said to have followed pretty closely in his father’s footsteps. Christian Sr. was a notorious gambler who ran an enormous bookie business. When things were going his way he was living the high life, but when times got tough he started to invest in some shady deals. He was around in Stan’s heyday. I remember hearing stories of how Christian Sr. was the number one source for illegal guns at the time. The homicide rate had almost doubled in the underprivileged sections of the state where he had been running prostitution rings and gun sales. A lot of people actually looked at him pretty favorably since he had an unwritten code about not selling the guns in Edenville. Who says there’s no honor among thieves?” Bobby rolled his chair over to sit next to Piper, hoping he’d be able to help her sort through the documents in front of her.
“I love the irony in that name. Christian, it’s so fitting. So all these Donavans on here are related to him?” Piper passed the list back to Bobby and continued to pretend to be otherwise occupied.
“It looks like it. Christian, Jr. is the brains of the operation as far as rumor has it. He picked up pretty much where his dad left off. These two cases here are his cousin Tommy’s. I know of his brother, Sean. He has three cases on this list. He’s not so bright. He’s known for being a bigmouth skirt-chaser, and that’s not conducive to a successful life of crime. If I were going to take these guys down, I’d start with him. Not that it matters—I’ll be working traffic for the next ten years.” Bobby took his hands and rubbed at his temples as though the thought of directing traffic gave him an instant headache.
“I’m sure you’ll be back taking down huge crime rings before you know it. One mistake doesn’t ruin your entire career.” She put her hand on his shoulder and was instantly impressed by how muscular it was. There didn’t seem to be an ounce of fat on him anywhere.
“I think I’ll be asking to stay on traffic actually. The mistake I made had nothing to do with forgetting to read the Miranda rights. It was being overconfident enough to think I could manage that type of investigation and take down those guys my rookie year. I was trying to prove something, to Jules or myself or maybe to Stan. I don’t want to be just an average cop, because if I am then I gave up someone I loved in order to do a mediocre job. I guess I was trying to overcome that. Realistically, I had no business getting involved. I could have blown more than an opportunity, I could have gotten myself and Rylie killed. Those two weeks of suspension were some of the darkest of my life.”
Piper’s hand lingered on his shoulder, and he felt it burning through his shirt. He wanted to believe that it was all the time they had been spending together lately that made the thought of her touching him intoxicating, and hoped it wasn’t the fact that all he could picture was that lace bra of hers. He didn’t want to be that kind of guy.
“I wish I had known you then, because I would have told you I was proud of you. It took someone with an enormous amount of courage to do what you did. You should have no regrets. I wouldn’t have let you stay in that dark place for too long.” She saw a look of gratitude fill Bobby’s face as she spoke.
With a swift movement toward her, Bobby leaned in and pressed his lips against hers. It wasn’t a kiss full of passion and hunger. It was a kiss that two old friends might share. To Piper, even though it was brief, it felt powerful.
“I’m sorry,” Bobby whispered. “No one else has said that to me since this whole thing started, and I needed to hear it more than I thought. I didn’t mean to ambush you like that.” For the second time today Bobby couldn’t look at Piper directly.
“That’s all right, I completely understand. It was nothing.” Piper smiled and waved her hands, indicating it was no big deal, though inside, her mind was reeling. She thought the only thing worse than the awkwardness of a kiss would be a lingering silence to follow it, so she kept speaking. “You found a box of guns and three