Fine Blue Steele (Daggers & Steele Book 4) Read Online Free

some extra muscle to her frame.
    I thought I caught a glimpse of Phillips staring at me as I stared at my partner, so I forced my eyes from Shay’s slender backside over to the female army recruit. She wasn’t anywhere near as attractive as my partner, but thankfully my peepers weren’t put to waste. As I inspected her fatigues, I noticed a few telltale signs that had previously escaped my attention. With the new knowledge in hand, I glanced at Drake and made a few more mental notes.
    Eventually, Steele and Quinto returned.
    “Took you two long enough,” I said.
    “Apparently we’re more thorough than you,” said Steele.
    “Not a chance,” I said. “I’m just abnormally efficient in processing information.”
    Quinto grunted. “Unless said information is in regard to the color, size, and shape of a bathrobe that you throw on to answer the door.”
    Shay snickered.
    “Give it a rest,” I said. “I was half-asleep. So, give me the run down. What did Kelly and Drake have to say?”
    “Well,” said Steele as she crossed her arms, “Kelly’s story goes something like this. She and Drake went out for drinks last night at the suggestion of Sergeant Holmes, who thought it might be a good team building exercise.”
    “Squad,” I said. “But go on.”
    “What’s the difference?” asked Steele.
    “I have no idea,” I said. “But Tim does. You could talk to him if you want the details. I don’t recommend it, though. He’s not super friendly.”
    Shay raised an eyebrow. “Right. Anyway, Kelly says they all had too much to drink and stayed out way too late. At the end of the night, they started to head back to their base and stopped at this alley because Sergeant Holmes had to pee. Holmes went into the alley, and she and Drake waited here at the mouth. Then they heard a thump and went to investigate. Apparently, Tim had fallen. They helped him up, but as they did so, a crazy guy—” She pointed at the corpse. “—ran out of the dark yelling and screaming. They tried to get him to slow down and make sense, but he bounced around like a pixie in a pickle jar before eventually collapsing in the mud. They tried to resuscitate him, but without success.”
    I nodded to Quinto. “And what did your guy say?”
    “The same thing, basically,” he said.
    I snorted. “Well, at least they were smart enough to get their story straight before talking to us.”
    “I take it you don’t believe them?” said Steele.
    “Are you kidding?” I said. “Have a look at Sergeant Timmy over there. He has a gash above his eye that requires medical attention, and that bruise on his cheek is going to look spectacular in a few hours. In addition to that, he moved as if he got put through a meat grinder. Now, you tell me. A big, strong guy like that…you think he suffered those injuries from a fall?”
    “Not unless he fell off the roof of this thing.” Quinto jerked his thumb at the tall, leaf-topped building at our backs.
    “Exactly,” I said. “Steele, you’re observant. Did you notice anything about Kelly? Was there anything she didn’t mention?”
    “You want the emotional or the physical?” she asked.
    “Um…why not both?” I said.
    “She’s pissed,” said Steele. “Part of it is her personality, I think. She seems like a no-nonsense kind of gal—which she’d have to be as one of the army’s first female recruits. But there’s something else there, too. A resentment. And pain—but of the emotional variety.”
    I recalled Steele’s first day on the job. Her attitude, her hard exterior, her fiery demeanor. As the precinct’s first female homicide detective, she’d carried a similar burden on her shoulders as PFC Chavez. I could only imagine the pressure she felt. Proving one’s own worth was hard enough, let alone trying to carry a flag for an entire race or gender at the same time. Hopefully, Quinto, Rodgers, Cairny, and I had lightened the load for her somewhat through our evolving