Read With Child for Free Online Page B

close quarters to strut their power. Well, they'd just chosen the wrong woman on the wrong day for that little game. She walked past them without a glance, went to the trunk of her car, unlocked it, tossed in the library book, and took out two bottles of mineral water. One she drank, letting it spill down her throat. She bent over and let the other one glug across her face and into her hair. Still ignoring the two deputies, who were now standing on either side of her, she capped the bottles, tossed them into the trunk, ran her fingers through her shaggy hair to comb it roughly into place, and brought her right foot up to the bumper to untie her shoe. Only now did one of the young men speak, the one on her left.
    "Afternoon there, Miss."
    "Martinelli. And it's Ms."
    "Why, we got us a card-carrying feminist, Randy," said the second.
    "Randy," she snorted, kicking her shoe into the trunk and bending to untie the other one. "And I suppose your partner's name is Dick." Before he could figure it out, she distracted him by shrugging out of the coverall and tossing the filthy garment in after the shoes and socks, then reaching in for a pair of rubber thongs, dropping them to the ground, and slipping her feet into them. "You drive that car?" she asked.
    Totally disconcerted, he actually answered.
    "Yeah, I drive it."
    "Well, don't worry, parking gets easier as you gain experience. Now if you'll pardon me, boys, I've got things to do." She thrust a hand into the pocket of her running shorts and when she looked up, she found herself staring into the ends of a matched pair of 9-mm automatics.
    Afterward, she thought it amazing that she hadn't been frozen with terror, in the sights of two small cannons manned by lunatics, but at the time all she felt was incredulity. She slowly stretched out her arm and let the key chain dangle from her fingers, and the two sheriff's deputies straightened up, beginning to look sickly.
    "You stupid shits," she said conversationally. "How long have you two bozos been out of the Academy? A week? You don't go waving your gun around unless you're prepared to use it, and you don't use it unless you're prepared to spend six months filling out the goddamn forms. For Christ's sake, can you possibly think that a person dressed like this could conceal anything bigger than a Swiss army knife?"
    She gestured at herself, and the two louts looked again at the nylon running shorts and the damp and clinging tank top, then finished bolstering their guns.
    "We had a report, ma'am..." began the shorter one, the driver, with no trace now of a drawl.
    "Some old lady in one of those houses over there no doubt, who saw me poking around and took me for a mad bomber. And now she's watching you making asses of yourselves."
    "Yes, ma'am. But do you mind telling us what you were doing?"
    "This is a public park."
    "Now, look you --"
    "Shut up, Randy," hissed the driver.
    "But Nelson --"
    "Nelson?" snorted Kate. No wonder he had a chip on his shoulder. She stood and waited for further grumbles of authority, but there was more apprehension than aggression in their faces.
    "No, I'm not going to file a complaint. But you two better think three times before you pull that kind of damn fool stunt again. I don't expect to have to ID myself every time I go for my keys, and it's too damn hot to wear a uniform."
    Kate waited an instant before this penny dropped, and she was suddenly aware that she felt better than she had in a long time. Happy, even. She stepped forward and held out her hand to Nelson.
    "Inspector Kate Martinelli, SFPD. Homicide."
    She was still feeling marvelously cheerful as she pulled her car in beside Nelson and Randy's black-and-white in the parking lot of a nearby hamburger joint, and she could feel the bounce in her steps as she accompanied the two looming uniforms inside. She ordered a large iced tea, excused herself to scrub her face and hands in the rest room, and then joined the men at the table, where she flipped her