Not in the Cards

  Not in the Cards

  The Delta Stevens Crime Logs, Book 3

  Alex Westmore

  Contents

  Copyright

  A Free Book for You

  Not in the Cards

  More from Alex Westmore

  About the Author

  Bonus Offer

  © 2016, Broad Winged Books

  All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only; it may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.

  Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author's imagination, or the author has used them fictitiously.

  Editor: Sara-Jayne Slack

  Cover & Graphics Designer: Mallory Rock

  Proofreader: Falcon Storm

  Broad Winged Books

  PO Box 72

  Brighton, MI 48116

  So you’ve just scored your very own copy of Not in the Cards. Awesome! Hey, you know what’s even more awesome? I want to give you a present as my way of saying thanks for checking me out. Yes, indeed, I’ve written a free short story just for my newsletter subscribers. You can grab your free copy at www.AlexWestmore.net/Newsletter. Happy travels!

  Alex

  Not in the Cards

  “I know you’re in here,” Delta stated sharply, wrapping her left index finger around the trigger. “I’ve killed before, you piece of shit, and I’ll do it again if you don’t leave her alone.” Delta waited for a response she knew would never come.

  They were alone.

  He had planned it that way, and would play out his revenge until the bitter end.

  Creeping through the murk, Delta carefully avoided the rays of light dancing across the cement floor. She had been in this position before; she hadn’t been a victim then, and she wasn’t about to be one now.

  “Delta,” came a low, gravelly voice from a distance. “You know you can’t stop me. No matter how hard you try, I will always beat you.” Delta’s heart raced and she wiped the tiny beads of sweat off of her upper lip. The heat was unbearable, as fire suddenly swept up the drapes.

  Drapes? Delta shrugged off the incongruence.

  “Show yourself, you coward. Come out and face me and leave the girl alone.”

  A maniacal laugh reverberated through the room. “You want her?”

  “You know I do.”

  “Then you can have her. Now and forever.”

  A body swung from the overhead metal beam and jerked to a halt five feet from the ground.

  “No!” Delta screamed, seeing the girl’s body suspended by a thick rope tied securely around her neck. Her head hung lazily to one side, and her eyes…

  Those eyes. Those empty, lifeless eyes stared at Delta, accusing her, berating her, reminding her of what a failure she had been.

  How much longer would they haunt her?

  “It’s your fault, Delta. You took the law into your own hands and look what happened. Look!”

  Delta dropped her gun and covered her ears. “No!”

  “Yes, Delta. She’s dead because of you. Dead and gone, plant food in the cemetery. How does it feel to know you’re responsible?”

  Delta couldn’t keep from hearing his words.

  “Look at her Delta.”

  Instead she squeezed her eyes shut.

  “Look at her! Or are you afraid?”

  With her hands still covering her ears and her eyes tightly shut, Delta could swear she felt her heart pounding against her chest. She did not want to look. She didn’t want to not look, either.

  “Delta...she’s okay, really. Just see for yourself. I was just playing a trick on you.” The voice seemed distorted and Delta opened an eye to see why. She immediately regretted doing so. Swinging back and forth, as if someone had pushed her, the little girl laughed as maggots fell from her face onto the floor.

  “No!” Delta cried out. “No! No! No!”

  “Delta...”

  “Get away from me!” Delta pushed away mysterious hands reaching out of nowhere to touch her.

  “Delta, honey, wake up. You’re having another nightmare. Wake up.”

  Delta sat straight up and looked around, still half asleep. Sweat ran down her back and her hands trembled when she reached up to wipe her perspiring forehead.

  “Come here, baby,” Megan said, gently pulling Delta to her. “You’re okay, now. You’re with me.”

  As the remaining sleepy fog lifted from Delta’s consciousness, she snuggled close to Megan’s breasts, afraid that even they might not be real.

  “Same nightmare, sweetheart?”

  Delta nodded, trying to slow her breathing. Her heart raced beneath her chest. “Close enough.”

  Every night for the past two weeks, Delta had experienced the same nightmare, like some ghoulish broken record. Over and over again, Delta could only stand by helplessly while a little girl named Helen died, and a voice pierced through the night mocking her. And always, she had awakened sweating, shaking, and wondering if and when it would ever end.

  “They’re the same, but getting worse. They feel more real to me each time.” Delta pressed her cheek against Megan’s chest. “I can’t stop it.”

  Gently rocking Delta, Megan kissed her perspiring temple and held her tightly. “Shh. You just close your eyes now and think of you and me walking along the beach, okay?”

  Nodding, Delta already felt her eyelids getting heavier. “Don’t let go of me, Meg.”

  Running a well-manicured hand through Delta’s sweaty curls, Megan kissed her again. “Not in a million years, my love.”

  Feeling her head rise and fall to the rhythm of Megan’s breathing, Delta closed her eyes, her heart slowly down, her breathing back to normal. She had never been one to believe in the supernatural. That was Connie’s gig. Delta chose to believe in the tangible. Still…these nightmares were always the same. Over and over, Helen’s face melted in front of her.

