Max trudged down the hall to the break room, so focused on heating up leftovers from last night’s dinner he failed to notice there was someone in the room. He headed straight to the fridge and popped his leftovers into the microwave on autopilot, randomly punching numbers and hitting start. Exhaustion threatened to topple him over because of the long hours he’d been pulling lately at work combined with maintaining a nightly vigil outside Molly’s apartment for the last week to make sure she stayed put after she came home from work. He would park down the street from the bus stop and watch her get off the bus, making sure she made it safely past the liquor store. Then he’d race around the block so he was in place on the opposite side of the street and down a few buildings when she arrived at home.

There he’d sit until at least eleven, when he saw the light in the back corner of the building go out. Only then, once he knew she was safely in bed, would he drag himself home to fall into a fitful sleep.

They hadn’t spoken since the first night when he lost his cool and treated her like crap in her apartment. He’d felt terrible as soon as the door slammed shut behind him, but he didn’t know how to go back and get her to see that he was just worried about her. Seeing the state of the building she lived in, knowing what was likely going on behind the closed doors they passed as they walked down the hall to her unit made his stomach turn with guilt and fear for her safety. Not being the best with tact, to put it mildly, he’d opened his mouth and spewed a whole bunch of nasty garbage that ended up hurting Molly’s feelings and pushing her further away. He knew she was probably fragile and just barely coping with her new circumstances, and then he had to go question her ability to handle life and be on her own on top of it all. What a mess!

“Max! Where have you been hiding? I haven’t seen you around lately.” Tina’s screechy voice shocked him out of his thoughts faster than a bucket of ice water. He wanted to turn around and come back the way he came, but he hadn’t eaten at all today and it was after one thirty in the afternoon. There was too much coffee sloshing around in his stomach with nothing to absorb it all.

He turned back to the microwave, where the remainder of his ravioli from the Italian place down the street spun round and round without acknowledging her presence with more than a grunt. There was too much going on, and he had too little sleep, to engage with her right now. If he even opened his mouth he feared what would come out.

Her heels clicked on the floor behind him as she approached, making his body tense in preparation for attack. He tried to ready a polite, but firm, response to whatever she proposed, but didn’t turn around even when she stopped, inches away, and leaned against the cabinet with her arms crossed.

Max felt her stare boring into him, willing him to turn and speak to her. He wasn’t giving in. He’d had enough of running from this woman and trying to nicely brush her off. If polite and firm didn’t work this time she was going to get loud and clear, with a side of mean.

Unfortunately, when she finally spoke any retort he had lined up fell away, useless and forgotten, because her words blew his mind.

“I heard you’ve got a new woman now, Max,” she drawled. “Or, should I say, an old girlfriend that just happened to resurface.”

“What are you talking about, Tina?” Max demanded, acting annoyed when inside his brain was whirling at warp speed.

“Yeah, that chick you used to date that was just released from prison? You must know who I’m talking about.” Her tone oozed smugness and Max knew she had something nasty planned.

The microwave beeped, signaling that his pasta was ready, and that this conversation was over. Without another word, Max retrieved his lunch and turned to walk away. Of course, Tina wasn’t going to let it go that easily.

“I know you’ve been following her case for years, Max. You wouldn’t want it to get out that you’ve used your position as an officer of the law to keep tabs on an old girlfriend, would you? Or that you spend your evenings sitting outside her building, watching her?”

Max was almost to the door when her last words slammed into his brain, making him turn around and stalk back towards Tina. She shrank back at his incoming rage but didn’t try to step out of his path. No, the stupid woman straightened up at the last second and he knew she wasn’t going to let this go.

“What the hell are you talking about, Tina?” He growled, being sure to keep a safe distance away from her so he didn’t inadvertently reach out and strangle the life out of her whiny little body.

“I know you’ve been watching her every night after work,” she said, sticking her pointy chin up in the air.

“How do you know that? You’re following me?”

Her eyes darted around the room when she realized her mistake but, still she refused to back down. “It wouldn’t look very good if people found out you were stalking a drug addict, would it? With you being a narcotics detective and all.”

Max had never wanted to hit a woman so much in all his life. Visions of his career ending in a flaming pile of ruin danced in front of his eyes, drowning out the smirking bitch in front of him. It didn’t matter that he was only looking out for an old friend; Tina would find a way to spin this to make it look like Max had done something wrong.

“What do you want from me, Tina?” He hated giving in, but he didn’t see any other way.

