Fine Blue Steele (Daggers & Steele Book 4) by Alex P. Berg Page A

office?”
    The same man and woman as before guarded the castle gates, but this time, both of them stood in response to my appearance. The woman, sensing the potential ramifications of my violent outburst, sped off down the hallway in the direction of Blue’s office, while the young man moved to intercept me. A mask of impassiveness covered his face, but he hunched slightly as he approached me, his arms held at his sides, ready for action.
    “Sir,” he said. “You need to calm down.”
    “Calm down?” I said. “Calm down? What I need are answers. Explanations. And an apology. Quite frankly, this is absurd! In all my years on the force, I’ve never had to deal with such blatant disrespect for established police etiquette.”
    “Sir,” said the young man, approaching me as if I were a wild animal that might bolt as easily as strike, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. But I’m sure if we calm down we’ll—”
    The front door creaked behind me. I spared a glance its way and spotted Shay entering the building, looking even more mortified than she’d been for the last fifteen minutes of our walk. She didn’t even meet my eyes.
    The look of despondency almost made me reconsider my strategy, but gosh darn it, if I didn’t create a scene, then who would? Shay wasn’t anywhere near as confrontational as I was, and given Quinto had elected to stay at the precinct—ostensibly to catch up on paperwork, but probably to spend more time around his fair-skinned, death-obsessed belle—then by default, the task fell upon my shoulders. And I didn’t for a minute think a goody two shoes, ‘please and thank you, ma’am’ approach would get us anywhere with Agent Blue and his well-dressed army of bootlickers. They needed to know Shay and I and the rest of the police department meant business, and that we wouldn’t stand for surreptitious body-snatching shenanigans and insincere tidings of camaraderie and goodwill delivered with a white-toothed smile.
    I ranted and raved a bit more, trying to retain the heat in my blood until Agent Blue showed up, but I found I didn’t have to try hard. I’d worked myself into a frenzy, and to be fair, it wasn’t all an act. I was angry.
    I also didn’t have to wait long. Agent Blue sprinted up the hall, with the female soldier hot on his heels. His lips pressed tightly against one another, and his clenched jaw hardened his face.
    “What in the world is going on here?” he asked.
    “You tell me,” I said. “When last we parted ways, you made a grand show of how you wanted to pool our resources and work together. How if you were in our shoes, you’d be the grand poobah of cooperation. So what exactly happened to that? Change your mind? Or was it a disingenuous platitude all along?”
    Blue nodded at the female soldier in a ‘Scram, I’ve got this’ sort of way. She retreated to her desk, and the ACIC officer held his hand out down the hallway. “I’ll be happy to discuss whatever problem has arisen, Detective Daggers, as long as you can rein in your anger and discuss this in a fashion fit for adults. Now…my office, if you please?”
    I grunted and stomped off in the indicated direction. Behind me, I heard the soft patter of Shay’s feet as she followed, and picked up on a quiet, “I’m sorry.” I couldn’t see the shake of her head that surely accompanied the apology, but her efforts to undermine me in front of Agent Blue did nothing to help my mood.
    I settled myself in one of the investigator’s chairs. Shay followed suit, as did Blue behind his desk.
    “Now,” said Blue. “Perhaps you could explain to me what this is all about?”
    “Don’t play dumb, Blue,” I said. “The body. Where is it?”
    “Excuse me?”
    “You said you wanted to work together,” I said. “But now you go and steal the body from us? And right out from under our own noses, without alerting anyone or filing any paperwork. It would be one thing to have done so when you took