Collision Control

by C. A. Szarek

  He’d told his partner about his plans with Mel, and Lucas had flashed dimples and told him to have fun. The guy had even thrown in a good luck. Said he’d handle the FBI agent.

  Joe had taken his plans in stride, but Jared hadn’t really elaborated. The night before, they’d talked a lot about Bennett and what had really happened to Special Agent John Murray.

  He didn’t have a clue how to get his brother out of his mess without coming clean to Cole and Carrigan, and it wasn’t the time.

  Didn’t have enough evidence.

  But he’d promised Joe they’d work it out, and they would. Joe—and John—would get justice.

  Jared needed to find Carter Bennett.

  For today….he refused to think about the case.

  Today was for Mel. He was going to make the most of it.

  She huffed and crossed her arms. Jared ordered himself not to stare. Her dress offered some nice cleavage as it was, and her arms pushing her breasts up didn’t help his libido.

  He reached for his inner southern gentleman and offered her a half-bow. “I just want to spend some time with you, Mel. Did you eat yet?”

  “No.”

  “Shall we?” He raised his elbow and Mel took a step toward him, her gorgeous eyes wary. However, she tucked her hand in his arm.

  They both shivered as their skin came together and Jared threatened to lop his cock off when it twitched. He needed to prove to her he wanted her for more than just sex.

  And he did.

  Even if he couldn’t examine the why.

  “I was too nervous to eat,” Mel whispered.

  Jared frowned at the vulnerability in her pale gaze. “Why, baby?” He wanted to comfort her. Wipe that look off her face.

  She shook her head. “Never mind.”

  “Mel, I—”

  “I’m fine, Jared.” She smiled. It was slight. Tentative.

  It still made his stomach flutter. “You can talk to me, you know. We can’t get to know each other if we don’t talk.”

  Mel studied him. “You’re right.” She blew out a breath and relaxed again his side.

  Jared’s heart stopped. Was she going to give him a real chance?

  “I’m no good at these things,” she said.

  “What things?”

  “You know, meeting…guys.”

  Jared kissed her. Quick and hard. He couldn’t help it. “You don’t need to worry about that. You have a guy. Me.” He thumbed his chest with his free hand.

  “What if I don’t want you?” Mel smirked.

  “I’ll either call you a liar or do my best to convince you otherwise.”

  She laughed and it had him grinning again. “Seems to me calling me a liar isn’t the best way to win my affections.”

  “What is, then?”

  “Well, you’re not doing too well, since you started off with stalking me.”

  Jared chuckled and shook his head. “One time doesn’t count.”

  “I’m not so sure about that.” Her expression screamed skepticism.

  “Well, with your scary threat to call the police, I had to curb my disastrous ways.”

  She looked as if she was fighting a smile, but finally her delectable mouth curved up. “Yeah, yeah.” Mel patted his forearm and shook her head. “My guess is you were busy or something. My little threat didn’t make you blink.” Her dry tone was as endearing as she was.

  He laughed yet again. Weight of the case, and worries about his brother lifted from his shoulders a little bit. His problems were far from solved, but Jared felt better than he had in days. “Thanks, Mel.” He let out a breath and squeezed her hand.

  Her fair brows drew tight and she stilled at his side. “For?”

  “Being you, baby. Just…being you.”

  She looked even more puzzled and Jared leaned down again, kissing her lightly. His heart tripped when she kissed him back instead of pulling away.

  He needed her. Needed this day, this small date away from reality.

  Jared was damn sure going to make the best of his time with her.

  Chapter Twenty

  Taylor watched Detective Jared Manning go into the big house on Montgomery Street for the fourth day in a row.

  She’d tried to kid herself that she wasn’t actually following him.

  Finally, she’d accepted she was. As if Mondays didn’t already suck. Taylor hated feeling guilty, but now she was just trying to be inconspicuous. Was dying to ask Lucas who Manning knew on Montgomery Street, but both males were sharp.

