Above the Law (11 page)

“We’re nothing if not efficient. Speaking of efficiency, Elaina managed to borrow a van from one of the local affiliates so we can all ride together.”

“Oh, okay.” Dale didn’t know why, but the change in plans threw her a bit. She’d planned on driving. Maybe she’d expected more autonomy than being trapped in the van with the entire film crew would allow. She braced for meeting everyone else. “Where are they?”

Lindsey pointed at one of the circular drives on the side of the hotel. “Over there.”

Dale stiffened as Lindsey grabbed her arm and started walking in the direction she’d indicated, but Lindsey didn’t seem to notice. Forcing her stride into motion, Dale glanced down at Lindsey’s hand, curled around her bicep. Smooth skin, manicured nails, no ring. Her Internet research hadn’t revealed anything about a spouse or partner. Lindsey Ryan took care of herself, but not for someone waiting at home. More likely, she self-pampered for the camera and her career. What must it be like to have a job where someone younger and more beautiful was poised to take over the minute your ratings slipped?

She didn’t have much time to contemplate the answer before they were next to a van from the local station Channel 8 news. The side door slid open, and she looked inside, recognizing the driver as the guy who’d accompanied Lindsey to the office earlier in the week. The other two passengers were women who could not have looked more different. One was dressed in jeans, a T-shirt, and Doc Martens. She was cute in a here’s-my-younger-sister kind of way and she looked all of fifteen. The other woman looked like Lindsey did today, polished, professional, and dressed to the nines, but she didn’t look like she would ever be comfortable in the outfit Lindsey had thrown on yesterday morning. She was classically beautiful, but in that too good to be true and completely untouchable kind of way. This chick probably slept in ironed sheets wearing expensive lingerie, and she definitely loved salads. Not at all her type.

The thought hit her like a stun gun—unexpected, hard, and painful. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d thought about another woman being her type, but she knew it had to be before she’d met Maria. Peyton’s words from earlier in the week echoed in her head and dug their claws into her heart. She hadn’t thought about dating since she’d lost Maria, and a simple observation about whether another woman was attractive or not didn’t mean her perspective had changed. Especially since she’d concluded she wasn’t attracted to her at all.

“Climb in and I’ll introduce you to everyone.”

Dale turned at the sound of Lindsey’s voice. She might not be attracted to the polished beauty in the van, but Lindsey…Lindsey was a different story. Today she was polished for the camera, but the image of Lindsey in her rumpled sweatshirt, hair pulled back in a jumbled mess, and no makeup yet looking absolutely stunning flashed in her mind. Her probing questions, her teasing tone, the way her eyes reflected kindness even when she was asking hard questions—all of these things rattled against the barriers she’d erected, and the realization caught her completely off guard.

The air around her grew thin, and she was crawling out of her skin. One thing was certain, no fucking way was she getting into a van with Lindsey Ryan. She muttered something about needing to drive her own vehicle and stalked back to her truck.

Lindsey watched, baffled, as Dale walked briskly away from the van. Just when she’d started to breach the barriers Dale had erected, she morphed from mildly reluctant tour guide to I can’t be bothered to be near you. Dale had turned pale and distant just before she bolted, and Lindsey wanted desperately to know what had caused the change.

“What the hell was that about?”

Lindsey turned to Elaina. She was so absorbed in curiosity about Dale she’d almost forgotten about Elaina and the others. “New development. She’s meeting us there.” She shrugged and kept her face fixed in a nonchalant expression. “Work thing.” She climbed into the van. “Let’s go.”

Elaina huffed, but told Jed to take them downtown. Lindsey consciously avoided the questioning looks from Jed and Alice. They’d seen the entire exchange and were probably wondering what in the hell had gotten into Dale. She wondered too and had no idea why she’d told the little white lie to cover for Dale’s sudden attack of odd. In the moment, she’d sensed Dale was vulnerable and hadn’t even tried to combat the powerful urge to protect her.

She’d have to get over that if she was going to do her job. And despite the network’s assignment to keep this piece sweet and tidy, she was determined to find a meatier story, one worthy of her loyal viewers and her own integrity.

