Through a haze of dizziness, she raised her weapon and fired twice in quick succession. The figure on the catwalk tumbled over the rail and hit the concrete with a sickening thud.
Another gun blast reverberated through the warehouse.
Erin screamed her partner’s name, but she knew it was too late. She’d seen the bullet hit its mark. She tried to stand, but her legs refused to obey. An animal-like sound tore from her throat as she sank to the cold concrete. Her vision blurred, but she didn’t lose consciousness. Through a haze of shock, she heard sirens wailing in the distance. Angry shouts. The shuffle of shoes against concrete.
Twenty yards away, her partner lay silent and still.
Rage and disbelief mingled with grief. Pain slashed her with brutal force, but it was nothing compared to the guilt exploding in her heart.
Please, God, don’t let him die.
As the darkness caved in around her, she silently prayed her partner would live. In a small corner of her mind, she prayed he would be able to forgive her for what she’d done. As unconsciousness overtook her, she prayed she would someday be able to forgive herself.
Chapter 1
Erin McNeal pulled her car up to the parking meter outside the Logan Falls, Indiana, police department and stared at the two-story brick building, a sense of dread gathering in her chest like a thunderstorm.
“You can do this,” she said aloud, ordering her fingers to release their death grip on the steering wheel. But the words did little to ease the rapid-fire beat of her heart or the suffocating clenching in her chest.
The realization that she was nervous sent a bitter laugh to her lips. She’d dealt with some of the toughest criminals on the street during her nine-year career with the Chicago Police Department. Yet here she was, reduced to a mass of frayed nerves over a job interview with the police chief of a town half the size of the beat she’d once walked.
But that was all over now, she reminded herself darkly. She was no longer a member of the Chicago Police Force. She was no longer the only woman who’d gone from beat cop to tactical officer to narcotics detective in the span of nine years.
The fact of the matter was that Erin was out of a job. The deputy position with the Logan Falls PD was the best prospect in sight, especially for a cop with a bum shoulder, a tarnished reputation and a duffel bag full of personal baggage. Small town or not, she’d damn well better make a good impression.
Her nerves snapped like lit dynamite fuses as she got out of the car and approached the august portals of the police station. Her purse slung over her good shoulder, she clutched her résumé in one hand, raised her chin and took two deep breaths. The ritual should have calmed her, but it didn’t. The laugh hovered in her throat again, but she didn’t give in to it. Six months ago, bursting through the door of a deserted warehouse with an armed suspect holed up inside hadn’t scared her this much. Of course, back then she’d had that addiction to adrenaline and the knowledge that she was damn good at what she did to back her. Now, with her confidence shattered and her career down the proverbial drain, she figured she’d be lucky to get through this with her dignity intact.
Vowing not to let the past interfere now, Erin put on her cop’s suit of armor and headed toward the door, praying the man on the other side wasn’t particularly discerning.
Police Chief Nick Ryan brooded over the résumé. On paper, the career of ex-detective Erin McNeal left no room for disappointment. Two department commendations. The Blue Star Award. The Award of Valor. She’d come recommended by Commander Frank Rossi of the Chicago PD—a man Nick had called a friend since his academy days. A man to whom Nick owed a favor.
Erin was a good cop, Frank had assured him. Streetwise. Tough. A little too confident. A little too cocky. Well, up until the night she’d botched a sting operation—and her partner paid the price. Frank had been forced to take her off the street. She had ended up resigning in disgrace.
Hell of a note that the situation had ended up in Nick’s lap. He needed a damaged cop working for him about as much as he needed a tornado ripping through his town. Why didn’t Frank just ask him to jump off the bridge down at Logan Creek?
Nick had been looking for a deputy for nearly a month. Tarnished reputation or not, Erin McNeal fit the bill. The fact that she was Frank’s niece pretty much sealed the deal. Damn Frank for calling in the chips now.
Nick stared at her résumé, troubled and more than a little annoyed by the situation. He knew better than to get involved in this woman’s plight. He didn’t care about Erin McNeal or her problems. He didn’t care that she’d once been a good cop. McNeal had committed the ultimate cop’s sin: she’d frozen up at a crucial moment. In Nick’s book, a cop who couldn’t back up her partner didn’t deserve to be a cop.
But Nick owed Frank. Frank had been there for him after Rita. He’d been Nick’s best man when he’d married her. Twelve years later, Frank had been a pallbearer at her funeral.
Blowing out a sigh, Nick leaned back in his chair and raked his fingers through his hair. He didn’t want to deal with this. He didn’t want to take a chance on a damaged cop, even if Logan Falls was a small town where the crime consisted of petty theft and the occasional domestic dispute. But he’d promised Frank he’d keep an eye on her. Keep her out of trouble. Give her a chance to get back on her feet. Nick figured he’d probably live to regret it. But then, he was good at living with regrets. What was one more heaped atop a pile that was already sky-high?
“Heck of a résumé.” Hector Price, Nick’s only other full-time deputy, whistled. “Best one we’ve seen, Chief. This guy has credentials out the bazoomba. Six years on patrol. Two on the tactical team. A year in narcotics.”
“McNeal is a woman,” Nick said irritably.
Hector looked dumbstruck. “Shoot, Chief, she’s good. A black belt in karate. Holy cow, her marksmanship is better than yours. She’s good.” Catching Nick’s dark look, Hector added, “I mean, for a woman.”
Good by a man’s standards, too, Nick thought sourly. Too good, in fact. He wondered what she had to prove, who she needed to prove it to. He wondered if all those skills had anything to do with guilt.
He’d known her partner, Danny Perrine, from his days in Chicago. He’d heard the rumors about the shooting. The night Erin McNeal forgot about her marksmanship, her black belt in karate and everything else she’d learned at the academy. Danny had paid a steep price because of her.
“As long as she doesn’t mind putting those fancy credentials to use down at the school crosswalk,” Nick said.
“We’ve never had a woman cop in Logan Falls, Chief. That ought to be interesting.”
Nick could do without the interesting part. He could damn well do without the headache. He hadn’t even met the woman and already disliked her on principle alone. He knew it wasn’t fair, but he didn’t care about that, either. Of course he didn’t have to like her to appease Frank—just put up with her until she figured out small-town police work wasn’t to her liking.
The bell on the front door jingled. Nick looked up. Something went soft in his chest when he saw the woman standing at the door looking as if she’d just walked into a lion’s den—and wanted to personally kick him out no matter how big his fangs. Her expression was an odd combination of raw nerves and don’t-mess-with-me tough. McNeal wasn’t due for another two hours. Besides, he would know a cop on sight. This woman wasn’t a cop, but a piece-of-fluff civilian. He wondered what she was selling, and if this was her first day on the job.
She wore a nicely cut pantsuit that sacrificed curves for style. Even with low heels, she was tall, just a few inches short of his six-foot-two frame. Nick could tell by the way she moved that she was athletic. He