Dangerous Games by Marie Ferrarella Page B

laughed shortly. “Firsthand.” But that was where their similarities ended. “Except that I gather you have a family that’s supportive.”
    There, she heard it again, that little ribbon of envy in his voice “And you had the Addams Family.”
    His smile faded into a grim line. “Yeah.”
    It was one thing to have differences, to disapprove of a family member’s actions. It was another to turn your back on them in times of crisis. Try as she might, she couldn’t wrap her mind around the latter. No matter what, they always came through for one another. She was living proof of that.
    “And they really won’t bail Eric out?”
    He could feel his adrenaline rising again, his anger against his parents growing. They’d contributed to the man Eric was, or wasn’t. They had no right to turn their backs on him like this.
    “They’d be happy if Eric just conveniently faded away. Their only real concern is how this whole scandal reflects on them.” He realized he’d begun pacing and forced himself to stop. “That’s always been their only concern. The almighty reputation of the Garrisons.” He shook his head. “With the kind of background Eric and I’ve had, it’s a miracle we didn’t turn out to be homicidal maniacs.” The impact of his words hit him. He scrubbed his hand over his face. “Sorry, slip of the tongue.”
    A very bad slip, she thought. “I wouldn’t do that around people if I were you.” She saw the suspicion in his eyes as he looked at her. “You don’t have to worry about me.”
    No, he decided, he didn’t. He glanced toward the telephone and the menu he’d left beside it. He’d intended to order in after his shower. He still did. “Are you hungry? I can have something sent up.”
    “I thought you already ate.”
    “My lap had the Rigatoni Alfredo,” he reminded her. “I didn’t.”
    She watched him reach for the phone. He was going to call room service one way or another, and maybe it wouldn’t be too bad, having dinner with him in his room. There was less noise to compete with.
    Just as he raised the receiver to his ear, she said, “I put in for some personal time.”
    “At the precinct?”
    She nodded. He replaced the receiver into the cradle again, puzzled.
    “Why would you do that?” he asked.
    Because something was egging her on to give Eric’s case her full attention, despite the evidence against it. “Because while I’m good at multitasking, I can’t do my job properly and look into your brother’s case at the same time. Too many feathers getting ruffled.”
    By that he surmised she meant the police personnel. He didn’t want her doing anything that would place her in harm’s way. Or make valuable pieces of evidence disappear. “Does anyone know you’re looking into it?”
    “Longwell probably suspects something.” She saw his frown deepen and had to admit that it was a formidable sight. She wondered if he used it on the people who worked for him. “Don’t worry about him, we go way back.”
    Cole was far from convinced that it was all right, but it wasn’t that which prompted him to ask, “How far back?”
    “We’re friends, or were until I got my promotion.”
    “Jealousy?”
    She doubted if Longwell had a jealous bone in his body, at least, not where work was concerned. He wasn’t petty, like Patterson and some of the others, who had viewed her promotion as a form of nepotism.
    “No, we just drifted apart. Different worlds,” she explained. “There’s a little bit of a caste system going on within the police department. We all band together when threatened from without, but internally—” she shrugged “—I guess it’s no better or worse than every other place. One group doesn’t quite trust the other.”
    He immediately thought of the investigation into Eric’s case. “What did you mean by ‘threatened from without’? You mean, when someone tries to shake a case?”
    “Something like that.” She nodded at the phone, making up her