Why would a woman, who appeared to be self-sufficient otherwise, put up with that?
'Has he done this before?' Dodge asked.
'Never.'
'Never to you, or never to anybody?'
'Never to me. I don't know about anybody else.'
Dodge made himself a note to check on that. 'What set him off?'
She raised her shoulders, and again Dodge was struck by how delicate her frame was. 'We were having an ordinary quarrel, a difference of opinion, and he flew into a rage. I've never seen him like that before.' She wet her lips. 'But he's been under a lot of pressure lately.'
'What kind of pressure?'
'Business. He and his father have been having disagreements. Roger takes them to heart.'
'What did you do or say that caused him to slap you?'
'I said something to the effect that his father had more experience and that perhaps in this particular instance Roger should give him the benefit of the doubt.'
'You took his old man's side against him.'
She lowered her head, addressing the tabletop. 'I guess that's how it sounded to Roger.'
'Doesn't excuse him from slapping you.'
'No.'
'Are you going to stay with him?'
She raised her head and looked at him with surprise. 'Of course.'
Dodge watched her, said nothing.
She licked her lips. 'I'm sure this was an isolated incident, Officer. Roger lost his temper. Flew off the handle. It could happen to anybody who's under stress.'
He shook his head decisively. 'Most people are stressed one way or another. They don't hit. Only somebody with a violent streak does that.'
She set the ice pack on the table. The cubes were melting, dripping through the cloth. She stood up. 'My cheek feels much better. The ice helped. I'll be all right. Don't let me keep you from your other duties.'
Reluctantly Dodge replaced his pad and pen in his pocket and followed her back into the living room. Through the windows, they saw Gonzales pushing down Campton's head, none too gently, and guiding him into the backseat of the patrol car. 'Will he be charged with a crime?' she asked.
'He'll be accused of assaulting a police officer,' Dodge replied. 'Whether or not the charge sticks isn't up to me or to Officer Gonzales.' He paused, then added, 'You've got a better shot at him. You could file an assault charge. I urge you to.'
'I promise to think about it.' Because she avoided his eyes when she said that, Dodge figured it was an empty promise. 'Thank you for responding so quickly,' she said.
'No need to thank me. That's what we're for.'
'I know, but thank you anyway.' She gave him a tremulous smile, and he knew that, as soon as he left, she'd start crying. She was barely holding it back. 'Good night, Officer--' She gave her head a small shake. 'I'm sorry.'
'Hanley. Dodge Hanley. Good night, Ms. King.' He tilted his head toward the police car, where Roger Campton sat fuming in the backseat. 'He won't be out before morning at the earliest. We'll be slow to get the paperwork done. But keep the doors locked anyway.'
'I will.'
He hesitated on the threshold and looked at her for several moments, but he couldn't think of anything to add to what had already been said. He didn't have a valid excuse for sticking around any longer, so he bobbed his head good-bye and turned toward the patrol car.
'So what I was thinking,' Gonzales was saying, 'is that we ought to volunteer.'
Dodge, who'd been woolgathering, brought his partner into focus. Their shift had ended a half hour earlier. Now they were seated on opposite sides of a booth at Denny's, where they were having breakfast before going home.
'What?'
'You haven't been listening, have you?' Gonzales used the handle of his fork to stir sugar into his coffee, then sucked it off before applying the tines to his huevos rancheros. 'Your mind's still on that broad.'
'What broad?'
His partner guffawed. 'Don't play dumb. The little one? Red hair?'
Angrily Dodge speared a chunk of potato and put it in his mouth. 'She wasn't a broad.'
Gonzales grinned. 'Sure are touchy about her.'
'Drop it.'
Gonzales shrugged good-naturedly and picked up the subject where he'd left off. 'I was saying we should volunteer for that task force they're pulling together to catch that bank robber.' He plopped a strawberry into his mouth and chewed vigorously. 'What do you think?'
'You read my mind.'
'Yeah?'
Dodge had been thinking about it for days, ever since he'd heard about the task force. For more than a year, an armed robber had been plaguing area banks. During the last robbery, a bank guard had been shot. He was still recovering from a serious wound. It was feared that, if the culprit weren't caught, someone would eventually be killed. The perp had grown bolder with each robbery, and now his holdups had taken on a taunting attitude, as though he was enjoying his celebrity, having a whale of a good time, and thumbing his nose at the police in the process.
Working with several law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, Houston PD was determined to catch him. They had a list of possible suspects comprised of felons convicted of similar robberies who had served their sentences or were out on parole, but there was no evidence connecting any of them to the current crimes. The robber could be one of them or a new and clever crook on his debut crime spree.
Bottom line, the authorities really didn't have anything. Thus, the task force.
With the ink on his sheepskin from Texas Tech barely dry, Dodge had joined the HPD. His goal was to make detective and ultimately Homicide as soon as possible. He had the innate skills for crime solving. He just needed to pay his dues in the rank and file, get some seniority, and distinguish himself.
He'd been thinking that this task force might provide him an opportunity to prove himself a notch above the rest. If he got one of the coveted spots on it and impressed his superiors, it would speed his way toward achieving his goal.
'I put my name on the sign-up sheet yesterday afternoon.'
Gonzales looked crestfallen. 'You did? Oh.'
Dodge smiled at him. 'I put yours on there, too.'
Gonzales beamed. 'Good. Great. We'll both look more handsome out of these uniforms.'
'Whoa. A lot of cops want on the task force. We haven't been selected yet.'
'We will be. You for sure.'
'Why me for sure?'
'It's bound to involve
Dodge cut into his rare steak. 'Rumor.'