“Dinner. Drinks. Maybe more.” Her smile was probably meant to be sexy and enticing, but it reminded Max of a poisonous snake about to strike a death blow.

“I’ll agree to dinner, but you have to stop following me,” he replied. “If not, I’ll report you for harassment.”

Tina studied him carefully, assessing his willingness to follow through on the threat, before finally relenting. “Fine. Pick me up at seven on Saturday. I’ll make the reservations.” She pushed passed him and stalked out of the room, probably heading straight to the gossip mill to deliver the news that she had a ‘date’ with Max. Even though she’d agreed to stop following him, he had no doubt she was full of crap. He made a mental note to search his truck for tracking devices and keep a better eye out when he checked on Molly tonight. No matter what Tina threatened, he wasn’t turning his back on Molly again.

Two hours later, Max’s gut had settled, but his mind was anything but calm. Tina’s threats, and the absolute knowledge that she had more tricks up her sleeve, had him trying to come up with a way out. First, though, he had to figure where she’d gotten her info, and the most likely source was just returning to his desk.

“Hey, Gray, how was Bridget’s appointment?” Max asked casually.

“Good, everything looks good. Just a more weeks left,” Grayson replied, pulling off his coat and draping it over the back of his chair before sitting down and rummaging through the piles of files on his desk. “I’m hoping we can wrap up this case before the baby comes.”

Max wished they would have wrapped this case up last week. They’d determined that the Sixth Street gang wasn’t importing the bad heroin; they were just responsible for distributing. A bust last week by an undercover officer landed them a gang member facing his third strike, and he had no desire to spend the rest of his life behind bars. So he’d squealed like a pig in exchange for a fast ticket out of town. Whether or not he’d make it very long in a new city remained to be seen, and the only thing that pacified Max’s irritation that they were letting a known dealer go free was the knowledge that snitches usually didn’t last long, no matter how far and fast they ran. And the fact that his information proved pivotal in moving their focus off the gang and onto bigger fish.

“So, you’ve turned into quite a gossip around the station lately,” Max said, remaining calm when he really wanted to haul Grayson out of his chair by his collar.

Gray’s head whipped up and he appeared truly confused. “What are you talking about?”

“Tina cornered me in the break room and blackmailed me into going on another date with her,” Max said, being as quiet as he could. “I tried refusing but she threatened to tell everyone about my ex-girlfriend, the felon.”

“Are you shitting me right now?”

“Nope, and she knows I’ve been in Molly’s neighborhood lately. I think she might have a tracker on my truck.”

“Are you serious?” Grayson apparently couldn’t think of anything else to say. “Wait a minute, you’ve been in her neighborhood?”

Whoops.

“Yeah,” Max stalled, trying to downplay his recent activity, but he couldn’t come up with anything reasonable. “I’ve been keeping an eye on her in the evening sometimes.”

“Sometimes?” Gray drawled, a knowing smirk on his face.

“Every night that I can,” Max amended. “Where she lives is shit and she has to walk by a liquor store every morning and night on her way to and from the bus stop. Plus, some dealer from her past found out where she lives and is hassling her for money she owes him from before she went to prison.”

Grayson scrubbed his hand down in face in frustration. “Max, man, you have to let her take care of herself.”

“What if she gets into trouble?” Max demanded.

“It’s not your problem.”

Grayson just didn’t understand. “It is my problem. Her whole life is my problem.”

“It’s not, Max. You have to let it go.” Grayson paused.

He had a look Max recognized. Grayson was turning something over in his brain. Something Max knew he wasn’t going to like.

“Unless, you want to start things back up with her.”

“What? No. You’re crazy.” Max blurted, without thinking about how his immediate denial would look to his friend, the detective.

“I’m not crazy. You want to get back with her and you’re trying to make sure she stays clean and on the right side of the law so that can happen.” Grayson’s smug smirk made Max want to punch him.

“How would that look? A detective dating a known drug user and convict.”

“You’re an ass, Max,” Grayson scoffed. “It wouldn’t look like anything except you giving her another chance. Or maybe it would be her giving you another chance. You’re far too hung up on what other people think. You need to think of yourself and your own happiness first.”

“Keeping my job makes me happy, Gray, and I don’t want my superiors thinking I’m soft on crime because I’m dating a former addict. Besides, I don’t feel that way about her.” Grayson shook his head in disbelief, but Max meant every word, and he was officially done with this conversation. “Now, I have to go deal with Tina’s shit.”

