Forsaken by Shadow (Mirus 1)

Kerry walked into the captain’s office the next morning dreading the meeting with her new partner. She didn’t want a new partner. She wanted Roger back. It was an unrealistic and childish thought, but that’s the way she felt. She sighed and pushed open the door, trying to put a blank expression on her face. She didn’t want to show any emotion to the new guy…she didn’t want to let him into her life at all if the truth was known.

She entered the office slowly and glanced at the man standing in front of the captain’s desk.

“Oh, there you are,” said Captain Bruce. “I want you to meet your new partner, Ethan James. Detective James, this is Detective Kerry Harrison.”

Detective James smiled at her and held out his hand. She reluctantly took it, gave it a quick shake, and let go. She couldn’t believe her bad luck. This guy was a real hottie. He was probably so stuck on himself that he thought every woman wanted him. He had black hair, sapphire blue eyes, and unusually pale skin that was so flawless that it made him look as if he was chiseled from marble. He was wearing a charcoal gray suit that fit him like it was sewn directly onto him, and he carried himself with an air of self assurance that made Kerry dislike him immediately. He made her feel sloppy in her jeans and black silk t-shirt.

“It’s nice to meet you, Detective,” he said to her. “I’m glad we’ll be working together.”

“How do you know you’ll be glad? You don’t even know me. I may be a real….”

“Detective Harrison!” admonished Captain Bruce.

Kerry sighed and managed to look sheepish. “I’m sorry. I was out of line. I just lost my partner and I’m still pretty messed up about it.”

“I understand, Detective. No offense taken.”

“Please, if we’re going to be working together, you probably should call me Kerry.”

“And I’m Ethan.”

Captain Bruce cleared his throat. “Now that the niceties have been taken care of, we need to get down to business. Here’s the file on the case I want you two working on. As you can see, there was a girl found murdered in the home of Gerard Stokes, one of the wealthiest men in this area.”

“You mean the Stokes that owns all those old fancy hotels all over the country?”

“That’s the one. Mr. Stokes says that he was asleep when the murder was committed. He tends to be a night owl so he was sleeping late. When he woke up and went down to the living room, she was there on the floor with her throat cut. So here’s the strange part. There was almost no blood left in her body. It was like when whoever did it cut her throat, they drained all the blood and took it with them. I want you two to go over there and talk to Mr. Stokes. He hasn’t been arrested yet, but it’s probably inevitable. We’re just waiting for the two of you to question him. There in the folder is all the evidence collected at the scene, which isn’t much. I know this is going to be a tough one to start new partners out on, but Kerry is one of my best detectives, and you, Ethan, have been highly praised by your superiors from where you were transferred. I need the best team on this one and I believe you’re the best.

“Thank you, Captain,” said Ethan. “I appreciate your vote of confidence and we’ll do everything we can to solve this case.”

As Kerry and Ethan walked out to the car, she glanced sideways at him and studied him while he wasn’t paying attention. This guy was just too good-looking. He was the kind of guy that was impossible to work with because he would be too busy thinking of himself instead of watching her back. She was sure this partnership was going to be trouble. No good could come of this, and she wasn’t going to try to be friends with him. And she certainly wasn’t going to trust him.

As they approached the car, she noticed he was getting in on the passenger’s side. She raised her eyebrows at him and walked over to the driver’s side and started the engine.

Before she pulled out, she looked over at him and said, “You don’t want to drive? That’s a little unusual for a guy.”

He said, “The way I figure it is that you’re the senior partner. I should defer to your judgment on things and I figured you should be the one to drive, too.”

She looked at him in astonishment. “You’ve got to be kidding me! Men just don’t do that. Not cops.”

“Well, I guess I must be a little different, then. I don’t care if you’re a woman or not, you’ve been in this department longer than I have and that means you’re my superior. I hope I can earn your respect soon so that we can really be partners.”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Had she misjudged this guy? She doubted it. He was way too attractive not to be stuck on himself. Maybe he was just trying to throw her off balance so she would trust him. She had to be very careful with this one.

She pulled out into the street and started toward the home of Gerard Stokes. He lived in the rich part of town with all the other cream of society around here. She dreaded even going up there to his big house on the hill. It made her sick to think of all that money.

“So,” she said, “is there anything in that case file we ought to know before we get there?”

“The girl that was found murdered there was Patty Ryan, a local dancer in one of the strip clubs in town. It says here that she is also suspected of prostitution, but no one was ever able to prove that.”

“A local stripper is found dead in a wealthy man’s house and he claims that he has no knowledge of it whatsoever? That sounds really lame. How did the killer get the body in there without his

knowledge?”

“Good questions. But it could be possible. There could be a dozen explanations for what happened that doesn’t involve Mr. Stokes. Maybe something will come out in the questioning.”

“It just looks pretty cut and dried to me. Mr. Stokes did it. He is obviously the most likely suspect.”

“Don’t be so quick to jump to that conclusion, Kerry. Sometimes things aren’t always as they seem. Let’s wait until we talk to him before making a rash decision,” he suggested.