In Bed with the Badge Page 8

  He stared straight ahead at the road, driving. “I already told you about that.”

  Riley studied his rigid profile. “But that’s not who you were thinking of, was it?”

  She was like a bulldog with a bone. Or a pit bull. “Ever think of using your powers for good instead of evil, McIntyre?”

  “All the time,” she deadpanned, then quipped, “Evil’s more fun.” For now, she let him keep his secret. “Okay, we’re wasting time. Let’s table this for now. But in case you think you’re off the hook here, you’re not,” she assured him. “You owe me an answer.” There was no room for argument in her voice.

  All Sam really cared about was that she backed off. Since she had, he could pretend to go along with what she was saying. “Okay.”

  “And I’m going to collect.” Riley sighed. “I’m serious, Wyatt.”

  Sam slanted a look in her direction. “It never occurred to me that you weren’t.”

  “You know you need to take at least part of tomorrow off, don’t you?” she asked just as they were approaching the precinct.

  “Why?”

  For an intelligent man, he was a babe in the woods when it came to his responsibilities toward his daughter. “Because Lisa belongs in school and you need to enroll her. The sooner the better.”

  His only response was to groan.

  “She was an absolute dream,” Brenda told them less than half an hour later when they came to pick up the little girl. “Unlike my own children,” she added, giving the two in question as stern a look as she could. They appeared properly subdued, an act that would likely last ten minutes. “Any time you need someone to look after her,” she told Sam, “just give me a call.”

  “How do you feel about a permanent assignment?” Riley asked. “After school each day.”

  Brenda responded exactly the way Riley thought she would. “Sure, no problem. What elementary school does she attend?”

  Sam was about to say that he needed to enroll the little girl when Lisa spoke up without warning. “St. Theresa’s.”

  All three of the adults exchanged glances. “I can look it up,” Riley volunteered, addressing Wyatt.

  The next moment, the need for that was negated as Lisa rattled off the address. It turned out to be a local one, less than two miles away from where Sam lived. Which meant that the daughter he didn’t know about had been close all this time. It was a small, small world, he concluded.

  Riley ran her hand along Lisa’s hair. “At least there won’t be a problem with enrolling her quickly somewhere,” she pointed out. “One problem down.”

  “And a thousand to go,” Sam murmured under his breath.

  To his surprise, Lisa turned around and looked up at him. “There aren’t a thousand problems,” she said with conviction.

  Riley slipped her arm around the little girl’s shoulders. “You’re absolutely right. Your dad just likes to exaggerate sometimes. It helps him focus.”

  “What’s he focusing on?”

  “On what’s important.” Riley looked up at Wyatt. “Isn’t that right, ‘Dad’?” she asked pointedly, her expression telling him that she expected him to agree.

  Feeling somewhat overwhelmed, Sam lost track of what she was talking about. He figured it was safe if he just shrugged his shoulders and went along with it.

  “If you say so, it must be true.” Before leaving, he stopped to say one last thing to Riley’s stepsister-in-law. “Thanks a lot for taking Lisa on such short notice.” He took out his wallet. Opening it, he drew out all the bills he had. “Look, I’m really, really new at this kind of thing, so I have no idea. What’s the going rate for watching kids?”

  Brenda shook her head, pushing his hand back toward him. “Put your money away, Detective. We’ll talk about this some other time,” she promised. And then she winked just before shutting the door.

  The response surprised him a little. He tucked the bills into his wallet, then put the wallet into his back pocket.

  “Your stepsister-in-law just winked at me,” he told Riley as he quickly lengthened his stride to catch up. They reached the curb where both their vehicles were parked.

  “That’s just Brenda’s way of saying she likes you.” It had taken her a little getting used to, but Riley kept that to herself. She unlocked the door on the driver’s side of her car, then tossed her purse onto the passenger seat. “She’s one in a million.”

  Lisa moved closer to her. “May I go with you?” she asked suddenly.

