Partners

This
is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places,

and
incidents are either the product of the author’s

imagination
or are used fictitiously, and any

resemblance
to actual persons living or dead,

business
establishments, events, or locales, is

entirely
coincidental.

Partners

Book one of the Vegas Series

COPYRIGHT
 
2012
 
by
 
Mimi Barbour

All
rights reserved. No part of this book may be used

or
reproduced in any manner whatsoever without

written
permission of the author except in the case of

brief
quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Contact
Information:
 
[email protected]

Cover
Art by Steven Novak

Mimi
Barbour

Also:
Author of

The
Vicarage Bench Series

She’s
Me

He’s
Her

We’re
One

Together
again

Together
for Christmas

Angels
with Attitude Series

My
Cheeky Angel

His
Devious Angel

 
“
This romance story was so entertaining,
can't-put-down, very
humorous.
”
Rebecca Booth

“
Even though this is the second in the series, each one
can be read as a stand alone
book.
”
TinaR

“
I loved the characters and how as the book
progressed their lives
intertwined.
”
S. Dougill

Table
of Contents

Reviews:
 
For His Devious Angel
4

Chapter One
.
6

Chapter Two
.
8

Chapter three
.
11

Chapter Four
13

Chapter Five
.
15

Chapter Six
.
17

Roll the Dice
.
22

Chapter One
.
22

Afterword
.
30

About the Author
31

Contact Page
.
32

Partners

So this is what
missing someone feels like. Kind of sad and lonely mashed together, eating away
at you all day long. Aurora had never felt this way before; wouldn’t have given
herself permission. This time the annoying ache refused to stop.

She seldom allowed
gloomy thoughts to grab hold and mess with her head. But looking around the
small office assigned to her and another, seeing the empty desk, sorrow gnawed
away until she gave in. Her old partner Deb left behind a hollow emptiness, a
sensation she wouldn’t ever admit to anyone else.
What did you expect
?
She chastised herself. Not having the person you trust more than anyone else in
the world backing you up sucked big time.

Two weeks ago,
life had been normal. She’d gone to get a cup of the sludge they called coffee
and left Debbie working on their backlog of case files. Returning to their
office, Lieutenant Cory Ashton had caught up with her and they’d stepped into
the room together, both coming to a dead stop. Debbie, who’d lately taken to
the layered look with sloppy clothes, had bent over to pick something up from
the floor and everything had draped open— her pregnant belly had been revealed
for all to see.

Talk about
explosions. Months before, Debbie had suffered an attack by serial rapist, Earl
Rhondo. Foiled by Aurora’s timely arrival to her apartment, beaten and bruised
from the fight, Debbie had led them all to believe the ultimate insanity had
never taken place. But seeing her pregnant, Aurora instantly assumed the worst.
Then Cory claimed daddy status, which had to have been the biggest shocker.

After the smoke
had cleared, and the girls were alone once again, Debbie admitted that some
days after she’d been assaulted by the still missing Earl Rhondo, Cory had
visited her apartment to be sure she’d survived. Things had gotten out of hand
and the affection they’d hidden from each other over the years was finally
exposed. Since the Las Vegas Police department rules negated there being any
kind of relationship between people working together, it had been purely a
one-night stand.

Thinking back over
those last months, Aurora recalled instances where the tension between the two
had sparked, but she’d just put it down to temperamental personalities. After
all, her partner could be as stubborn as a mule, and Cory took his role of boss
very seriously.
 

Once her secret
had been revealed, Debbie seemed to deflate. She’d given in to pressure from
all sides and agreed that the time had come to either take on deskwork or go
for maternity leave. After all, as detectives, the girls were hands-on and
almost every week saw them getting into some sort of physical altercations.

Her choice to take
leave had shocked Aurora at first, but once she thought about it, she supposed
it would have been her decision also. After all, the baby would be born pretty
darn soon.

Aurora still
didn’t know how Deb had hidden her pregnant state for so long. Being a bit
chubby to begin with had obviously worked in her favor. Once her secret became
exposed, she admitted to dieting carefully and dressing different. Silly idiot!

One of the
smartest, most hard-working cops Aurora had ever met, but when it came to Deb’s
personal life, the girl had no brains at all. Aurora still hadn't figured how
the hell she thought she could keep a baby a secret. And when she’d asked,
Deb’s replay had her shaking her head.

“I just didn’t
want to deal with it, so I—I didn’t.”

“But you had to
know you’d get caught sooner or later.” In Aurora’s way of thinking, it hadn’t
made any sense.

“Sure! And I
figured when that happened, then I’d take care of it.”

Aurora still
didn’t understand, but then she’d never been the type who turned away from
reality. In her mind, facing it dead on worked much better.
 

As the file she’d
been waiting for finally appeared, the computer’s flashing screen caught her
attention. Since the night of the attack, everyone in their office had been
following up leads on Earl Rhondo. At the beginning, Debbie had been feverishly
searching, every thread, every clue; even the most obscure tip-offs were
checked. She’d been like a crazy person. Except, nothing popped. It’s like he’d
disappeared off the face of the earth.

Aurora had been as
bad as Debbie. She wanted that sucker more than she’d ever wanted anyone. In
fact, by pursuing him the way she had, she’d pretty much driven all her
contacts crazy. But this slimeball had made it personal. He’d hurt Debbie, and
she had full intentions of making him pay.

Through her
ongoing research, she’d found out certain things about him. He loved the
ladies—whores not so much. That he preferred his ladies screaming and fighting
made it even more essential she find him. Who knows how many women the maniac
had destroyed? Women who hadn’t come forward! The statistics of these kinds of
unreported crimes were sickening. The females, who survived the horror, got on
with their broken lives and the perpetrators moved on to their next
victim.
  

Her investigation
had shown that he’d been incarcerated once for eighteen months. Had done his
time and swore to his cellmate he’d die before returning. A sinister perception
had formed when she'd learned this. She’d relish putting his ugly face behind
the bars he’d swore never to see again.