it just makes him a dick.”
“I know, and I don’t expect anyone to take this on because of my gut feeling. Ellie’s scared, though, Sarge. She’ll never admit it, but it’s there.”
“You know this how?”
Brett swallowed. “She’s a friend of a friend, and while she’s obviously never made a point of being pleasant to me—”
Hudak snorted.
“—I’ve had occasion to observe her in her normal state, and the one thing I can say for sure is that she’s not easily rattled. Last night she was trying to cover it up, but her hands were shaking, she had one of those nervous laughs going on, and she kept looking over at the door—that kind of thing.”
Sarge scanned Brett’s report again, nodding slowly.
“So you have a personal relationship with Miss Palmer?”
“No! I mean, sure, we have some of the same friends and we play on the same ball team, but—”
“That’s a relationship, Hale. Hudak, you take lead on this one.”
“Yes, Sarge.” Her response was quick, absolute.
“Sarge, listen.” Brett leaned forward a little. “Ellie’s not going to want to talk to anyone else. Hell, I still can’t believe she told me as much as she did yesterday. It’s all there in her file—the last time this happened, all she got was the runaround, and was basically ignored, so do you really think she’s going to trust any of us?”
“No, I don’t, which is why Hudak’s just as capable as you or anyone else, but it’s good to know you’re keen to be in on it.”
Oooh, that look couldn’t mean anything good.
Sarge closed the file and nodded at Hudak. “That’s all. Keep me in the loop.”
She didn’t have to say a word, and her facial muscles never so much as twitched, but when she turned to go, Brett could see it in her eyes: she was mentally dropping every curse she could think of and probably making up a few more.
Sarge waited until the door closed behind her, then folded his hands over the file on his desk. “Hale, we’re going to do something here that goes way outside the norm for us.”
“Sarge?”
“It’s going to mean you putting in a lot of overtime, and it’s going to mean changing the dynamic of your relationship with Miss Palmer.”
For the next few minutes, Brett sat openmouthed as Sarge laid it out for him, then sat back in his chair, hands folded over the top of his head.
“I can’t force you to do it, Hale, but with Yves out on medical leave, you’re the only single male we’ve got. I’m not asking you to do anything crazy, like sleep with her—for God’s sake, don’t sleep with her. Just take her out to dinner a few times, go to the movies, do whatever the hell it is young people do when they’re dating these days. Do they even call it dating anymore?”
Sarge waited for Brett to answer, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t even swallow.
“And I’m not asking you to be with her every minute—just make it look like the two of you are, you know, a couple. Save all your receipts, keep track of your time, and we’ll submit it as an expense report with your overtime.”
When Brett still didn’t respond, Sarge sighed.
“Look, I’m not going to blow sunshine up your skirt here, Hale. This isn’t going to be fun, and you’re within your rights to tell me to piss off. But there’s two things we can accomplish here. Number one, we can help Hudak draw this douche bag out, build a case against him, and get him the hell off my streets, and number two, you’ll be giving us a second set of eyes on Miss Palmer, only yours will be less conspicuous than Hudak’s.”
Damn it.
“This Miss Palmer might not be a favorite around here,” Sarge went on. “Regardless, she still deserves to be treated fairly and to feel safe. Agreed?”
Brett managed to nod.
“Good. Now, listen. I can’t promise anything, because we all know the wheels creak pretty slow around this kind of thing, but when this is over, I’ll do what I can to help shuffle your transfer papers a little faster.”
What could he say? Even if it hadn’t been Ellie, he would have eventually agreed; it was his job, and on shift or not, he was still a cop.
“Good.” Sarge nodded decisively. “I don’t know how you’re going to get her on board with this, Hale, but make it work somehow, and do whatever you have to to make her understand the need for discretion. With