Cavanaugh Fortune

“Yes, sir,” Valri replied with conviction, beaming. The next second, she realized that it probably sounded to the chief as if she was bragging so she made an attempt to backtrack and say something a bit more humble. “I mean, I’m not trying to get you to think that I—”

“One thing you will learn, Officer,” Brian said, raising his voice and cutting through her statement, “is that no one ‘gets’ me to think anything.”

“No, sir,” she responded quickly, then realized that she was interrupting him while he was talking. “I mean—sorry, sir.”

“Nothing to be sorry about, Officer. And I’m proud to say that I’ve never been known to bite a single officer, so relax, Officer Cavanaugh.”

“Easier said than done, sir.”

He laughed then at the simple truth she had uttered in desperation.

“Yes, I imagine that it is,” he agreed with a soft chuckle. “So, tell me—and think carefully—are you up for this?” he asked her again.

There was no hesitation in Valri’s voice this time as she gave him her answer. “Yes, sir.”

He nodded, pleased.

“Good.” And then he hit the button on his intercom, connecting him to his administrative assistant out front. “You can send him in now, Raleigh,” he told the woman who had once patrolled the streets of Aurora, along with Lila, his wife.

“Right away, sir,” the feminine voice on the intercom promised.

The next moment, the door to Brian’s inner office was being opened and a tall, broad-shouldered detective with dirty-blond hair that was slightly longer than regulation dictated came walking in as if he owned every square inch of space he passed.

Sparing an appreciative glance at the officer sitting in front of the chief of Ds—Brody was not one who didn’t take note of beauty wherever he came in contact with it—the detective then focused his attention entirely on the man who he’d been told had requested his presence in his office.

Alex had spent his morning with a dead man in a dingy apartment that desperately needed a thorough cleaning and a massive dose of fresh air. The chief’s immaculate, spacious office was a very welcome contrast.

Alex stood behind the only empty chair in the room, waiting to find out if this was going to be something he needed to sit down for, or if this was just a quick, “touch base” sort of a meeting.

“You sent for me, sir?” he asked the chief.

Brian smiled. Gesturing for the young detective to sit down, he said, “I did indeed, Detective Brody.”

Chapter 2

“Detective Brody, this is Officer Valri Cavanaugh,” Brian told the new arrival. “Officer Cavanaugh, this is Alexander Brody, the homicide detective who caught the case we were discussing.”

Alex nodded at the woman to his left. Surprised when she put out her hand to him, he shook it belatedly, then glanced back at the chief.

“One of yours, sir?”

He’d put it in the form of a question, but the query was obviously rhetorical in nature. It was a given that all the Cavanaughs were related to each other in one way or another. It was one of the first things he’d learned when he came out of the academy and joined the Aurora PD.

The second thing he’d learned was that having all these related people around him was not really such a bad thing. The ones he had encountered so far—especially the detectives he’d worked with—were all at the top of their game.

The chief gave him an indulgent smile. “You’re all ‘one of mine,’ Detective,” Brian informed him.

Coming from anyone else, the words might have sounded a bit patronizing, but because of everything he’d heard—and his own limited experience with the man—the chief of Ds actually meant that. Brian Cavanaugh had been around for quite a while and he regarded everyone on the force as part of his extended family.

And, like a family, members were to be kept safe whenever possible, and when it became necessary, they all pulled together to get the job done and protect their own. Anything short of that was deemed unacceptable.

The funny thing was, Alex knew for a fact that nearly everyone tried to live up to those standards to the very best of their ability.

“Sorry, sir,” Alex apologized to the chief. “I meant no disrespect.”

“None taken,” Brian replied. “Let’s get down to business,” he continued, drawing his chair in closer and leaning forward over his desk. “Lieutenant Latimore tells me that you caught the last case.”

“Are you referring to the gamer who was found dead this morning?” Alex asked, wanting to be completely certain that he and the chief were talking about the same murder. When the chief nodded, Alex confirmed what the man already knew. “Yes, sir, that’s mine.”

Brian had one last piece of information he wanted to verify before going ahead with his plan. “Lieutenant Latimore also told me that your partner’s currently laid up in the hospital.”

