and Josie suppressed a groan. It seemed as though the rain would never end. The flooding was reaching doomsday proportions, and the river hadn’t even crested yet. She heard the stairwell door swing open and a moment later, a steaming cup of coffee and a box of baked goods appeared in front of her.
Noah said, “The pastries are from Misty. You didn’t even leave me a note. Everything okay?”
Josie sipped the coffee gratefully and leaned back in her chair. Noah took a seat across from her at his own desk. She told him about the call.
“Why didn’t you wake me up?” he said.
“Then you wouldn’t have had any sleep at all. Besides, it’s a dead end right now. Unless she calls back.”
Gretchen and Mettner banged through the stairwell door, both shaking water from their hair. They attacked Misty’s box of goodies and settled in at their desks, ready to catch up. Gretchen booted up her computer, checked her email, and started printing documents out. Before Josie could brief them on the Beverly Urban case or the mysterious female night caller, Amber arrived, dressed in another form-fitting skirt and blouse, this time in darker tones. Instead of a briefcase, she carried a cup-holder filled with paper coffee cups. She set them down on Mettner’s desk. “Hi, everyone,” she said with a smile. “I thought you might need these.” Her face fell as she saw the cup in Josie’s hand, but she quickly covered it with a smile. “Now you’ll have two,” she told Josie, setting a cup in front of her. “Detective Quinn,” she said. “Detective Mettner told me you like your coffee with two sugars and lots of half and half.”
“Mett,” Josie said. “We just call him Mett. Thank you.”
Josie sipped the cup Noah had brought her as she watched Amber hand out the rest of them, each one made to the person’s liking as per Mett’s instructions.
Mettner said, “I told her we usually like Komorrah’s, but they’re flooded now.”
Gamely, Noah said, “This was very thoughtful. Thank you.”
When she had finished dispensing the drinks, Amber pulled a chair over from one of the unoccupied desks. She produced a tablet with keyboard which she opened on her lap. Then she looked at them expectantly.
Gretchen said, “Miss Watts, you’ll be joining us for all of our briefings from now on?”
Amber smiled. “Please, call me Amber. Well, not every briefing but I thought for now, to get myself acclimated, I’d sit in on as many as I can. This will give me an idea of what types of cases you’re working on and any press issues you might be up against.”
Josie wanted to tell her that they’d handled the press just fine as long as she’d been with the department, but it was obvious that in spite of the Chief’s protests, Amber was there to stay. When no one spoke, Amber said, “Look, detectives, I’m not the Mayor’s plant, okay?”
“No one said that,” Mettner told her.
Josie, Gretchen, and Noah all swiveled their heads to stare at him. Noticing their looks, he said, “What? You guys think she’s a plant from the Mayor? Really?”
“It’s okay,” Amber said. “Really. Listen, I can’t change the fact that the Mayor hired me, but I am here to do a job and that is to handle all press matters so that all of you can do your jobs. That’s what I’m here to do, and if it makes you feel any better, I report to your Chief, not the Mayor.”
No one spoke.
After a tense moment, Mettner said, “Come on, guys. We might as well make the most of this situation. We’ve got work to do.”
Gretchen said, “What happens if Mayor Charleston doesn’t get re-elected? Do you lose your job?”
Amber waved a hand dismissively. “Oh, the election is months away. I’m not worried about that now.”
“But the primary is in a couple of weeks,” Noah pointed out. “The other party doesn’t have a candidate, which means either Charleston or Dutton will run unopposed for Mayor in November. You’ll know in two weeks who your boss is going to be next year.”
Josie said, “Dutton’s running on a campaign to cut spending. He’s made Charleston out as though she’s gone buck wild with the city’s budget.”
Amber stared at them, a genial smile frozen stiffly on her face. An awkward moment passed. Then she let out a breath and said, “Well, I can’t worry about that right now. I have a job to do for as long as I’m here, so if