Dale was already in the lobby when they reached Dallas Police headquarters. Elaina ignored her and walked over to the officer on duty, but Lindsey hung back. When it became clear Dale wasn’t going to approach, she told Alice and Jed she’d be right back and walked to where Dale was standing.

“You have an aversion to news vans?” she asked.

Dale’s gaze remained fixed on some imaginary spot on the wall. “Not a big fan.”

“I’m sensing you aren’t a big fan of me either. I thought we were beginning to get along. Have I done something to make you mad?” Lindsey hated herself for asking the question, but as much as it might be construed as a sign of weakness, she really wanted to know the answer. She waited patiently while Dale’s face cycled through a series of hard to interpret expressions before finally landing on a forced smile.

“It’s not you.”

“And you’d tell me if it was?”

“Did your job make you cynical or were you just born that way?”

Lindsey started to fire back a retort, but stopped to ponder Dale’s response. It was a good question, and she wasn’t sure of the answer. She’d been raised by a family full of conservatives, who blindly followed the loudest voice of their movement and discouraged any curiosity that questioned their beliefs. Maybe her intense desire to know all the facts, to find the truth, was a visceral reaction to the pressure not to. But she had no desire to bare her soul to anyone, let alone the subject of her next reveal. Luckily, Elaina chose that exact moment to interrupt.

“If you girls are done chatting, they’re ready for us.”

Lindsey saw Dale wince at the word “girls,” and then raise her eyebrows when Elaina clutched her arm. She kept her eyes on Dale as she shrugged out of Elaina’s grasp and said, in a dripping sweet tone, “We
girls
have been waiting on you, haven’t we, Dale?”

The smile at the edge of Dale’s lips was small and fleeting, but Lindsey saw it and was supremely satisfied she’d been able to make it appear. During the next couple of boring hours of setting up and interviewing the police chief about his organization’s role in the drug Take-Back program, she reflected on that smile and vowed to go for an even bigger one next time.

C
HAPTER
N
INE

Dale led Lindsey and the rest of the film crew into a conference room where Chief Turner and a few other local police officers were waiting. She’d worked with several DPD officers on cases in the past, handing them evidence on some of the minor cases the DEA had passed on because they weren’t quite splashy enough to warrant federal dollars. Turner acknowledged her and introduced her to the others at the table. When he reached the one woman in the bunch, Dale beat him to the introduction. “Detective DeJesus, nice to see you again.”

Andrea DeJesus half stood and shook her hand with a firm grasp. “Didn’t know if you’d remember me.”

“I always remember people who do my job for me.” Andrea had brought the DEA in on a huge crystal meth bust the year before, and Dale remembered being impressed with the level of detail in the initial investigation. She’d even mentioned to Diego at the time that he should snatch Andrea up for their agency. Dale turned to the chief. “If all your vice detectives are as good as this one, you’ll be putting us out of business.” She started to say something else, but was interrupted by the distinct sound of a clearing throat behind her. She turned just as Lindsey leaned forward and whispered in her ear.

“Careful, you’re making her blush.”

Dale looked back and caught sight of a smile on Lindsey’s face, but her eyes flashed a different emotion entirely. Annoyance? Jealousy? Surely not. She decided she was reading too much into a fleeting facial expression and filed it away to examine later. Or not. For now, she’d focus on business. “Ms. Ryan, do you want to go over your questions for Chief Turner while your team sets up?”

Lindsey stepped back, out of her space. “Great idea, Agent Nelson. Chief, I’d rather ask you questions once we’re on camera so we don’t look rehearsed, but why don’t you give me a little background about how your department got involved in this program?”

Dale walked to the other side of the room and did her best to tune them out. Her role for the next however long was babysitter, which was fine by her. She pulled out her phone and scrolled through her emails and texts. Peyton had sent a text confirming another poker game for the next night, and Bianca had sent a text to make sure she’d make the off the books meeting she’d scheduled for that evening. She texted them both back and started sifting through her growing email inbox. She was in the middle of reading through a report of the forensics from the raid on the barn when Lindsey’s voice cut through her concentration.

“What assurances can you provide that the drugs you collect won’t wind up in the hands of criminals? Isn’t it true you’ve had trouble over the past year dealing with fallout after several of your senior detectives were caught selling contraband they’d collected from crime scenes?”