Alex nodded. The incident was only a week in the past. “Detective Montgomery had a slight difference of opinion with a suspect driving a Jeep Cherokee SUV. The suspect thought he’d win the argument by running my partner over.”

“As I recall, you shot him from quite a distance. Most people play it safe and go for a kill shot from that far away, but you didn’t,” Brian said.

“He can’t talk if he’s dead, sir,” Alex told him simply.

“Very true,” Brian agreed. His eyes never left the detective’s. “Detective, I’m going to be giving you a temporary partner for this assignment.”

“Yes, sir,” Alex replied stoically.

He was trying his best to have his mouth offer at least a half smile, but he wasn’t quite succeeding at the moment. He was having better luck at steeling himself for what he sensed was going to be a bomb landing squarely on him.

Brian laughed softly. “It’s a temporary partnership, Detective. Not a life sentence,” Brian told the detective. “Loosen up a little.”

“Of course, sir,” Alex answered, struggling to restrain his uptight feeling, or at the very least, to keep it from showing. But he had worked long and hard to get to this position within the police force. He hadn’t done it to be turned into what, in his book, amounted to a glorified babysitter.

He slanted another, longer look at the officer sitting in the other chair. Even though she was in uniform, wearing her dress blues, she still seemed more like a cheerleader playing dress-up for Halloween than an actual police officer.

Judging by her face alone, he wouldn’t have said that she was actually old enough to be wearing the uniform. But she had to be, right? He sincerely doubted that the chief would have bent the rules and gotten her into the academy if she were underage. That wasn’t the kind of thing that Brian Cavanaugh would do.

Besides, that sort of thing was out of the chief’s hands, as far as he knew.

Still, none of that changed the fact that he felt as if he were being asked to supervise a totally wet-behind-the-ears beat cop.

Alex had never been the kind of man who stewed about something in private until it all but exploded inside him. Though restraint was his first order of business, if there was something he couldn’t docilely accept, the thought of registering a complaint was not beyond him. He didn’t want to rock the boat—this was the first professional interaction he’d had with the chief—but he wasn’t about to meekly accept the situation without a few facts.

“Could I ask why, sir?”

“Why what?”

“Why me?” Alex asked bluntly, for once not relying exclusively on his ability to charm people. The chief, he well knew, was a man who appreciated directness.

Brian paused for a long moment, studying both his cousin and the young detective. “You mean why am I saddling you with someone who is completely green when it comes to being out in the field as a detective?” Brian asked.

“Not exactly in those words,” Alex replied a tad uneasily, aware that the officer was looking at him intently. “But, well, yes. I’m really not much good at teaching anyone anything.”

It wasn’t modesty that prompted the disclaimer but rather honesty. He knew his strengths, of which he felt he had many, and his weaknesses. Mentoring or, more bluntly, teaching was among the latter.

The chief’s mouth curved ever so minutely. “Actually, I thought that Detective Cavanaugh—” he glanced toward his niece and saw that she brightened at the sound of her new title “—might be able to teach you a few things.”

Alex blinked. Now he was really lost.

“Sir?” Alex asked, requesting an explanation for that last statement.

“You’re dealing with a dead gamer who, I’m told, was also rather a well-known and proficient hacker. Both professions, from all indications, do not promote lasting friendships. It’s more of a case of the exact opposite being true. A lot of people hated this man’s guts. His ego, his bravado, all that made Hunter Rogers a walking target.

“I want to find out who decided to indulge in target practice and why. I also want to find out if Rogers’s laptop can be salvaged.”

There, at least, he could offer the chief some definitive information—or so he believed. “Only if you’re interested in hanging on to a very unique doorstop,” Alex told him.

The moment the words were out of his mouth, he knew what he’d just said was wrong. The look on the chief’s face said as much.

“You and I see it that way,” Brian said. “But that’s where Detective Cavanaugh comes in.” He gestured toward her. “She thinks that there might be something that can be saved on that laptop.”

Alex remained unconvinced and he shook his head, contradicting what the chief had just said.

