Run to You

by Lynne King

  Once out in the main stream of city traffic, Jack relaxed slightly.

  “Are we safe now?”

  It was hard hearing that softly spoken English accent and not thinking someone who looked and spoke like she did must be a victim in all of this. History however had taught him devious women come in many guises in order to get what they want. Perhaps if he hadn’t been abandoned from an early age by his so-called mother, he might not have such a harsh opinion, but then a string of bad relationships had only strengthened his beliefs. He kept his attention on the traffic ahead of him and replied, “It depends what you regard as safe.”

  His call sign came up on the radio and he picked up the receiver. “Yeah, Willis here.” He listened to the controller and cursed silently. “Tell the captain, I’m following up on some leads and will be back at the precinct when I’m done. No, I can’t tell you on air.” He switched the radio off and cursed again under his breath. Leaving the heavy traffic, they were now in a residential suburb full of apartment blocks.

  “Where are you taking me?” Liz asked.

  “My place and before you say anything more, I’m about to risk my career, my reputation, and break every damn rule book because at this moment in time I haven’t a clue what else to do with you. If you do one thing to raise my suspicions, cross me, or lie to me, then I won’t hesitate in dragging your ass off and booking you for murder one. Do we understand each other?”

  “Why are you helping me?” she snapped back.

  “Because, sweetheart, you are the only damn lead I’ve got and I need to keep you alive.”

  “You’re using me to try and solve your case.”

  “True, but in doing so, it might allow you a life and not behind bars. So what’s it to be?” He pulled into an underground parking area and on into a numbered bay. Switching the engine off, he turned and looked at her.

  “How can I be sure I can trust you?” She looked into his face.

  “I’m not the one who helped her boyfriend rob a bank, an accomplice to murder, and a witness to one. Trust should be my concern, don’t you think?”

  “You leave me no choice,” she finally replied.

  Jack remained silent as their eyes met and with it a connection that reached deep within. Trust was what he was wrestling with at this moment and it wasn’t to do with honesty but more to do with restraint. He’d been attracted to her from day one of their first meeting and now she was going to be under the same roof as him. If only they could screw and get it over with, then perhaps the desire would finish and he could concentrate on his job. That wasn’t going to happen so now he had to trust himself to keep his pants zipped and his thoughts solely work related. It wasn’t going to be easy.

  Chapter Ten

  Unlocking the door, Jack held it open for Liz to enter first. She hesitated, then walked in to the small hallway and stood there. Her thoughts were all over the place. That kiss was still ingrained in her memory and those sensations it had aroused in her. If he had tried to take her there and then with Shaun’s dead body in the same room, she would have let him. That’s how bad she needed to be made to feel alive again. Anything to take away the fear and reality of her situation. She wanted to lose herself in a man’s arms, feel him inside her driving away the demons and insecurities. To feel nothing but that brief moment of sexual abandonment with a man she had been attracted to since their first encounter. Jack Willis was the life raft she now clung to, but in time it would break beneath her and she would drown. Before that happened, she needed that moment.

  “Sorry, my apartment isn’t quite as luxurious as your boyfriend’s, but it does have two bedrooms. The guest room is this one, basic, and you’ll have to make the bed up. Fresh bedding for it is in the closet.” He opened a door facing her.

  Liz peered in and saw he wasn’t exaggerating. It was a box room with a single bed in the corner with a nightstand next to it. The closet was built into the wall. The magnolia-white walls and small window did at least make it appear bright.

  Jack continued with the tour, his hand motioning her forward. “The bathroom is this door and it does have a lock. The kitchen is down there and the living room is to your right. My bedroom is to the left, but I don’t think you’ll be needing that.” He smirked. “Any questions?”

  “Am I to be your prisoner?”

  “Nope, you’re free to march into any precinct and declare your innocence. In fact I’ll take you in right now, if you wish.” His eyes locked onto hers.

