by Kat Martin
Without warning, he reached to brush the back of his fingers down the curve of her throat.
“I have a few suggestions,” he murmured, sending her a devilish smile.
Mel blushed, abruptly aware of how close they were sitting. “I’m talking about your investigation,” she informed him.
He turned in his seat, framing her face in his hands. “I’d rather think about you,” he said, his gaze lingering on her mouth. “I assumed I remembered how good it was between us. The explosion of heat. The scent of your skin.”
“Gray,” she protested in a husky voice.
He smiled with sinful satisfaction. “Your breathless voice when you’re aroused.”
She cleared her throat and tried again. One of them had to stay sane.
“Gray.”
“But I was wrong,” he continued, his eyes filled with smoky invitation. “Memories are pale imitations of the real you. Did I tell you that I’ve missed you?”
Mel’s heart melted. “Yes.”
“And that I’m never leaving you again?”
“Yes.” His head started to lower, his gaze still on her lips. “Gray, you’re losing focus,” she warned.
“On the contrary,” he protested. “I’ve never been so focused.”
She reached to press her hand against the center of his chest. “We have to find out who’s threatening Donny,” she reminded him, her tone firm. “We can’t keep him hidden forever.”
He heaved a heavy sigh. “As much as I hate to admit it, you’re right.” He laid his hand over hers, pressing it against the steady thump of his heart. “Later?”
“Yes.” The word slipped past her lips before she could halt it.
“Okay.” He squared his shoulders and returned his attention to the papers. “Let’s go through these again.”
Mel rose to her feet. “I’ll make coffee.”
* * *
Leaning out of her office, Gwen gestured for Leo to join her. With a jerky motion, he rose to his feet and hurried toward her.
Gwen pressed her lips together. The older man was looking frayed around the edges. His skin was pasty and damp with sweat, while his hair looked like he’d forgotten how to brush it.
Anyone who took time to really study him would know he was a man under stress. Sooner or later she was going to have to deal with him. But first things first. She crossed to settle behind her desk.
“What’s happened?” Leo demanded.
“We have the surveillance tapes from my contact,” she said in clipped tones.
“That was quick.”
It was.
“Close and lock the door,” she commanded. “I don’t want to be interrupted.”
Leo did as she ordered, then moved to settle next to her. She wrinkled her nose at the smell of stale cigarettes, but she didn’t demand that he move. The quicker they searched the video, the quicker they could clean up this god-awful mess.
Concentrating on her computer, Gwen clicked the mouse on one of the video files.
“This is from the convenience store across the street from the youth center,” she said.
For ten minutes they watched the cars that pulled in and out of the store, but there was no sign of Melanie Cassidy.
“I don’t see her,” Leo muttered.
Gwen ignored the fool, clicking on the second video. “This is from the bar on the south side of the block.”
The image of a narrow street lined by shabby buildings filled the screen. The road was empty for several minutes, then a car appeared from around the corner and screeched to a halt next to the curb.
Gwen leaned forward. “What’s going on?”
Leo stabbed his finger at the screen as a slender female rushed from an alley, dragging a small boy behind her.
“There she is,” he breathed. “And she has the kid.”
A grim determination seared through Gwen. Finally.
“There has to be a way to zoom in.” She stopped the video and used the mouse to enlarge the image of the driver.
“Is that Detective Hawkins?” Leo demanded.
“It might be.” Gwen leaned closer, studying the grainy outline of the man behind the wheel. “Yes. That’s him.”
Leo sucked in a sharp breath. “Damn. If she told him what happened, then he’s probably already filed a report.”
Gwen fast-forwarded through the rest of the tape. The woman placed the boy in the back seat before climbing in next to Hawkins. The car sped off and disappeared down the street.
There was nothing after that.
She tapped her finger on the desk, her mind churning with various possibilities.
“If he intended to make a report, then why didn’t he drive straight to the station?”
“How do you know he didn’t?”
“I have a friend keeping a watch for the name Melanie Cassidy,” Gwen grudgingly told him. She didn’t like to reveal her various contacts. Not to anyone. “If it had popped up in the system, I would know.”
Leo fidgeted in his seat, the sweat dripping down his face. “Then maybe she didn’t tell him.”
“Why wouldn’t she? Especially after she found out that he’s a cop.”
“Not all people trust a badge.” His tone was defensive. “Especially in that neighborhood.”
She shook her head. Melanie Cassidy wasn’t another perp who thought of the police as the enemy. She would instinctively seek the help of someone in authority.
“It doesn’t make any sense.”
“Is there any way we can ask?” Leo glanced toward her, clearly expecting her to solve their latest problem. “You know him, don’t you?”
“Don’t be an idiot,” she snapped. “We can’t ask. Not without exposing ourselves. Besides, I’ve never worked with Hawkins.”
Gwen restarted the video, carefully watching as the woman emerged from the alley and crawled into the car. A frown tugged her brows. Had Hawkins flashed his badge? She couldn’t see it. So why had the woman so quickly accepted his offer of help? Was it just because she was scared of the men behind her? Or did she recognize him?
