Less than an hour later, he and Abernathy were called out for a missing ten-year-old child. Lilliana Chow was late getting home from school, and her mother was desperately worried. Finn didn’t hesitate to take Abernathy with him to head over to the Lindenwood area of Queens.
By the time he fought the never-ending traffic to get there, the little girl had returned home. According to her mother, Lilliana had missed her subway stop and, rather than taking the subway back, had decided to walk.
Finn was glad his and Abernathy’s services weren’t needed and, since he was in the area, decided to take a drive, see if he could find any clues related to the two men who’d attacked Eva.
It was crazy to think he’d be able to pick up the raspy guy from the rather generic sketch that Eva had produced, but it was better than dwelling on the loss of his chief, Jordan Jameson, who’d been found dead with a needle mark in his arm. At first the rumor was suicide, but Finn and the rest of the NYC K-9 Command Unit knew their chief had been murdered. They continued to work together in an effort to crack the case, but the longer it took, the more likely it was that the perp would get away with the crime. A confusing part of the crime was that Jordan’s K-9 partner, a German shepherd named Snapper, had been missing since Jordan’s death.
The K-9 should have stayed with the fallen officer as he was trained to do. Finn had thought Snapper must have been stolen, but there was a recent report of a male German shepherd on the loose in a Queens park, and everyone was looking for him. Had Snapper been stolen and escaped? Finn had no idea, but he couldn’t help wondering if the stolen puppy was related to Jordan’s missing K-9.
Finn returned to headquarters and viewed the subway video for himself, frustrated by the lack of information to be gleaned from the limited view of the street where Eva had been accosted. With few clues to go on, Finn finished his shift and decided to head back toward Forest Hills, telling himself that driving past Pete’s house was on the way home. He lived in Briarwood, in the same house where he’d grown up with his father. His dad had passed away last year from a sudden heart attack. At the time, Finn had half expected his mother to show up to claim her portion of the property, but she never did.
The house was too big for a single guy, but there was a small yard that was good for Abernathy so Finn had decided to stay. He was slowly renovating the place, putting money into updating the bathrooms and, ultimately, the kitchen, with thoughts of one day putting it on the market.
Although he wasn’t sure he was ready to leave his childhood memories behind. Looking back, the good memories outweighed the bad.
Driving slowly past Pete Stalling’s house, he searched for any indication that someone was watching the place. He went around the block twice before he was convinced no one was lurking around.
It was tempting to pull into the driveway, to check in on Eva and Mikey, but he told himself to keep going. It wasn’t like him to get hung up on a woman, and he was irritated with himself that he hadn’t been able to get Eva out of his mind.
She wasn’t like the other women he dated for fun and laughs. She was serious and intense. Stubborn and smart. Courageous and gentle. And so beautiful she took his breath away.
All very good reasons to keep their relationship professional and friendly.
No matter how much he secretly wished for something more.
* * *
The next morning, Eva took Mikey through the routine of getting dressed and his teeth brushed before heading down to the kitchen to make breakfast. Yawning, she made a half pot of coffee. She’d been awake more than she’d slept, thanks to the troubling nightmares, which didn’t bode well for the rest of her day.
When she spilled coffee down her yellow knit top, she headed back upstairs to change. It wasn’t as if she needed fancy clothes working with dogs all day, but she still wanted to look nice. For Finn? Maybe. As she rifled through the items in her small suitcase, she realized she’d underestimated how many times she’d have to change clothes because of being around a three-year-old. Mikey had got jelly smears over one top already the previous day, then there had been the tomato sauce handprint from the spaghetti dinner last night and now the coffee spill. She could do laundry but didn’t have enough yet for a load, so she made a mental note to stop by her place to grab more clothing before picking up Mikey from preschool.