Free The Shining Badge by Gilbert Morris Page A

lights that gleamed under the overhead lights. He was conscious of the full, soft lines of her body within her dress. Her face was a mirror, he noted, that changed as her feelings changed, the features reflecting the swift changes of her mind.
    “Can you help him, Luke?”
    “I can try, but you’ll have to testify that he didn’t start the trouble. I can tell you right now that won’t make you very popular, challenging a white man’s word. Two white men, as a matter of fact, over the fate of a black man.”
    “What about you?”
    “I’m not popular anyway,” he laughed. He smiled then, and she admired the strong bone structure of his face. “Why are you helping him?”
    “I just like lost causes. I’ve got the scars to show for it.” Luke suddenly said, “You’re not married, are you?”
    “No.”
    “Got a steady boyfriend who’d beat me up if I asked you out?”
    The question obviously amused Jenny, and she laughed in a way he found very attractive, her chin tilting up and her lips curving in pretty lines. “No boyfriend at all.”
    “That’s good. I’ll pick you up at seven.”
    “You’re pretty sure of yourself, aren’t you?”
    “Actually I’m pretty shy, and I have to put on this act to make people think I’m outgoing.”
    Luke could almost see a curtain of reserve fall away, and a teasing expression of gaiety lit her eyes. Luke decided at that moment that Jenny Winslow was a complex and striking woman.
    “All right, pick me up at seven,” she said. “You’ll have to come in and meet the family. There’s quite a bunch of us.”
    “I’ll wear my graduation suit,” he smiled. “We’ll talk about the case tonight.”
    “All right, Luke . . . and thanks.” She put out her hand, and he looked at it for a moment, then took it. He squeezed it firmly but not hard as he nodded.
    “Seven o’clock it is.”
    Jenny left the office feeling pleased. She had not given romance much thought since leaving New York. There it had been her chief topic of conversation and the center of her thoughts, but it had only rarely entered her mind since moving to Georgia. But she liked Luke Dixon and was looking forward to the evening.
    Going back to the doctor’s office, she walked into the waiting room and, seeing no sign of Varek and Jamie, figured they were in with the doctor. There was no nurse to ask, and three other patients were waiting, so she simply sat and waited with them. After a short time Varek came out carrying Jamie. He had a slip of paper in his hand, and his eyes sought hers at once.
    “What is it, Clay?”
    He did not answer but nodded at the door. She went outside, and as soon as they were clear of the office, he said, “It’s the flu, but the doctor doesn’t think it’s dangerous.” Relief flooded his face, and she saw how tense he had been.
    “Is that a prescription?”
    “Yes. You know where the drugstore is?”
    “Sure. Come on.”
    She took Varek to the drugstore and stayed with Jamie while he went inside. She found the child, despite her discomfort, was bright and very intelligent. Jenny was tempted to ask about her mother, but she clamped down on that impulse with restraint.
    Varek came out, got into the truck, and nodded. She started the engine, and neither of them spoke until they were out oftown. As the Studebaker rumbled over the road, he turned and faced her. “I’ve been hearing talk about you.”
    “What kind of talk?”
    “That you’re taking on the powers that be.”
    “Oh, you mean about Noah Valentine.”
    “Yes. Why are you doing it?”
    She did not answer for a time, and then she turned and looked at him, removing her eyes from the road for a moment. “Because it’s the right thing to do,” she said firmly.
    Varek watched her as she drove along, admiring her profile and thinking, She is the kind of woman who won’t back down from a just fight. It was a way he had of summing up people, and he always respected those with enormous certainty and a