“Hey, Ashley, congratulations!”
Startled, she looked up. She’d seen the single man seated at one of the outside tables—before. Probably in his mid-thirties, he had a stocky build, dark hair and a pleasant, squarish face. She was sure he could see her mind working as she tried to remember just how she knew him. He’d been in before, of course. But she’d also seen him with Dilessio, she realized. He was Jake’s partner.
“Thanks,” she told him.
She walked over to the table. He grinned. “I’m Martin Moore, by way of an official introduction.”
She grinned. “Nice to meet you—officially. Actually, I think I remember you from here, as well. Jack Black and water on Saturday nights, right?”
He leaned back, amused. “Good memory. I’m not here all that often. Guess I’ll be around more now, with Jake having a slip here.”
“Great.” She tried to keep her smile in place.
“Lord, has my pain in the ass partner been around here already?” he asked.
She shook her head. “No…it’s just that…”
“I heard you sketched our Jane Doe this afternoon. Good work, I hear. Everyone has high hopes that someone out there will identify her once the likeness appears in the papers.”
“News travels quickly,” she said.
“Oh, not that quickly.” As she arched a brow, he told her, “I’m here to meet Jake. He told me. I would have been there, but I ate something yesterday that did my stomach in.”
“I’m sorry. Hope your dinner went down okay.”
“It did. You have a sweet—and rather attractive—mother hen in there. She recommended bread, broth and a grilled chicken breast. I’m feeling better already.”
“Sharon Dupre,” Ashley told him. “Nick’s girlfriend. She makes wonderful cookies, too.”
“It’s a great place. I can see why it’s always been so popular. Comfortable atmosphere, near the water and a lot of your uncle’s laid-back personality.”
“I’ve always liked it.”
“That’s good to hear. A lot of young people…they can’t wait to move on. Have their own place, you know.”
Ashley shrugged. “My parents have been dead since I was very young. I’ve had a wing of the place to myself since I was ten. Nick and I get along great. I was never a trouble-prone teenager, and he was never a down-your-throat guardian. I love where I live.”
“You like the water, too, huh?”
“Love it.”
“Old Jake couldn’t be dragged away from it,” Marty said. Then he laughed. “You sure he hasn’t been a pain?”
“No. All right, a little bit—but just to me.”
Marty grew serious for a moment, studying her. “He may be trying to help Nick with the guardian bit.”
“Why me? It’s not like I’m the only woman in law enforcement.”
Marty shrugged with rueful knowledge, forming his words carefully. “Before me, Jake had a woman partner, did you know?”
“I had no idea.”
“She was a good cop.”
“And…?”
“She died.”
“Oh, God! How?”
“Her car went into a canal. It was almost five years ago. Right after a series of three really nasty homicides.”
Ashley nodded. “I heard about the case when Murray asked me to come down to the morgue today.”
Marty nodded. “Jake never believed Nancy Lassiter went into that canal on her own. He was sure she knew something about the murders and was killed because of it. She died of a blunt trauma to the head, which was consistent with the way she would have been thrown against the windshield. She wasn’t wearing her seat belt.”
“I’m so sorry. That’s terrible.”
Marty hesitated. He winced, then said, “Maybe I shouldn’t be telling you this, because we just met. But there’s obviously some tension between you and Jake. You live here, and you’ll probably wind up working a lot with him, so I’ll dish up some past history. Nancy Lassiter was married. Her husband comes around here now and then, too. There was a lot of friction in the marriage, and Brian—Nancy’s husband—was certain she was sleeping with Jake. They were close. Jake never gets on a soapbox about the past, but…I guess lots of people in the department thought their relationship was a little too close. Anyway, despite all evidence to the contrary, Jake will never accept the fact that Nancy killed herself. He feels a lot of guilt over it for not forcing her to share the information she’d found and she got herself killed because of it. Anyway, the point I’m making here is, you’re Nick’s niece. Maybe he’s afraid you’ll get into trouble, too, because you’re so determined to prove yourself.”
She shook her head. “He ought to be pleased, then. I’ve taken a step back. I’m going right into civilian employ. I won’t become a cop for a long time, not until I’ve worked a while, then go back into the academy and finish up.”
“Did he know what you were doing today?”
“I didn’t know what I was doing today—until I was on the way to the morgue.”