“Shit.” Gwen slammed her hand down on her desk.
Leo flinched. “What now?”
“I know why her face was familiar.”
“Why?”
“I attended a banquet for the mayor a couple years ago.” Gwen was infuriated with herself. Why had it taken her so long to remember?
Leo sent her a sour glance. “Am I supposed to be impressed?”
“Shut up and listen,” she snapped.
“Fine.” The word “bitch” went unsaid, but it flashed through his eyes.
“I was seated at the same table with Detective Gray Hawkins and his girlfriend.” Gwen pointed toward the computer screen. “Her.”
“Melanie Cassidy?”
“Yes.”
“You’re sure?” Leo paled as Gwen sent him a sizzling glare. He lifted his hands in a gesture of apology. “Okay, okay. Don’t get your panties in a twist.”
“It’s not going to be my panties twisting if you’re not careful,” Gwen warned, perfectly willing to put the man’s nuts in a vise. Always assuming he had a set.
Leo licked his lips, hurriedly returning his attention to the true cause of her annoyance.
“Do you think Hawkins and the woman are somehow working together?”
Gwen considered the question before giving a shake of her head. “I think he suspects that there’s a connection between Donny’s attempted kidnapping and the police force,” she announced in firm tones. “That’s the only thing that explains why he didn’t bring the woman and the kid to the station.”
“How could he suspect anything?” Leo protested. “He only returned to Seattle a few weeks ago, didn’t he?”
Gwen released her breath on a low hiss. She’d been so blind.
“Of course. That’s it.”
“What’s it?”
Gwen shoved herself to her feet. The need for action vibrated through her. Not just because
her police training urged her to take command of a situation, but out of a sense of self-preservation. Like a cornered badger, she intended to strike first.
“He didn’t just decide to return to the Seattle PD,” she said, pulling on the tailored jacket she’d left on a chair and adjusting her holstered weapon so it was in easy reach.
Leo was slower to rise to his feet, his expression confused. “I don’t understand.”
“He was asked to return by someone investigating police corruption.” Her jaw tightened in frustration. “Obviously, Bart Kowalski’s claim that there are dirty cops involved in the drug trade got the results we were hoping to avoid.”
Leo swayed, looking as if he was about to piss his pants. “They know it’s us?”
She sent him a glance of pure disdain. How had he ever managed to become a cop?
“Don’t you think we would be arrested if they did?” she said, sneering.
He hunched his shoulders. “It’s only a matter of time.”
“Then we have to act quickly.” Gwen grabbed her phone off her desk and punched in a number.
“Act?” Leo shifted from foot to foot. “Do you have a plan?”
“If Hawkins has the woman and kid with him, it will be the perfect time to silence them.”
“Are you talking about killing a cop?” he stammered.
“Do you intend to spend the rest of your life in jail?”
“No.”
“Then we do this.” Gwen nodded toward the door. “You find out where Hawkins is living. Oh, and any place that he might use as a hideout.”
Leo’s face paled to a greenish hue. Was he going to throw up?
“What are you going to do?” he asked in a strained voice.
“Call Hammer,” she said. “We need backup.”
Chapter Ten
By four o’clock that afternoon, Gray was convinced he would have a permanent hunchback from leaning over the desk as he studied the rap sheets in tedious detail. How did anyone spend their days stuck in an office?
Outside, the sky had darkened as a fierce spring storm rolled in, breaking the silence with the distant rumble of thunder and the incessant beat of rain against the windows.
Just as he was on the point of conceding defeat, a small, niggling memory wormed its way through Gray’s weary brain.
“Butch,” he abruptly breathed.
Next to him, Mel gave a shake of her head, as if coming back from some distant place in her mind.
“Butch?” she repeated.
“A guard at the jail,” he explained, using the computer to pull up the employment records.
“What about him?” she asked.
“I just remembered Ski mentioned that he caught the man in his cell searching through his private letters,” he told her.
She leaned toward the computer, brushing against him. Gray sucked in a deep breath, forcing himself to concentrate on the screen and not on the tingles of delicious heat that licked through his body.
“What do his letters have to do with anything?” she asked.
“They’re the only way the cops could know he has a son.”
“Oh.” She sent him a hopeful glance. “Can you do some sort of background check on Butch?”
“It’s going to be limited. But Ian has the software to do an expanded search.” He stopped scrolling and clicked on the only Butch he could find in the staff records at the jail. “This must be him. Butch Schmitz.” He read through the man’s employment record. “He’s been a guard for a year.”
“Did he ever work for the Seattle PD?”
Gray sent his companion an approving glance. “Good question.” He turned back to the computer to search through the man’s file. “Hmm. No, but he has a couple arrests for minor drug offenses.”
“If he’s a criminal, how did he get a job at the jail?”
He found the section that listed Butch’s references. “It looks like he went through a mentor program.” Gray made a sound of satisfaction. “A program run by Detective Gwen Dobbs.”
“Do you recognize the name?”
He settled back in his seat, racking his brain for anything he could dredge up about the female detective.
