Page 1 of Gypsy's Lady
The beginning
Douglas Tatum
“I still say you don’t have a clue how tough things can be elsewhere.” Still breathless from a heart-pounding chase down a darkened San Diego back alley, Detective Douglas Tatum threw the words over his shoulder towards where his partner stood, panting from the same all-out sprint. Doug’s chest was pressed tightly to the back of the manwedged against the wall,andwhen he felt his captivetense,he kicked the man’s feet a little farther apart, limiting his ability to try and regain his freedom. “At least it’s always warm here.” Doug had grown up hundreds of miles north and east from where he currently stood in San Diego. He could have spent hours explaining to his partner exactly how cushy their job was in comparison to theother places Doug had worked since graduating with his criminal science degree.
Detective Dirk Norwood stood ten feet away, fists shoved against his hips, scowling down at his shoes as he caught his breath. “I stepped in shit. These are three-hundred-dollar shoes. Lucky I didn’t fall in it. Jesus.” As Doug wrestled his prisoner’s wrists down to the small of his back and snapped a pair of handcuffsaround them, he kept part of his attention on Norwood, watching as the man tried to scrape the sides of his shoes against the brick surface of the alleyway. “And when I move up and away from this shithole—” He scraped his shoe again. “—a literal shithole, I can either take you withmeor leave you in my dust, Tatum. Your choice.”
“Norwood, man. I do not know what angle you’re working—” The manin his hands gave a vicious lurch and twist, trying to pull out of his grip and Doug yanked him back, applying just a little more force than absolutely necessary. His captive got the message and again subsided, muscles relaxing.
“Not an angle, my good friend. This is a one-way ticket past the fucking ceiling they have in this shithole of a district, and I’m going to ride the train of good fortuneway the hell away from here.”
Doug wasn’t certain what kind of scam Norwood was working. He didn’t really want to know, either. All he wanted to do was finish this cross-department cultural exchange that had been shoved down his throat by an ambitious politician back in Chicago, get done with his stint here in Cali, and go home. About the only thing he did know about any scam was that nothingwas ever free. Everything had a value and depending on what part of your life you were willing to barter with, it could even be worth the price. Could be, but that was not a given. Doug shook his head. From the looks of the friends Norwood had most recently acquired, men Doug had seen two nights ago through the dim lighting of the back halls in the local bar, he wouldn’t bet his enemy’s money onthat association being worth what it could cost.No fucking way.
Before he could say anything in response, the perp in his grip jerked and heaved, then bent double, vomiting in a stream to splatter his pants and Doug’s shoes.Fucking perfect.
Back at the station with their prisoner deposited in holding, Doug was seated at his desk as he shuffled the filled-out paperwork in his hands, tappingthe edges on the surface, straightening and neatening the pile. Then he did it again. His eyes weren’t on thebusyworkbut aimed across the room at the window into the captain’s office, where Norwood could be seen pacing back and forth, arms swinging in animated conversation. The officers in the room had heard the captain’s voice a couple of times, raised in a heavy buzz of unintelligible soundsbut still conveying a clear and pronounced discontent.
They hadn’t been back from booking for more than ten minutes when Cap had called Norwood in, anger making the already noticeable lines on the older man’s face even more prominent. No reason wasgivenfrom across the room, just Norwood’s name on a low growl.
Movement by the main door pulled Doug’s attention that direction,andhe watchedas a pair of expensive-suited, smooth-faced men walked in. Looking neither left nor right, they marched in tandem across the room and straight into the captain’s office without knocking. A moment later the slats were pulled across the windows, closing any view of the office off from the main room.
“Sheeeeit.” Doug cut his eyes to a pair of men standing near Norwood’s desk. Joel Graham and NickThornton shifted their gazes from the office door back to Doug.
Graham shook his head. “Not good, Doug. Didja see ‘em? That’s gotta be IA, man.” Joel was also on temporary assignment to San Diego from where the navy had had him stationed somewhere up by the Bay area. Nice guy, opinionated as hell and fucking intense, but Doug had quickly become accustomed to the volatility of the New Jersey native.Doug still found it hard to correlate the harsh twangs of the Jersey accent underlying the smoothness of Joel’s more recently acquired Cali tones.
