‘Yes,’ Sandra said, nodding a little more enthusiastically than Alyssa thought the situation called for. ‘Captain Hammond wants me to assist with the Kensington case because he appreciated how I helped the gang unit solve a string of burglaries.’

Ah. That explained why she’d been so interested in what Ms. Carpenter had to say and why she’d waited so patiently. ‘Yeah? How’d you do that?’

The color from Sandra’s nose stretched across her cheekbones. ‘It was nothing really. One of the victims managed to snap a picture and hide his phone, and I spotted the reflection of the getaway driver in the side mirror of the car. When they blew the picture up, someone recognized the guy from past arrests. The rest, as they say, is history.’

‘Good eye,’ Alyssa offered.

‘Thanks. Anyway, the captain thought I’d learn a lot and get more experience by shadowing you because it’s my goal one day to make detective.’ Her gaze shifted slightly before adding, ‘I’ve heard all kinds of stories about you, Detective Wyatt, so I’m excited to be given this opportunity.’

Alyssa grimaced. ‘Do me a favor – if you hear anything spectacular, let me know, and I’ll tell you if it’s true or not.’

Sandra’s head bobbed up and down, and when she spoke again, her words ran over each other in a way that reminded Alyssa of an auctioneer. ‘Captain said to go see him if you have any concerns.’

Sandra’s eagerness reminded her a lot of herself when she was in her first years on the squad. She’d been like a sponge in the ocean, soaking up as much information as she could, packing her brain and memorizing techniques and skills she hoped to one day master.

Alyssa fixed her with a pointed stare. ‘It’ll be a lot of long hours and a lot of tedious leg work,’ she warned.

There was a slight pitch in the tone of Sandra’s voice as, eyes glowing, she said, ‘I’m not afraid of hard work or long hours. Hit me with it. I’m a firm believer that complete immersion is the best way to learn.’

‘Well, a fresh pair of sharp eyes never hurts. In other words, welcome to the team. I’ll let Hammond know we spoke.’ She retrieved her phone from her pocket and shot off a text, envisioning the captain’s scowl as she did. The man lived in the stone ages when it came to text messages. He stood firm on the hill of talking to someone on the phone, claiming if he’d wanted to read every damn communication, he would’ve picked a different career.