“No way,” Alex said firmly, then turned toward the woman and said, “No offense, Officer, but I saw it and you didn’t. That thing is now just a thin, broken waffle.”

Her interest fully engaged, she wasn’t about to let the detective stand in her way. “Then you won’t mind me looking it over.”

Alex shrugged. He knew when fighting city hall was useless. And this was one of those times. “Hey, knock yourself out. Look all you want. You still won’t find anything.” He turned back toward Brian. “It’s a waste of time, sir.”

“Duly noted, Detective,” Brian replied in a tone of voice that told Alex the chief still intended to have this pseudo-detective take a look at it.

Well, it was her time to waste, Alex supposed. And if she was busy playing detective and attempting to resurrect that wreck of a laptop, well, then, she wouldn’t be getting underfoot and in his way, would she? And, if for some remote reason she did find a scrap of viable information on the laptop, so much the better. Alex saw it as a win-win situation.

“Take her up to Homicide,” Brian instructed the detective. “I’ve given permission for Detective Cavanaugh to take over a desk and a computer. She’ll be using Montgomery’s for the time being, until he gets back,” he told Alex.

“And then what, sir?” Alex asked. He wasn’t one to plan too far ahead, but he did believe in having something in place against a future that didn’t treat slackers kindly.

“Well, by then I expect you and Detective Cavanaugh to have the murder solved,” Brian informed him in a voice that could be described only as confident. “That’ll be all for now,” he told the duo, dismissing them. “Oh, and Detective?”

Both he and the cheerleader he’d been saddled with said “Yes?” at the exact same moment. Alex did his best not to appear annoyed.

Brian smiled at the stereo response. “Keep me posted,” he instructed before getting back to reviewing the report that was currently on his desk.

“Yes, sir,” Alex replied, trying not to clench his jaw too hard.

“Absolutely!” Valri declared happily.

Alex suppressed a sigh. It was going to be a very long investigation.

As they left the outer office and went into the hall to get the elevator, Valri found she was having trouble containing a surge of enthusiasm.

“This is exciting,” she announced, feeling as if her feet were barely touching the ground. Just this morning, she’d been wondering how long it would take her to work her way up to detective, and now here she was, trying the role on for size. It just did not get any better than this.

Reaching the elevator half a step before Alex did, she pressed the up arrow and continued talking to her new partner.

“I mean, it’s not exciting for Hunter. He’s dead. But this is going to be my first case.” That wasn’t quite accurate, so she backtracked a little. “Well, my first case that I get to solve. All the other times, I just got to be there at the start, putting up yellow tape, taking notes, then handing them over to the detectives who took the case.”

She was fairly floating as she continued, taking no notice of the fact that there was no feedback coming from her tall, dark blond, handsome green-eyed partner.

The elevator car arrived, opening its doors slowly.

“But this time around, I get to be a detective. God, I hope I don’t screw up,” she said as she got into the elevator car.

“That makes two of us,” Alex said under his breath. He hadn’t intended for her to hear, but she did. Rather than insult her, it seemed to reinforce what she was thinking.

“You can tell me when I’m out of line,” Valri told him. Then, as if he’d said something to decline this request, she went on to assure him that criticizing her would be all right. “I’m the youngest in my family and I’m used to being criticized, so you won’t hurt my feelings.”

Right now, hurting this effervescent officer’s feelings was the furthest thing from his mind. “Good to know.”

If she heard the sarcasm in his voice, she gave no indication.

“Have you been a detective long?” she asked as the doors again opened on the fifth floor and she fairly bounced out of the elevator.

He spared her a glance. “Longer than you.”

Again, Valri didn’t appear to take any offense at his tone. “Everyone’s been a detective longer than I have,” she said with a laugh that he would have thought was charming if he wasn’t currently being so annoyed at the spot he found himself in.

It wasn’t that he resented getting a new partner, temporarily or otherwise. He’d had a couple already, and besides, it was the chief’s prerogative to pair up anyone he wanted. But what he did resent was the unspoken instruction that he needed to watch over this chattering blue-eyed blonde magpie and make sure that he returned her to the chief at the end of this assignment in the same condition that he’d received her.

