Page 23 of A Bear's Nemesis
“Ash has a human mate,” the woman’s voice said.
“Exactly.”
“He’ll be soft on her. It’s that wretched Taylor girl. Someone ought to lock her up and beat a confession out of her.”
Quinn’s hands both clenched into white-knuckled fists. She had the urge to run out the doors of the police station, but she forced herself to stay.
You’re doing the right thing,she told herself. Besides, practically any animal could outrun you.
She briefly wondered if sloth shifters existed.
There was the sound of a hand hitting a desk, and then the man’s voice again.
“I said, get Ash. He understands humans better than you do.”
Moments later, the woman reappeared. Quinn pretended she hadn’t heard her propose that she be locked up and interrogated.
“Take a seat over there,” the woman said, indicating a bench across the lobby. “Officer Spencer will be out in a moment.”
“Thanks,” Quinn said, and took a seat.
Please don’t let this be a mistake, she thought.
* * *
Five minutes later,another guy with dark brown hair, sideburns, and piercing blue eyes strode up and held his hand out to her.
“You’re the woman who has information on the shooting?”
Quin nodded.
“Follow me, then.”
They wound their way through the police station, the officer nodding to everyone they passed and Quinn trying to avoid their eyes. Finally, he opened a door to a bare room with two chairs, a table, and harsh lighting.
A pair of handcuffs was bolted to the table.
Quinn stopped in the doorway, unwilling to go any further. She had the urge to run again, but she still knew she’d get caught in seconds. Besides, what would it look like if she ran?
“Sorry about the interrogation room,” he said, sliding past her and scooting out one of the chairs. “Standard procedure. The recording equipment is set up in here, all that.”
Quinn tried to laugh off her nervousness.
“Of course,” she said. “Totally standard.”
He sat in the chair with the handcuffs in front of it, stacking them on top of each other and frowning. “We’re not even supposed to leave these in here,” he said. Then he looked up at Quinn. “You know, sometimes it’s amazingly difficult to get police officers to follow the simplest rules, I swear. Don’t leave handcuffs in the interrogation room. Don’t take your cop car home, even just for lunch. Is that so hard?”
Quinn had to smile. There was something totally charming about this guy, and about the way he seemed genuinely baffled that people couldn’t handle following the rules.
She suspected he was kind of a stickler for them.
“It doesn’t sound that hard,” she said.
He shook his head and sat.
“All right,” he said, getting out a pen and pad as soon as she sat down. “I’m Officer Ash Spencer. You can call me Ash. Can you state your name for the record?”
She cleared her throat.
“Quinn Taylor,” she said. Her voice sounded stronger than she felt.
If he recognized the name, he hid his reaction perfectly.
“Alright, Quinn,” he said, lacing his fingers together in front of himself on the table. “Tell me everything.”