  Liz was the first to look away. “I’ve got no clothes, nothing with me. Shaun made me pack a case of belongings when he forced me to go with him, but it’s in the trunk of his car.”

  He walked into the kitchen area and filled the kettle up. “Coffee?” he asked over his shoulder.

  “Yes, please. Milk and two sugars.” Liz remained standing in the kitchen doorway and took in the clean granite countertops and the shining stainless steel cookware. Rows of spices and herbs filled a shelf next to the stove.

  “I’ll see if I can retrieve your case for you before I place the anonymous call. Otherwise I’ll sort something out. In the meantime, find your way around the kitchen and help yourself to anything. Don’t answer the door or phone and don’t venture outside. I should be back in a couple of hours or so.” He poured the steaming water into the mugs and topped them up with cold milk.

  Liz watched his movements, her eyes widening at the four sugars he put into his mug. As if sensing her reaction, he looked around at her.

  “Since I quit smoking I’ve picked up another vice, sugar. I don’t know what’s worse, my lungs giving out on me or my arteries clogging up.” He handed her the mug of coffee.

  The question slipped out. “Do you live here alone?”

  “No, Romeo is around somewhere. He’s probably out sunning himself on the balcony now that his amorous days are over.”

  Liz couldn’t help her open-mouthed expression and when he smiled, she found herself smiling back without knowing why.

  Sky blue eyes twinkled with amusement as he said, “She took off with my CD collection, the wide-screen TV, and anything else of any value and left me her damn cat. Said we had more in common with each other and if that wasn’t revenge enough, she took him to the vet’s and had done what she would have liked to have done to me.”

  That she could still laugh was comforting and when Romeo suddenly appeared, a huge tabby supporting an old battle injury of a torn ear and purring continuously as he rubbed up against her legs, her laughter increased.

  Jack stepped forward and took the mug of coffee from her before she spilled it. Then he took hold of her shoulders. “Hold on, it wasn’t that funny.”

  As fast as her laughter came on, so did the crying. Liz couldn’t stop. All the emotions she had been trying to control burst out again. She felt Jack’s comforting arms go around her and as he pulled her in tight to his body, she clung to him. This time it was Liz who sought out his mouth and as he tried to pull away, she cradled his face and continued to kiss him hard and feverishly. That was all the encouragement he needed, his hands finding their way up beneath her cotton shirt, the fingers now caressing her skin. He removed his hands and stripped his jacket off, allowing it to fall to the floor along with his gun holster. Liz’s fingers were trying to undo his belt but they were shaking uncontrollably and the tears wouldn’t stop flowing. Breaking away from her lips, his hands suddenly clasped hers and held them still.

  “Hang on there, sweetheart. As much as it pains me to say, this isn’t going to happen. You’re still in shock and I’m not the answer. More complications I can do without.” He released her hands and picked up his jacket and gun holster.

  Shame washed over her and the humiliation brought her back from her temporary insanity. What the hell was she thinking of? “I’m sorry.” She gulped. “That wasn’t me. I’m not like that, I mean…”

  He cut her off. “Let’s forget it, okay. You need some rest. I’ve got to put in an appearance at the station and a murd
er to report. When I get back we’ll talk.” He handed back her coffee and turned away from her.

  Placing her untouched coffee down, Liz fled to the guest room. Closing the door, she took out her cell phone and placed an international call. She was listening to the continuous ringing tone when the door burst open and Jack marched over. Snatching the phone from her grasp before she could stop him, he noted the number, listened for a few minutes, and then disconnected the call.

  “I have to know my sister’s safe and then I want to turn myself in.”

  “Damn it, Liz. Your sister and whoever else O’Riley said he would hurt are all fine and I doubt their lives were ever in any danger in the first place.”

  “How can you be so sure? I’ve been trying since last night to reach her.” She tried to go for her phone, but he stepped back and placed it in his pocket.