That meant he couldn’t strangle her.

Granted, this energized temporary detective was very easy on the eyes, and in another scenario he might have even made a play for her. Beautiful women were a weakness for him even though he changed them a little more frequently than he had his jackets dry-cleaned.

But this wasn’t another scenario, it was this scenario and she was a Cavanaugh, which, drop-dead gorgeous or not, meant hands off unless, of course, he wanted to risk losing those same hands.

The moment he walked into the Homicide Division with her, he saw heads turning in their direction. If he didn’t know better, he would have said it was as if they’d tripped some sort of an invisible wire that immediately set off a silent alarm, heard only by the other homicide detectives who populated the squad room.

Heads turned and conversations slowly died out. Alex knew they weren’t looking at him. It was a given that news traveled approximately at the speed of light around the building.

If he hadn’t already figured it out before, he could see now that his new albatross wasn’t shy. Leaving his side for the moment, she worked the room, waving and saying “hi” to just about everyone and, from all appearances, schmoozing with various people in the department.

Detective Albatross was probably related, in one way or another, to all of them. Which meant that all eyes would be on them—and on him—to see if they were doing a good job.

If he was doing a good job mentoring her.

This was going to be a challenge, Alex thought grudgingly. A definite challenge for him, both as a detective and as a man. He would have to be sharp as the former and very hands-off as the latter.

The first part was not going to be nearly as much of a challenge as the second.

He waited as Valri made the various rounds through the room. He didn’t bother calling her over or saying anything to her until she finally rejoined him.

“I didn’t realize there were so many Cavanaughs in Homicide,” she told him.

“Murder attracts them, I guess,” he quipped. “Now, if you’re finished playing homecoming queen, I’ll show you where your desk is.”

“Brody, are you annoyed with me for some reason?” she asked, following him.

“What possible reason could I have to be annoyed with you?” he asked sarcastically, thinking that would put her off for a little while.

He should have known better.

“I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking,” she told him.

“I’m not annoyed,” he lied. “Just preoccupied.”

“With the case?” she asked.

He bit his tongue and gave her the appropriate answer, not the real one. “Yeah, with the case.”

She turned her face up to him and smiled. “Then let’s get started.”

He couldn’t strangle her here—or even vent. There were too many witnesses. All he could do was mentally shrug and let it go.

Alex brought her over to his desk. Butted against it was Jake Montgomery’s desk. The contrast between the two work surfaces was like night and day.

When it came to neatness, Alex was definitely not a stickler, but his desk looked like the last word in tidiness when compared with Montgomery’s. His partner’s desk had been officially dubbed no-man’s land the first week the guy had taken it over. Alex used to say that Montgomery never met a scrap of paper he didn’t like.

He had no idea how Montgomery could lay his hands on reports when he needed them, but the man could and he did, each and every time. Alex figured that a little bit of magic was involved, but he asked no questions, afraid of the answer he might get.

Now that he thought of it, the very sight of Montgomery’s desk might make this pseudo-detective turn tail and run.

“That’s your desk,” he told Valri, gesturing at the piece of office furniture hidden beneath piles and piles of papers, files and old candy wrappers. “Computer’s right there—somewhere,” he added since at the moment, the laptop that Montgomery was using just before he landed in the hospital was not visible.

His guess was that it had to be buried somewhere beneath all the various documents.

Valri stood in front of Montgomery’s desk, stunned. She was definitely not a neatness freak, but this was a whole different ball game. She glanced toward her partner to see if he was putting her on. But he looked dead serious.

“How can you tell?” she asked Alex, eyeing the disaster area.

The papers were all precariously stacked and she had a feeling that if she tried to remove so much as a single page, an avalanche would result. Maybe this was some sort of a prank that was religiously played on the “new kid” on the block. She glanced in Alex’s direction, hoping to be proved right.

His expression gave nothing away.

“Easy. I remember seeing it there just before he wound up in the hospital. He used it every day,” Alex told her.

