A Cop's Promise

by Sharon Hartley

  “I trust you,” she whispered.

  “Do you?” he asked sleepily.

  “Yes,” she said, realizing that was true. She did trust Chip. Even when her world was falling apart, when her father was screaming at her brother and pushing her mother, Chip had always been there for her. He could make her laugh and forget life could be so scary. He was the one person who’d never let her down.

  It was herself she didn’t trust. Her habit of acting on impulse, for making mistakes. Not the best behavior for a cop.

  “Thanks,” he murmured. “You know, for trusting me.”

  “You’re welcome,” she whispered, but he could no longer hear her. He was asleep. She listened to his steady breathing, wondering if she’d just made the biggest mistake of her life.

  Danny had been like their father. Was she just like their mother?

  Had she ruined her friendship with Chip with another impulsive error?

  * * *

  THE BLARING SOUND of his alarm jerked Chip awake. He groaned and flung out an arm to squelch the noise.

  “What?” Lana popped up next to him, clutching the sheet to her chest, looking around the room as if she didn’t know where she was.

  Stunned, he stared at her, feeling exactly the way she looked. As the events of the previous evening came rushing back, he felt a smile form.

  When their gazes collided, she smiled uncertainly, tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and collapsed against the pillow.

  “Hi,” she said.

  “Hi, yourself.” Chip turned on his side, leaned on one elbow and propped his head in his hand. She looked gorgeous with her dark hair flying every direction, but then she always looked beautiful to him. And never more so than right now.

  “Do you have class?” she asked. “On a Sunday?”

  “No,” he said. “I forgot to turn off the alarm.”

  “Oh,” she breathed. “Good.”

  “Go back to sleep.”

  She closed her eyes. “Okay.”

  He continued to study her face, not quite believing that Lana had spent the night in his bed or that they’d made love. He wanted to make love to her again.

  What had happened that made her come to him last night? What had changed? He couldn’t think of anything that he’d said or done, but there had to be something.

  “Are you going to stare at me all morning?” she asked.

  “How do you know I’m staring at you? Your eyes are closed.”

  “I can feel you looking at me.”

  “That’s a good superpower for a cop to have,” Chip said. “Does it work on everyone or only with me?”

  She grinned and opened her eyes.

  “I like looking at you,” he said softly. “You’re beautiful.”

  “Thanks,” she said, closing her eyes again.

  “How do you feel?” he asked.

  “Groggy. It’s early for me.”

  Chip frowned as he studied her face. So maybe she didn’t want to talk about what had happened between them. Did he? Yeah, he did. He wanted to know why. With another woman he might not care, but everything mattered because the woman in his bed was Lana.

  “Did something happen on the job last night?” he asked.

  “Yeah, it was a rough shift,” she said. “I was called out on a particularly nasty domestic.”

  “You hate those.”

  “Especially where kids are involved.”

  “Because it reminds you of your family’s situation with your dad?”

  She sighed, but didn’t answer right away. “I forget how well you know me sometimes.”

  “I lived next door.”

  “I remember. Could you actually hear my father yelling at my mom? I never asked. I guess I didn’t want to know.”

  “It was no big deal.”

  She nodded. “Yeah, it was. At least the police never came out. I think my mother would have died of the humiliation.”

  He cupped her cheek and lightly kissed her. What could he say to make her feel better? The whole neighborhood had been aware of the abuse.

  “I used to think if he hadn’t lost his job, everything would have been different,” Lana said.

  “A lot of people lose jobs,” Chip said. “They don’t all beat their wives.”

  “He could be so mean,” she whispered.

  So could your brother. “Did your dad ever hit you or your sister? Or Dan,” Chip added as an afterthought.

  “Never me or Sandy. Sometimes Dan.”

  That explained a lot. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

  “Yeah. Me, too. Your parents were wonderful to us, though. Especially your dad.”

  Chip rolled onto his back. “I remember being furious with my dad because you had to move away. I guess I blamed him, thought he should be able to keep you around.”

  “It wasn’t your father’s fault the house got foreclosed on. My mom couldn’t afford to stay there.”

  “I know that now,” Chip said. “Are you in contact with your father?”

  “I don’t even know where he is,” she said in an odd voice. “I haven’t seen him since Dan’s funeral.”

  Chip nodded, aching for Lana and the rotten family life she’d had. No wonder she was so confused about the past and events that took place in high school.

  “Why did you come to me last night? You must know that changes everything between us.”

  She flushed. Was she embarrassed because they’d made love? He hoped not.

  “Does it matter why?”

  “Yeah, I think it does. We don’t need any more secrets between us.”

  She was silent for a long moment. “I’m not sure why I do anything anymore,” she said. “Maybe it was just time.”

  He brushed a stray bit of hair away from her face. “Time?”

  She shrugged. “Time for me to move on. Everyone is always telling me I need to forget the past and get on with my life.” She jabbed a finger into his chest and he grabbed it. “You included.”

