The Cop

by Cara Summers

“Or by fate,” Nik said. “My aunt Cass believes that the Fates are always offering choices. It’s up to the person to make the right one, and it looks like you did.”

  “Maybe,” she said.

  Nik studied her as she sipped her coffee. He’d never before put too much stock in his aunt Cass’s talk about the Fates. But he was beginning to wonder…

  A small cheer went up at the bar just then, and Nik and J.C. glanced over to see Spiro and Helena step hand in hand through the doorway that led from the kitchen. They were smiling, and when Spiro drew Helena close and kissed her, there was another cheer.

  “Looks like they settled some things between them,” J.C. said with a grin. “Helena seems to have put a stop to the caveman tactics.”

  Looking at his father’s face, Nik had a pretty good idea of just how they’d settled things. About time, he thought. Though he couldn’t help but wonder just what space they’d chosen to do their “settling” in. For a second, he shifted his gaze to the ladies’ room that Kit and Drew had yet to exit from. He figured they were settling things, too.

  “I’ll bet they made love,” J.C. said.

  “I was thinking the same thing myself.” Then his eyes widened as Spiro and Helena stepped out from behind the bar and began to thread their way through the crowd and up the stairs. They stopped only to exchange a few words with Philly before they disappeared. “I don’t believe it.”

  “Why not? Your father’s a very attractive man, and Helena’s a beautiful woman. And you said—”

  Nik lost track of what J.C. was saying for a minute as his sister flashed him a grin and a thumbs-up sign.

  “I don’t see why you’d be surprised that your father and Helena would want to express their feelings in a physical way.”

  Nik shifted his gaze back to J.C. “I’m not at all surprised that my father and Helena very probably just made love in Helena’s office.” Although he knew from experience that wasn’t the only place they could have used. “What I find hard to believe is that it’s the middle of the lunch hour rush, and they’re both leaving. That never happens. The one thing that they’ve always seemed to have in common is they’re workaholics when it comes to the restaurant.”

  J.C. grinned at him. “I’ll bet they’re going to take a ride on their motorcycles. It’s a great day for it. I envy them.”

  Nik did, too, and he felt a little band of pain tighten in his chest as J.C.’s grin began to fade. He knew exactly what she was thinking because he was right on the same page. Reaching out, he took her hand and raised it to his lips. “I wish that we could just play hooky, too. I’m giving you a rain check. When this is all over, when you’re safe, we’ll borrow those bikes and I’ll take you to my grandfather’s fishing cabin. Then I’ll take you sailing on Athena.”

  He wanted to see her there, Nik realized, in the cabin, on his sailboat. More than that, he wanted to be with her there. And he wanted to find a way to tell her that. Something cold and hard settled in his stomach. Fear? No way. His father had settled things with Helena. Kit was settling things with Drew. And he was going to settle things with J.C.

  Leaning forward, he said, “I think we should clear up what’s going on between us.”

  J.C. met his eyes. He would have thought her to be perfectly calm, but she was clasping her hands together on the table and her knuckles had gone white. “I think what’s going on between us is perfectly clear. We’re buddies.”

  Nik studied her. “You still feel that way after last night.”

  She returned his gaze steadily. But her knuckles turned even whiter. “We agreed from the beginning that our relationship was going to be friendly and sexual. No demands. After all, we’re both in careers where we have obligations twenty-four-seven. Neither of us has the time for a more serious relationship.”

  That was true. Hadn’t he used the same line of reasoning on the women he’d dated when they’d shown signs of wanting more? Why was it making him furious to hear her say it?

  “I like the sex. Very much.”

  “Yeah,” he managed, when what he wanted to do was to shake her. But he had enough fisherman’s blood in him to know that sometimes you had to give your catch some line if you wanted to reel it in.

  “Okay. I’m glad we cleared that up.” He tried a smile. “Sex buddies it is.” For now, he added to himself. Because he couldn’t stop himself, he grasped her chin. “But one thing you ought to know. I don’t do one-night stands. We’re going to continue to be sex buddies even after we get Snake Eyes. Understood?”

  “Sure.”