Holy shit. Dale pushed off the wall and started walking toward the conference room table where Chief Turner and his team sat like rotisserie chickens at the grocery story under the bright lights of Lindsey’s interrogation. She tapped Elaina on the shoulder and whispered, “What the hell is she doing?”

Elaina raised one shoulder and put her finger on her lips. The dismissive gesture pissed Dale off and she strode over to stand directly behind the kid with the camera. She was out of Lindsey’s view, but Chief Turner made eye contact and didn’t bother to hide his annoyance at Lindsey’s probing questions. No surprise there. This supposed puff piece had soured with the very first on-camera interview. Despite his obvious annoyance, Turner handled the question like a pro, telling Lindsey and her viewers the scandal that had rocked his department had been a wake-up call about the need for better protocols in handling the collection and storage of contraband evidence.

“Every mistake is an opportunity for us to become a better, more efficient force for justice in the community,” Turner said. “While we would love to report we have no problems, I’m happy to report the issues we’ve had in the past make us stronger for the future.”

Dale nodded. Well said. Thankfully, Lindsey didn’t press the point and moved on to the specifics of the police department’s involvement in the Take-Back day activities. A couple of the officers, including DeJesus, already participated in the department’s DARE program in the local schools and would be offering several sessions at city hall on the official day. DeJesus explained what the sessions would entail, and Dale enjoyed watching the excitement on her face as she talked about working with kids.

Maria had enjoyed visiting schools and talking about the importance of law enforcement as a way to keep communities safe. She had been a perennial favorite at the local high schools and appeared every year on career day to tout the challenges and benefits of working with the US attorney’s office. Her love for the job was at the top of the list of things Dale loved about her.

The rest of the interview was uneventful, and Lindsey ended the session on a high note by getting each of the officers to relate the event to something personal in their lives. Dale watched carefully for any signs that Lindsey might try to twist their words, but at this point in the process she seemed bored with the interview—a stark contrast to the way her eyes blazed with excitement when she was grilling the chief.
Need to be careful with that one—she feeds on drama.

Dale followed the film crew out of the building, waiting until they were in the parking lot to say her piece, but instead of directing her comments to Lindsey, she spoke directly to the producer. “I was under the impression these interviews were about the DEA’s program, not a witch hunt on the local police force.”

“Sometimes our reporters ask questions to round out the story,” Elaina said. “Don’t worry. Everything will go through edits before it airs.”

Elaina flicked a glance at Lindsey, and Lindsey frowned in response. Dale watched their unspoken exchange, certain she detected a push and pull between them that was at odds with the easy way Elaina had cuddled up to Lindsey when they’d arrived at police headquarters. Something was going on between these two, but she didn’t have the time or patience to sort it out. She needed to make sure Lindsey’s bulldog tendencies didn’t stray over to the side investigation she had going with Peyton and the rest of the covert task force. No more lunches and no more sharing personal details about her own life. Strictly business with this one.

*

Hours later, Dale walked into J.R.’s and spotted Bianca sitting in a corner booth. When she slid into her seat, she caught Bianca making a show of looking at her watch. “I know I’m late. Couldn’t be helped.”

“Don’t tell me, poor you, having to spend the day with Lindsey Ryan. Do you know how many women, and men for that matter, would trade places with you in a heartbeat?” She rubbed her thumb and forefinger together like a tiny violin. “Listen hard for my nonexistent sympathy.”

Dale bit back the harsh response that rose to her lips. Bianca was only teasing and she didn’t mean anything by it. The worst thing she could do was let her or anyone else know how much Lindsey had gotten under her skin. “She’s okay, I guess.”

“You guess?” Bianca bent closer. “Seriously, is she as totally badass in person as she is on TV?”

Badass. Not the word she would have used to describe Lindsey. Smart, engaging, well-spoken, but badass? She hadn’t seen enough of her on TV to know if Bianca’s characterization was accurate, but the questions she’d asked Chief Turner seemed designed to foster a tiger-like reputation. Even the producer had seemed a bit thrown when Lindsey strayed from the script. And speaking of that producer, what was her deal? Dale hadn’t missed the possessive way she led Lindsey around. Something about the way she touched her, the glances she gave, signaled more than a work relationship.