For all Intents and Purposes (MidKnight Blue Book 6) Read online

  For all Intents and purposes

  Sherryl D. Hancock

  Copyright © Sherryl D. Hancock 2018

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior written permission from the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any person or persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Published by Vulpine Press in the United Kingdom in 2018

  ISBN 978-1-912701-29-2

  Cover by Claire Wood

  www.vulpine-press.com

  Also in the MidKnight Blue series:

  Building Empires

  Empires Fall

  Where Loyalties Lie

  Treachery Rising

  Betrayals Stand

  Prologue

  San Diego, California, 1997

  Captain Midnight Chevalier put down her office phone, looking rather pale. She rose unsteadily to her feet and walked out of her office and down the hall to FORS headquarters. She headed straight for her husband’s office, formerly her own. Rick wasn’t there, and she turned, looking for the secretary. Breann Lacey sat at her desk typing a memo, but looked up immediately when she saw the captain of vice walking over.

  “Good morning, Captain. What can I do for you?” she asked, looking very proper. Midnight grinned, thinking the woman didn’t really fit in around this office, but Rick and Joe relied heavily on her.

  “Good morning, Breann. Where’s my husband—err, Sergeant Debenshire?” Midnight knew it only flustered Breann more if she referred to Rick as her husband rather than by his title.

  “The sergeant is down at the BNE office, meeting with SAC Griffin.”

  “I see,” Midnight said, nodding. “Do me a favor, please—call Phil Griffin’s office and tell them to tell Rick to come see me as soon as possible. It’s very important.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Breann said, efficient as ever.

  Midnight left the FORS offices still in a bit of a daze and walked back to her own. It was still very strange to her that she could go into FORS on a daily basis and not recognize everyone. There were many new members, and a lot of the older ones had gone on to detective spots or were just out in the field more often.

  Midnight waited in her office for Rick, feeling a sense of unrealism. He poked his head in her door a half hour after Midnight had spoken to Breann. “What’s up?” he asked, his boyish grin ever present.

  Midnight motioned for him to come in and close the door. Rick did as she wished and sat down in front of her desk.

  An hour later, Lieutenant Joseph Sinclair, Detective Spider Nguyen, Sergeant Tiny Ako, Officer Jessica Ako, Sergeant Kana Sorbinno, and Officer Randy Sinclair were called to Midnight’s office. They straggled in, each noting the somber look on Rick’s and Midnight’s faces; neither was talking. Randy was the last in, having been called from patrol. She closed the door and took a seat in front of Joe, who was sitting on the credenza to the left of Midnight’s desk. Randy reached up, taking Joe’s hand. Any other time she wouldn’t have done so, but she could tell Joe was nervous about what was going on, and she was too. The fact that Midnight and Rick’s closest friends were in the room at this moment made everything seem more serious.

  “What’s goin’ on, Night?” Joe asked, his tone belying his anxiety.

  Midnight looked over at him, and then at Randy. She looked to each member of what she considered her extended family. Her gold-green eyes were very serious. “I wanted to talk to all of you, as my friends and as officers,” she began, her tone all captain. She looked at Rick then, and he nodded to her, his expression still very serious. “It looks as though I may need to take a leave of absence here in the coming months…” She trailed off as she saw the sharp look Joe shot in her and Rick’s direction. She held up a hand, looking at her former partner and best friend. “No, Joe, it’s not what you’re thinking,” she said, almost grinning at him. She knew he had thought she was pregnant, and after all they’d all been through the last time she’d been pregnant, it would not be a happy announcement. Part of Midnight still wished she could make that kind of announcement again, but this wasn’t the time to think about that.

  “Anyway,” she said, continuing with a smile at everyone else as it dawned on them what Joe had been thinking. “It seems that I might have to take a leave of absence as captain of vice, because…” She paused, taking a deep breath. “The city council wants to appoint me to chief.”

