What should have been a break in a long chain of unsolved robberies leads Detective Valor Lovell into the dark world of murder, organ theft, and the black market. His informant, Miranda, shines light on the thefts tearing through Cauldron City and how they connect to the dead weight case continuing to thwart the detectives of Precinct #153.
To complicate matters, her security is his problem.
One underground group wants her dead. Another wants her alive but out of the hands of law enforcement. But the third, as mysterious as the woman determined to change her colors, could lead to the downfall of everything he holds dear.
Partner in Crime is the second book in the Magic, Mayhem, and the Law in Precinct #153 series.
Where to Purchase
eBook: Patreon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Apple Books | Amazon | Smashwords
* Print, Paperback (6×9): Bookshop | Barnes & Noble | Amazon (Blank Edges)
Audiobook: Patreon | Kobo | Audible | Apple | Chirp
* Note: All 6×9 Paperback editions have forced print edges unless purchased at Amazon.
From Chapter One…
Tuesday, May 1, 2057
Lower North Lakes, Precinct 153
Cauldron City, Nebraska.
Some days, I regretted my decision to go to work and be a cop.
Today was one of those days.
I’d gone in expecting trouble: shift assignments always drove everyone insane. Rather than find out when I would be working with Paul, Captain Farthan delivered a bitter blow instead.
He meant to move forward with the community service recruit, and we would be teamed up as a pair while my partner moved to different waters, forming a group including Grimstone, Jace, and Dowdren. From the way the captain talked, there’d be more than just the four of them working cases together.
On the surface, the assignment made sense, but I resented the captain’s decision to steal my partner from me. Worse, I expected the detectives would find some way to get into trouble and have fun without me.
I’d also miss the extra pay from keeping the elephant shifter from causing property damage.
Glaring at the captain didn’t help. The opal dragon smirked at my expression and said, “Once your new partner settles, you’ll be joining their partnership. We’re going to call it a cluster for now.”
I fought the urge to sit up straighter at the news, and I covered my interest by asking, “Short for cluster—”
Captain Farthan cleared his throat and raised a brow.
I snapped my teeth together to avoid the opal dragon’s wrath.
“Which part of this has you irritated?”
I had a list. If I told him the entirety of the list, he’d toss me into holding while the black dragon and his unicorn accomplice supervised. As the last thing I needed or wanted was to become part of that circus, I replied, “I’m questioning my ability to handle a raw recruit who hasn’t gone through the academy yet, sir. A cadet is challenging enough after they have been through schooling, and that is with a partner helping. I’m going to be doing my job with a raw recruit and no backup, sir.”
Maybe if I turned the conversation back in the direction of the problem landing on my lap, he’d ignore my general displeasure over the situation.
The opal dragon chuckled, although I failed to understand what he found funny about the situation. “I’m confident in your abilities. The woman is smart, she’s motivated, and she’s wanting to prove she’s smart and motivated enough to qualify for the academy despite lacking a high school diploma.”
I froze at the news she lacked a diploma. Kids dropped out of high school all the time for a myriad of reasons, but escaping an abusive household neared the top of the list. Sex, drugs, and teenage pregnancies tended to beat out abuse for the top causes for teenagers quitting school, albeit barely. Before I jumped to any conclusions, I forced myself to analyze the situation without forming any opinions unless facts backed those opinions. “What prevented her from pursuing a diploma?”
“She had a falling out with her parents, and she decided to hit the road. Rather than have us dredge through her past, she verified her circumstances with the eagle-griffons, a factor in the judge’s decision to push her to us. She genuinely wants to reform, and she can help us solve those theft cases. She did attempt to reconcile with her parents, but by the time she’d worked up the courage to see them, they had moved away.” The captain growled, a rolling sound deep within his chest.
When the dragons started growling while human, it often led to someone getting hurt. However, I suspected the real reason for the captain’s anger.
He hated being unable to fix broken homes.
Everyone joined the force for a reason, and the entire Farthan clan lived and breathed for improving their community. Captain Farthan contributed through wrangling the circus at our station. The rest of his clan worked in other elements of law enforcement, ranging from cops working the beat to morticians helping on the forensics side of things.
Most in the Farthan clan liked taking the personal approach with their work.
I sighed, recognizing a lost cause when I saw one. Captain Farthan would find some way to make the new recruit work. While he couldn’t fix her broken home, he could give her a home in our station, even if it meant we hired her as a paper pusher instead of as a cop. Accepting the inevitable, I focused on the woman who would turn the station upside down on us. “How long was it between her departure and her return?”
The captain snorted, wrinkled his nose, and dug through one of his desk drawers until he pulled out a disconcertingly thin folder, which he tossed my way. “Ten years.”
A lot could happen in ten years, something I understood well enough. While a magicker, I would outlive most other humans, my family included. Something about my brand of magic extended my lifespan. Much like the stones I worked, I remained the same. To my dismay, I’d stalled aging at twenty-four. I took care with the cut of my hair and how I held myself to cast the illusion of appearing older—and when I needed to, I made use of magic to trick the eyes.
I avoided using that trick at work; I wanted to keep that ace up my sleeve.
While I hesitated, I picked up the folder, sat back in my chair, and opened it. The woman in the mug shot smiled for the camera, holding the identification sign with pride. Someone had given her letters and the freedom to play with the board, resulting in a rather amusing message at the bottom. “Will suck eggs for cash, sir?”
The dragon stopped growling, and he relaxed enough to grin at me. “She’s damned pretty, though, isn’t she?”
Rather than read the board, I focused on her face. I could see Grimstone’s granddaughter hunting her for a spot on one of her shows—and men across the country would pay good money to watch. To my dismay, I realized I might be one of them.
I liked the playful expression on her face.