Valri squared her shoulders. “Okay. If you say so,” she said as she began to feel around in the general vicinity, spreading her long, graceful fingers beneath the scattered papers.

Alex thought it would take her a while to locate the laptop, but he hadn’t counted on the fact that like most of her family, Valri was born with a stubborn streak that wouldn’t allow her to give up. It had her tackling each challenge as if she was competing for first place in a marathon. Nothing less would do.

Within a few minutes, she was grinning broadly, her eyes all but dancing as she glanced up at Alex. He found himself wishing that she looked more like his absent partner than a beauty pageant winner—bubbly, with a flawless complexion and what looked to be killer curves beneath her clothes. His partner was 0 for 3 in that department. “You’re right,” she cried, sounding as if she had just located buried treasure rather than an MIA laptop. “It’s right here.”

Almost in slow motion, Valri extracted the laptop from beneath a pile of papers, careful not to dislodge any of the documents.

To Alex’s surprise, she actually managed to do it, leaving the stacks upon stacks of papers almost exactly the way they were.

And then, as she held up the laptop for his benefit and her own delight, it happened. As if the piles of papers had been set on a ten-second delay timer, suddenly the less than well-ordered stacks began to fall, fast and furious, to the floor right before her feet.

And on her feet, as well.

Within seconds, there was an entire off-white mountain of papers engulfing her practically up to her knees.

Chapter 3

“Brody, what’re you trying to do, lose another partner before she even gets started by burying her alive in Montgomery’s useless garbage?”

The sharply voiced question came from behind Alex. He didn’t have to turn around to know who the gravelly voice belonged to. Only one person in the squad room talked like that. Len Latimore, the lieutenant who had recently taken over the Homicide Division, had a voice that sounded as if he had spent the past twenty-nine days drinking hard liquor that went down anything but smoothly.

“I’m not trying to bury her, Len,” Alex said, although now that he thought of it, that didn’t sound like altogether a bad idea. “She was trying to locate Montgomery’s laptop, which was supposed to be in there somewhere.”

Of medium height and build, and appearing as if he were permanently rumpled, Latimore scowled as he circumvented the off-white avalanche around the newest addition to the division.

“Looks like she found a lot more than that.” If there was anything Latimore hated, it was clutter not of his own making. “Get a large box out of the supply room and clean this stuff up,” he instructed.

“Yes, sir,” Valri responded. She’d just assumed, since she was low woman on the totem pole and, after all, she had been the one to disrupt the precarious stacks in the first place, that the lieutenant was talking to her. “Which way is the supply room?” she asked.

“Not you,” Latimore snapped. “You, I want to see in my office. You—” he turned to face Alex “—can get all of Montgomery’s junk cleared away.”

“Montgomery’s going to want all this when he gets back,” Alex pointed out. It wasn’t that he was particularly fond of the mess that his partner made, but he knew how he would have felt if someone had come and moved all of his things while he was in the hospital, especially since he’d been put there by job-related injuries.

“Yeah, well, what he wants and what he gets are two damn different things. This isn’t his squad room, it’s mine, and I don’t want to see this when I come out again,” he warned, pointing to all the papers scattered on the floor around the chief’s cousin. “Do I make myself clear?”

“It’s my fault, sir.” Valri was quick to speak up. “I caused the papers to fall.”

The last thing she wanted was for this to cause any hard feelings between her and Brody. She might still be green, but she knew that wasn’t the way to start a new partnership, temporary or otherwise.

Latimore’s frown deepened. “I’m not talking about whose ‘fault’ it is, Cavanaugh. I’m talking about cleanup.

“In my office, Cavanaugh,” Latimore ordered gruffly. “Now.”

Valri had no choice but to do as she was told. She couldn’t risk getting the lieutenant any angrier than he already seemed to be. Otherwise, she would have remained to help clean up the blizzard of pages before she went into the short, bull of a man’s office.

Valri glanced over her shoulder at her partner. She fervently hoped that the detective wouldn’t hold this against her. He didn’t look overly thrilled to be working with her to begin with. Having to clean up a mess she had caused, accidentally or not, was only going to make matters worse.