  “Except don’t forget I’m part of your past.”

  “But a different part. A good part.”

  He kissed her finger, somewhat reassured by that comment. But he sensed there was more to her decision than that.

  “So by making love with me, you’re forgetting the past?”

  “Maybe.” She cracked open one eye. “Plus you’re, you know, really hot.”

  He grinned. This discussion had moved in a much better direction. “You think I’m hot?”

  She nodded. “Uh-huh. Now, don’t get all conceited on me. I hadn’t thought of you in years until Coach’s retirement party.”

  “Gee, thanks.”

  “Sorry. And then my mother found that note to Dan, which made you my prime suspect.”

  “Did you think I was hot in high school?”

  “I thought you were cute. I wanted you to ask me out until Danny told me you were bad news.”

  Chip’s gut tightened at the mention of her brother. Damn. It seemed his ghost always hovered between them, always ruining a good moment.

  “So somehow last night you were overcome with lust for my awesomely hot body?” he asked, lightly trailing a finger down her cheek.

  She gave a shrug. “I was a little down, depressed because I’m getting nowhere with the investigation.”

  The investigation. So that was why she’d come to him? Her effing murder investigation wasn’t going well? Chip rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. Just once he’d like to have a conversation with Lana about something other than her brother.

  “You need to stop your damn investigation,” he said, his voice harsher than he’d intended.

  “Like that’s going to happen when my mother calls me in tears, begging me for any news.”

  “Don’t prete
nd you’re doing this for your mother.”

  “No,” she admitted. “I need to know what happened.”

  “What if you never figure it out? Are you going to search for his murderer the rest of your life?”

  When she didn’t answer, Chip turned his head to look at her.

  “What kind of a life would you have, Lana?” Would we have?

  “I don’t know.”

  “You’re unbelievable,” he muttered. Living with the ghost of Dan Lettino was so not the life he wanted.

  “Hey,” she said, raising her head. “What’s wrong?”

  He couldn’t look at her. “The last person I want in bed with us is your brother.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  He glanced at her then and wished he hadn’t. God, she was beautiful as she stared at him, a confused expression on her face. For such a smart woman, she could be totally clueless.

  “I want you to stop looking for Dan’s murderer.”

  “What?”

  “You heard me. It’s destroying your life. It’s going to destroy your career.”

  “I promised my mother,” she said, shaking her head. “I can’t do that.”

  “Sure, you can.”

  “Don’t ask me to stop, Chip.” Her tone turned frosty.

  “Why not?”

  “You have no right.”

  “If you want to be with me, Lana, then I have a right.”

  “What?” She narrowed her eyes. “Are you giving me some macho-man ultimatum?”

  An ultimatum? Maybe he was.

  And then Chip got it. He had no chance of any relationship with Lana until she solved Dan’s murder. But after eight years, the odds were Dan’s case would never be closed. Chip saw the future clearly. He’d play second fiddle to her brother for the rest of his life. He was a damn fool.

  Just when things were looking up, he had to give up on Lana. He couldn’t love a woman who was obsessed with the past.

  What had started as one of the best mornings of his life had just tanked beyond repair.

  Chip rolled over and planted his feet on the floor. He needed to get away from her.

  He turned to face her as he zipped his jeans, wishing he could read the emotions that played across her face.

  “Do whatever the hell you want, Lana,” he said. “You always do.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  LANA STARED AT CHIP. She’d never seen him so angry. Not even the night she informed him he was a suspect.

  But she was pissed, too. How could he order her to give up her investigation? He knew how important it was to her, to her family.

  She stood beside him, wrapping the sheet around her body “Come on, Chip. How can you ask me to give up?”

  “Because it’s time. You’ve spent the past eight years obsessing about finding Dan’s murderer. That’s why you became a cop. You and I even went on a date so you could interrogate me. Remember? I was your number one suspect.”

  She opened her mouth to rebut his words, but couldn’t think of anything to say. He’d spoken the truth, although the way he phrased it, she sounded like a wacko.

  “Hell, you almost lost the job you love because you can’t let go.”

  “Believe me, I want to forget, to move on.”

  “Then do it.” Chip stepped toward the door.

  “Not until I figure out what happened.”

  When he turned his back on her, a sense of dread knotted her gut. Chip was leaving. Where was he going? Would he ever come back? Her father never had.

  She didn’t want him to go, not like this. He’d become more important to her than any man or boy ever had.

  She took a deep breath. “Okay. Chip, please calm down and listen to me. I do want to be with you.”

  He turned, stepped toward her and got right in her face. His icy Viking gaze stared into hers.

  “If that’s true, then you won’t have a problem with giving up your insane quest to find Dan’s murderer.”

  She returned his stare. “I can’t do that,” she said.

  “Again, why not?”

  “Because I’m a cop.”

  “You and I both know it’s not an official investigation and that you’ve been ordered to cease and desist.”

