“Maybe you don’t know Boyd as well as you think,” Liam said.
She threw him a look. “Please. I’ve known him for years. Captain Thompson didn’t just fall into this role; he has a reputation, and he’s earned it. It’s our job to uphold justice and enforce the law. He’s been a stickler for the rules as long as I can remember.”
“So have you, Cora.” Liam leaned against her desk with a jaunty grin. “Andyet.”
She glanced sharply at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Only that you withheld evidence for me back when I almost lost my job,” he said with a shrug. “And now you’re a willing participant in a clandestine operation to spy on Magnus Blackwell, even though it goes against the captain’s direct orders. No one is above bending the rules once in a while. That’s all I’m saying.”
She opened her mouth to argue, then seemed to realize he had a point and snapped it shut. She looked so adorably disgruntled he wanted to lean down and kiss her until the little crease on her brow disappeared.
“I don’t have time for this.” She stood, grabbed her purse off the desk, then shouldered past him.
Liam fell into step beside her. “I’m only pointing out that even you’ve crossed the line on occasion. And if you can go rogue,anyonecan. Is it so far-fetched to think Boyd wouldn’t toe that same line? He’s only human, after all.”
“Keep your voice down,” Cora hissed as a patrol officer passed them in the hallway.
“Admit that I have a point about Boyd,” he said playfully, keeping pace with her.
Cora glanced back to make sure they weren’t overheard. “You’re going to get us into trouble. Just drop it, all right?”
“Why? Because you don’t like empirical facts?” he teased.
She rolled her eyes. “Because you’re annoying, and I don’t like you.”
“Ach, now you’re telling lies just to impress me, lass,” he said with an exaggerated Irish accent.
Cora pressed her lips together and marched on. “I wasn’t lying.”
“See? Another lie. It’s almost second nature now,” Liam said in mock wonder. “First, you break a few rules, and the next thing I know, deception just flies off the tip of your tongue like a common outlaw. I’m afraid you may be spiraling into a life of crime, Officer McLeod. Though I can’t imagine you as a petty thief. Your talents would be wasted. You’d probably need to be something more...” He glanced at her expression. “Murderous. Aye, that’s it. A sharpshooting assassin, perhaps.”
“I do have a gun,” she said coolly. “You may want to remember that.” Cora waved to Mavis before pushing through the front door.
“Or maybe you’d be a cutthroat mercenary,” Liam continued, pretending he didn’t hear her. “Like a swashbuckling pirate—no, better. A swashbucklingladypirate.”
“Why is that better?” Cora blurted, still making a beeline for her car at the end of the parking lot. He could tell by the stubborn tilt of her chin she was trying to ignore him, but there was a smirk forming at the corner of her mouth.
“Because women are as fickle and unpredictable as the sea,” Liam explained. “So, naturally they’d be more fearsome and have better adventures.”
She opened her mouth to respond, but her phone chimed, and she pulled it from her pocket. “It’s Finn. He’s at Lindsey’s gym right now and sent a picture.” She turned her phone to show Liam an image of a photo collage board. On it were several snapshots of Lindsey Albright with friends. “He says one of the girls from her workout team was putting it on the wall outside the pool. Maybe she has more information. It’s not much of a lead, but it’s better than nothing.”
Liam nodded. “Let’s go, then.”
“Not so fast.” Cora rounded on him when they reached her car. “You have to go interview Slice Biddlesworth again, remember?”
He scoffed. “I’m not wasting my time on that.”
“Captain’s orders,” she said with a shrug.
“Oh,nowyou want to follow the rules?”
She smiled sweetly, batting her lashes. “Guess I’m just fickle and unpredictable like that.”
“Cora, we’ve already interrogated Slice,” Liam said in exasperation. “The poor kid has been through enough, and he’s still mourning the death of his woman. There’s nothing more he’s going to tell us. He doesn’t trust the police. Anyway, I thought we agreed to focus on Magnus.”
“We did, but someone has to keep up appearances so Boyd doesn’t blow a gasket. From the looks of him these days, he could explode at any moment. Just go check up on Slice so you can report back, okay? Take him to lunch.” She got into the car and added, “You love lunch.”
Liam grumbled under his breath as she drove away. The woman was not wrong.