“Well, we can at least get rid of one problem. Let’s go downstairs and borrow a scanner from the crime scene techs and sweep your truck.”

Twenty minutes later they’d removed the GPS tracker planted under his rear bumper and smashed it to smithereens when a call came in that they were needed at a crime scene not far from Molly’s apartment. When they arrived at the building vice had raided in search of a known pimp, Max’s gut roiled with a bad feeling. It was directly behind Molly’s.

Max and Grayson took their time climbing the decrepit stairs to the third floor apartment, though when they entered they found flophouse would be a more accurate description. A battered couch sat in the center of the room, facing a state of the art television, but stained, bare mattresses ringed the room. Rail thin young women, in various states of undress, sat on the disgusting mattresses with their hands cuffed behind their backs, all with dazed looks on their faces.

Max quickly realized they were all high, and all being pimped by the asshole currently under interrogation in the kitchen at the back of the apartment. The guy was yelling and cursing at the officers peppering him with questions while several others searched the remainder of the apartment. There were three doors off the main living area besides the one that led into the kitchen, which were likely two bedrooms and a bath.

A familiar face exited one of those bedrooms and headed straight to Max and Grayson.

“Miller, Davidson, thanks for getting here so quickly.” Mike Novak was a senior detective with the vice squad, and often called Max and Grayson in when drugs were found at the scene of a vice bust.

“We were in the parking lot already when the call came in, so we just jumped in the car and headed over,” Grayson said, shaking Novak’s hand. “What have you got for us?”

“Rodney Winters was a small-time dealer who decided to expand his business interests about a year ago.” Max’s gut flipped again when he heard that name. That was the guy Molly owed money to, the one that was hassling her when she hopped off the bus after work last week. “He finds desperate women, promises them a quick buck by working for him, and then gets them hooked before he starts pimping them out to pay for their habits.”

“These look more like young girls, Mike,” Max noted, scanning the faces of the cuffed women. A few had started crying when the reality of their situation finally broke through their foggy brains. “Probably runaways or foster kids kicked out at eighteen.” He didn’t blame them at all, even though they were breaking the law. Pushed into circumstances beyond their control, and with no one there to rescue them, they’d fallen into the very neat trap this asshole laid out.

“What are we here for?” Grayson asked. “You find his stash?”

“Yeah, and I think it’s just what you guys have been looking for.” Novak led them back to the bedroom he’d come from, which quickly became overcrowded with the addition of three more men on top of the three who were in there already.

“Yep, that’s what we’re after,” Max said, cursing under his breath when he spotted the bags of heroin piled on the bed, each with a pretty pink daisy stamped on the outside. What was inside was anything but nice and sweet. If this was what those girls in the other room had been on, they were lucky to be alive. Chemical reports of the stuff revealed that it was laced with fentanyl. Each sample they tested contained varying amounts of the deadly drug, so whether you lived or died just depended on which batch your baggie came from. There was no way to tell by looking at it, and some people even sought it out after hearing about the potency of Pink Daisy from those who tried it and survived. Max couldn’t understand how people could literally gamble on their life just to escape the real world, but then he’d never found life to be that bad. Sure, he’d have a drink or two to relax after a particularly difficult day, occasionally he’d even get drunk, but not once had he felt like he couldn’t cope. That’s why they called addiction a disease, he supposed. Some people had it and others didn’t, and Max couldn’t do anything but be thankful that his life and circumstances were such that he’d never fallen victim to the lure of drugs.

“There’s about twenty-five thousand in street value there,” Grayson noted. “Someone’s going to be pretty upset that they’re losing this much product.”

Max silently agreed. Winters would be in deep shit for getting busted. “What made you raid the place today?” Max asked, following Grayson and Novak out of the room so the crime scene techs could finish up.

“We picked up one of his girls on an undercover sting, and found out she was underage. It didn’t take much for her to give him up. Just the promise of a hot meal and a spot in a treatment program.” Novak shook his head while he spoke. “The poor girl ran away three months ago because her parents wouldn’t let her hang out with an older boyfriend she’d met at the mall. That guy promised her pretty clothes and freedom to do whatever she wanted, but then he brought her to some fancy mansion where she was poked and prodded, and before she knew it she was here, turning tricks and snorting smack. There’s someone at the top pulling this guy’s strings. It’s one big, ugly game he’s running, sending people out to recruit for him.”