  Taylor wasn’t ready to come clean about watching Manning, and didn’t want him to overhear, or worse, have Lucas ask questions she couldn’t answer.

  She’d even opened her mouth three separate times to try, to no avail. Had ended up muttering “Never mind.”

  Lucas had shrugged the first time, raised an eyebrow the second, and stared like he thought she was crazy the third.

  Maybe you are crazy.

  Her gut had never stopped shouting that something with the younger of her two temporary partners wasn’t right, even if she still hadn’t put her finger on the what.

  Besides, Manning was rarely away from the two of them, so discreet had to be the name of the game. When she’d worked with Lucas alone last Saturday, Taylor hadn’t managed to bring it up.

  The former FBI agent had humored her by spending a few hours at the PD in the morning, but she’d not been able to keep him past noon. He’d said he wasn’t working the day away his first weekend back from the Big Apple, and he’d been serious.

  They’d made a few calls and checked out some new lab reports, but that was all. He’d said he had plans with Andi and their boys, and had even invited Taylor along to the small city’s Christmas village to see Santa, and ride the Antioch version of the Polar Express.

  She’d declined.

  “Suit yourself,” Lucas had said. “It’ll be fun. Ethan likes you. He asks about you all the time.”

  Taylor sighed and fought the urge to close her eyes.

  Just focus on work. Find out what Manning is up to.

  The oversized front door on the big two-story brick monster of a house was shut. It might as well have been a bank vault for all the good sitting out here was doing.

  Dark drapes still completely blocked the windows from the inside. No view for nosy neighbors, let alone sneaky FBI agents.

  “Not sneaking. Investigating.” Taylor’s vocal reassurance did nothing to make her feel better about watching the man she was supposed to be working with.

  Her cell blared from its normal resting place in her cup holder.

  She jumped. “Shit.”

  Cole Lucas’ name and number lit up the screen of her iPhone.

  Taylor scrambled to grab the phone and answer before it went to voicemail. “Carrigan.” Her voice came out as a croak. She cleared her throat. It wasn’t like he knew where she was.

  Nothing to get excited about.

  “You okay?” His deep voice made her square her shoulders in the driver’s seat.

  “I’m fine. Thank you.”

  Lucas paused. “All right.”

  “How can I help you, Detective?”

  “Ah, there’s the FBI agent I know and like.”

  Taylor smirked. Lucas may have said FBI agent, but he’d meant hard-ass. Or pain-in-the-ass. He was just too polite to say it. This time. “You like me? I’m touched.” She kept her tone dry.

  He was silent on the other end of the phone for a moment then a deep chuckle filled her ear. “Why Special Agent Carrigan, was that a joke? You’re gonna make me think you’re actually human. You might wanna stop that.”

  She grinned in spite of herself, and even though he couldn’t see her. “Don’t tell anyone.”

  He laughed again.

  The house—a reminder of her current task—sucked the light moment away. Taylor frowned.

  Why couldn’t she loosen up around Manning like she just had with his partner?

  Lucas had made her crack a joke.
She couldn’t even keep the frown from her face when she worked with Manning.

  She’d actually meant the apology she’d presented Manning with when he’d confronted her last week. So, why couldn’t she follow through? Trust him. His record more than proved he was a good cop.

  But what about all the little things that don’t add up?

  Her conscience ate at her. Taylor should tell Lucas she’d been watching Manning and why.

  But the why was the daunting part.

  She had nothing but a gut feeling.

  Something is wrong.

  Right?

  “Anyway, the reason I’m buggin’ ya after five is a good one,” Lucas said.

  “Oh yeah?” It had to be. He was usually off-the-clock for anything but emergencies when the work day came to an end.

  “Got a call from the county lab and I figured it could hold for morning, but you wouldn’t want to wait. If it was me, I’d wanna know, anyway. So this is me, being nice.”

  She chose not to respond to his jibe about himself. “Must be good.”

  “DNA came back from the car you and Manning processed. Matches the third unknown blood type found in the trailer. The bloody footprints.”

