“Great to see you, Luke. How’s it going? Chopped any heads off yet?”
That brought a laugh from Luke because he’d come to expect that question whenever they met. “How are you, Jack? I haven’t, but my fingers are getting itchy.”
McCarthy ordered two beers for himself. “One of the rewards of retirement,” he explained. “How are you and Strange getting along?”
Luke cocked an eyebrow. “Fried Norfolk spots today,” he told the waiter before turning his attention to his friend. “Do you expect Axel to be a problem?”
Jack enjoyed his first swallow of beer, shook his head and laughed. “Luke, that man is a problem. Don’t you know he submitted a written application for every promotion you got? Of course, he lost to you every time. I told him it wasn’t even a contest. By the time I retired, he’d become obsessed with you. Wanted to know about your assignments, expense accounts, semiannual evaluations, and I don’t know what all. I told him the way to beat you was to do a better job.”
“Well, I’ll be doggoned. I just thought maybe he’d dragged himself up by his bootstraps, and that accounted for his grabbing at everything he saw. It wouldn’t hurt him to try hard work.”
“Not a chance. I gave him that choice many times, but if he took it, I saw no evidence of it. He takes the easy way every time, and that’s unusual for a man with his background. He comes from a topflight family of self-made men, but he doesn’t like work and he’s devious. I’d watch him closely.”
Luke sniffed the aroma of sizzling spots and hush puppies as the waiter set the plates on the table. “Yeah.” He bit into one of the deep-fried balls of spicy corn bread and let himself enjoy it. “I’m glad you told me about Strange, because I’ve been planning to reassign him. I think I’d better wait on that.”
After saying goodbye Luke headed back to the precinct, pondering Jack’s admonition about Axel as he drove. He’d rather not have to deal harshly with any of his staff, but if Axel challenged him, he’d teach the man a lesson.
Several days later, Randy raced into the bookstore from his one-hour sojourn at PAL. With a pout that Kate recognized, he flung his book bag on the counter near where she stood waiting on a customer. She stared hard at him until he greeted her and the woman, moved his books and went into her office. A week earlier, he would have ignored her silent reprimand.
“What’s the problem?” she asked him after the customer had left.
“That place is like the army,” he grumbled. Even in that short time, his manners had improved, for he answered her without hesitation.
“You agreed to go, Randy, and you’re going. You have to keep your word. Why are you complaining?”
“Keep my word. Keep my word,” he mimicked. “I heard that fifty times every day I’ve been there. Next week is my week to deliver stuff to some old people. A guy drives the truck, and I get out and take the stuff in.”
She thought for a minute, wanting to shame him. “Can these senior citizens get the food themselves, and do they have the money?”
She knew she’d gotten to him when he hung his head. “Captain Luke says they’ll starve if we don’t help them out.”
“I see. You wouldn’t like that, would you?”
It pleased her that his bottom lip no longer protruded and that his frown had vanished. “No, I guess. But Captain Luke said that after next week, I have to teach the other four guys in my group how to do it. But I wanna take tennis lessons.”
She’d locked the store before going into the office. When the buzzer rang, she rushed toward the door, saw Luke Hickson in his navy blue uniform, a stunning figure, and tried to settle her nerves. If he didn’t turn her heart into a runaway train, he’d calm her just by being there. Looking at him, she thought he could handle anything and anybody.
Luke stepped into the store and gazed down at her. She’d had no cause to doubt her sanity, but when his pupils went from gray to a near-black, with fiery twinkles all around them, she wondered if she’d imagined it.
He grinned. “Hi.”
Quickly, she shifted her gaze. If he told her he didn’t know the effect of that grin, she wouldn’t believe him.
“Hi, yourself. Randy was just complaining about the assignments you gave him,” she said, her voice climbing as she strove to reduce the tension between them.
Luke lifted his shoulder in a quick dismissive shrug, and she knew she hadn’t taken his mind off them by opening the subject of Randy. “Let him complain. He doesn’t fool me, because I know he’s enjoying himself. And he’s proud he was singled out as group leader.”
She stared at Luke. “He was?”
“Yeah. Didn’t he tell you? He’s doing great.”
She let out a long breath. “What a relief. He says he wants to spend his time learning to play tennis.”
Luke stuffed his hands in his trouser pockets, his slight frown suggesting that Randy wasn’t his priority right then. “I’ll teach him how to play tennis, but not till he learns to enjoy helping people who need his help. Where is he?”
She nodded toward her office. “In there.”
Luke looked into the distance, seemingly debating with himself. Then he fixed a penetrating gaze on her. “How about dinner? Randy’s welcome to come along.”
She hadn’t expected that, and she knew her demeanor betrayed her eagerness to accept. “I…I’d like to, but I don’t allow Randy to be out at night if he has school the next day. I’m sorry.”
She would learn that Luke was resourceful, and not easily stymied. “Tell you what,” he said. “Suppose I go in there and work with him on his lessons, and you get Madge to look after him while we go to dinner? We can get takeout for him, and he can eat at home. What about it?”
Eagerness be hanged! She wanted to go with him, and she didn’t see the sense in pretending she didn’t. “Okay.”
Madge would probably agree, but how would Randy react to having Luke go over his lessons with him? Well, she figured Luke could handle it. Besides, a good dose of Luke was what Randy needed.
“You want to go back to the River Café?” Luke asked later as he pulled away from the curb in front of the apartment building in which she lived.
She’d liked the place, and readily agreed. “It’s very attractive, and I enjoyed the food.”
He spared her a side glance, mischief dancing in his gray eyes. “The food, huh? What about the company?”
She sank into the soft leather seat and got comfortable, eager to match wits. “I’ve had worse. Lots worse. Why do you ask?”
He paused at the Stop sign, looked from left to right, turned into Elm Avenue and headed for Effington Street and the River Café. “Since you ask, I’m wondering the same thing. Why did I ask? If you’d said I was a washout, you’d have crushed this poor heart.”
Laughter bubbled up in her. “How’d you fix your mouth to say that? If I’ve ever seen a man with a star on his forehead, it’s you. So I’m not going for that humble stuff.”
“You mean, you’re not willing to find out who I am? You think I’m a six-foot, four-inch Samson in a monkey suit? Just like every other tough cop in blue? That it?”
She sat up straight. This man had his vulnerable spots, and she’d better remember it. “Since that remark had a ring of seriousness, I won’t joke about it. I also won’t back away from what my instincts tell me. If I needed a defender, I’d send for you.”
His failure to comment told her more than she was comfortable knowing.