Too Close To Home: Time Cop Mysteries, #1

By Maggie Shaw

She's a time cop sworn to uphold the law.
But when her sister is murdered, all bets are off.

I love my life, especially my job.
Hop through time. Catch criminals.
Badass, right?
The NYPD is my second family.
I swore loyalty to my team, and to uphold the law, because rules keep the system safe.
I protect that system at all costs.
Until my sister is murdered.
No one will tell me how, why, or who.
Something doesn't add up.
The sudden and brutal loss changes everything, and I'll break every damn rule to right this wrong.
So, I jump back in time to save her.
An illegal act that puts a target on my back.
It's a race through time as New York's finest hunt me like I'm Enemy Number One.
My only hope is a British ex-con. Geoff time-hopped backwards and paid the price—a prison sentence.
I know I'll suffer the same fate, if they don't kill me first.
But I'll do whatever it takes to save my sister, even if it costs me my life.

*** This is an action packed, Urban Fantasy with a sci-fi twist.

Author Note: This was originally published under the pen name Tamsin Baker and is part of a rebranding.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Harley Romance Publishing
• Release date: Jul 24, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393438069

Book preview

Chapter 1.

Ipumped my arms by my sides, clinging to the gun in my hand. I increased my speed by pushing my legs to run faster.

Damn this guy is quick.

Stop! ICPD! I yelled into the wind and the fleeing man looked over his shoulder and saw me. He faced forward again, and kept on running.

I grinned in self-mockery at my faint hope he’d stop.

They never listened.

Even when I caught them and they professed innocence. Didn’t make any difference. They always ran.

Part of me didn’t mind. It made the arrest so much more satisfying. And quite honestly, the chase was more exhilarating than a gym membership.

I jumped over a sidewalk bench and dodged a mother with a stroller. She screamed as the accused, closely followed by me, zoomed by.

I heard words on the wind. He was yelling something at me, but he wasn’t stopping to make sure I could hear. And I wasn’t planning to stop until I caught him.

The accused always pled innocence once I had them in my grasp. They tried to convince me they’d done nothing wrong.

Which they hadn’t. Not yet.

That’s why I was chasing this man today. To make sure his crime could never happen.

Stop! I yelled out again.

My heart was racing in time with the pounding of my feet against the pavement, my footfalls echoing in my ears.

I glanced around. There were too many people who could bear witness. Time hopping here would not be possible. It was against the rules to hop within a hop.

But I’d do it as soon as I could.

Nothing was more important than preventing this man’s future crime.

We dodged more people walking their dogs, or heading out for breakfast on this sunny Saturday morning.

Two weeks in the future.

The weather was getting nice. Warm sunshine was always something to look forward to.

I shook my head, forcing myself to focus on the job in front of me. I dashed forward as a break in the crowd allowed me more room to sprint.

The future perp I was chasing looked back again, obviously hoping he’d lost me in the crowd.

No luck there.

I always got my man. Or woman.

I met his gaze and his eyes widened before he bolted across the street. When I followed, the loud blare of a taxi horn screamed in my ears.

Argh.

I slid across the hood of the car that had honked at me and couldn’t help the chuckle escaping my throat as the man I was chasing made the wrong decision. As soon as he reached the other side of the street he veered into a park instead of continuing on the street where all these people were gathered.

Open plan in the park. Less people. Less eyes to witness anything.

Perfect.

I could easily catch him now if I bent the rules a little. No-one would see me here.

Excitement zinged through me like a bolt of lightning. I clapped my hands once and focused on where I needed to go.

I shot straight through a time tunnel and popped out the other side, right in front of my target.

Up close, he was bigger than I’d anticipated, a good fifty pounds heavier than me.

He cried out in shock at my appearance and tried to make a sharp turn to avoid me. Then a strange snap sounded as his legs gave out from beneath him and he tumbled sideways onto the grass.

I stuck my gun into its holster and swooped down on him, knocking him further to his belly with my knees in his back, pulling his arms behind him.

Arnold Finch. You’re under arrest.

A thrill shot up my spine as I said those words.

I loved this part.

I pulled standard police issue metal cuffs from my belt and wrapped them around his wrists, clicking them shut with a heavy snap.

One of my favorite sounds in this world.

Well, other than the sound the air makes as I jump through time. It’s like a whirly click, with a hint of jasmine floating on the breeze.

There was little else that gave me such pleasure.

I didn’t do anything! The man beneath me predictably began to protest, and I pulled at his shirt until he was on his knees, and then hefted him to his feet.

I grunted with the effort, my fingers digging into his shirt.

