AllFreeNovel
Share Us
His gaze narrowed on the items in her hands before shifting back to her.
“Do you have an appointment, dear?” an elderly woman asked from a desk to her left.
Belle turned to the woman. “No. But would you mind telling him Belle is here to see him?”
The officer to her right scoffed. “Listen, lady, this is a place of work. What are you doing here?”
Who the fuck did this man think he was? Sneering at her like she was less than the dirt under his feet? She turned and eyed his name tag. “Officer Parsons, exactly what do you think I am doing here?”
His face reddened as Betsy spoke into an intercom.
“What are you doing here?” Parsons repeated.
A door opened and Bently’s surprised voice asked, “Belle?”
She turned from the officer and walked to greet Bently. She smiled. “I brought a peace offering.”
He ushered her into the office, closing the door after her. A beat-up antique of a wooden desk sat in the center. A small bookshelf lay against the wall in between several metal file stands. Warm sunlight filtered in through the large bay windows off to her left. A few plaques and commendations hung on the wall in the otherwise sparse room.
“What can I do for you?” he asked, taking a seat across from her at the desk.
She handed him the coffee and box of pastries with the yellow sticky note on top that read Cop food.
His eyes studied the note and a grin broke through the nervous air in the room. “Ahhh, she can be funny too.” He chuckled.
“Cops like donuts, right?”
“One assumption you got right about me.” He winked.
She relaxed into the chair across from him. “I just thought I’d return the favor. Remy told me which ones you liked.”
“Oh, great. Now I’ll never hear the end of it.”
“I made it clear I needed a treat for my friend.” She waited for his reaction.
“Coffee was a good call. Thanks.” He sipped from the paper cup, his expression giving nothing away.
“I was wondering how the investigation over Charli was going? Have you seen her since?”
His brows drew together and his tone grew serious. “I can’t really share any details about an ongoing investigation with the public. I can assure you I take what happened very seriously. I don’t stand for women being hurt and the perp getting away with it.”
Something about the way he said it told her Bently Evans took those sorts of crimes personally. Why did he feel the need to be everyone’s knight in shining armor?
“As a friend, I can tell you she’s managing. Reed is coming home soon, and I think she’s just waiting to really fall apart until then.”
“He’s deployed, right?”
Bently nodded. “Army.”
“That’s got to be tough.” She looked down.
“How’s TJ?” Bently asked.
“I dropped TJ off at the Hope center you mentioned.”
“Oh yeah? I think he’ll like it there.”
“I wish he could make some friends. I’ve seen him with this one kid at school, but something about him is just . . . off.”
