The Bed You Make
Chapter 26, concluded
“Here.” Police Commissioner Mac Scorpio extended a brown bag his head detective's way.
Marcus Taggert opened the bag and took a deep breath. “Are these homemade?” Marcus marveled. Reverently he removed a warm zucchini muffin from the bag and bit it nearly in half.
“Yes.” Mac handed the other man a metal thermos of freshly made, steaming hot decaffeinated coffee. “Consider yourself fortunate that my youngest daughter has a crush on you,” he scowled. “Ever since you had your little talk with those two cheerleaders at her school, she insists that I make sure you get a good breakfast for these early morning meetings.”
Marcus grinned at the memory. A group of Georgie's high school mates, led by the cheerleading captains, had taken to making the young woman's daily life miserable. Mac mentioned it in passing to his head detective and a few days later Marcus had held a very friendly chat with the two girls. Brit and Tiff hadn't found his smile very reassuring and the torture of Georgie, not so surprisingly, ceased.
“Thank Georgie for me.” The tall detective stuck the other half of the muffin in his mouth.
“I don't have to remind you, do I, that she's only-"
Marcus waved off the rest of his boss' statement. "C'mon, Mac. Georgie's like another little sister to me." Even though he knew Mac was simply expressing his over-protectiveness of his young daughter, a bit of bite seeped into the detective's tone.
Mac apologized. "Yeah, yeah, I know that. But you just wait until you have daughters of your own. Things will be different then. Just watch."
"Careful," Marcus warned. "You're starting to sound just like Alex."
"You're going to have to explain that one," Mac prompted. Despite a promise to Georgie, he snagged his third muffin of the morning from Taggert's bag.
"Garcia," Marcus drawled sarcastically, "feels that I don't have the 'proper appreciation' for his concern about Dara. And that, I quote, is because I 'don't have a woman of my own' right now. Yeah," Marcus nodded, "that's what he said to me. I could have pointed out that he doesn't have a woman of his own either. Not anymore. But it wouldn't have registered with him."
"Mac, I've got to do something." Marcus leaned forward. "Either you've got to help me arrange a one-on-one meeting between Alex and Dara or you've got to let me shoot him. But either way? Something's got to give."
"Do you think Garcia might be right? Is Dara in danger?"
Marcus deliberately moved the muffins out of Mac's reaching fingers. "In danger? No. In over her head? Oh, yes."