“She know where the mansion is?” Max asked, grasping at straws. This information took things to a whole new level. Not only was the man in charge using gangs to distribute his product, he had scumbags like Winters out on the street, basically snatching up young girls to make money for him.

“She thinks she might,” Novak replied to Max’s complete surprise. “We’re taking her out in a few weeks to drive around the Heights.”

“The Heights?” Grayson asked. “She sure about that?” It was one of the most affluent areas of the city, and the most patrolled by the police force. Both the mayor and the district attorney lived there.

“Yeah, she’s sure. That’s where she’s from so when the guy turned into the neighborhood she thought he was taking her home. Unfortunately, she freaked out when they dragged her out of the car towards a house that wasn’t her parents’, so she doesn’t remember exactly what street they were on, and she doesn’t remember leaving because she was out of it by that point, but she thinks she could pick out the house if she saw it again.”

“That would be the break we need,” Max said. “But why are you waiting so long? We need to get this asshole as soon as possible.” He knew he sounded frustrated and angry, but he couldn’t help it. They needed to put a stop to this before more girls were hurt, and more people died.

“I know, man. Believe me. But she has to detox and her doctors won’t let her out before her first thirty days are up. The parents are barely allowing it to even happen so I can’t push too hard. She’s only sixteen.”

Max sighed and bit back the demand that Novak force the issue, get the district attorney involved if need be, knowing that the girl was fragile and needed the time to recover without police hurling questions at her non-stop. Novak was a damned good detective, so Max just had to take his word that this was how it needed to happen.

“Keep us posted with any new information you turn up,” Max said, breaking the silence. Grayson nodded his head in agreement. Max didn’t even have to ask if they were on the same page before speaking for both of them. They’d worked together for so long that sometimes speech wasn’t necessary. Neither one of them wanted to push the girl more than she could take. They just weren’t that kind of men, even though knowing that the delay may lead to someone else being hurt made Max want to start hurling the crappy contents of this apartment through the windows. “And if you find any more girls, let us know right away. We’ll tell our guys to be on the lookout, too.”

“You got it, man. I know waiting sucks ass, but my hands are tied here.” Novak looked just as frustrated with the situation as Max and Grayson, which didn’t make any of them feel better. “I want to get this guy just as badly as you two do, believe me.”

They shook hands with Novak and exited, both lost in their own thoughts. Max didn’t know what Grayson had on his mind, but Molly was first and foremost in Max’s. It was no coincidence that this guy was hounding Molly for money that she didn’t have as soon as she was released from prison. Even though she was a bit older than what appeared to be the target age this group recruited, Winters knew she’d be an easy mark if he could get her back on drugs. She had no family to come looking for her, no one who cared what happened to her.

Except Max, and after seeing what happened to girls this guy got his claws into, knowing he was after Molly, Max knew what he had to do.

“Can we make a stop before we go back to the station?” Max asked as he slid behind the wheel of their unmarked car. “You can wait outside; it will only take a few minutes.” Well, he hoped it would it only take a few minutes, but that was probably him being overly optimistic.

“Yeah, sure. Where do you need to go?” Grayson didn’t hesitate in agreeing with the slight detour, just buckled up then turned to study Max. From the look in his eye, Max knew Grayson suspected where they were going, and would be giving him shit for it for the rest of their lives.

Max didn’t even bother trying to play dumb or lie. There was no point. “Don’t look at me like that, Gray. Her apartment is right behind this building, and I’m sure this asshole has been watching her.” He started up the car and pulled away from the curb, ignoring Grayson’s grin. “I just want her to be safe, you know?”

“I know, Max. Believe me I do. I just wish you would be honest with yourself about what having that feeling means.”

Max parked in front of Molly’s building and jumped out of the car, pretending Grayson’s words had drifted right over his head. That he didn’t understand exactly the point his partner was trying to make.

“I’ll be right back,” he promised, before slamming the door shut and jogging up her front walk. It was almost six, so Molly should be home from work. He pushed the buzzer for her apartment and waited for her voice to come over the intercom asking who was there. The plea he planned to make sat on the tip of his tongue, along with an apology for his behavior the last time he was here. Except her voice never came through the rusty metal speaker above the buttons. Instead, a harsh buzzing started and the distinct sound of a lock disengaging could be heard.

Max turned the knob and pushed the door open, shock making him move on auto-pilot. The sweet words he’d planned to deliver disappeared when he entered the dim entryway and pushed the door firmly closed behind him, replaced by frustration and anger. He took the stairs two at a time, trying to calm down before he ruined any chance of making Molly see his point of view. When he reached her floor, he found her waiting at the top of the stairs, a baseball bat in her hand.

