No Quick Fix (Torus Intercession 1)

“He’s not gonna fit,” I yelled over, because the man was at least six-five, so there was no way they were getting him into the car.

There was some swearing after that as they figured out what to do with the behemoth of a man.

“The Whitefish Police Department is more than capable of patrolling this postage stamp of a town,” Tavares snapped at Noguchi. “It’s stupid that we don’t.”

“You’re preaching to the choir,” Noguchi grumbled, still holding my license and multi-state CCW permit—which I was required to carry at all times—that allowed me to have my gun on me back home in Chicago as well as in Ursa. “Hell, you could swear in Calder here and be in better shape than with Thomas.”

Tavares glanced at my two forms of identification still in the captain’s hands. “What kind of background do you have, Calder?”

“No,” I said simply. “I live in Chicago. I’m just here on a job.”

They both looked up at me, waiting for an explanation. I knew the expression well.

“Basically we’re licensed as private detectives slash bodyguards in Chicago, which is what’s up with my conceal and carry license.”

Tavares grunted.

Noguchi lifted an eyebrow. “Lots of PIs are PIs because they couldn’t be cops. You got something in your record that would have prevented that?”

“No, I just never thought of myself as the cop type.”

“And yet you went right in to help Jenny Rubio and her daughter.”

“Because it had to be done,” I said sharply. “There was no one else here.”

“You could have waited for the sheriff.”

“How? Jenny and her kid were in immediate danger.”

The two men exchanged looks.

“What?”

“You were thinking about the woman and her child first, Calder, before yourself. What do you think being a cop is?”

I shook my head, because what the hell were they even talking about right now?

“Why do you think Mrs. Rubio went to Whitefish to get a restraining order instead of getting one in her own town?”

“I have no idea,” I answered brusquely, already too deep into the conversation.

“I think you do,” Noguchi insisted. “I think you know that she went to Whitefish because she has more faith in cops that are fifteen minutes away than in a sheriff and his deputy who are a minute—maybe a minute and a half—from her door.”

I had to remember that Harlan Thomas was the friend of a friend of my boss.

“Because she knew if she got one in Whitefish that not only would the cops there protect her, but also Sheriff Thomas would have to comply as well.”

“That’s right,” Noguchi agreed. “So don’t you think that serves as a terrible commentary on her faith in her elected official to protect her and her child?”

I did, but it wasn’t my place to tell them that.

“What would you have done as soon as she brought the restraining order to you if you were sheriff here?”

“Roll by here a few times a day just to check on her.”

“What did you do before your PI job, Calder?” Tavares wanted to know.

I wasn’t about to tell them. “I was in the Navy.”

Noguchi smiled slowly. “What did you do in the Navy, Calder?”

Olivia joined us then, running up and wrapping her arm around my waist, leaning into my side. “Brann, I forgot that Daddy was supposed to take me to sign up for karate today, so will you take me?”

“Of course,” I assured her before turning back to the two men, having given her all my attention. “I know you two have to stay here and wait for Thomas, but I certainly don’t.”

Tavares squatted down in front of Olivia. “Honey, do you know what Mr. Calder did before he came to take care of you and your sister and your dad?”

“He’s just taking care of me and April, not Daddy, but he lives in the Windy City—that’s what Daddy told me—and he was in the Navy, and he had a job training seals!” she said, squealing the last part excitedly. “Doesn’t that sound fun?”

Tavares nodded and stood up, his gaze solid on mine. “A SEAL?”

In this instance, even the wrong story didn’t help me. “Doesn’t mean I’d make a good cop,” I muttered, hoping the death glare I was giving him would work.

“And yet…,” Tavares said, gesturing at the road where Sheriff Thomas and Deputy Reed had just appeared. It was the second time I’d seen the deputy, and he forced a smile and waved at me, jogging over, not waiting on the sheriff.

“Twice in one day, Calder,” Reed greeted me affably, patting my shoulder. “Are you a superhero or something?”

He wasn’t helping even a little bit.

“Not at all,” I said brusquely, still unsure about him because of how he’d been with Emery. What I was certain of was that he would have been utterly out of his depth with Jenny Rubio’s husband. It was annoying that he wasn’t more capable, but I was probably being too judgy. From the size of the town, I was guessing homicidal rapists were not a usual occurrence. I shouldn’t have been pissed at him for not being prepared for an anomaly.