  “Let’s go back to the station.” As they rose and he guided her out of The Poseidon, Nik made a vow. He’d play along with her for now, but Ms. J.C. Riley was going to learn that he wasn’t going to be satisfied with half a loaf for long.

  12

  J.C. FOLDED HER HANDS on the top of Nik’s desk and gazed around his office. It was a small room, not much larger than the one he used as his work space in his apartment. And it was just as sparsely furnished. There was a desk, two filing cabinets, a small computer table holding a flat screen and a keyboard, and two straight-backed chairs.

  Through the half-slanted blinds, she had a view of the squad room. It was bustling, and even through the closed door, she could hear the sounds of phones ringing and voices talking. Burnt coffee scented the air.

  She spotted Nik standing in the doorway of what he’d said was an observation room. He’d gone to talk to Kit. She saw two other men enter the squad room. They’d drawn her eye because the taller of the two had to be the third Angelis brother, Theo. He had the same dark hair and drop-dead good looks as his brothers, but unlike Kit and Nik, who favored jeans and sport coats, this man evidently liked Italian suits. And he wore them very well.

  Moving with a slow, languid grace, Theo escorted the younger man with him to one of the desks, then turned and strolled toward Nik. He was taller, and while Nik had a definite air of ruggedness about him, Theo seemed to radiate a sort of elegant maleness. He was just the kind of urban sophisticate that her stepmother was always introducing her to. She watched as he followed Nik into the observation room. She’d seen Captain Parker escort Drew into an adjoining room, where she assumed he was questioning her.

  Kit and Drew had had a busy afternoon. Nik had filled her in on most of it while she’d been working with the sketch artist. Drew had gotten her memory back. She had designed Juliana Oliver’s wedding dress, and at the last minute, Juliana had invited her to be maid of honor at the wedding. Drew had also shot one of the bad guys, the same one she claimed had fought with Roman Oliver and pushed him down the stairs. Then this afternoon, she and Kit had managed to trap two of the shooters from the church, the one Drew had shot and his sidekick, and they were now in custody. Nik had arranged for J.C. to take a look at them, but neither of them was the man who’d shot Father Mike.

  The young police artist had just completed the sketch of Snake Eyes to her satisfaction. A copy of it lay on the desk in front of her, but she’d turned it facedown. Looking at it made her stomach queasy.

  Nik had told her that they’d scan it and run it through a program that just might give them a match. In J.C.’s opinion, they were due for a little luck. Turning her attention back to the room, she opened a drawer and found a neat stack of small notebooks, the size that would easily fit into a pocket. Cop-sized, she supposed. Beside them lay two boxes—one with sharpened pencils and the other with inexpensive ballpoint pens. A quick search through the other drawers revealed neatly labeled files, tissues, extra handcuffs.

  The man was almost obsessively neat and organized. And he didn’t have so much as a crumb of food stashed away. How could he work without it? She let her gaze return to the box of chocolates that sat in the far corner of the desk. Every time she looked at them, her heart did a little flutter.

  Nik had given them to her as a reward when the sketch was finished. She ran a finger over the bow. The chocolates were from Ghirardelli’s. He must have sent someone out to get the
m. For her.

  It was so sweet of him. And romantic. J.C. folded her hands together on the desk. There was no more avoiding it. The sketch was finished, she’d conducted her little snoop-a-thon, and now she had to think about what the gift might mean.

  He’d given her chocolates. And not just any chocolates. The ones she’d nagged him about earlier in the day. Nik Angelis didn’t seem like the kind of guy who would do something that sweet. Unable to help herself, she reached out and fingered the bow again.

  When she and Nik had been sitting there in The Poseidon, he’d wanted to clear things up between them. But could she let him talk first? No. Of course not.

  J.C. dropped her head into her hands. When was she going to learn to keep her mouth shut? Once she got on a roll, she couldn’t seem to turn it off. And now she was paying the piper. With her big mouth she’d convinced Nik that they ought to remain sex buddies. She’d read something in his eyes that had suggested he might want something more, but she’d cut him off and jabbered right over him. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah!