  “I need to know what happened.”

  “Why do you need to know?”

  She stared at him, scrambling to remember why her search for justice was so important. Her mother, she had promised her mother.

  Her mother had always given in to her father’s demands, taken his abuse, did whatever he told her until the day he left. She swallowed. No way could she start that pattern with Chip.

  “You don’t have an answer.” He turned away from her again. “I’m done.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Just what I said. Good luck. You’re on your own.” He reached for a T-shirt and then pulled it on.

  “Oh, I see. You’re done protecting me. Is that it? Well, I don’t need your protection. I never did.”

  “Whatever you say.” Chip shook his head and moved to his dresser, where he grabbed his keys and his wallet.

  He was leaving again. She didn’t want him to go. All she had to do was say she’d end her investigation and he’d stay. Why couldn’t she do that?

  Her sergeant had ordered her to let it go. What the hell is wrong with me?

  “If you’d told me the truth in high school,” she shouted, “maybe things would be different.”

  He turned back. “I should have told you Dan hit Cindy?”

  She lifted her chin. “Yes.”

  “How would that change anything?”

  “Because secrets never do anyone any good.”

  “You need to stop fooling yourself, Lana,” he said on the way to the door.

  “Where are you going?”

  “To campus. I need to study.”

  “But it’s 9:00 a.m. Let me make some coffee and we can talk some more.”

  “What do you want to talk about, Lana?” Chip paused on the threshold and snapped his fingers. “Oh, I know. What you always want to talk about—the murder of Danny Lettino.”

  “Chip.”

  “You have no idea how sick I am of hearing that name. You need to let your brother rest in peace.”

  Before he could move away, the door chime rang and they both turned to look in that direction.

  “Who the hell is that at this hour?” Chip muttered.

  “I don’t know,” Lana said. “Did you invite Gary over for the game?”

  “Of course I did. The big, bad detective hasn’t finished interrogating him over Dan’s murder.”

  Their eyes met and held. Chip sighed and looked away.

  “But it’s too early,” he said. “The game isn’t until four.” His gaze raked her sheet-covered body. “You’d better get dressed.”

  Lana spotted her clothing on the floor and scrambled to clothe herself while Chip went to answer the front door.

  “Hey, Gary,” Chip said, his voice amazingly normal. “You want to come in?”

  “No, man. I can’t stay.”

  As she buttoned her blouse, Lana heard Chip step out onto the front porch.

  “What’s up?” he asked.

  “Sorry, man,” Gary said, “but I’m not going to be able to make it over to watch the game today.”

  “No problem,” Chip said. “Everything okay?”

  “Yeah, sure,” Gary said. “But something came up.”

  Wondering what the hell came up, Lana moved onto the porch and stood next to Chip. She wanted to reach for his hand to maintain their ruse—although after last night it was a ruse no longer—but thought better of it. Gary looked as if he hadn’t slept all night, so he wouldn’t notice. His shirt was half tucked into his shorts and ha
lf out. Beads of sweat dotted his forehead, and he needed a shave.

  “Hey, Lana,” Gary said. “Can’t make it this afternoon.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” Lana said. Why did Gary sound so nervous? “Maybe next week.”

  “Thanks. Yeah, maybe. I’ll let you know.”

  “Good enough,” Chip said.

  “See you guys around.”

  Lana stared at Gary’s retreating back as he hurried toward his car.

  “Something weird is going on,” she said when he’d driven away.

  Chip flicked her a look. “Yeah, you might say something very weird is going on in this neighborhood.”

  He disappeared inside the house and she followed. He entered his bedroom.

  “I’m going to make a pot of coffee,” she yelled.

  He didn’t respond, but Chip never turned down coffee. She opened the can and began spooning fragrant grounds into his high-tech coffee machine.

  He exited the bedroom carrying a stuffed backpack. He didn’t look at her as he said, “I’m going to the library.”

  * * *

  IN THE SHADE of an oak tree in her sister’s backyard later that afternoon, Lana took a swallow of white wine.

  Beside her, on a comfortable swing, sipping her own vino, her sister listened to her sad story while her husband watched the game inside the house. Mike was napping, but Lana suspected that would only last until the first Dolphin touchdown, when Brady and his friends would loudly whoop their enthusiasm.

  “So my wild night of passion ended on a disaster,” Lana said.

  “Finally,” Sandy said, lifting her glass in a toast.

  “Finally? That’s your response to my pathetic drama?”

  “I always believed you and Chip were destined for each other,” Sandy said.

  “Please. No, you didn’t.”

  “Yes, I did.” Sandy nodded. “So did Mom. Or she used to, anyway.”

  “Apparently I was clueless in high school. How did you turn out so normal?”

  Sandy gave her a hug. “Because I had an older sister to take care of me.”

  “Thanks for that,” Lana said. They clinked glasses again.

  “So, what are you going to do?” Sandy asked.