Angel Interrupted by Chaz McGee

because the colonel was a man who had to be in charge, and men like that are rarely big fans of strong women. She’d put up with more than a few Colonel Viteks in her battle to become a detective. I could understand her distaste. He was a reminder that the number of men in the world waiting to put her in her place was pretty much endless.
    “What kind of training?” Calvano asked, with the eagerness of a groupie.
    “After training, they do practice sessions,” the colonel explained. “While we conduct a background check to make sure we don’t invite a fox into the henhouse.”
    “And Robert Michael Martin passed the background test?”
    The colonel’s smile faltered slightly. “Martin passed our standard background check, yes.”
    “Meaning?”
    “Meaning if he had an official record, it didn’t show up. The guy is clean.” The colonel paused. “So far as I know, that is. So far as official records show.”
    Maggie winced. He had just damned Martin with faint praise.
    “Did you ever notice anything unusual about Martin?” Calvano asked. Subtle, buddy. How about a flashing neon sign above your head that says, “Accuse him! Accuse him!” just in case the colonel missed the message?
    “He is very zealous,” the colonel admitted. He leaned toward Calvano and lowered his voice. “I get a lot of damaged people as volunteers. And I understand why. They come to me for a chance to fight back at what happened to them or someone they loved. They need to get some power out of the dynamic. I don’t ask people why they want to volunteer. I don’t have to. Robert is one of those. He has a personal stake in stopping child abuse.”
    “So the guy is a little off?” Calvano asked.
    Even Gonzales flinched at that one.
    “Maybe a little,” the colonel conceded. “He volunteers all the time, and I prefer that my volunteers lead more balanced lives. If he isn’t online, he’s checking out the parks, keeping an eye on the homes of registered offenders. He’s very thorough.”
    “He ever bring anyone in?” Calvano asked.
    “Not yet,” the colonel admitted. “Sometimes . . .” He shrugged.
    “What?” Calvano asked. “Give me some background here.”
    But the colonel just smiled like he had said enough. “I have had a lot of very, very dedicated volunteers,” was all he offered Calvano. “And there have been a few bad apples in the mix. People whose motives aren’t so pure. I can never see them coming until we’re in the middle, though.”
    “What do you mean?” Calvano said.
    “I’m always keeping an eye out for the shady ones. And there’s always this moment where I start to get a feeling about someone and this voice inside of me says, Something’s off . I’ve learned to listen to that voice. When someone gets on my radar like that, I have special software I use to track them online without their knowing and read the transcripts of any chats they engage in. And I’ve caught a few, a very few, about to go over to the dark side.”
    “And Martin is one of them?” Calvano asked, excited.
    But the colonel shook his head. “I wouldn’t say that. But . . .” He shrugged. “My radar started to go off about him. He just seemed a little too excited about the possibility of something actually happening. Know what I mean?”
    Calvano nodded. “He told you about the man he supposedly saw in the park?”
    The colonel nodded. “He left a few messages. Yesterday. Again this morning.”
    “But you didn’t talk to him?”
    “I have over fifty volunteers to oversee. I can’t talk to everyone right away. Not unless it’s a real emergency.”
    “And you figured he was just blowing smoke?”
    “I figured he was a troubled young man,” the colonel said.
    Maggie had heard enough. She turned to Gonzales and preempted any attempt at straying from their plan. “All the more reason to give Martin a polygraph,” she said. “He’ll be back here in an hour.”
    “Relax, Gunn,” Gonzales said. “We’re