  “Look, I haven’t time for this and I certainly haven’t figured you out yet, but I will.”

  She could feel his suspicion without him having to voice it. “What do you mean by that?”

  “I don’t know if you’re playing me or you are really so mixed up you have no control over your actions. Where did you sister’s safety figure when you were busy trying to seduce me while crying tears of a victim?”

  He anticipated her hand and grabbed the wrist before contact had been made on his face. “Scribble down your sister’s address in the UK and I’ll make inquiries.” He dropped her hand and walked back out of the door.

  Turning the key in the lock, Jack left his apartment with the knowledge that if she wanted to escape, a locked door wouldn’t prevent her. She had handed him over her sister’s address and then returned to making up the spare bed, so the signs were she intended to stay. He could do no more than trust that for now she needed him.

  Arriving back at O’Riley’s apartment block, Jack noted the goon wasn’t by the glass doors to the foyer. Driving into the underground parking area, he drew up into an empty bay opposite O’Riley’s Mercedes. Turning the engine off, he sat and observed through his rearview mirror whether that car was being watched. A couple emerged from the elevator and got into a car next to O’Riley’s. It left and no one came out of the shadows and the area all seemed pretty deserted.

  Going over to the trunk of the Mercedes, he saw the lock had been broken so someone had obviously searched it beforehand. Opening it up, a small suitcase was unzipped and particles of clothing were half hanging out. Other items were strewn all over the interior. Jack picked up a black pair of lacy panties and a matching camisole. Even wearing gloves, he couldn’t help fingering the silky garments and casting his mind back to the feeling of her soft smooth skin beneath his touch. God, how he had wanted her and could have taken her, had it not been his moral conscience getting the better of him for once. Whatever signals she had been giving off at the time were not coming from a rational mind and he wasn’t about to take advantage of that or risk his blasted career more than he already had. Within the case, the toiletries and cosmetics had also been rifled through. Placing them back into the vanity bag along with all the items of the clothing on top, he zipped the suitcase up. One thing for sure, they now knew O’Riley had a case full of women’s clothing. They would have searched her apartment by now and found that empty. It wouldn’t take a genius to figure out O’Riley hadn’t been alone in his apartment and that she was possibly a witness to his murder.

  One more stop-off was made before he went to the station. Using a public phone booth, he disguised his voice and reported a murder and that the victim was linked to the safety deposit bank raid. He heard the call go through on his radio as he pulled into the station.

  “Hey, it’s the Lone Ranger. Willis, you’re in deep shit.”

  “Yeah, well what’s new?” He brushed past the sergeant and took the stairs two at a time.

  “Where the hell have you been? The captain’s been busting a gut over your disappearing act,” Reid aimed at him as he entered the open-plan ops room.

  “Had a bit of private business to attend to.”

  “What, in the middle of a high profile robbery and murder case? Try explaining that one to the captain. Here he comes.”

  Not looking up from his desk as he sorted through his messages, he heard the captain’s voice bellow from across the room.

  “Willis, get your ass in here, now.”

  “Captain, a shooting has gone down in an apartment block in the Murray Hill area and the tip-off was the victim is linked to the bank heist.” Reid stood with the phone in his hand and was looking at the captain, waiting for his answer.

  The captain cursed under his breath. “Okay, the two of you better get over there, but Willis, I haven’t finished with you.” His door slammed shut.

  Willis had in his hand the background check done on Elizabeth Saunders. He had requested it earlier and now he regretted not doing it discreetly which went for O’Riley as well. He had him checked out when Linda first brought the name to his attention, before he knew what he was about to be involved in. Not that it had done him any good, seeing O’Riley was obviously an alias. Placing the printout in his pocket, he followed Reid out of the building and toward his car. Jack climbed into the passenger seat, thinking ahead of how he was going to get past the security guy without being recognized from leaving the building earlier.