  “Carter Bennett.”

  “Ding ding.”

  “Well, we suspected it all along. Confirmation is good. Now we just have to find the bastard—bastards, actually.”

  The ME’s office had already confirmed the other two blood types found in the mobile home had belonged to the two victims. They hadn’t found any blood matching Pompa’s DNA.

  The bloody handprints found on the other trailer’s skirting had also belonged to Pompa. The blood itself had belonged to Brandelyn Willis.

  Taylor suspected she’d died in Pompa’s arms. John’s reports had cited they were lovers—though it’d been over for some time.

  Part of her felt for Joe Pompa, but only a tiny part. The other part felt some—albeit sick—satisfaction that Pompa had lost someone like she’d lost John. Assuming the bastard had cared about the dead girl.

  She felt guilty about those immoral feelings, but she couldn’t banish them completely. Her normally strong sense of ethics and justice threatened to jump out the window where her heart was concerned.

  Taylor didn’t like the taste of vengeance on her tongue.

  Was trying to deal with it.

  Knew in her gut she wouldn’t cross the line where Pompa was concerned. But the temptation was there. She fought it every morning when the alarm went off.

  “We did get good prints from the other trailer, though. Blood made for some nice lifts,” Lucas said.

  They all agreed Pompa had fled and hidden from his attacker under the other trailer. How and when he’d escaped was the mystery. The boot prints they’d lifted between the two mobile homes matched the bloody ones from inside the trailer. Assumed to belong to Carter Bennett, not Joe Pompa, because even the impressions showed an uneven gait.

  “Well, it’s good to know, but it doesn’t tell us where the hell Bennett and Pompa are,” Taylor said.

  “Right. But it won’t be long now. I can feel it.”

  Instinct.

  Lucas was known for his gut feelings.

  Not unlike Taylor herself.

  “Lucas.”

  “Yeah?” The surprise in his tone was evident.

  What had he gleaned from the way she’d said his name?

  Taylor’s heart skipped. She hadn’t intended to open her mouth, but it was too late now. “Who does Manning know on Montgomery Street?”

  The former FBI agent was silent.

  She wished she could read his mind.

  “What’d you mean?”

  Shit.

  Taylor had backed herself into a corner. Now she’d have to come clean. She’d have to tell Lucas what she’d observed and how.

  Admit she was still watching Jared Manning.

  “There’s a big house. Four-twenty-seven Montgomery Street.”

  Lucas laughed, but there was an edge to it she didn’t miss. “There’re a lot of big houses on Montgomery Street. The neighborhood was built by a northern builder, which is why they’re huge and multi-story. Newer places, they’ve come up in the last ten years or so, I think.”

  “The address doesn’t ring a bell?”

  “Nah.”

  She imagined him shaking his head. Taylor didn’t believe him.

  Her gut said he wasn’t being honest.

  Why?

  God, you really are a paranoid freak.

  “Why are you asking?”

  She focused on his question, banishing her instant disbelief. She had zero reason to suspect Cole Lucas had just lied to her.

  Taylor cleared her throat again.

  C’mon. Tell him. You had the balls to bring it up.

  Follow through.

  Now.

  “Carrigan? What are you not telling me?” The former FBI agent prodded when she still couldn’t find her voice—or her guts. “What does my partner have to do with four-twenty-seven Montgomery Street?”

  “I was hoping you could tell me.”

  “Gotta admit, you lost me.” Despite his words, Taylor’s instincts flared.

  Once again, she didn’t believe him.

  Was Cole Lucas on a fishing expedition of his own? Playing dumb so she’d put her foot in her mouth?

  “Something’s not right,” Taylor said.

  Dead silence.

  For a good thirty seconds.

  “What are you saying?” His tone was low. Hard and serious. As if he suspected what she was about to say, but dared her to voice the thought.

  “I saw him go into that house.”

  “Saw him?”

  “Yes. A few times.”

  Four, to be exact.

