The Rookie's Assignment. Valerie Hansen

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      The Partner’s Secret

      Law enforcement in Fitzgerald Bay is full of Fitzgeralds, from the chief of police to brand-new detective Keira Fitzgerald. Are they tampering with a murder investigation to protect one of their own? Internal affairs detective Nick Delfino is sent undercover to investigate the powerful clan. Yet the deeper he digs, the more Nick comes to admire the Fitzgeralds…especially his rookie partner, Keira. When a killer targets Nick, can he maintain his cover, catch his attacker and protect Keira while the looming danger closes in?

      The Rookie’s Assignment

      Valerie Hansen

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

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      Consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

      —James 1:2–4

      I never participate in a series without thanking my fellow authors. In this case, they are Shirlee McCoy, Rachelle McCalla, Stephanie Newton, Lynette Eason and Terri Reed. I’d also like to thank retired officer and author Lee Lofland for steering my fictitious police officers out of trouble as much as possible.

      And thanks to my husband Joe and friend Karen for proofing. Any mistakes left after their reading are probably ones I made later!

      Special thanks and acknowledgment to Valerie Hansen for her contribution to the Fitzgerald Bay miniseries.

      Contents

       Chapter One

       Chapter Two

       Chapter Three

       Chapter Four

       Chapter Five

       Chapter Six

       Chapter Seven

       Chapter Eight

       Chapter Nine

       Chapter Ten

       Chapter Eleven

       Chapter Twelve

       Chapter Thirteen

       Chapter Fourteen

       Chapter Fifteen

       Chapter Sixteen

       Chapter Seventeen

       Chapter Eighteen

       Chapter Nineteen

       Epilogue

       Dear Reader

       Questions for Discussion

      ONE

      Consider the joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

      James 1:2–4

      Eager to get to work, rookie officer Keira Fitzgerald paused on the stoop behind the Main Street police station just long enough to stomp snow off her boots and fill her lungs with the crisp, clean sea air of the Massachusetts coast.

       The moment she stepped inside the building she sensed an undercurrent of discontent that nearly stopped her in her tracks. Something was definitely not normal.

       Stripping off her gloves, hat and jacket she headed straight for her brother Douglas’s desk.

       “What’s going on? I haven’t heard this much grumbling since the Minutemen lost their last football game.”

       Captain Douglas Fitzgerald raised his blue eyes—a familial trait he shared with Keira—and arched his brows. “You’d better go find out for yourself. The chief is waiting.”

       “For me? Why?”

       “I’ll let him tell you.”

       “Hey, I thought big brothers were supposed to look out for their sisters.”

       “Believe me, Keira, if there was anything I could do to get you out of this, I would.”

       “Out of what?” She sent a comical grimace his way, hoping that teasing would loosen him up. Instead, he merely shook his head and jerked a thumb toward their father’s closed office door.

       “Okay, okay. I get it. I’m going.”

       She smoothed her short, dark hair and checked every aspect of her neatly ironed blue uniform before knocking on Aiden Fitzgerald’s door and peeking in. “Morning, Chief. You wanted to see me?”

       “Yes,” Aiden said. “Come in. There’s someone I want you to meet.”

       Keira was duly impressed the moment her gaze swept over the man standing beside her father. Probably about thirty, he wasn’t taller or more muscular than her brothers, and his hair was brown instead of Fitzgerald black, yet there was something extremely formidable about him. Maybe it was the way he studied her, his hazel eyes seeming to change to the sea-green color of his pullover sweater.

       “This is Keira Fitzgerald, the officer I was telling you about,” the chief said. “Keira, Nick Delfino.”