Page 48
Well, that made two of them, at least.
“No problem. When were you thinking?”
“As soon as possible.”
Rafe smirked. “I’m on it.”
He wondered why Garrett wanted to complete this undercover mission early, but it was one of Rafe’s favorite things to do. He loved assuming another identity and fooling people into giving him privileged information. It made him surge with power. And he knew exactly how he’d play it.
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Rafe adjusted his tie one more time before walking into the Cherrywood Police Department.
After Garrett floated the idea of going undercover, Rafe put on the one stuffy suit he owned, slicked back his hair and found his fake Internal Affairs credentials in his bag of goodies. He’d created this alias and a couple others in anticipation of this mission, and he’d played similar characters before. He was excited to play the slick, by-the-book character of IA Officer Ramón Perez.
As he entered the municipal building, briefcase in hand, he gave the receptionist a friendly smile.
Dressed in what he would describe as librarian chic with her dark brown hair tied in a bun, red-framed glasses and a nametag labeled Cheryl, she stood behind a big mahogany desk overlooking the building’s foyer, hallways and stairways to either side leading to the various departments. The place was a one-stop shop for all of the town’s needs, even including the mayor’s office.
“Good afternoon, ma’am,” he said. He flashed his fake credentials as he spoke. “I’m Officer Ramón Perez, Internal Affairs, here to liaise with your police department.”
“Well, welcome to Cherrywood PD,” the woman said sweetly as she directed him to a sign-in station. “I’ll need to scan your credentials to get your visitor pass.”
Rafe handed them over and signed in. After he finished, the woman held out a lanyard with an attached visitor badge and his IDs, and he took both with a nod of thanks.
The woman pointed toward the stairway to his left. “You can make your way up that stairway, or there’s an elevator around the corner if you prefer.”
“Thank you, ma’am. Hope to see you on my way out.”
She blushed, and he turned toward the stairway, making his way to the police department on the second floor. Garrett gave him a breakdown of the building to the point he could have navigated it blindfolded. Hopefully, he wouldn’t need to do anything that drastic.
As he reached the top of the stairs, he scanned the large room of desks and work stations until he found Garrett’s. His blond hair stuck out over his computer as he typed away, likely working on the endless paperwork and reports cops needed to complete. Rafe didn’t want to, but he forced himself to turn away and head toward Captain McHugh’s office on the opposite side of the room. While he walked past the desks, he studied the mix of intrigued and worried faces. Captain Graham McHugh must have sensed a change in the atmosphere because Rafe could see his gaze rise to meet him through the windows of his office. He didn’t see any indication McHugh was worried about his presence. Instead, he jumped out of his chair with too much enthusiasm and met Rafe at his doorway, blocking the entrance.
“Looks like we’ve got a visitor,” McHugh announced to everyone, and held out his hand to Rafe. “Graham McHugh, captain of the CPD. I’m also a whiz at Yahtzee, and I bet you’ll never beat me on ‘Rainbow Road’ in Mario Kart.”
One of Rafe’s eyebrows rose as he shook the captain’s hand. The guy was huge, at least four inches taller than him with broad shoulders. With chestnut brown hair, dark blue eyes and a genial smile, he looked like he wanted to recruit Rafe for his book club rather than deal with his Internal Affairs status.
“Pleasure’s all mine, Captain McHugh. I’m Officer Ramón Perez, Internal Affairs, and I’m here to investigate your department.”
“Investigate? Well, that sounds pretty serious. What are you investigating? I can guarantee everyone here is part of the best dang police department in the country. Do you know any other departments that have Taco Tuesdays? Or ice cream Sundays? Get it? Ice cream sundaes on Sunday. It’s brilliant.”
Rafe couldn’t disagree there, but as he peered around at the detectives and officers observing his conversation with McHugh, they appeared less than excited about Rafe’s presence in their precinct. Maybe the captain wasn’t bothered, but Rafe could see the worry in everyone else.
“Sounds like this is a great place to work, but I’m here because IA has tasked me with investigating you and your employees,” Rafe said. “We’ve found evidence of someone in your department engaging in inappropriate activities.”
McHugh laughed and slapped a hand on Rafe’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. We learned from that mistake. Rudy’s retirement party was the last time we’ll ever hire a stripper for a work event. If it helps, he was generously tipped.”
Rafe blinked and tried his best not to laugh. He really didn’t want to know what McHugh meant by generously tipped, but at least now the nickname Captain McUseless made sense.
“I’m glad to hear that,” he said wryly. “I’m going to commandeer your conference room to hold one-on-one interviews with your staff. Including you, Captain.”
“Sounds great! We’re excited for it, right, everyone?”
No one made a noise as McHugh gazed around the room.
“Ah, they’re playing that silent game again. They love doing that. It’s the one game I never win. Well, that and Monopoly. Anyway, the conference room is right over there, so help yourself to whatever you need. Unless it’s drugs out of the evidence room. We are not allowed to give those out. Not after last time. McHugh out!”
He pumped his fist and headed back into his office, slapping the top of the door jamb on his way in and leaving Rafe gaping at him.
