He wasn’t sure why this realization bothered him. She was only his partner, after all.
It was odd that he was actually thinking of her that way already, as his partner. She hadn’t said all that much, either in interviews or in between, but what she had said had been right-on. She’d surprised him, more than once. As she’d been surprising him today; she’d set herself up this morning with a diet soda, then dug into Gardner ’s laptop computer and had been hacking away ever since. She showed no sign of being aware of time passing, merely kept at it, with the occasional mutter to the computer screen that he’d noticed before in those who had carnal knowledge of the things.
He’d thought the words “carnal knowledge” as a joke about computer geeks, but somehow when applied to Darien Wilson, they managed to make him feel damned uncomfortable. He shifted in his chair and made himself go back to filing the last of their reports, and going through what had been added by the forensics team thus far.
“Sutter says the bruises on his face were likely made by a heavy ring of some kind.”
She paused then, looking up at last. “That helps.”
“If he’s still wearing it,” Colin said glumly.
She went back to her work. More and more time passed. There were moments of silence, followed by a series of quick keystrokes. More muttering, then more silence, more keystrokes. She was so intent that she didn’t even glance up as he went to the copy machine and then returned.
For a moment he stood looking over her shoulder. Instead of the usual software interfaces he was familiar with, there were strings of odd-looking characters on the screen. They made no sense at all to him, but she seemed to find them easily understandable. But then, while he was fairly computer literate, his comfort zone ended outside his regularly used software.
“Come on, come on,” she murmured, then let out a tightly compressed breath when the screen flashed and went blank. She leaned back in her chair and rubbed the back of her neck.
“Problem?”
“Not sure. He’s got some odd chunks on his hard drive that could be hidden files. I just have to find my way into them.”
“Hidden files?”
“They could be junk, but we won’t know until I can get in there.”
He leaned against the edge of his desk and gestured at the computer. “How’d you get so into all this?”
“I started out doing research for school online. Then a Web site. The more I got into that, the more I wanted to know.”
“And the jump from there to police work?”
She swiveled the chair around to look at him straight on. “My mom got taken in by an online scam. During that case, I saw a whole lot of innocent people who got taken by thieves who used this medium I loved for their crimes. I wanted to stop that kind of thing. It’s going to be the crime scene of the future. It’s already here.”
God, she really was the girl next door, out to avenge her mom. “It’s not all nice, clean computer crime, you know.”
She gave him a wry look. “Believe it or not, I knew that. And if I hadn’t, this assignment would have taught me in a big hurry.”
“Sorry,” Colin muttered.
“Look, I know I was hired for this-” she gestured at the open laptop “-because the department is recruiting computer people, but I didn’t come into this blind. I thought long and hard before I applied. And longer and harder before I took the job because I knew there were going to be people who felt like Palmer does.”
“Palmer is just a jerk.”
She studied him, long enough to make him wonder what she was thinking. “Thanks, but you know there are others who think the same thing.”
“They may question your being given the job, but if you prove you can do it, eventually that’s all that will matter.”
“Promise?” she asked, her mouth quirking up at one corner.
“Yeah,” he said, hoping he wasn’t being too optimistic.
She studied him again for a long moment before saying, “So, now that I’ve told you my life story, tell me yours.”
He blinked, startled. “Mine?”
“Why don’t you talk to your ex?”
“Why would I?” He was aware he sounded a bit defensive.
“That bad?”
When he realized he’d tensed up, he made a conscious effort to relax his muscles. She had, after all, told him about her ex. So he told her, although the words came out stiffly.
“She couldn’t take these kinds of hours, so she found somebody who came home on time. Unfortunately, we were still married at the time.”
“Ouch. No wonder you jumped to that conclusion about Tony.”
“Yeah. Well.” He grimaced. “And she was my high-school sweetheart.”
“That must have been rough.”
He shrugged, back in control now. “It wasn’t her fault. I’m just not cut out for the whole wife and kids thing. Married to my job, Anita used to say.”
“I can see being married to a cop would be difficult. But I believe an affair is the fault of the person involved. If you want out, get out, but you don’t cheat.”
Yes, he thought, surprising himself. He’d spent so much time listening to Anita telling him it was all his fault that he’d almost forgotten that what Wilson had just voiced had been his original reaction to his wife’s infidelity.
When he didn’t speak, she lowered her gaze. “Sorry about the soapbox bit.”
Then she turned back to the computer. He thought he saw a faint tinge of color in her cheeks, but he couldn’t be sure. She stared at the screen for a minute, then hit a few keys.
“Come on,” she muttered. “I know you’re in there.”
He let it go, and sat down to make some calls to residents of the building they so far hadn’t been able to contact. He did a little net surfing of his own for mentions of Franklin Gardner or the Gardner Corporation in the business and financial sections of the area newspapers, looking for potential enemies on that front. Hours later, when he’d hit the wall, she was still at it, and showing no sign of letting up. The office was deserted, the rest of the division having gone home long ago. He crossed out the last name on his list, tossed down his pen, and groaned audibly as he stretched.
She looked up. Glanced at the watch he’d noticed before; nothing fancy or glittery for this woman, just a simple, utilitarian metal band. She wore only small, gold earrings as well, no rings or necklaces.
“No wonder my stomach’s growling,” she said. Then she stood up and stretched much as he had. Except on her, the sinuous movement was downright sexy.
She grinned at him, and for a breath-stopping moment he wondered if she’d read his mind. But she only said, “Let’s go out. Feed me.”
He recoiled, as much from his own unexpected response to her as to her words. “I don’t think that would be wise. The commander frowns on fraternization.”
She stared at him. “Excuse me?”
“I don’t mix business with pleasure,” he said bluntly.
She crossed her arms in front of her and gave him a level look. “Which part did you figure was going to be the pleasure?”
He blinked, startled. “What?”
“I gather you’re used to women falling at your feet, but it was a simple request for a food break, Waters. Not a declaration of undying passion.”
He supposed he’d been more embarrassed in his life, but just now he couldn’t recall when.
“Uh…yeah. Sure. Let’s go.”
He noticed that she carefully shut down the computer and resecured it in the evidence locker before picking up her coat and purse. Then she started across the empty office toward the door. And she did it without once looking at him.
Nice work, Waters, he told himself.
And didn’t dare think about what thoughts had leapt to life in his mind at the words undying passion.
Well, she’d really put her foot in it that time, Darien thought as she fastened her seat belt. She’d meant only to keep things businesslike, to make clear to him she wasn’t like the other women at the department who seemed to be chasing him at every turn, and she’d ended up insulting him.