Highland County Heroes Collection

Chapter 2-2

She shook her head, but couldn’t take her eyes off him as he almost strutted across the room. She couldn’t tear her gaze away as he approached a woman, well, girl really, who couldn’t be more than twenty-three. Hayley had seen Warren’s file, he was at least ten years older than that girl, she certainly felt like a girl compared to her own thirty-two years. Compared to Hayley the girl seemed like a child.

Warren spoke to her a moment then turned away and went to a man. They spoke, and Hayley couldn’t help but watch the way Hathaway seemed to dominate the conversation. When they were done, the other man seemed to slink away, as if Hathaway had called him on being a s**t and he’d decided he better go somewhere else and find someone other than the girl to harass. Hathaway went back to the woman, handed her what appeared to be a card, spoke to her a moment or two longer then walked away.

Hayley didn’t find much to admire in most of the men she oversaw but that, at least from what she saw, appeared to be a semi-noble move and she couldn’t help but be impressed. At least a little. She might be a little bit inebriated, but she wasn’t totally stupid. Not yet.

She tipped up her bottle again and took another sip as her eyes tracked him back across the room where he joined another officer, the one people called Barney. James Barnacle was his real name, but he was so gung-ho and a stickler for the rules that most people called him Barney, even to his face. He’d long ago stopped pointing out that it wasn’t his name and just went with the nick name.

Hayley tried not to use the nickname, at least not out loud, because she knew some day she would slip and say it out loud. To him. While he seemed to accept the name from the other men, and even superior officers, she suspected that he wouldn’t take it as well from her. A woman.

She sighed as she watched the two men clap each other on the back and smile as they talked. Sometimes being a woman in a man’s job sucked. But Hayley had wanted to be a police officer as long as she could remember. She loved what she did, and wouldn’t trade it for anything. She tipped the bottle in her hand back and drained it in one long drink, not that there was that much left, but that was beside the point.

If she didn’t know word would get out and she’d lose the respect of her officers, she’d make her way across the room, grab the fine ass perfectly outlined in his jeans and get him to take her home.

Too bad it would have to stay a fantasy.

Marissa appeared, back from the bathroom, with another round in her hands.

“I really shouldn’t,” Hayley said as her sister’s friend set another bottle of beer in front of her.

“You’re not driving and you don’t have to work tomorrow. Indulge,” Marissa said.

“I’m celebrating,” Denni put in. “Don’t make me celebrate alone.”

“When you put it that way.” Hayley picked up the new bottle and tipped it back. It had been a long time, longer than she could remember, since she’d cut loose and had more than two or three drinks at one time. Maybe it was exactly what she needed. “What are we celebrating?”

“A win. A big win.” Denni lifted her bottle as if in toast.

“Is this something I want to hear?” Hayley lifted one brow. Denni was a public defender. Her job was to defend people who couldn’t afford attorneys. On charges that the police department, or more accurately, the county attorney’s office, had brought against them, based on evidence gathered by the police. It was sometimes a sore subject between them.

“I think so. I had a kid who was charged with rape. He had no alibi. The evidence against him was pretty damning. The victim identified him. I didn’t think we had much of a chance. Well, I didn’t until the DNA came back. The biological evidence taken at the hospital, with in an hour of the attack came back clearing my kid. He isn’t more than 21, he really is a kid.”

“That’s good, but did they explain the witness ID?”

“She’d been on a date with the kid earlier that night, and he’d pushed for s*x. Hadn’t been happy when she said no, but had dropped her off at the dorm. When she was attacked, from behind by the way, less than twenty minutes later, she assumed it was him. She never actually saw her rapist.”

“That’s too bad.” Hayley shook her head. “Did they run the DNA through CODIS?”

“It’s still looking for a match but the results were enough to get my client off. It’s a big win for me.”

“It’s a good win.” Hayley lifted her own drink in the toast she hadn’t participated in earlier. “Though, I would offer congratulations more often if you were on the same side.”

“I am on the same side as you. The side of Justice.”

Hayley let that one go. It was an old argument between them and she didn’t want to get into it tonight. Tonight was for celebrations and fun, not rehashing old disagreements.

“To your win.” Hayley lifted her bottle in the air, hoping her sister would take the hint. Sure enough, Denni raised her bottle.

“To justice.”

“To justice,” Marissa lifted her soda in toast. They clinked their drinks together and Hayley took a long pull. Try as she might she couldn’t keep her gaze from drifting back to where Warren stood and wondering if he might be worth it.