrate on the next meal he’s cooking for you, not on worrying about his patients.” And he headed for their boss’s office.
    Forty-five minutes later