Page 18 of Hold a Candle

She was proud of her job, and really enjoyed helping people. It hadn’t been easy to rise to a detective superintendent status with senior privileges at most crime scenes. Especially when no one else in her life seemed to care. Except for the male constables who were jealous or disapproving of her success. Sometimes life was a real rat race for a woman.

Once in the car, Pauley felt a little safer as she hit the door locks.

Unless her car were to blow up.She shuddered at the incongruous thought.

Mica was in the police car behind her with Luca sitting beside him as they drove through town and then turned onto High Meadow Road, which would lead into the upper highlands and to Heaven’s Gate. No one appeared to be following them. Mica went around her and pulled into a small stand of trees about a quarter mile up, and she pulled in beside him. They both got out and Luca got into Pauley’s car to wait for her.

“Did ye see anything suspicious, Mica?” Pauley asked, smoothing a lock of hair behind her ear as she joined him on the edge of the road away from the trees. The lights of Inverness didn’t reach the shadows of the area they were in, the darkness of the countryside lightened only by the glow of a three-quarter moon. The nip of fall was certainly in the air. The mountains behind them already had fresh snow on their peaks.

Mica shook his head while he pulled his duster collar up around his ears. It was chilly enough that his breath was actually leaving wisps in the air. “Nay, I didn’t notice anything unusual, Pauley. But then they may be lying low after the fire bomb tonight. Whoever they are anyway.” He looked her way. “I did find out something from my CI today, though.”

“What’s that?”

“He’s heard that someone new is trying to get a foot hold with a protection racket in the Dunlaven Market area.”

“Really? I hadn’t heard that yet,” Pauley replied thoughtfully, sticking her hands in her sweater pockets. “The Dunlaven Market shops aren’t all that far from the Hope Barks Animal Shelter,” she added. “I wonder if there’s a connection to Luca in some way?”

“Cripes, Pauley. Ye think yer kid might be working for a ganger?”

She shot him a death glare. “Luca isn’t working for a ganger, Mica,” she hissed. “But maybe he saw something and someone’s worried about it.”

“Then why wouldn’t he just say so?”

Pauley bit her lip. “That I can’t answer.” She prayed she was right about Luca not working for aganger,instead of gangster, as Mica put it. The man was fond of shortening words to a smaller version of themselves.

“Well, whatever the lad is doing, he’s pretty scared. He’s not saying much, but I can tell killing Ruskag has him pretty shook up. He might need some counseling once all this is over and reaction sets in.”

Pauley nodded. “Aye, I know. Even trained constables have a hard time dealing with it.”

“I think I see some headlights on the upper road.” Mica pointed towards two sets of headlights coming along the side of the slope that would circle around and reach them in just a few minutes.

“That’s probably the trucks from Neamh that Darro said he would be sending,” she replied, brushing her hair out of the wind’s playful fingers once again. “It’s only about twenty minutes from Inverness to Heavens’ Gate if there’s no sheep or anything on the roads.”

Mica frowned. “Ye need to be careful, Pauley, even if Luca isn’t here in town. They could target ye as well as Luca. Or any member of yer family if they are desperate enough. Do ye have a place to stay tonight?”

Pauley shifted uneasily. She knew he was right. “I told Natalie I’d probably come over there. She’s been hyperventilating, her and Elliot both.”

He shot her a side eye. “Ye know, Quinn wants me to partner up with ye during this time, Pauley.”

Pauley shrugged. “I know he’s been looking for another partner for me since Brodie was transferred a year ago, but I’m fine with grabbing a constable when I need one.”

“Ye know it’s not policy to work alone, not in our department.”

“Detectives are hard to come by, Mica,” she drawled. “It takes time to train them and to pass the boards to become one. What about Florence though?”

He frowned. “It’s nae working out very well, and I’m happy to make the switch if ye are.”

“Ye mean Quinn thinks ye are the only one I’ll tolerate,” she responded with a wry grin. “Well, he’s right.”

Mica snorted, a half tolerant laugh, half impatient growl. “Ye are just too blinking independent, Pauley.”

She threw him a glare. “Nay. I just insist on being respected for what I can do. Is that a crime? Police work, especially senior detective inspectors, have been majorly men, historically speaking, and a woman has to fight for every inch of territory.”

Mica didn’t answer, but stepped out of the cover of the trees and held up his arm.

The two pickup trucks were slowing as they neared the city and Pauley knew they were watching for her. She stepped out too, and they put on their blinkers to pull into the copse. When the first pickup pulled in, it was driven by two men she didn’t recognize. The second pickup followed and then stopped inside the copse just past her and the passenger door opened. Her breath caught when she realized it was Jamie. She hadn’t expected him to be with them, but the warm ball in her chest grew and she had to fight down a sudden clog in her throat.

He closed the door and grabbed her hands in his big warm palms. “How are ye doing, lass?”

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