  Her words fell in the room, and for a full minute there was total silence as each person digested what she had just said.

  “The Chief of Police?” Tiny said, looking rather dumbfounded.

  “Duh!” Spider said, breaking into a grin. And everyone started talking and laughing at once.

  Midnight glanced over at Joe, who was staring at her with his mouth hanging open. Then he started to smile. He walked over to her, and Midnight stood to meet him, looking up at him with a grin.

  “I don’t believe it,” he said, smiling almost like a proud parent.

  “Believe it. They just told me an hour and a half ago. And they have the full backing of the Attorney General and governor. Go figure, huh?”

  Joe grabbed her up in a fierce hug, and Midnight laughed. Rick looked on, grinning at the two of them, as did Randy. When Joe released her, everyone else moved in to hug her and congratulate her. It was incredible news. Midnight Chevalier-Debenshire, at the age of thirty-four, would be the youngest Chief of Police of a major city in the country.

  Later, after everyone else had gone back to work, Rick sat in Midnight’s office.

  “So…” she said softly, looking over at him. “I really need to know how you feel about all of this. I know how Sergeant Debenshire feels, but I need to know how my husband feels. Nothing is set in stone yet.”

  Rick looked at his wife of almost seven years, still amazed sometimes by the woman that she was. Midnight was both soft and sweet, and fiery as hell. She could still drive him absolutely crazy with her headstrong ways, but then she could drive him crazy in other ways too. At thirty-four she still looked as incredible as she had when he’d met her. Their torrid marriage had always been just as exciting and unpredictable as ever. Joe said they had a love/hate relationship, and sometimes it was hard to tell which side was winning.

  On the professional side, Rick couldn’t help but respect Midnight for her work and determination. As the leader of FORS she had built a unit that had won national acclaim. As the captain of vice she had alleviated a great deal of paperwork for the units, bolstered morale one hundred and fifty percent, and strong-armed the city for better equipment and more training for the officers. She had done a lot in the time that she’d been with the department, and Rick felt that not only did she deserve the chief’s job, but it seemed like her right to have it.

  “I think,” he said finally, “that you damn well better take it.”

  “Yeah?” She sounded a little unsure of herself, which was a rarity.

  “Midnight!” Rick exclaimed, trying to get through to her. “This is it—this is the big time for you. It’s what you deserve for all you’ve done.”

  “Yeah, but will I be effective in the ivory tower?” she asked, her true concern coming out.

  “If I know you, you’ll have them move the chief’s office to the basement, just so you can feel like one of the guys,” Rick chided, knowing there
was more than a little truth to his statement. “If you’re the chief, love, they have to do what you say, right?”

  “Oh sure, it’s always that easy,” Midnight said caustically.

  “You can make the job what you want, just like you did this one. Remember how you hated the idea of leaving FORS?” Midnight nodded. “Okay then, look at all you’ve done in vice. Now you’ll have a chance to do it for the whole department.” He shrugged, grinning. “And now maybe half the force won’t be knocking down the door with transfer requests for vice.”

  That part was true enough. In the four years Midnight had been in charge, requests to transfer to the division had tripled. Midnight was a great leader, but she was also a great cop, and that made all the difference.

  Midnight looked at Rick again, her smile slow in coming, but eventually she nodded. Rick hugged her to him, not caring if the whole damned department saw them. Right now, she wasn’t just his captain, or his soon-to-be chief. She was his wife, and he was very proud of her.

  Later that night, Randy and Joe lay in bed.

  “You thought she was pregnant, didn’t you?” Randy asked, her head resting against the hollow of his shoulder. She felt him nod. “She’d be crazy to get pregnant again.” Randy remembered the horrible time when Midnight had lost the last baby she’d been pregnant with, and she subsequently felt that old stab of guilt for her part in the miscarriage. She felt Joe’s hand squeeze her shoulder.

