The Lawman And The Lady. Pat Warren

pulled his handkerchief out and mopped his damp face. “Man, I don’t want to do that again anytime soon.”

      “I don’t imagine you do” came a deep reply from the doorway. Lieutenant Ed Harris stood there scowling. “Didn’t exactly follow procedure, Bennett. You’re not the one who’s supposed to go out there and talk a man in. We have a team of experts who specialize in that, or weren’t you aware?”

      “Yes, sir. But there wasn’t time.” Nick wasn’t worried. He knew the lieutenant had to chew him out a little. But since it had worked out okay, he wouldn’t come down too hard. However, if the fireman’s net hadn’t been there…

      “I’ll verify that, Lieutenant,” Lou spoke up on behalf of his partner. “The guy was a ticking time bomb, ready to buy the farm he was so upset.”

      “I promised Jorge I’d sit down with him and his wife and try to solve this work situation,” Nick mentioned.

      “Yeah, well, that’ll have to wait,” Harris said. “He’s got to have psychiatric counseling, anger control management and probably face child abuse charges as well as reckless endangerment of an infant.” A tall, silver-haired man with deceptively lazy brown eyes, the lieutenant had seen a lot in his twenty-two years on the force. He walked over to Rocio Espinoza as the medics placed her son on a stretcher.

      “What’s going to happen to Jorge now?” Rocio asked, looking at all three officers.

      “You can ride with the boy to the hospital if you like,” Harris told her. “We’ll have someone talk with you there.”

      Resigned, she gathered her baby close, then went over to Nick. “You saved my baby. Thank you.”

      “You’re welcome.” Nick put on his shoulder holster and jacket. “Let’s get out of here before the media sticks a mike in our face,” he told Lou.

      The rescue of a baby from the third-floor ledge was all over the television news by noon. Tate had just settled Maggie on the couch, having gotten her released from the hospital, when Josh turned on the TV. He was about to channel-surf when the twelve o’clock news led off with the story of the daring save.

      “Hey, it’s Nick,” Josh said as they played the tape showing the distraught father holding a blanket-wrapped infant and the courageous officer who’d climbed out on the ledge.

      Maggie and Tate watched as the little scene unfolded, unable to hear what was being said between the two men up three stories from the ground, yet mesmerized by the drama. The camera’s zoom lens captured the troubled expression of the father and the calm demeanor of the officer. Then suddenly they both stood and the man almost stumbled, losing his balance. At what had to be the very last second, Nick caught the baby. The camera backed up and the father could be seen landing in the fire department’s safety net as the child’s blanket floated down. Then they zoomed in for a close-up of Nick handing the baby inside before climbing through the window.

      “Wow,” Josh said as the voice of the newscaster went on excitedly explaining the events that led up to the daring rescue.

      “I’d say that young man’s a hero,” Maggie said, relaxing back among the pillows.

      Tate sat down at the far end of the couch and watched as a file photo of Nick Bennett in full uniform filled the screen and the voice-over told about another incident several years ago when the detective had kept a man from committing suicide atop a high-rise, then went on to talk about his career record, years of service and his three bravery citations.

      Tate hadn’t heard from Nick in several days, not since the night of their pizza dinner. Not that she’d expected to, really. She stared at his picture now, thinking there was something about a man in uniform. But he’d worn plain clothes that day and he’d looked vastly appealing then, too. As he probably would wearing only a smile. She felt color move into her face and wondered where that thought had come from.

      “I wonder why they sent such a special officer for my little problem,” Maggie said, wrinkling her brow.

      Tate patted the older woman’s outstretched legs. “Only the best, Maggie, because you’re worth it,” she told her with a smile.

      “Thank you, dear.”

      “Are you sure you don’t want to be in your own bed? Or take a nap here? Josh can watch TV upstairs if you’d like to rest.”

      “No, I want to be here and I like having Josh near.” She smiled as the boy came over to her. “It’s all right if you want to hug me,” she told him.

      “I won’t hurt you?” he asked.

      “No, sweetheart. Hug away.” She shifted her right arm in its cast out of the way and reached out to the boy with her left. “I missed you.”

      “I missed you, too,” Josh said, straightening, staring at Maggie’s discolored cheek. “I’m sorry you got beat up.” He turned to his mother. “Mom, I changed my mind. I’ll look at the pictures Nick talked about. I want to help catch that man.”

      Her little guy came through and she didn’t even have to ask him, Tate thought with no small measure of pride. Apparently he’d inherited her soft heart. And that heroic rescue had convinced Josh that Nick was one of the good guys. “I’ll call Nick,” she said, rising. “Of course, with all this publicity, he may be too busy for us.”

      Maggie’s sharp blue eyes looked Tate up and down, seeing a lovely woman badly in need of a caring man. “I doubt that, honey. If you call, he’ll come.”

      Chapter 3

      Seated at Maggie’s dining-room table, Josh turned another page of the big book in front of him, carefully studying each face before going on to the next as Nick and Tate watched. “These guys look really mean,” he said. “Did they all do bad things like the man who beat up Maggie?”

      “Pretty much,” Nick answered, not wanting to frighten the boy, but also not wanting to lie. “Most of them weren’t happy to have their picture taken so they look kind of angry.”

      “It’s important that you pick the right one, if he’s in there, Josh, so look really hard,” Tate instructed.

      “I know, Mom.” He turned the next page.

      “I sure appreciate you doing this for us, Josh,” Nick told the boy, knowing that praise went a long way toward gaining cooperation, though he was curious as to why Josh had suddenly had a change of heart.

      The boy looked up, in his eyes a question, uncertain whether he should ask. But Nick was a cool guy so he decided to chance it. “Were you just a tiny bit scared yesterday when you were up on that window ledge with that guy?”

      He was a serious boy, Nick thought, comparing Josh to his far more carefree nephews. The kid didn’t laugh much or even smile often. What had made him like that? he wondered. “Not a tiny bit, Josh. I was scared a lot. But everyone has to do scary things sometimes in order to help someone. I’ll bet you’ve done a few yourself.”

      “Once I climbed Mrs. Stone’s tree next door to get her kitten down when he got himself stuck up there, but it was only two branches up.”

      “Even two branches up would have meant quite a fall, for you and the kitten. But you did it even though you were scared. And I’ll bet you felt good afterward.”

      “Did you feel good afterward yesterday?”

      Nick drew in a breath, remembering that kids never let up. “Yeah, I was glad the baby was safe and relieved that we didn’t fall. But I felt bad for that whole family. They’ve got a lot of problems to work out.” More than he could explain to a seven-year-old.

      He chanced a quick look at Tate and saw a look of approval on her face. And something else. A contemplative look, as if she were trying to figure him out. Well, Nick thought, at least he had her thinking. Progress. Maybe.

      “Sweetie,