Not yet, you haven’t.

This was the part where they begged.

He groaned and rolled his eyes as though he knew exactly what I meant. I wasn’t going to do it. I wasn’t! Just because I thought some bad things about my wife, doesn’t mean I’d ever actually hurt her.

I’d heard that excuse too many times to count. The perpetrators always denied guilt, never being accountable for the actions they would most certainly have committed if I’d given them the time to do it.

Well, you’ll have all the time in the world now, to explain how you never intended to kill your wife.

He groaned again as I pushed him forward toward the street. But he was so big and lumbering, I stopped him and considered my options again.

I wasn’t supposed to time hop across town when I arrested someone. The rules said that the only hops to be used were to move forward in time, then back to your own time.

Nothing more.

But this guy was at least fifty pounds heavier than me, six inches taller, and someone who was destined to become a murderer. Not a man I wanted to drag twenty blocks through the city.

I was partly thinking about my safety, but mostly I considered what may happen out there in the community.

How could I safeguard public safety? How would I explain it if he tried to get away again, and knocked a woman into the path of a car, or something equally as horrific?

Nope. The rules were meant to be bent a little, surely, when it came to public safety.

I thought about where I wanted to be, released the hold I had on his shirt and clapped my hands once. The zing of energy and magic in my palms lifted my lips into a smile.

A hole appeared before us and the man yelped.

Let’s go, Mr. Finch.

I’m not going through there.

As if he had a choice.

I put a hand in the middle of his back and pushed. Hard.

Oh, yes, you are.

Arnold Finch stumbled forward, his hands still handcuffed behind his back. I followed behind him, slipping through the time hop. One minute forward in time.

That familiar sizzle swept over my skin, making me shiver with delight.

We landed exactly where I had planned. In an alley beside the police station, out of view of all the uniformed officers who didn’t like my special gifts any more than they wanted me using them in front of the normals.

Speaking of normals... the time hop didn’t suit everyone.

Arnold Finch lurched forward, bending in half. Oh, God, I’m going to be sick.

My suspect staggered sideways, toward the concrete wall.

I gripped his arm tightly and stayed close.

They’d attempted to run off on me before, these criminals. After all, they had nothing to lose once they’d been identified as a definite threat and I’d found them. They knew that our justice system had been honed to a fine art. There’d be no way of getting out of this charge now.

I threw him a bone, though I didn’t care if he vomited or not.

It’ll pass in thirty seconds. Take a deep breath and let’s go.

He shivered a little, but straightened once again, for which I was grateful. If he decided to turn into a dead weight, a sack of potatoes I couldn’t move, then I’d have to call in reinforcements. And I really didn’t want to do that.

Let’s go, Mr. Finch.

I heaved him around the corner of the building to the entrance of the police station.

The uniformed officers gave me sidelong looks as I pulled the perp into the building.

I let go of Finch and tugged on my leather jacket to straighten it, staring straight ahead.

Ignoring their condemning stares was difficult. The attitude of law enforcement toward me still rankled. Made me feel about three inches tall, though I was determined to hide that from everyone.

Five years into this job and many on the force still thought I was some sort of freak.

It wasn’t fair, or just. They should be grateful for my talents and those like me. Crime in the city was down by ninety percent.

Luckily, the officers in my own station knew and liked me. Although they did jump a little when I turned up in the future and then hopped back again. But at least they didn’t make me feel bad about my unusual abilities.

Speaking of which, maybe hopping to my own police station would have been a better decision. Hmm. Not too late to rectify that. Never too late, for a time hopper.

Into the conference room, Mr. Finch.

I turned right, opened the door and shoved my prisoner in, then shut the door again.

I clapped once and the air around us whirled.

Oh, no. Not again.

Yep. Let’s go.

I pushed him gently, and this time he managed to walk through on his own. There was a certain buzz of adrenaline from time hopping, and despite the nausea, Mr. Finch would have already felt that buzz, too.

We time hopped forward one single minute again, this time landing just outside my local police station, the 4th Precinct.

Arnold staggered but didn’t fall over this time.

This way, Mr. Finch.

I held tight to his shirt and weaved through the bevy of detectives standing on the steps and inside the precinct building.

I presented him to the officer manning the arrest desk and shot a smile her way. I saw this woman almost every day. She was someone I liked and trusted, and I couldn’t say that about many people.

Officer Sarah Pollax, I said, to satisfy the official requirement. Checking in Mr. Arnold Finch. On future arrest warrant 21031.

I pulled the crumpled paperwork from my back pocket and slid it across the desk.

Hello, Officer Pollax. You’ve been busy already today.

I