  “Don’t start that,” he said, knowing what she was thinking about. “It’s the past, it’s over, Midnight’s forgiven you. Everyone has except you.” His English accent was thicker than normal because he was tired.

  “I know,” Randy said solemnly.

  “Randy, Midnight shouldn’t have even been pregnant then. Having that baby may well have killed her in the end anyway. Things happen the way they do. You have to admit, seeing Dickerson do what he did to her made you realize what a monster he was…” Joe trailed off, and Randy knew he was reliving some of that awful time too.

  “Don’t start that,” she said, echoing his words, as she reached up to kiss him on the lips. “Besides, I want to talk to you about something important.”

  He grinned down at her. “And what would that be?”

  “Well, I think I want to try something…” She laughed at the look on Joe’s face. “Don’t get nervous, Sinclair. I meant, I think I want to go back to school.”

  “Why?” he asked, surprised.

  “I think I want to study psychology. Maybe even get a degree…”

  Joe looked down at her, turning on his side so he could see her face better. “How’re you gonna use that as a cop?”

  “Midnight has a degree in psychology,” she reminded him. “But I was actually thinking more along the lines of social work. You know, working with abused kids and stuff.”

  Joe looked at her for a long time, and Randy could almost read his thoughts. After everything she had put them all through, wanting to become a police officer, and now she was changing her mind. But she wasn’t really. She enjoyed being a police officer, but what she enjoyed the most was the social aspects of the job. Working with the kids and the abused women, trying to help them, made her feel like she was actually making a difference. And now she had another reason to want the world to be a better place.

  “Oh yeah,” she said offhandedly. “There is one other thing.”

  “What would that other thing be?” Joe said with a grin, ever surprised by her.

  “I’m pregnant,” she said, so matter-of-factly that Joe just stared at her, not sure he had heard her correctly.

  “Excuse me,” he said, sounding very English. “But did you say ‘pregnant’?”

  Randy held her lower lip between her teeth and nodded. She was rewarded with the most brilliant smile she’d ever seen.

  Joe hugged her so tight she could barely breathe, but she didn’t care. She’d known he’d be happy about it, but he was ecstatic. He looked down at her again, as if he were searching for some sort of clue to prove that she was telling the truth, but the smile remained on his face. He shook his head, as if he just couldn’t believe his good fortune.

  “I love you, you know that?” he said, his voice colored with emotion. And Randy couldn’t stop the tears that sprang to her eyes as she nodded. Joe hugged her again, holding her and stroking her hair. He pulled back after a few minutes, looking down at her. “Did you tell anyone else?”

  Randy gave him a look that told him he was being stupid. “Of course not.”

  Joe was grinning widely.

  Randy sighed dramatically. “Go ahead, call her.”

  Joe reached for the phone but stopped mid-dial, his expression unsure. Then he looked down at Randy. “Maybe I shouldn’t… I mean, she’s still pretty tense about the no more kids thing.”

  Randy was once again surprised at his sensitivity, but she shook her head. “She’ll be happy for you, Joe.”

  “For us, Randy.”

  “That’s what I meant,” she retorted, smiling at him.

  Again Joe started to dial Midnight’s number. She answered on the third ring.

  “’Lo,” she said.

  “Night, it’s me.”

  Midnight looked at her watch; it was 10:00 p.m. “Who else would it be at this hour?” she said, glancing at Rick as he came down the hall toward her. He stopped just beside her, sliding his hands up her arms to her shoulders, his lips touching her temple softly. Midnight moved to stand in front of him, and his arms encircled her waist as he pulled her back against him. “So what’s goin’ on, Sinclair?”

  “Well, that was a nice little bombshell you dropped today,” Joe said chidingly.

  Midnight grinned. “Gotta keep you on your toes.”

  “I guess so. Well, I have some news too.”

  “Don’t tell me,” Midnight said, laughing. “You’re quitting?”

  “Nope.”

  “You want a raise?”