Internal Affairs was never something a unit wanted to show on their floor, and Doug knewwordof their arrival would be running rampant throughout the station within minutes.
He heard more shouting from the captain’s office then watched as the blindsflattened against the window in the unmistakable outline of a large, male body, as if someone had been pushed hard, catching themselves against the glass surface.
Nick shuffled his feet. His southern drawl hit the air,butinstead ofbellingout like a hound per normal, his voice was pitched to stay close, conveying he too felt the situation deserved solemnity. “Did either of you know Norwoodbefore this exchange?” Nick was from South Carolina, temporarily transferring cross-country from the Atlantic to the Pacific. He was full of stories about his wife. Seven months pregnant, she’d stuck close to home to be near family and her doctor. Nick would be headed back sooner than the rest of themtobe there for the birth of his son. His devotion to his family was heartwarming, and none ofthe men ever ribbed him about it. What Nick had with his wife was the kind of relationship Doug wanted someday.
Of the four men assigned the desks in this area for the past two months, Norwood was the only one permanently assigned to this department.
Doug shook his head. “No. He picked me up at the airport. That was my first intro.”
“You know he was in a high-profile districtbeforethis assignment?”Doug angled his head to look at Joel and waited. “Scuttlebutt is he fucked up big-time on a case and was on the brink of dismissal, took a demotion and transfer to see if he could be salvaged.” Joel thumbed over his shoulder at the office. “Thatinthereis looking very much like an unsalvageable career to me.”
Shouting from the captain’s office had them all turning to lookasthe door swungopen and an obviously furious Norwood stalked out, headed straight towards them. He didn’t pause, just snatched up his jacket from the back of his chair and walked past them without speaking, head high, bright color flagging each cheek.
“Norwood.” Doug got out the man’s name,butNorwood’s stride didn’t falter,andDoug watched as the door swung shut with force, closing Norwood out and them inside.
“Probably should go after him, make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid.” Nick’s twang was thick, his tone urgent. He shrugged into his jacket. “I’ll call if there’s anything we can do.”
Joel was silent, and Doug’s gut churned. He understood Nick’s desire to support the man they’d worked with for these past weeks, but something was off. Nothing he could point to, but his mind paired Norwood’sarrogant statements earlier in the day with the characters he’d seen the man talking to give him a distinctly uneasy feeling. “Nick, maybe…” His words trailed off, and he wasn’t certain for a moment what the next ones would be.
Nick took any decision out of his hands. “I got this. I’ll just see where his head’s at, see if he can tell me what IA wanted, and then I’ll report back in, lety’allknow what we can do.”
***
Standing beside the bar, Doug listened to the woman next to him talking to her friend, Joel’s date for the night. Still unsure where Joel had found the pair, with every word falling from this broad’s mouth he found himself retreating farther. The double-date Joel had set up sounded like a distraction and a good idea.At the time, he thought and shook his head.
“AmI right?” She picked up her martini glass, swirling the liquid with aconfidentsmirk before taking a drink. “I don’t need a man for nothing these days. I can bring home the bacon and cook it myself, no male influence needed.” She turned slightly, gesturing towards the bartender. “I work, make my own money, and I can do what I damn well want.” Leaning towards the bar, arms wedged alongside hertits to squeeze together the ample cleavage she hadn’t been shy about showing the whole bar, she smiled and slid her now-empty glass across. “Another one, sugar.”
Jesus. Doug angled his gaze across the space between them and caught Joel’seye-roll. They both knew what she meant was she only needed a man for one thing, and it wasn’t money.I’m done with this.
“Did your daddy call you princess?”The “oh, shit” look on Joel’s face was priceless, but Doug’s question got the woman’s attention for the first time since she’d sat her ass on the stool he’d vacated for her. “That tiara surgically implanted yet, or you stillhave the ability topull it off once in a while?”
“Excuse me?” One eyebrow arched up under her fluffy bangs, artfully arranged across her forehead, while the other had snappedinto place over one squinty eye. “What did you just say?”