  So instead, they were going to be what? Long-term sex buddies? And she had only herself to blame for the whole situation. She’d been the one who’d suggested it—just another example of how she led with her mouth. First chance she got, she was going to burn that copy of Cosmo!

  Drawing the box of chocolates closer, she pulled off the ribbon. She selected the most decadent-looking confection, popped it into her mouth and chewed. Across the squad room, Captain Parker came out of an interrogation room and went into the observation room where Nik and Kit were.

  Then J.C. suddenly frowned down at the box of chocolates. The piece she’d just eaten had looked better than it had tasted. A whole lot better. Her frown deepened. In fact, the flavor had reminded her a bit of sawdust.

  She closed the box and pushed it away. This was simply not going to happen. Nik Angelis was not going to spoil the taste of chocolate for her. Somehow, she was going to have to figure a way to convince him that he wanted more than no-strings sex with her.

  When she glanced into the squad room again, she saw Theo exiting with the tall, young man he’d entered with. Then Kit came out of a room with his arm around Drew and led her toward the door. She would have bet the box of Ghirardelli’s that buddy sex was not on Kit and Drew’s agenda tonight.

  Still frowning, she watched Nik and Captain Parker enter an office across the squad room from where she sat. She was rising, intending to go to them, when she froze. Another couple had entered the squad room just as Kit and Drew left. The woman had every male eye in the room locking on her. She was young and beautiful—a tall blonde with eyes nearly the color of the huge sapphire ring she had on her hand. She was wearing a peach-colored suit that showcased a perfectly shaped hourglass figure. The jacket barely kept her ample breasts holstered. And those stiletto heels that drew attention to long, slender legs must have had most of the men in the squad room going cross-eyed, trying to decide which asset to focus on.

  But it wasn’t the blond beauty that had J.C. frozen in her chair. It was the man on her arm.

  Turning over the sketch on Nik’s desk, she glanced at it and then back at the man. His hair was different. On Friday night it had been slicked back close to his head. Today it fell in loose dark waves nearly to his shoulders. His clothes were different, too. The man who’d shot Father Mike had worn black jeans and a black long-sleeved T-shirt. In short, he’d looked like a thug. The man on the well-packaged blonde’s arm looked like an expensive gigolo. He wore a snakeskin jacket, ivory trousers and a pale yellow shirt, open at the throat and showcasing a thick gold chain. But the diamond on his pinky was the same ring Snake Eyes had worn. She was sure of it.

  The man glanced in her direction, and as he met her gaze, any lingering doubt in her mind vanished. She was looking at the man who wanted to kill her.

  NIK FOLLOWED D.C. Parker into his office and shut the door. “Thanks for going easy on my brother, Captain.”

  Parker sent him an amused glance. “Did you think I was going to charge him after he saved the SFPD some money by bringing in two of the shooters?”

  “You might have. He harbored a material witness.”

  “Who wouldn’t have been much use to us as long as she had amnesia. You want to be captain someday, right, Angelis?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Pretend he’s not your brother, and tell me what would you have done in my shoes?”

  Nik grinned. “I would have let him walk out that door.”

  There was a sudden hush in the normal din in the squad room. For a count of three beats the only sound in the area was the ring of a few phones. He and Parker looked out through the glass windows.

  A couple stood in the doorway. Rich and flashy were the two words that popped into Nik’s mind. But it was the woman that had every cop in the room staring. The blonde radiated moneyed sex. The man on her arm had a little less polish, but Nik would bet he’d spent more time on his hairstyle than she had.

  He spoke in a low tone to his captain. “Who the hell are—”

  D.C. Parker moved toward the door of his office. “Mr. and Mrs. Frankie Carlucci. I invited them here. I’m expecting someone from the Oliver family in a little while. I’ve offered to keep them personally updated on the case. Commissioner Galvin wants me to ooze understanding and cooperation in an attempt to keep the tension between the two families at a minimum. C’mon, I’ll introduce you—give you a taste of what it’s like to walk around in a captain’s shoes.”

  As they moved through the squad room, Nik recalled that Frankie was Angelo Carlucci’s much younger stepbrother. Nik guessed his age to be in his mid to late thirties, and the woman on his arm looked to be in her early twenties.