  “Do you think that English chick might be involved? Did you read the part about her ex-fiancé? Apparently he’s facing charges of embezzlement in the UK. Worked for some city financier and dipped into company funds. She left him and the UK at the same time as he was being investigated.”

  Jack tried to not let his surprise show. “No, I didn’t get that far, but I don’t think she has anything to do with this. The bank must have thoroughly checked her out before allowing the transfer and her boss has nothing but praise.”

  “Yeah, well it was all too neat for my liking. You must have had some doubts, otherwise why run her name and a Shaun O’Riley through the system, which, did I mention, is the name of the stiff we’re on our way to now.”

  Jack glared across at Reid. Now he knew why he didn’t like the weasel-faced bastard, aside from his investigative techniques bordering on underhand methods, applied not only to criminals but to his fellow officers.

  “Don’t worry. I didn’t mention it to the captain that you’ve been doing your own investigations and not logging them. That we could have pulled in this creep before someone wasted him and destroyed our only lead. Don’t mess with me, Willis. I don’t like being partnered with you and I definitely don’t like being kept in the dark.” Reid pulled up outside the apartment block. Uniformed officers were already posted outside and the forensics team had also turned up.

  Not only did he have Reid to deal with—he had to get into the building unobserved. He could see through the glass doors that the guard was being questioned by a uniformed officer and had his back to them.

  “O’Riley had a clean sheet, so there was nothing to link him to the raid and his name came via an anonymous tip-off, which reminds me, that collar you took credit for last month. The same informant claimed you did Gandini’s lot a favor by closing down an Albanian outfit which was causing them problems.”

  “What you saying.”

  “Nothing except to say snitches say all manner of things, but next time I’ll make sure it’s all logged including his thoughts on the Albanians.” Jack climbed out of the car and filed in with the tail end of the forensics team who he knew well, using them as a cover to walk past the guard and into the elevator. Reid caught up with him, Jack feeling his narrowed glare. Confirmation his words had hit home. He had heard the rumors about Reid and Gandini, and it hadn’t come from an informant, but a fellow officer from vice.

  The murder scene in O’Riley’s apartment was as he had left it. “Make sure you run the victim’s prints through the national database ASAP,” he said to one of the forensics people as they carried out their procedures.

  Careful not to contaminate any evidence-gath
ering, Jack checked the rest of the apartment with Reid in the same way he had done an hour previously. He had worn gloves the whole time in the place and hadn’t touched anything, but Saunders’s prints would be everywhere, he guessed, including the bedroom. When she entered the US, she would have submitted them to file so it was only a question of time before the match was made. There was nothing he could do and he certainly wasn’t about to tamper with evidence. Liz had always entered via the underground parking bay so hopefully the guard in the lobby would not describe the two of them leaving as being connected in any way.

  Half an hour later he left via the underground exit after he and Reid checked out O’Riley’s car. There was nothing more left to do except await the results of the forensics and postmortem. Returning to the station, he noticed the captain had finished for the weekend, something he planned to do very shortly. He hoped the answer to some of his questions was back at his apartment.

  Leaning back in his chair with his feet up on the desk, he turned to the paperwork piled up on his and Reid’s desk. He glanced over the record sheets of the three bodies found at the abandoned warehouse. Two of the murdered men were punks from out of town with checkered histories from juvenile hall to prison for everything from assault to aggravated burglary. The third man, the phony telephone engineer, was Fred Baker, a local who was an ex-security guard who had never mixed with big time criminals, preferring to work alone on small-time house burglaries, misdemeanors for which he had served minimum time. None had links to organized crime or to Shaun O’Riley. On another report, it came as no surprise that no other prints were found. The getaway vehicle had been burnt to a shell so not much to find there and no stolen merchandise from the safety deposit vaults was found with the bodies. Obviously O’Riley made sure he took everything and had covered his tracks well. If it weren’t for Linda coming to him about the blackmail, his name would never have come up. He needed to talk to Saunders and now.