  Was that relief Riley saw in Wyatt’s eyes? He was probably not looking forward to sharing the ride home with the little girl. Conversations with a six-year-old were probably unfamiliar to him, she guessed. Still, he had to learn. He was the only parent Lisa had left.

  “Don’t you want to ride with your dad?” Riley asked as tactfully as she could.

  Lisa didn’t take the hint. Like most children her age, Wyatt’s daughter was the personification of honesty. “No, I want to ride with you,” she quietly insisted.

  Well, at least she doesn’t throw tantrums, Riley thought.

  She looked over the little girl’s head at Wyatt, but the latter seemed relieved. And Lisa gazed up at her with pleading eyes.

  Riley caved. “Fine with me.”

  That was all that Lisa needed to hear. Like a bullet, the little girl raced to the passenger side of the vehicle, pulling at the door handle.

  Riley hit the lock release on the driver’s armrest. The other locks instantly popped up in unison.

  “You have to ride in the back, honey,” Riley told her kindly, then turned toward her partner. She’d forgotten about this earlier when they were coming here. “Doesn’t she have a car seat?” Lisa might be six, but she was petite and definitely under the weight cutoff point.

  Wyatt started to say he didn’t know, but Lisa cut in. “I do. It’s at home.” Lisa looked sad. “Car seats are for babies.”

  “And petite little girls. Trust me, you’ll like that description some day,” Riley said with a wink of her own. And then she replayed what Lisa had said. “Honey, if the car seat was in your mother’s car, I’m afraid it’s gone.” The car had been totaled. “We’ll have to get you another one.”

  Again Lisa shook her head. “Mama had another one for me. It was in the spare bedroom. In my home,” she emphasized. “I’ve got more things there, too. Aunt Carole didn’t bring everything with her when she brought me.” A small, shaky sigh separated her sentences. “She just wanted me to start getting used to you,” she explained, looking at Wyatt.

  “I’m going to go see ‘Aunt Carole’ about getting a key to your mom’s apartment so I can get the rest of your things,” he promised.

  No sooner were the words out of his mouth than Lisa dug into the tiny purse she had been carrying around and held up a key.

  “Is this okay?” she asked innocently.

  He took the key from her. “Is that a key to your apartment?” he asked the little girl in disbelief.

  “Yes. That’s why I gave it to you,” she answered as if she didn’t understand what the problem was.

  He remembered being a lot older before his father trusted him with a key to the house. “Aren’t you a little young to have your own key?”

  “No,” she replied authoritatively.

  Riley did her best to hide her amusement. “Guess we can’t argue with that,” she commented. For all they knew, the landlord was trying to rent out the apartment already. “Why don’t you go over there and see about getting Lisa her things? And while you’re doing that, I’ll take Lisa over to your place.” She looked at the little girl. “How do you feel about pizza for dinner?”

  “No pepperoni,” Lisa responded. “I’m not supposed to have meat.”

  “A miniature vegetarian,” she marveled. “Okay, no pepperoni on your side,” she compromised.

  Wyatt struggled against feeling constricted. His first reaction to McIntyre’s offer was relief. But that was wrong. This wasn’t her problem, it was his and he had to f
ace up to it sooner or later.

  “You don’t mind?” he asked.

  “If I minded,” Riley pointed out, “I wouldn’t have suggested it. I don’t do martyr well,” she assured him, then put out her hand. “Now give me the keys to your apartment so I can get in. My B&E techniques are a little rusty.”

  Sam took his apartment key off his key chain and handed it to her. “I owe you.”

  Riley grinned and he caught himself thinking that she had the ability to light up an area with her smile. “Yeah, you do,” she told him.

  The next minute, she got into her car and drove off.

  Chapter 8

  It took Sam almost two hours before he finally returned to his own apartment.

  He had trouble deciding exactly what to take and what to leave behind. He had no idea what little girls considered necessary. The two suitcases she’d brought with her had more than an adequate supply of clothing in them. But even he knew that little girls—even precocious ones—didn’t live by simply clothes alone. So when he came across a somewhat misshapen teddy bear under the bed, he picked up the stuffed animal and dusted it off, tucking the toy into Lisa’s car seat, which was one of the things he intended to take with him.

