Bermuda Heat by P.A. Brown

me. And once I feared you dead… It seemed pointless. But then I started wondering. I was ashamed at first, thinking I had been lied to, but I’m afraid I became a bit obsessed with the idea. Finally I had to know. I tried to call your mother again, but they had changed the number and I never 78 P.A. Brown
    knew her married name.” Joel toyed with his half-empty high-ball glass. “When my friend showed me the picture of you in the L.A.
    Times , I still wasn’t sure. Perhaps she had told you the truth and you didn’t want to contact me. And I wasn’t sure about hiring someone to find you. It was so expensive, and while I knew he’d have no trouble finding you, there was still no guarantee you would be glad to be found. But then I realized I had to know. I had to see you for myself.”
    Joel’s bright eyes met David’s. “How long have you been a detective in the Los Angeles Police Department?”
    “Nineteen years on the job. Eleven as a detective.”
    “I confess I never would have expected Barbara’s son to become a police officer.”
    “Don’t tell me,” David said. “You think I should have been a lawyer, too.”
    “What? No, police work is honorable. What is the motto of the Los Angeles police? To protect and serve? There is no more noble calling.”
    David blinked and a look came over his face that Chris had never seen before. Pride. An affirmation that what he did was something good.
    Chris suddenly felt bad for the times he had all but nagged David to give his job up, to quit. Chris still lived in terror of David’s job. He couldn’t help it, every moment David was out of his sight, Chris imagined the worst. He knew why so many cops got divorced; their wives couldn’t take it anymore.
    “Are you a good policeman?” Joel asked.
    “I like to think so,” David muttered. He glanced at Chris and the pride was still there, along with something so simple it almost broke his heart. David was happy.
    The door opened and a young girl stepped out. She was beautiful, with skin the color of sea-darkened sand. Waist-length black hair was tied back with a bright yellow scrunchy. She wore a matching yellow blouse and a knee length skirt. Gold earrings BeRMudA heAt 79
    dangled from her earlobes. Her shrewd look took in the three men on the terrace. Chris could see her evaluating them, building niches to store them in. A knowing look dawned on her face.
    Joel stood and put his arm around her shoulder. “My daughter, Imani. She’s getting ready to go to Western University in Canada this fall. Honey, this is David, your half-brother and his partner, Chris.”
    She nodded. Chris was sure she had them pegged at once.
    Unlike her volatile brother, it didn’t seem to faze her.
    “Daddy’s been so excited since he found you,” her voice was liquid and far too sultry for a young woman. “I’m so glad you came to visit us.”
    “Sit, join us,” Joel said. She obliged by taking a chair beside him. Her gaze never left David.
    “You really do exist. We would sometimes tease dad that you were a figment of his imagination. That he only wished you to be. We thought he was wasting his money hiring that private detective.”
    Chris couldn’t help but like her. Her laughter was a rich contralto and her voice was amazingly seductive, it even sent a few neurons firing along his synapses, though he hadn’t looked at a woman in that way in years. She must be beating men off with sticks.
    David seemed restless. He stood up, then sat down and drained his drink. Before Joel could offer to get him another one he bounced back to his feet. “Mind if I take a look at your garden?”
    “Certainly.” Joel puffed up in pride. His daughter laughed.
    “Oh, now you’ve said the magic words. He’ll bend your ear for hours. It’s all Dad thinks about.”
    “David, too,” Chris said. They were both grinning. Chris waved David off. “You go look at your flowers. I’m going to stay here in the shade and have another national