  “A few times?” Cole’s question wasn’t complicated, but his voice was deadly. “What’re— Shit. You’re watching him?”

  “Yes.”

  Silence again.

  Taylor’s heart pounded so hard her temples throbbed.

  She was actually going to say it.

  Out. Loud.

  “I think your partner’s dirty.”

  * * * *

  Four missed calls.

  From Cole.

  “What the hell?” Jared whispered as he wrenched his truck door open and stared at the lit-up screen of his cell phone.

  He’d spent the evening talking to Joe. Jotting down his brother’s statement finally. Joe had told him to do what he needed to do.

  So he’d started a formal report.

  Although, he’d hedged when Jared had brought up the idea of him testifying.

  Joe wasn’t keen on the idea of ratting out his buddies, but Jared hadn’t told him about the two bodies found in California just yet.

  He would—when the time was right. The guy was doing some serious grieving, even if he hadn’t talked much about it. Jared hadn’t had the heart to lump more death on him.

  After turning the key and hearing his F-150’s engine roar to life, he swiped his thumb across his cell’s touch screen and hit his contact list. Selected a phone number.

  It only rang once.

  “Where are you?” Lucas demanded without so much as a hello.

  “On my way home, why?”

  “From where?” This was a bark.

  “What the hell’s with you?” Jared reared back, bumping his head into the driver seat headrest.

  “Where’ve you been? I called you four times, Jer.” There was an edge to his partner’s voice. Not exactly frantic, but definitely annoyed, with a side of…accusation? Anger?

  “Geesh, sorry I didn’t call and check in, Mom.”

  “You still haven’t answered me.”

  “McAuley’s,” Jared said the first thing that came to mind. Then winced. He was lying to his partner—again.

  Lucas was silent on the end of the phone, and the hair stood on the back of Jared’s neck. He looked around the park down the street from the safe house—where he always
left his truck.

  He couldn’t see anyone under the streetlamps that lit up the place, but his gut churned, like something wasn’t right.

  No shit.

  Your life isn’t right at the moment.

  “McAuley’s?” his partner asked—finally.

  “Yeah, what of it?”

  Cole didn’t answer right away. “Nothing.”

  “Everything okay? Something happen on the case?”

  “Why didn’t you answer your phone?”

  “I guess it was on silent, sorry. It was in my jacket, and I didn’t feel it vibrate.” True. Still, Jared didn’t usually miss calls from his partner.

  “Were you with Mel?”

  “No. Why? I was just chillin’. Long day with Carrigan, and all. What’s with the twenty questions, partner?”

  Lucas muttered something that sounded like “yeah, partner” but then cleared his throat. “Everything’s cool.”

  “Doesn’t sound like it. You have a fight with Andi?”

  “Nah. Was just trying to get a hold of you.”

  “Right. I got that. What’s up?”

  Cole launched into new info from the ME’s office about the third blood type from the trailer being matched to the evidence from the car Jared and Carrigan had processed. His voice had evened out by the time he was done talking, but Jared’s spine tingled.

  Something’s not right.

  Damn if he knew what.

  “Awesome. But why so urgent? It would’ve held until the morning.”

  “Yeah, well, maybe if a dude answered his phone it wouldn’t make his partner worry about him.”

  Jared laughed. “You were worried about me?”

  “Didn’t want you to cheat on the teacher. She might flunk my kid or something.”

  He smirked. “You don’t gotta worry about me cheating on Melody Nash.”

  “Good, I don’t wanna hafta to break your face.”

  His partner was back to normal, but something still didn’t sit right for Jared. He pushed it to the back of his mind and forced a second laugh for Cole’s benefit. “Yeah, that would be a pity. I’m basically a nice guy, remember?”

  Lucas’ chuckle greeted his ear. “Right. How could I forget?”

  “Well, I’m gonna head home. Had my fill of beer and smoke. Speaking of Mel, I need to call her. Have a good night. Promise I’ll be a good boy and answer the phone if you call again.”