Her Love Came Too Late novel · Chapter 18 of 24

Chapter 18: Not on the Record

The captain's office at the Fourth Precinct smelled of burnt coffee and floor wax.

Elliott sat in the visitor's chair at eight in the morning, with Hannah beside him and the cardboard box on his knees.

The captain was a broad, tired man with a gray mustache, and he had not said a word since they came in.

He was reading.

He read the first report, and the tenth.

Then he pulled one from the middle and held it up to the window.

"Where did you get these?"

"From the desk," Hannah said. "I stamped every one of them."

"I know you did."

"Sir, I should have asked."

"Greer." He put the page down. "You're on leave for a bias complaint and a leak. Don't make me add insubordination."

"Yes, sir."

"Sit still, and let the man talk."

Elliott cleared his throat.

"It's a hundred and ninety-nine reports in five years, and I'm named in all of them."

He kept his voice level.

"Every one gives the exact spot where I stood. Every one came in on the same line, from the manager's office."

"Slater's."

"Yes."

"I've known that line for three years." The captain turned the page over. "Do you know why I never touched it?"

"No, sir."

"Because it was a man with a famous client, calling in a stalker, and the stalker kept turning up."

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