1 Chapter 1

BOOK ONE: COVERT EXPOSURE

Spinelli held his coffee mug high. "Congratulations, partner, you made it through. Enjoy your retirement. Here's to Mad Dog Maxwell."

Shouts of "Congratulations" rippled through the downtown Milwaukee precinct as the detectives toasted Maxwell with their coffee and doughnuts in hand.

Spinelli watched Mad Dog smile and nod at everyone as he carried a cardboard box stuffed with a career's worth of personal belongings out the door for the last time. Everything he knew about being a great homicide detective, he'd learned from that man. He missed him already.

Mad Dog was the only one who gave him the time of day when he started on the force as a snot-nosed hotshot kid some years ago.

"Spinelli," Captain Jackson barked.

His eyes came into focus. "Yeah."

"I need to talk to you," she yelled across the room as she waved him over.

Jackson took a seat behind her desk as he entered her office.

"Shut the door, Spinelli."

He did as she instructed, then fixed his gaze on her. He stepped back and rested his butt on the two-drawer file cabinet next to her desk.

"What's up, Cap?" he asked as he raked his hand through his hair.

"You've been temporarily assigned to Social Services and you will need to report to Ms. Fontaine on the fourth floor until further notice."

A chuckle escaped his lips. He turned his head to glance through Jackson's office windows toward the detective desks located immediately outside her office doors. He looked for the mastermind behind the practical joke but he saw none. Not one detective in the office looked in his direction as he hoped they would as they waited for the joke to take hold.

He cut his eyes back to the Captain. "This is a joke, right?"

She shook her head. "This is no joke, Detective. Until further notice, you've been assigned to Social Services. The holiday season is tough on that department and they need extra hands with child recovery and placement."

Spinelli sprang to his feet and stepped toward her desk. "Captain, you're shitting me, right? Child recovery and placement. What the hell is that crap?"

Spinelli reached toward his chest, lifted the gold colored badge hanging by a chain around his neck, and centered it directly in front of Jackson's eyes. "In case you don't remember, this is a detective badge. I'm a homicide detective, not a child recovery and placement detective."

Jackson rose to her feet and pointed at the white lettering on the glass of her office door, which simply read Captain Jackson. "In case you don't remember Detective, I'm Captain Jackson. You've been reassigned to Social Services until further notice. Ms. Fontaine is waiting for you upstairs."

Spinelli stared at the Captain for a moment, his mind racing for a reasonable excuse as to why he shouldn't be reassigned. "But my clearance record, it's impeccable. Shouldn't that mean something? And we're short staffed down here as it is."

Jackson shifted her eyes away from Spinelli, looking past him and through the glass windows of her office. She pointed toward his crime board. "That's just it, Spinelli. Your board's almost clean and the other teams are overloaded with open cases. As for staff shortages, with the Mayor's budget cuts and directive to not replace retiring staff every department is short staffed. Additionally, you're the only Detective right now without a partner. You're the logical choice to be transferred."

"But..."

Jackson raised her hand, cutting him off. "No buts, you're it. And you can still help out down here when you're not needed upstairs."

Air hissed from his lungs, drowning out the words she spoke.

Spinelli lifted his gaze to meet hers; the look in her eyes told him the deal was done. He fought hard to find a voice, "How long? How long must I do this?"

"Again, it's a temporary assignment just for the holidays. The holidays are tough on the Social Services department. Their clientele...well, it's a tough time of year for everyone, those folks especially."

Spinelli willed his right foot to step forward, then his left foot. "Repeat motion," he whispered to himself until he reached the stairwell. He chose not to take the elevator. That would be too quick. He needed time to let his new assignment sink in. His mind spun to find ways to get out of it.

Within minutes, he found himself standing in front of a glass paneled door with the words "Department of Social Services" etched in the glass. His long legs carried him up the stairs faster than he desired.