“I remember a few jokes when she requested Leo Blake as her partner,” he murmured. It was the first memory he pulled up.
“What was the joke?” Mel demanded.
“Leo is the station’s slug.”
She frowned. “I don’t know what that means.”
“Every police department has that one officer who’s lazy, moody, just riding out his time until he can retire. Leo is ours. No one wanted him as a partner. In fact, if you got landed with him, it was because you were being punished.” Gray absently tapped his fingers on the arm of his chair. “But Gwen Dobbs specifically asked to be put with him.”
“Did she say why?”
“We assumed she wanted him as a contrast to her own abilities as a detective. Next to him she looked like the smartest, most ambitious cop on the force.” Gray scooted forward and tapped on the keyboard. “But now, I wonder.”
“What are you looking for?”
“I want to see how Detective Dobbs lives.”
“How she lives?” Mel demanded in confusion.
“There were rumors that Leo had been caught taking bribes from a local politician to make his son’s DUI disappear,” Gray told her.
He’d forgotten about the older man until now. Partially because there was always gossip swirling around the station, and partially because these rumors had nothing to do with the drug trade.
“He wasn’t fired?”
“The politician had enough power to get it swept under the rug.” Gray grimaced. “It’s unfortunate, but it happens. Money and power can infect anything, even the police force.”
“What do you think this has to do with Gwen Dobbs?”
“If I were a corrupt cop, I would want a partner that I knew had sketchy morals and a willingness to break the law for his own gain,” he murmured.
“Leo.”
“Exactly.” Searching through Gwen’s finances, he found her address. He clicked on the map to pull up the image. “Here we go. This is her house.”
Mel made a sound of surprise at the narrow home with peeling paint and a roof that was missing several shingles. The yard was barren except for a rusty trash can, and the windows had bars across them.
“It’s a dump,” Mel said.
It was. Even on a cop’s salary Gwen should have been capable of buying a property that wasn’t a breath from being condemned. Gray returned his attention to Gwen’s financial report.
“Wait. She cosigned on a house for her mother,” he said, typing in the address.
Immediately the image of a sweeping mansion with banks of windows overlooking Elliott Bay filled the screen.
“Wow. That’s . . .” Mel allowed her words to trail away with a shake of her head.
“Way above her pay grade.” Gray finished the thought for her. “Which means her mother is independently wealthy, or Detective Dobbs has another source of income.”
Mel sent him a curious gaze. “Now what?”
“I can’t do any further investigation from here,” Gray decided, shutting down the computer. “We need to go back to Seattle and see what Ian can dig up.”
“Do you think Gwen is the dirty cop?”
Gray rose to his feet, anxious for some action. He was done sitting behind a desk.
“I think it’s a very good possibility,” he assured her. “Let’s grab our stuff and get out of here.”
* * *
It took Mel less than a quarter of an hour to gather her few possessions and meet Gray in the garage.
“Ready?” he demanded.
“Yes.” She climbed into the passenger seat of his car, relieved that Gray was behind the wheel as they pulled onto the narrow drive.
The storm had intensified, along with the wind that slashed the heavy rain against them, making it almost impossible to see more than a f
ew feet ahead.
“We’ll take it slow,” Gray said, as if capable of reading her mind. “These roads are dodgy under the best circumstances.”
They passed through the gates protecting the property before Mel broke the tense silence.
“What happens when we get back to Seattle?” she asked.
“I’ll contact Ian to start a background check on Gwen Dobbs and Leo Blake, along with the Hamil brothers.”
Mel didn’t doubt for a second that if there was damaging information to be found, Ian would manage to dig it up.
“And if we find the evidence we need?” she pressed.
A small smile eased the stark lines of his profile. “The bad guys go to jail. Donny returns to his grandmother. And we live happily ever after.”
Her heart skipped a beat. That was what she’d wanted to hear, but now that he’d said the words, she felt a small flutter of panic.
“Do you believe in happily-ever-afters?”
“I do now.” He paused before he asked the question that was obviously hovering on his lips. “What about you?”
“I’m trying.”
“We’ll take it as slow as you want.”
She laughed at his ridiculous words. “You’re the most impatient person I know.”
“That’s true enough. And I didn’t promise that I wasn’t going to push for more, but I will always respect your—”
“Gray!” Mel cried out as a familiar SUV screeched around the curve and headed straight for them.
“Hold on,” he barked between clenched teeth.
Mel braced herself as the large vehicle smashed into the front of the car, sending them spinning off the road.
They hit a tree and then another before skidding down a muddy bank. When the vehicle finally came to a stop, they both scrambled out. Not only was there a fear the car would continue to slide down the steep slope, but the SUV had come to a halt on the road above them. The bad guys were already climbing out, along with a smaller female form. Gwen? Hard to tell from this distance. The woman was pointing her hand toward the trees, as if ordering them to finish the job.
Grabbing her hand, Gray tugged her at an angle along the side of the mountain. The rain continued to pour down, drenching Mel within a few seconds and making the ground perilously slick. On the plus side, it also created a thick fog that shrouded them from the searching eyes of their enemies.