The next day at the shelter was much like the
previous one for Paddy and Mike. The only real difference was that Mike was
getting more and more tense, waiting for the other shoe to drop. And Detective
Massey had assigned a new officer to the case.
When Mike and Paddy got to the shelter around noon, Mr.
Jones called Mike into his office. Since his boss knew what was going on, Mike
wasn't too surprised to see a new, and younger, undercover officer there. Mr.
Jones introduced him as Lincoln Allen.
"Just call me Link," the officer said,
smiling. "Everyone does."
After introductions were performed, Link told them
his cover story. He would be an ex street kid who was volunteering at the
shelter now.
"Detective Massey said doing it this way will
give me more freedom to move around."
Mike eyed him. He was tall, just over six-foot Mike thought,
with medium length black hair and dark blue eyes that lit up when he
smiled. "It does," he replied
to Link's implied question.
With that settled, Link said, "Mr. Jones told me
you're in charge of letting kids in. If I can help with that it would make
things easier. That is if it's something I'd be doing."
Paddy, who had been leaning against the wall watching
and listening, said, "It is. I do it whenever it gets too busy."
"You're the man Massey mentioned. The PI,"
Link said.
"That would be me."
"Well, since I'll be here now, if you have other
things, other jobs you're working, it's okay if you take off."
Paddy bristled, obviously biting back a scathing
reply. "Mike hired me. It's his choice whether he wants me around, not
yours."
"Guys," Mike said, holding up one hand,
"As far as I'm concerned the more the merrier right now." He looked
between the two men. "One of you can stay with me behind the counter. The
other one can monitor the door. God only knows there are times when it would be
nice to have someone there to weed out kids who are stoned or drunk so we don't
have to deal with them."
"Sounds like a good job for Link," Paddy
said quickly, before Link could suggest otherwise.
"Okay, then let's get out there. I'm sure
whoever's on the counter now is wondering if I've just been fired or
something."
With that said, Mike and his two 'volunteers' left Mr.
Jones' office.
* * * *
Paddy spent more time watching Link watch Mike than
he did paying attention to what he was supposed to be doing. The young
undercover officer seemed to be a bit too interested in Mike as a person as far
as Paddy was concerned. When it got very busy later in the afternoon, Link
joined them behind the counter, standing close to Mike so he could ask
questions about one kid or another.
Am I reading
too much into this? After all he really doesn't know the ins and outs yet.
Besides which, they just met. Link's probably just trying to get an idea of how
Mike does things so he'll know from his body language if something is wrong or
off kilter.
Still, Paddy couldn't help the wave of jealousy that
washed over him when Link leaned in at one point, his hand on Mike's shoulder,
to see how he was filling out the form for a kid who couldn't have been more
than fourteen. A kid who was desperate to have a bed for the night but
unwilling to even give Mike his street name for fear it would get out and
somehow lead his father to him.
When Mike eventually just wrote down a made-up name
for the kid and waved him through the double doors to the recreation area,
Paddy heard Link whisper, his lips close to Mike's ear, "He's been abused,
hasn't he?"
Paddy was relieved when Mike pulled away. Then less
so when he asked Paddy if he could handle things for a moment while he had a
talk with Link. Paddy nodded reluctantly and hoped that Mike would read the
young officer the riot act for being so damned naïve.
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