  Sam didn’t go into the apartment, or through its rooms, alone. The woman from the complex’s rental office was just shutting down for the night when she saw him unlocking Andrea’s door. Since she didn’t recognize him and knew the circumstances surrounding her late tenant, as well as being incredibly curious, the matronly woman took it upon herself to investigate.

  Accosting him as he went through the door, Mavis Patterson swiftly went from suspicious to sympathetic the moment she discovered that he was taking Lisa in and was there to pick up more of her things.

  A widow for more than ten years, the heavyset woman insisted on helping him with his mission. She even brought several boxes from the rental office to help him pack up and volunteered to help carry the things he was taking to his car.

  With an air of someone who had done this before, she supervised his selection.

  “I like to think of everyone here as family,” Mrs. Patterson told him as she trailed behind him when he made the final trip from the apartment to the car. “Some family members you can do without,” she admitted, “but Andrea, she was really something else again. Always had a good word for everyone—when she stopped to talk,” Mavis qualified. “Busy as all get-out most of the time.” And then she switched gears as she continued her summation. “Sure was proud of that little girl of hers. Smartest thing I’ve ever seen. Smarter than a lot of the people living here,” Mavis confided, lowering her voice.

  “You need anything, you let me know,” she instructed solemnly. “And not just until the end of the month, neither. Lease is up then,” she informed him, “but I’m not.” She patted his hand as he placed the last box into his trunk. Sam firmly shut the trunk. “Tell Lisa that Mrs. Patterson says hi.”

  “I’ll be sure to do that,” Wyatt promised.

  Mrs. Patterson stood to the side as he pulled out of the covered parking slot, then watched as he drove away. She waved until he disappeared from view.

  Guiding the vehicle out the apartment complex, Sam wondered if he could do anything to stall his arrival home a little longer.

  The next moment, he grew annoyed with himself. Since when had he become a coward? Hell, he’d faced down armed felons. Why did the thought of coming home to his daughter suddenly send these chills shimmying up and down his spine?

  His daughter.

  That still didn’t sound right to him. Wrapping his head around the concept of having and being responsible for a child would take him some time. A hell of a lot of time.

  He glanced at his watch as he drove. Damn, Riley wasn’t going to be happy about him being away for so long. Not that he blamed her.

  Just what he needed. Two females to face, not just one.

  He supposed it could have been worse. There could have been three of them.

  It only occurred to Sam after he’d walked up to the front door of his ground floor apartment and slipped his hand into his pocket that he couldn’t open the door. He had no key.

  With a suppressed sigh, he realized that he had to knock on his own door in order to get in. So much for just quietly slipping inside.

  He knocked. Several minutes went by. It didn’t sound as if anyone stirred inside. Certainly no one was opening the door. Had Riley gone out with Lisa?

  All kinds of alternate scenarios began to suggest themselves. Was this what parenthood was like? Half-formed fears chasing through his brain? He couldn’t say he much cared for it.

  Sam raised his hand, about to knock again, when the door finally opened.

  Riley flashed him a somewhat weary smile. “I thought maybe you’d lost your way,” she commented, opening the door wider to allow him to walk in.

  “I had trouble deciding what she was going to need,” he muttered, setting down the box he was carrying on the sofa.

  Turning around to continue with his explanation, Sam faced the kitchen and saw the table. A pizza box, its bottom heavily leached with olive oil, took up nearly half of it. There was more than half a pie left. But it was the not-quite-fading aroma of the pizza that got to him, teasing awake his salivary glands.

  “Did you get the car seat?” Riley was asking.

  “Yes. I’ve got it in the car.” He snapped out the answer, then told himself he had no right to lose his temper with her. Riley was doing him a favor, not the other way around. “I almost forgot it,” he admitted. “Just as I was about to go into Andrea’s apartment, the landlady came to check me out, probably to make sure I wasn’t trying to break into the empty apartment.” And then he sighed. “Once she heard that I was Lisa’s father, she just wouldn’t stop talking.”