  What then, was her subconscious trying to tell her?

  It had been a full two weeks of suspension when Delta finally stood outside the door to the new captain’s office for her first interview. Two weeks of gardening, sun tanning, book reading, and soap opera watching and she’d had enough. It seemed like everywhere she turned, whether it was books, television, or music, she saw the face of a little girl who’d died at the hands of a madman with absolutely no regard for human life. Delta had failed to save Helen from Elson Zuckerman, and it had haunted her every night for fourteen days straight. When it wasn’t plaguing her during the night, it was running through her days, tormenting her psyche. She couldn’t seem to escape the frustration, and worst of all, the knowledge that she had failed to save a little girl from the hands of the devil himself.

  She had failed Helen, and it felt as if her punishment for that failure would never end.

  The only thing Delta had to look forward to was getting back to work. She loved her beat; the action, the pace, the night-to-night variety of calls she responded to. She enjoyed helping kids get home just as much as she enjoyed busting dope pushers, burglars, muggers, and thieves. But most of all, she enjoyed knowing that she was the best there was. Still, even her best hadn’t been good enough to save Helen.

  Knocking on the door to the captain’s office, Delta waited for him to call her in.

  “Come on in Delta,” Captain John Henry said, looking up from his desk as the door opened,
and motioning for her to enter.

  She slipped in and closed the door quietly before sitting on one of the leather chairs across from the captain’s large oak desk. She hated the captain’s office. It reminded her of the many principal’s offices she had been sent to as a kid. How many lectures had she had as a kid on the importance of following the rules, regardless of her grades, which were slightly above average.

  Delta sighed loudly. Some things never changed.

  Captain Henry closed the large file he’d been reading and leaned across the desk. “Enjoy your time off?”

  Delta shrugged. If this was his opening line, she was in trouble. “Not particularly. I enjoy my job.”

  Leaning away from her now, Captain Henry eased back among the shadows of the dark room. What was it with captains, other bosses, and principals who kept their offices like bear lairs?

  “So I’ve heard. It appears you enjoy it so much, you do it even when you’re not on duty.”

  Delta tensed. Her first meeting with the captain and already, she felt attacked. “If you’ve read the Zuckerman report, sir, you’ll see that my off-duty activities saved hundreds of lives.”

  Captain Henry smiled. “Oh, I’ve read the report, Delta. A number of times. It also appears that this isn’t the first time Internal Affairs has investigated you for off-duty activities.”

  Delta felt the heat rise in her cheeks “No, sir, it isn’t. But I’ve learned a lot and I’m sure I’m a better cop for it.”

  Captain Henry regarded her through a pair of twinkling blue eyes. He didn’t appear to be baiting her; he was feeling her out more than anything else. “I’m sure you are. But your choice of words is interesting. You say you’ve learned a lot, but your lessons come when you’ve acted on your own and not under departmental guidelines—is that correct?”

  Delta thought about this a moment before nodding. “I suppose so.”

  “They say,” Captain Henry said, leaning forward again, “that those who can learn can also teach. What do you think?”

  Delta frowned. What kind of question was that? “I don’t know, sir. Some of my college professors were pretty poor teachers.”

  This seemed to throw him back. “Uh huh. Well, Delta, as your new captain, I’ve been given the job of deciding how to handle my officers when they’re investigated by IA. I’ve gone through your files with a fine-toothed comb and I believe that some changes are in order if you are to continue working for this department.”

  The hair on the back of Delta’s neck rose. “Changes, sir? What kind of changes?”

  Leaning even closer, Captain Henry smiled. “I have decided remove you off from your regular beat and assign you a Field Training Officer position starting immediately.”

  “Training Patrol?”

  “That’s right.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding.”

  “Do I look like I’m kidding?”

  Delta tried not to glare across the spacious desk. Captain John Henry, who sat with his thick arms folded across his weightlifter’s chest, reminded Delta of a wooden sailor figure carved roughly out of driftwood. He had Popeye’s arms, a strong jawbone, and grayish blue eyes that said he was a take-charge kind of captain. All he lacked to complete the picture was Popeye’s corncob pipe perched beneath his salt and pepper moustache and a tattoo of an anchor on his arm.

  “Come on, Captain, anything but TP. I’m no teacher. I wouldn’t have the first clue how to be an FTO. Besides, what about Jan? She’s my partn—”

  “Not anymore. Like I said, thing are changing and as of this moment. Jan Bowers has a new partner, a new beat, and a new attitude. I suggest you adopt her approach.” Unfolding his muscular arms, the captain leaned slowly and purposefully across the desk. The strong scent of his Old Spice cologne wafted into the air. “Field Training Officers are handpicked, Delta. I picked you. It’s that simple.”

  Delta sighed in exasperation. He did not look like a man who understood compromises or creative rule-bending. “A rookie will only slow me down, sir.”