  “Nope.”

  “You’ve thrown your wife over and you want me back?”

  She laughed as Rick squeezed her tight and said, “He’d have to come through me first.”

  “Well, what is it, Sinclair?” Midnight asked.

  “Well, it looks as though I’m going to be needing a leave of absence here in a few months…” Joe said, echoing her words from earlier that day. “And it is exactly what you’re thinking, Debenshire.”

  It took Midnight a few seconds to catch up, but within moments she was saying, “Oh my God, are you serious?”

  “Oh yeah,” Joe said, sounding incredibly happy.

  Midnight glanced up at Rick. “Randy’s pregnant.”

  “About fucking time!” Rick said, grinning.

  “Tell him to shut the hell up,” Joe retorted good-naturedly.

  “I’ll do that,” Midnight said very diplomatically. “Well, congratulations, Dad,” she said with a wide smile and tears in her eyes.

  “Thanks.” Joe sounded a little more sober. “Night…” he said, his tone softer now. “You okay?”

  Midnight nodded, not thinking about the fact that Joe couldn’t see her. Rick hugged her tighter, his lips pressed against her head. “I’m fine, Joe,” she said, making her voice sound normal. “And I’m really happy for you two. What’s Randy going to do about patrol?” she asked, wanting to move the conversation forward.

  “Well, she’s talking about going to school. She’ll probably take a leave of absence from the department. I figure that shouldn’t be a problem, considering her connections and all…”

  Midnight laughed. “Knew that chief’s job would come in handy somehow.”

  “Yeah,” Joe said, his smile back.

  “Well, you better go,” Midnight said chidingly. “Randy needs to get her sleep, and I know you. She’s lying right there, and you’re on the damn phone keeping her awake.”

  “You caught me,” Joe said, sounding guilty.

  “Of course I did.”

  “Goodnight, Chief.”

&
nbsp; “Goodnight, Lieutenant. Or maybe Captain… Hmmm.”

  Joe laughed. “Don’t even think about it, Night. I’m having a kid—I don’t need more work, I need less.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Midnight said, grinning all the while.

  They hung up, and Midnight turned to her husband and buried her face in his chest. Rick held her for a long time, knowing the torment she was going through. His eyes were narrowed as he cursed the fates that had caused her anguish. He just hoped that seeing Randy have a baby wouldn’t cause her too much pain, but he had a feeling it was going to be rough. The next few months were bound to be interesting…

  Chapter 1

  San Diego, California, 1999

  Two years later Joe and Randy not only had one child, a year-and-a-half-old girl named Katherine Renee, but they had a nine-month-old son as well. His name had been a matter of argument for a couple of days after his birth, but Randy had been adamant and had called him Joseph, much to Joe’s chagrin. His middle name, however, did please Joe. It was Thomas, in respect for Midnight’s brother, who had died so many years before. It was, in Randy’s way of thinking, because Thomas had died so tragically that Midnight had ended up starting FORS, and that had subsequently brought her and Joe together. Joe didn’t like the idea of making his son carry on the Sinclair tradition of being stuck with his name, but Randy reasoned that he would have done that unquestioningly if his parents had been alive. Joe had given in then, knowing that Randy was right. However, he did persist on calling their son JT; it drove Randy crazy for a while, but eventually she caught herself doing the same thing.

  It became evident after their second child in two years that they needed assistance with them. Randy was attempting to go to college to obtain her degree in psychology, and Joe was now a captain with all the responsibilities the job entailed. They spent every extra minute with the children and ended up on opposite shifts from each other to keep from putting the kids in day care, which Joe didn’t like the idea of. “I like to know who’s taking care of my kids,” he told Randy when she said they had to look into it. Working opposite shifts had been taking its toll on their marriage, and neither of them liked that in the least. Before long they were fighting a lot, and many nights Joe ended up on the couch in his office because he couldn’t face going home to one more night of fighting or silence.