“Is he going to be a problem?”
“I don’t know.” But after Griffin’s display with the condoms, I doubted I’d see Skyler again.
“So, um . . . this.” He gestured between us. “Probably not a great idea if it becomes a regular thing. I’m busy.”
Busy. That term grated on my nerves but it didn’t matter. I was busy too.
“Agreed.” The orgasms had been out of this world but I was too raw for any sort of relationship, even if it was only for sex.
“Good.” He breathed, like he’d expected me to argue. “Lock up behind me.”
I was the chief of police, I had a black belt in karate, and I knew my way around a pistol, yet this man wanted to assert his protectiveness.
I hated that I liked it.
“See you around, Griffin.”
“Bye, Winn.” He waved once, then headed for the door.
I waited beside the window, watching until his truck disappeared down the block, then I locked the door and went to the bedroom. The air smelled like Griffin and sex.
The fitted sheet on the mattress was rumpled and my comforter had been kicked to the foot of the bed. The black alarm clock on the floor beside a discarded pillow showed it was three thirty. There was no way I’d get back to sleep, not now, so I dropped the sheet and went to the bathroom for a scalding shower.
Dressed in jeans and the black button-down shirt that every officer wore as part of their uniform, I headed to the station.
The night shift was just a skeleton crew, so it was quiet when I parked in my reserved space. The dispatcher at the desk jerked in surprise when I walked through the door.
“Oh, uh, hi, Chief.”
“Good morning.” I smiled. “Hope you guys have some coffee on.”
“Just brewed a fresh pot.” He nodded, then buzzed me in so I wouldn’t have to use my key.
With a steaming mug in hand, I retreated to my office, where stacks of files from yesterday were waiting, and I wasted no time diving in. The shift change at six was a bustle of activity and more than one officer gave me a wide-eyed look when I emerged from my office to join them in the bullpen.
Conversation was stunted. Laughter limited. I listened in as the night shift gave their summary report, then returned to the solitude of my office so they could have a few minutes without the boss eavesdropping.
Maybe one day, they’d welcome me into their huddle.
Maybe one day, it wouldn’t bother me that they didn’t.
“Knock, knock.” Janice poked her head inside my office. “Good morning.”
“Hi.” I smiled and waved her in.
“You okay?” she asked, studying my face.
I opened my mouth to lie but a question came out instead. “Can I confess something?”
“Sure.” She took a seat across from my desk, the folder she’d brought along resting on her lap.
“This is my first job as the boss. You probably know that already.”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“Is it that obvious that I haven’t done this before?”
“No, but we all read the paper.”
My lip curled. The reporter had completely omitted my résumé, making it seem like my only qualification was the last name Covington. “I’m used to being in the bullpen, not in an office. I’m used to being in on the conversations, not on the receiving ends of the official reports. I’m used to being included. I didn’t expect it to be so jarring, the difference between being an officer and being the chief.”
“That’s understandable.” Janice gave me a soft smile but didn’t offer any advice.
There was none to give. I wasn’t an officer. I was the chief.
The line between the two was necessary, even if that put me on one side, alone.
“Anyway.” I waved it off and pointed to the folder. “What do you have for me?”
“The autopsy came in from the medical examiner for Lily Green. I thought you’d want to see it before I put it on Allen’s desk.”
“Yes, please.”
Allen was the officer officially assigned to Lily Green’s death, though he hadn’t seemed to mind my interference. In a way, he’d almost seemed relieved when I’d told him I was going to be taking an active role. And when I’d offered to tell Melina Green of her daughter’s death, he’d instantly agreed.
Janice handed over the report, then went through a short list of items that needed to be addressed. Afterward, she left me to the autopsy.
It was almost exactly as I’d anticipated. The cause of death was extreme bodily trauma due to a fall. There’d been no substances in her blood. No marks or wounds beyond those caused by the impact.
The only note of interest was Lily’s sexual activity. The examiner noted that she’d likely had sex within twenty-four hours prior to her death because there’d been lubricant residue on her skin, though no semen.
“Huh.” I pulled out my notepad for the case, flipping through my notes.
Melina had told me that Lily hadn’t had a boyfriend when I’d asked. Maybe she hadn’t known? If Lily had been seeing someone, would her boyfriend have insight into her mental state? Had he been with her before her death, driving her car? Had he taken her to those deserted gravel roads along the Eden’s ranch?
As much as I wanted to hunt down answers to those questions, they’d have to wait. My day was filled with meetings and phone calls. Another unexpected side effect from being the chief. I hadn’t expected the meetings, and transitioning from investigations to management was going to take some getting used to.
Whatever grace the staff and community had given me during my first week was gone, because the administrative work came in a flood.
Finally, around four o’clock, I hit my first lull of the day. My calendar was clear until tomorrow, and though there were emails to return, I needed to get away from this desk. So I grabbed my purse and escaped the station.
The route to Melina Green’s house was familiar, and when I parked in front of her white picket fence, she was kneeling on the grass beside a flower bed.
“Afternoon,” I called.
She looked over her shoulder, her blond hair tied in a braid beneath a straw hat. She gave me a shaky smile and stood, coming over as I opened her gate. “Hi, Winnie.”
“How are you?” I opened my arms and she walked right into my embrace.
“Minute by minute. That’s what you told me, right?”
“Minute by minute.”
It was something Poppy had told me after my parents had died. I’d asked her how to deal with the sort of pain that tore through every heartbeat.
“What are you working on?” I asked, letting her go.
“Weeding. I was tempted to stay in my pajamas all day but . . .” Unshed tears glistened in her eyes. “I need to do something, anything, but cry.”
“I can understand that. Why don’t you put me to work?”
We spent the next thirty minutes cleaning two flower beds. The afternoon sun was hot on my black shirt, but I sat beside Melina, plucking shoots of grass and baby thistles as sweat dampened my brow.
“I need to ask you a question about Lily. Would you mind?”
“No.” She shook her head, her eyes focused on the trowel in her hand and the weeds she chopped at the root. The blade sank into the earth with a gritty slice. She’d get through this loss by keeping busy. I’d done the same. Because when you were busy, there was less time to think. Less time to hurt.