Maggie's Guardian

“We haven’t seen each other since she left me—until last night.”

Baxton rocked slowly back and forth in his chair as a clock ticked behind him. “How much time off do you want?”

“I’m not sure.”

The commander seemed to think it over, as if he had a choice.

Noah reared out of his chair. “Look, Baxton, I’m not asking—I’m going to Maine to help my ex-wife. Fire me if you have to.”

“Damn you, man, you know I can’t fire you. I’d be explaining until my successor was planning his retirement party. Go, but you’d better make this fast. Let’s go over your caseload.”

“We’d better start with Della Eddings.”

Della’s was a case they’d worked on together outside of office hours. Abused by her husband, she’d arrived in the squad room in the early hours of a rainy morning, begging them to save her and her two children. Frank Eddings remained just outside the reach of the stalker laws, but Baxton and Noah, both sick of cleaning up after killings, had gone out of their way to protect her.

“My wife will thank me for spending double my usual time with Della,” Baxton said.

“We’re keeping her alive.”

“I won’t forget to check in with her.”

Noah nodded. “I’ll let Della know she should try you first if anything happens.”

They covered the rest of Noah’s cases, and he got up to leave. Baxton swung around in his chair as if a great idea had suddenly struck him. “If you manage to train one of those hicks well enough, send him back here instead of coming yourself. He’d have to be less trouble.”

“Thanks.” Noah gripped the doorknob, just a little ashamed of the pain in the ass he must have been in the past year and a half.

Baxton dropped his loose fist on the desk. “Don’t forget to fill out your paperwork. I don’t want to come up there after you to get it right.”

“You’re a warm guy, Baxton.”

“Damn straight.” Picking up a pencil, he prepared to move on to his next point of business. “You know you got no jurisdiction up there?”

“I don’t need jurisdiction. I can dial 911 as well as anyone else.” Noah pulled the door shut and met the accusatory stares of the detectives working their cases from the office. A single thought on so many minds was easy to read.