Something about her brown eyes came across as warm and friendly.
Well, I had a choice to make: I could be honest with the captain, or I could attempt to mask the reality of the situation. “All right. I will not deny that she’s attractive.”
Acknowledging reality would keep me on the right side of the line—and serve as a reminder to myself that while beautiful, the woman would be my partner until the captain took mercy on me and sent her to the academy for appropriate training.
“She’s downstairs with the babies, and she’s been trying to convince Patricia that she needs a baggier uniform. She’s concerned her breasts will be distracting. She is horrified because the specific blue of our uniform works well on her. She’s supposed to be trying to become a cop, not a model dressed like a cop,” the captain announced.
She wouldn’t be the first with similar issues nor would she be the last, although my fellow men had been concerned for other reasons. A few, Paul included, wore cups to protect themselves from damage in a rather sensitive area with a bonus of blocking prying eyes. I debated how best to handle the situation. “What has Patricia reported?”
“She’s in love, as are all the rest of our support staff. She’s painfully humble, she’s inquisitive, she’s open about her lack of education, and she wants to learn. That leads me to the next problem.”
We did not need any more problems. Between Jace’s status as a literal unicorn, the entire Grimstone clan out to add him to their family, and the attacks, we had a surplus of problems. A quiet weekend had put everyone on edge.
When would the killer strike again?
Where would the killer leave the next pile of bodies to be discovered?
I wanted to be out on the streets hunting the bastards behind the poisonings and murders rather than dealing with cold, ancient theft cases. However, with the woman, we had a lead.
We had nothing more than frustration with the dead weight cases.
I referred to the woman’s photograph again to learn her name. “Does Miranda have a last name?”
“She does, but she begged the eagle-griffons to let her maintain her privacy. She doesn’t want to damage her parents’ reputations, no matter where they might be. She’d rather be the sole one to be punished for her various sins.”
With that level of humility, it came as no surprise the women of our station had fallen hard for the thief. It also shined some light on the rumors of our sister station wanting us to take Miranda.
The last thing we needed was an entire station of women melting down because of a new recruit who wanted to do her best and showed every sign of being humble while doing it. I foresaw every single man in our station having issues, too.
Someone as pretty as the thief didn’t come around every day. On the surface, everything seemed a little too perfect. Narrowing my eyes, I considered her mug shot. I checked the folder to discover a single sheet detailing the theft that had gotten her arrested.
She’d been caught pilfering groceries from one of the upper-end stores in Precinct 1, and she’d been captured by a pair of red dragons. Upon realizing she starved, they’d fed her before handing her over to the police to be booked and questioned.
As one of ten children, I understood being poor; my parents did their best, but they’d lived paycheck to paycheck with all of us under one roof. Four of my brothers and one of my sisters still lived with our parents, and I helped pay the bills in the form of bringing over extra groceries under the guise of being young, dumb, and incapable of buying the right amount for one man.
One day, someone in my family would call me out on it, as I always bought what my family tended to need the most, which included bread, milk, eggs, flour, butter, and bacon.
Only an idiot would buy two cartons of eggs, more than a few loaves of bread, too much butter, and extra packets of bacon without realizing mistakes were being made. Until someone flung accusations my way, the staples would keep showing up.
I would worry about the new recruit’s home life until certain she wouldn’t be stealing groceries again.
“According to your expression, you are more than a little concerned about our new recruit. Elaborate.”
Waving the rap sheet, I replied, “She’s being moved into law enforcement over some groceries?”
“Yes.”
Sometimes, I questioned the society we lived in. “Was she unaware we have programs for the poor?”
“While she is aware of some of the programs, she felt that because of her position she would end up arrested if she sought help.”
As law enforcement of all stripes often did just that to get particularly dangerous entities off the streets, we tended to leave the petty thieves alone. For the most part, we’d rather feed them through legitimate channels than deal with even more theft. I shook my head and sighed. “I’ll make sure she knows about the public programs and how she can best make use of them—or to help others, like the friends she surely has around the city in a similar position.”
“I thought you’d see things my way. Do your best, Lovell. I’m not expecting miracles, but the uppers want her to succeed, and that means we’re going to have a great deal of work ahead of us. I’m not sure how we’re going to overcome her educational woes, but if she’s even half as smart as Patricia says, she should be fine.”
“I’ll talk with Jace,” I offered.
“Good. I’ll mark that off my list. We may as well make that damned unicorn do something with that fancy degree of his.”
I snickered, rather enjoying the captain’s irritation over the situation. “He did do something with his degree. He became a cop. It’s not his fault we didn’t check beyond his base education. Dowdren would have told us if it became important.”
“Just like he told us Smithson’s species?”
“It never became important, and when it did become important, Jace did what was best for the community.” I respected the unicorn for that, and to thank him, whenever I had a few minutes, I’d go over his dead weight case and clean up his files, correct his newbie mistakes, sort out the inevitable inconsistencies he’d created just from trying to piece so much together, and otherwise work from the shadows to help him succeed. “If anything, he’s done a good job of making sure the entirety of the Cauldron City respects him, especially among law enforcement.”
“He’s too damned humble,” Captain Farthan groused.
“He is humble until he’s wearing a fur coat and prancing around in his parade gear, after which he’s quite proud and wants everyone to know how beautiful he is,” I corrected.
“Get out of my office and introduce yourself to your new partner!” the dragon roared.
As wise men left the scene when the dragons got cranky, I did as ordered, waiting until I closed the captain’s door behind me to grin over having nettled him.
Purchase Now at the Following Retailers!
eBook: Patreon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Apple Books | Amazon | Smashwords
* Print, Paperback (6×9): Bookshop | Barnes & Noble | Amazon (Blank Edges)