“What are you doing, Molly?” Max asked before she could do the same.

“Waiting to see who I’d just buzzed in. The intercom doesn’t work.”

Max’s jaw dropped at her ridiculous logic. “Why wouldn’t you come down and see before you just buzzed someone in?”

“It’s three floors down,” she replied with a shrug before turning back towards her apartment. “Besides, no one knows I live here but you and my parole officer, so I figured it was a safe bet.”

He wanted to argue with her, make her see that she couldn’t make assumptions like that and risk her life by buzzing people into her building without checking. What if it had been a stranger off the street? Someone looking to rob the place, or worse, and hitting every button on the panel until someone was stupid enough to give them entry? Somehow, he didn’t think that would go over very well with her, so he decided to just give her the truth. Maybe then she’d see that she wasn’t safe here.

Molly unlocked her door and held it open for him to follow her inside. “What are you doing here, Max?”

“I just came from a bust in the building right behind yours.” He nodded towards her windows where you could clearly see the building he was referring to. In fact, the kitchen window from that asshole’s place faced Molly’s. “It was Rodney Winters. I think he’s been watching you.”

Fear flashed across Molly’s face before she quickly hid it behind a mask of indifference that Max assumed was supposed to make her seem tough. But all it did was anger him more. “Why would he be watching me, Max? I’m nobody special.”

“He’s been getting young women hooked on smack then pimping them out from that apartment over there. The one that faces yours. I think he’s trying to get to you, too.”

“That’s ridiculous, Max. If he’s getting girls to come willingly why would he need me?”

“If he gets you back on drugs you would come willingly. And these girls are young, Molly. Young enough to fall for his crap. This guy is bad news and he’s after you.”

“Well, thanks for coming to deliver that bit of news. I’ll make sure I keep a better eye out.”

Max couldn’t believe she was blowing him off. Acting like it was no big deal. “Molly, you have to move out of here. It’s not safe.”

“Max, we went over this last time,” she explained, obviously exasperated with him. “I don’t have enough money to live anywhere else. Besides, he’s going to jail anyways, right?”

Max liked to think Winters would be locked up for the foreseeable future, but there were no guarantees. Money could buy anything, including bail, even in the worst circumstances, and this wasn’t even close to the worst. “He could make bail, Molly. Then he’d be back on the street in a day or two. What if I paid for a motel for you to stay in?”

Her response came immediately. “No.”

“Why not?” This woman was infuriating.

“Because I’m not taking money from you, and I can’t live in a motel forever. This is my home, for now.” He couldn’t understand why she would willingly stay in this shithole, but he agreed that living in a motel out of suitcase wasn’t ideal.

There was one other option. An option that had been percolating in the back of his brain for the last week, but he’d been hesitant to really examine. He couldn’t believe he was considering it now, especially after his encounter with Tina that morning, but Max knew Winters had his sights set on Molly for some reason and if this alternative could prevent that from happening, Max would do it. Consequences be damned.

“I have an apartment over my garage you could live in. I haven’t rented it out since I bought the place and it needs a little work, but it’s livable.” He didn’t let himself think about the ramifications of offering to let her live on his property, just a few dozen feet away from his bedroom.

It didn’t matter anyway; she turned him down flat without even pretending to give it any consideration.

“Absolutely not. I’m not your responsibility and I don’t need your help. I’ll be fine. I can take care of myself.” Her words were brave, but Max wondered how much of that was a front for her true feelings.

Max considered throwing her over his shoulder and carrying her out of the building, but decided her yelling would attract too much attention. And he really didn’t want to get arrested for kidnapping if he could prevent it. Faced with her stubborn refusal to take his help, he had no other choice but to leave.

“Make sure you keep an eye out for him, Molly. If he approaches you again, run away and call me. Immediately.” He pulled a business card out of his wallet. “My cell phone number is on there.”

She accepted the card without a word and slid it into her back pocket. Max just hoped she wouldn’t tear it to shreds the minute he walked out the door. With nothing else to do, no way to make her bend to his will, Max walked back to the door, turning back to face her right before he exited.

“Please be safe, Molly.”

“I will, Max. Thank you for trying to help.” Those were the nicest words she’d said to him in years, and they made him want to stay and try to get her to see his side of things, but doing that would lose him any ground he’d gained. So he left, waiting outside her door until he heard the deadbolt click behind him.