  Captain Henry grinned, his moustache dancing slightly with the movement. “Has it ever occurred to you that slowing down is precisely what you need?”

  Delta shook her head. “No, sir. I like the heat.”

  Captain Henry’s old sailor grin widened. “So I’ve seen. From what I understand, you’ve been pretty busy lately experiencing that heat; and from all sides.”

  Delta winced inside. She knew where he was going with this, and she didn’t have a defense or any fancy words to get her out of it. She had gone out on a limb to save Connie and hundreds of others from Elson’s sick game of revenge, and now Internal Affairs was on the other side of that limb holding a saw. “I suppose you could say that, sir.”

  “I suppose I could say a great deal. You seem to have your hand in cookie jars that aren’t even in your house.”

  Delta cocked her head in question. “Captain, I’d appreciate it if you’d cut to the chase. My suspension is up tomorrow and I’m here because you asked me. Just why did you want to see me?” Delta held his gray eyes with hers.

  Captain Henry retained her gaze for a moment before shifting his eyes back to the thick folder laying beneath his forearms. “I wanted to see you because of this,” he answered, tapping the folder with his stubby finger. Slowly pulling his large frame from the chair and moving over beside Delta, Captain Henry handed the folder down to her as she remained seated. “I’m trying to keep a damn good cop from spending the rest of the year, if not the rest of her career, behind a desk.”

  Delta glanced down at the folder sitting in her lap. It suddenly felt like it weighed a hundred pounds. “This is about the Zuckerman case, isn’t it? You agree with IA that I could have saved him from falling from that building.”

  “What I think,” Captain Henry said quietly, “is that you’re a very fine officer who has made a lot of questionable judgment calls. I don’t have to tell you that Internal Affairs has had a field day with some of those decisions.”

  Inhaling through her nose, Delta sat up straight and locked eyes with him again. “The chief’s commendations mean nothing to you, sir?”

  Pulling on his moustache, Captain Henry shook his head. “A commendation may be a nice thing to have under your belt, but as your superior officer, I see things in a little different light.”

  Delta stared hard into his eyes. The color seemed to vacillate between gray and blue. “And what light is that?”

  Captain Henry leaned against the desk and folded his arms again. “Delta, have you taken a good look at this overstuffed personnel file lately?”

  Delta briefly glanced down at it and shook her head.

  “Well I have. I’ve been over every inch of your file, and you know what I found?”

  Gritting her teeth, Delta shrugged. If he was going to blast her, she wished he would just do it and let her get the hell out of there. The walls were closing in around her and he seemed to be growing larger with every sentence. She didn’t need this hassle. After Internal Affairs finished with her about the Zuckerman case, she promised herself to try to keep her nose as far away from trouble as she possibly could. Now, even before the game had begun, she was being benched.

  “I am well aware of the contents of my file and the questions raised by IA, sir. The way I see it, it’s my job to make certain decisions on the street and it’s their job to question them. I did, they did, and it’s done.”

  “Oh, it is?”

  “Isn’t it?”

  Captain Henry reached to pick the file up from Delta’s lap and carefully opened it so he could leaf through without the papers spilling everywhere. “I found four incidents where you ignored proper procedure, where you and your partner broke regulations, skirted the rules, and, most disconcerting of all, you ignored orders when you felt they didn’t apply to you. I’ve read lengthy reports detailing accounts of you killing one suspect in a warehouse, and shooting the legs out from another suspect who also happened to be a cop. I’ve read abo
ut one man falling ten stories to his death while you stood by, apparently within arms’ reach of him. I’ve read a file filled with both commendations and yellow slips, praises and reprimands—”

  “Excuse me, sir, but is there a point to all this?”

  After closing the file and twisting his torso to set it back on his desk, Captain Henry paced over to the window that overlooked the bustling station. At each desk sat either a potential criminal or possible victim. Three cops actually stood by a water cooler laughing. The ever present frenetic energy could be felt through the window. “As a matter-of-fact, there is.” Without turning back, he continued. “There isn’t a cop in California who hasn’t heard of your exploits and heroics. I’ve spoken to officers who have worked with you, and you receive nothing but the highest marks from your colleagues. I’ve done some digging into your background and discovered that, regardless of the stains and medals in your file, you are considered one of the greatest assets in this department.” He turned to her. “You are what many of the young guys aspire to be.”

  “But?”

  Captain Henry sighed. “But I’m afraid your reputation as a vigilante who too easily turns her back on departmental rules precedes you.”

  Delta nodded. She knew well her reputation across town and in other departments, and she was proud of it. In six years, she’d had her share of major busts and convictions. Sometimes she played it straight, but more often than not, she found her way around the overly-restrictive departmental rules that hampered other cops from completing the job. Cops were required to follow rules that didn’t apply to criminals, and those very rules tied the hands of law enforcement officers and kept them from doing their job well. Yes, she broke regulations, but she liked to think of it as creative problem-solving.

  Unfortunately, it didn’t appear as if Captain Henry was going to see it her way. “Like you said, Captain, I get the job done.”