Detective Danny Cavanaugh 01 - The Brink

his way into the room and saw a framed photo on top of a four-drawer metal cabinet. It was of a man hugging his mother. It confirmed his guess after seeing the Shiner Bock tap handle through the bay window on M Street.
    Just like he said he would one day, Carver Sutton had bought the bar.
    Danny eyed the top of the blond head cresting the high back of the chair in front of him. “You know, it’s a cliché that a cop retires to open a bar, don’t you?”
    The reply was instantaneous. “Almost as much of a cliché as it is for a fugitive to take up with a beautiful stranger.”
    The chair swiveled around, and Danny’s smile turned to a shocked expression. “My God, Chip. What happened to your eye?”
    Carver Sutton sported a black eye patch over his right eye. He rolled to his feet, all five feet six inches of him. He hitched his thumb at Danny and looked at Sydney. “He’ll look for any excuse to take his shirt off.” Sydney giggled, which made Chip beam.
    “Seriously Chip, what happened …”
    Chip waved Danny off. “Forget the eye. Check out the hair. Or what’s left of it.” Carver Sutton pulled his thinning hair back to expose a sizeable forehead. “It’s running away from my face.”
    “But what about—”
    “Permanently and totally disabled. All in the line of duty, of course.”
    “But you were a desk jockey, a cybercop,” Danny reminded him.
    “You don’t want to hear my sad story, really you don’t.” Chip barely made eye contact with Danny. He was awash in Sydney’s presence. He stuck out his hand to her. “Carver Sutton. My friends and lovers call me Chip.” As soon as their hands made contact, Chip turned Sydney’s hand over and kissed it. His one eye rolled over to Danny. “I trust you are only in his company due to some heinous circumstance?”
    Sydney was obviously charmed. There were few people in the world that could resist Carver Sutton.
    “On the contrary. Danny has saved my life several times since I met him.”
    “Ah!” Chip exclaimed. “ Vous êtes français. Que est votre nom, bel étranger?”
    Sydney giggled. Danny was about to ask Chip what he asked when Sydney answered him.
    “Sydney Dumas.”
    Chip continued his French inquisition. “ Quelle part de France vous son?”
    “Toulouse. J’habite en Monte Carlo maintenant.”
    “Ah, Monte Carlo.” Chip finally let her hand go. He swung his full attention over to Danny, put his arm around Danny’s shoulder, and stomped the floor with his heel. “That little spit of land is almost as much fun as this little spit here. Isn’t that right, Sergeant?”
    Sergeant. Danny hadn’t talked to Chip since becoming a Texas Ranger, but it seemed that Chip had kept up with his career.
    “I saw the Shiner tap at the downstairs bar.”
    Chip laughed. “I bet you about shit a brick when you saw it.” He turned to Sydney. “I had the unfortunate luck to meet this son of a gun almost, how long has it been, Cavanaugh?”
    “Ten years.”
    “You’re kidding?” Chip eyed the ceiling as he double-checked the math in his head. “Right. Ten years. Anyway, I was presenting the session on cyberstalking at a conference here in D.C.—”
    “Cyberstalking?” Sydney’s accent made the potentially horrific subject sound not only tolerable but pleasant. Danny took the liberty of answering her.
    “Pedophiles, adults who prey on children, they go online and surf chat rooms and sites like Facebook for young girls and boys. Acting like kids themselves, they strike up chats with these kids. Before you know it, they try to get the kids to meet them in person. You can only imagine what happens next.”
    Sydney grimaced. “That’s horrible.”
    Danny motioned to Chip. “Chip here learned how these guys worked. He would go online disguised as a child to lure these guys to him. They put away a lot of perverts thanks to Carver Sutton.”
    Chip grinned. “Now that you’ve stunk up the air with undeserved accolades, Sergeant Cavanaugh, let me get back to the meat of our story.” He offered his chair to Sydney, and she sat down. Danny expected drool to begin dripping from Chip’s mouth as he watched Sydney get comfortable in his chair and cross her long legs.
    Chip leaned up against the desk next to her. “Our young hero here, who had just become a detective at the time, was such an inquisitive fellow. He had question after question for me. I decided to take the lad to my favorite watering hole. I mean, he could at least buy me