  “Mr. and Mrs. Carlucci,” Parker said as he extended his hand, “I want you to meet Detective NikAngelis. He’s the man who arrived first on the scene at St. Peter’s last night.”

  “A pleasure,” Frankie said.

  “Please call me Gina. Mrs. Carlucci sounds so formal.” The blonde spoke in a breathy voice that Nik suspected was meant to remind him of Marilyn Monroe.

  “It’s a pleasure, Gina.” Nik shook her hand. Then he grasped Frankie’s. His thumbs were pricking when he pulled them away. He studied the man more carefully.

  “You look as though you’ve recovered far more quickly than I have from the charity ball at the St. Regis last night,” Parker said to Gina Carlucci.

  “I don’t see how,” Gina said. “We haven’t slept since we got the news about poor Paulo. It’s horrible. Angelo is devastated.”

  “Tell me you’ve arrested Roman Oliver,” Frankie added. “We know that he was there. He obviously came to stop the wedding.”

  “We’re working on the case,” Parker replied.

  “Yes. Of course you are. But my brother Angelo isn’t as young as he used to be, and Paulo is his only son, the apple of his eye. He’s going to want justice, and soon.”

  “NO. STOP.” Dodging desks and sidestepping cops, J.C. raced as fast as she could across the squad room.

  “He’s the one.” It had been the sight of Nik shaking Snake Eyes’s hand that had finally melted her paralysis.

  She skidded to a stop and pointed. “Arrest him. He’s the one who shot Father Mike!”

  “Shot Father Mike?” Eyebrows raised, the man turned to Parker. “What is she talking about?”

  “I’m talking about shooting a priest on the altar of St. Peter’s Church last night,” J.C. said. “Don’t tell me you have short-term memory loss? I saw you.”

  “Ms. Riley…” Captain Parker began.

  “Good heavens, who is this?” the blonde breathed.

  Ignoring the blonde, J.C. continued, “You would have killed him if I hadn’t hit you with my cell phone.”

  Snake Eyes turned to D.C. Parker and spoke in a calm voice. “Is this what you invited us down here for, Captain? To be accosted and falsely accused like this? Perhaps, I should have brought my lawyer.”

  “
No, that won’t be—” Parker began again.

  “I think it might be a very good idea.” J.C. moved until she was standing toe-to-toe with Frankie. “You tried to kill me, too.”

  “J.C.” Nik inserted himself between J.C. and the man she was accusing, easing her back a little.

  “Check the back of his head. I bet there’s a mark where I hit him.” She raised the sketch and waved it. “And look at this! He’s the man I saw.”

  “Let me see that.” Frankie took the sketch out of her hand. After glancing at it briefly, he smiled and passed it to his wife. “I’m afraid that this doesn’t do me justice, darling.”

  “Hardly.” Gina gave a breathy laugh as she gave it to Parker.

  Nik’s grip on her arms tightened, preventing her from launching herself at Frankie Carlucci.

  “He’s Snake Eyes!”

  “Detective Angelis, will you please take Ms. Riley into my office?” Parker asked.

  J.C. whirled on Parker. “You’re not going to arrest him?”

  “I’m afraid not,” Parker said. “You see, I can provide Mr. and Mrs. Carlucci with an alibi from six p.m. on Friday up until the time I received the call from Detective Angelis. So can Commissioner Galvin and hundreds of other people who were attending the charity ball at the St. Regis that night, including your stepmother.”

  13

  THE MOMENT NIK CLOSED the door to Parker’s office, J.C. twisted out of his grip, whirled and gave him a hard shove. “You don’t believe me.”

  Grabbing her hands, Nik growled, “Calm down. I do believe you. Hell, my thumbs started pricking the moment I shook his hands.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes. But we need to think about this.”

  “Think? What is there to think about? And who is he that he’s so chummy with your captain?”

  “Sit.” He shoved her into a chair, then moved to slant the blinds and block them from the curious gazes in the squad room. “I don’t want to put on more of a show than we already have.”