  The corners of Riley’s mouth curved in amusement. “So you’re late because you couldn’t decide what to bring back with you and because the landlady talked too much.”

  “Something like that,” he mumbled.

  “And being nervous about hanging around Lisa had nothing to do with dragging your feet getting back here?” Riley questioned.

  He bristled at her implication—even if it was true. “What are you, trying out for the department’s shrink now?”

  “This whole thing has hit you right between the eyes. It’s okay to be nervous. That’s why I volunteered to stay with her.”

  He looked around. “Where is Lisa, by the way?”

  “In the guest room,” she replied. “Asleep.” She didn’t add that it took her making up two stories for the little girl before Lisa nodded off and finally fell asleep. “Poor thing’s exhausted by her ordeal.”

  “That makes two of us,” Sam admitted under his breath. Shoving his hands into his pockets, he began to move restlessly about the living room. He felt as if his back was against the wall and he didn’t like it. “What am I going to do with her?” he asked helplessly, keeping his voice down as he turned to his partner.

  “Love her,” Riley answered very simply. “She is yours, you know. Can’t go wrong when you give a kid love,” she assured him, then added, “My brothers, sister and I had a very rocky childhood. But throughout it all, we knew our mother loved us with all her heart.” Their father loved them in his own way, but it wasn’t nearly enough to make up for the way he behaved both toward them and their mother. “In the end, that love saw us through an awful lot. It really helped smooth out some of the very rough patches we went through. Love is a very powerful, necessary emotion.”

  He supposed she had a point. Sam sighed. “She say anything about me?” The question was hesitantly framed. He wasn’t sure if he wanted an answer.

  She nodded. “She talked about you a little.”

  Curiosity got the better of him. “What did she say?”

  Her eyes smiled first, creating a warm glow about her and, strangely enough, within him.

  “Lisa said she thought you were very good-looking and that she could see wh
y her mother ‘fell’ for you, I believe were the words she used.” Riley laughed. “This kid of yours is pretty precocious. She’s going to keep you on your toes,” Riley predicted.

  He didn’t want a kid who kept him on his toes, who provided him with a mental challenge everywhere he turned. “That’s what the cases I work on are for,” he told Riley. “When I come home, all I want is to kick back and relax.”

  “Little kids can do that, too,” Riley assured him, adding, “She’s not going to require being mentally stimulated 24/7.”

  He had his doubts. Feeling like a man trying to cross quicksand, he dragged his hand through his hair. “I’m going to suck at this.”

  “Give yourself a little credit, Wyatt. Every new dad thinks he’s going to be a complete disaster when he starts out. This is all new for you.” Hadn’t they already been through this? She supposed that Wyatt just needed to hear it again. And maybe again after that, until it finally sank in. “You’ll get used to it.”

  He had sincere doubts about that. Just because they had the equipment to make one, not everyone—male or female—was cut out to be a parent. “I don’t even remember being a kid, much less how to treat one or relate to her.”

  “Practice makes perfect,” Riley told him cheerfully. “Besides, this one is more adult than some of the people I know. That should make it easier for you than if you were dealing with a run-of-the-mill little kid.” Not that she thought he’d have one of those. Riley patted him on the shoulder. “This time next year, you’ll deny ever having this conversation and showing me your vulnerable side.” She saw the uncertain expression in his eyes and grinned. “Trust me, I know. I grew up with two minimacho men. News flash,” she added in a stage whisper. “There’s nothing wrong with being vulnerable.”

  Sam still shook his head. “Not a condition I choose to be in.”

  “It’s not always that easy, Wyatt. Sometimes, circumstances dictate otherwise,” she said, thinking of how she had felt looking at her former partner’s lifeless body.

  It was then that she realized she hadn’t thought about Diego once this whole day, not since she came to pick up Wyatt and discovered what was keeping him from the precinct.