He sucked in a deep breath, lifted his hand, and pushed the door open. He stepped through the doorway and into the reception area where he paused to take a look around. A cold chill ran up his spine as he studied the packed area. He noted that the clientele consisted of mostly women and children. He watched the children for a moment as they noisily played about the room. His ears registered a decibel level of at least two hundred plus, far louder than any dirt-track stockcar race he'd ever attended. He lifted his fingers to his temples and pressed slightly but the throbbing continued.

With his eyes still focused on the children, he took a step toward the reception desk and accidentally caught his foot inside a dollhouse. He tumbled forward, his heart racing, his breath quickening, and his hands uselessly flailing. He took a header right smack dab into the front of the receptionist's desk and darkness fell upon him.

Spinelli opened his eyes to find several children gazing down at him. He bounced up as quickly as a weeble wobble and darted his gaze around the room, but the second he planted himself on his feet the room started to spin. He felt a small set of hands firmly gripping his left arm just above his elbow. A warm sensation flowed through his arm and into his core. He placed the palm of his right hand on the receptionist's desk and leaned on it for support.

"Are you going to be okay?" a soft feminine voice sang throughout his head.

The sweet sound trailed off and silence filled the air.

The voice hummed pleasantly through his head again. "Are you okay? Do you need to sit down?"

Spinelli willed his eyes in the direction of the voice. He squeezed them shut, swallowed hard, and opened them again. Shades of emerald green danced before him. He blinked quickly several times, each blink bringing him closer to heaven. He thought for sure the eyes of an angel were on him and the pearly gates stood behind her.

He cleared his throat and found his voice. "I'm fine. I'm Detective Spinelli, I'm here to see Ms. Fontaine. She should be expecting me."

The woman with the emerald green angel-eyes released her grip from his arm but the warmth of her touch remained. She motioned for him to follow her. Spinelli followed "Angel-Eyes" down a long narrow corridor. He studied the back of her starting with the shiny bright red hair-bun stationed high on the back of her head. Not one hair was out of place. He lowered his eyes to her inviting soft-looking milky white neck and continued to her petite shoulders. The navy blue blazer draped over them perfectly matched the navy blue skirt she wore. The length of her skirt fell just above her knees allowing him to take in the sight of her thin yet shapely legs. He shifted his eyes up and down several times, memorizing the backside of the woman whose soft feminine voice still sang in his head. He concluded that her conservative navy suit and "old lady" hair-bun did not match the intense sexiness of her bright green eyes.

His body swayed forward, then back, as he halted on a dime, nearly bumping into his green-eyed angel when she stopped in the doorway of Ms. Fontaine's office.

"Ms. Fontaine, Detective Spinelli is here to see you," the woman said as she stepped inside the office and gestured for him to follow.

Spinelli studied the large woman with graying hair who sat behind the desk. She removed her wire-rimmed reading glasses and let them fall onto her chest pulling the colorful beaded chain taut. She rose to her feet and extended her hand toward him. He shook her hand.

Ms. Fontaine pointed toward the chairs opposite her desk. "Please, Detective, take a seat."

He sat.

The older woman fixed her gaze on the woman he'd followed. "Shannon, you may as well take a seat and get acquainted with Detective Spinelli since he is who you will be working with."

Fontaine returned her gaze to him. "Ms. O'Hara is the case worker you are assigned to."

Spinelli watched as "Angel Eyes" took a seat in the chair next to him. She crossed her legs causing her skirt to rise up her thigh. His eyes fixed on her shapely thigh. She quickly reached over her leg and tugged her skirt toward her knee covering as much of her leg as the material would allow.

His heart picked up pace at the thought of working with this beautiful green-eyed creature for the next several weeks. He glanced at her and accepted his reward from God for being forced to leave the homicide division.

Spinelli listened as Ms. Fontaine explained his role for the next several weeks. Basically, he would aid Ms. O'Hara with child recovery and placement, and whatever else she needed assistance with. Ms. Fontaine told him how much their clientele struggle with the holiday season. She further stated that the holiday season proved to be a season high in domestic abuse, which resulted in large numbers of children having to be removed from their homes and placed in foster care.

Spinelli nodded at Ms. Fontaine, accepting his role, though still wondering how long this banishment would last.