“I do.” Brian was forlorn as he regarded the dead woman. “I was in a weekly poker game with her father for a few years. They’re a good family, tight. They participate in a lot of the festivals and give to local charities.”
“What do we know about the daughter?” Jack asked. “I mean ... did she hang with a rough crowd?”
Brian didn’t answer, so Ivy took it upon herself to fill the conversational gap.
“She was pretty quiet,” Ivy volunteered. “She never got in any trouble. She was ... sweet. I don’t remember her running with a bad crowd.”
“Well, that means figuring out what happened to her is going to be even more difficult,” Jack said. “We need to get the medical examiner out here ... and then we need to notify her parents. We don’t want word getting back to them before we can be the ones to break the news.”
“Yeah.” Brian dug in his pocket and pulled out his phone. “I’ll call the medical examiner’s office.”
“And we’ll go back to work,” Greg said, snapping his fingers to get Ivy’s attention. The move was enough to fire Jack’s fury a second time.
“She’s not a dog,” Jack groused.
“She’s working for the county, which puts her under my purview,” Greg countered. “That means I’m the boss in this particular situation. I allowed her to help you. Now she has work to get back to. She’s going to be out here an extra thirty minutes as it is tonight because she took a break to help you guys.”
Jack balked. “She shouldn’t be punished for that.”
“Well, she wasn’t working, was she?” Greg flashed a smug smile that made Jack’s blood boil. “Come along, Ms. Morgan. You have a shift to finish up.”
Jack worked his jaw and Ivy was certain he would say something. She stopped him before he could.
“It’s fine, Jack. You have work to do. So do I. I’ll be perfectly fine.”
Jack wasn’t convinced. “I can try to make another call.”
“No.” Ivy shook her head, firm. “I’m fine. Focus on your work. I’ll see you at home.”
And just like that, she turned her back on him and disappeared through the trees. Jack could only stare at the spot where she used to be and lament his lot in life.
“This is the worst.”
Brian let loose a low chuckle. “You’ll survive.”
Jack wasn’t sure that was true.
3
Three
Jack was still fuming about Greg’s attitude two hours later when Brian parked his cruiser in front of a pretty two-story colonial on one of Shadow Lake’s quieter streets.
“I don’t know who he thinks he is,” he groused. “He’s not even a real cop.”
Brian did his best to bite back a sigh, but it was a failed effort. “What do you want me to say?” The older detective was one complaint away from losing his temper. “He’s a jerk. That doesn’t change the fact that he has control over Ivy for the foreseeable future.”
Jack’s expression was so dark even a full moon couldn’t brighten it. “Do you have to remind me of that? I want her transferred. She can’t stay working for him.”
Brian planted his hands on top of the car and pinned his partner with a threatening look. “You can’t go in and ask for special favors for her. Do you have any idea how that will look?”
“Maybe I don’t care how it looks.”
“You care.” Brian made a face. “What’s worse is that Ivy cares. She’ll be mortified if you go out of your way to have her transferred. She’s only going to be part of that crew for a few weeks. It’s not as if it’s the end of the world.”
It felt like the end of the world to Jack. He was frustrated that Ivy had done the right thing — she’d saved a woman’s life, for crying out loud — and she was being punished for it. “She should’ve been let off with a slap on the wrist.”
“She was let off with a slap on the wrist,” Brian argued. “Anyone else under the same circumstances would’ve gotten jail time and you know it.”
Jack cringed at the pointed look his partner shot him. It was only because of Brian that Ivy hadn’t gotten at least a weekend in jail. He knew the judge and called in a favor — although they weren’t exactly spreading that information around — and that resulted in Ivy getting community service and a chance for her record to be expunged in five years. In the grand scheme of things, she’d gotten off with a light sentence.
That didn’t mean Jack wasn’t still wound up. “Do you think he’s hitting on her?”
The swift conversational shift threw Brian for a loop. “I don’t know. Did she say something? Did she let something slip when I wasn’t looking?”
“I couldn’t talk to her. He wouldn’t let me.”
“That’s probably because none of his other charges are allowed to talk to their significant others on the job. Ivy is going to have it hard enough with those folks now that they know she’s engaged to a cop as it is.”
Jack stilled halfway up the sidewalk that led to the house. “I ... you ... what do you mean?”
He looked legitimately bamboozled, to the point where Brian took pity on him. “You heard that woman when we arrived. She said Ivy left something out of the story when she told them about being engaged. That something was the fact that you’re a cop.”
“But ... it’s a noble profession.”
“Not to people who are serving time ... or picking up trash along the highway.” Brian folded his arms across his chest and pinned his partner with a pointed look. “You can’t fix this for her. I know you want to. You want to be her savior. This is out of your hands, though. And, for once, no good can come of Ivy bragging you up. She’s better if she keeps your relationship on the down low.”
Jack was officially horrified,
