“Why do I distinctly hear the word ‘partner’ echoing in the air?”
“Because that’s what I am to you right now. If I let you on board, I’m going to be there every step of the way, pushing this investigation forward.”
Luke poured another cup of coffee. It was going to be next to impossible to keep Tessa out of the active investigation, just as Paul Jacobi had warned him before he’d agreed to take the case.
“Don’t look at me like that,” Tessa said. “I told you I was a hands-on type of person.”
“I thought you meant hands on my body, not my case,” Luke said.
Tessa’s mouth dropped open before she realized he was teasing. Her skin was so fair there was nothing she could do to hide the wash of color she could feel burning in her cheeks.
“You’ll find I never mix business with pleasure, Mr. Novak.”
Luke rubbed his chin regretfully. “Never?”
“Nope. One of my rules, developed after years of working with defense attorneys and cops.”
“Well that explains it,” Luke said. “You just haven’t met someone who tempted you enough to break the rules.”
Tessa lifted the tablecloth and peered intently underneath.
“What are you looking for?” Luke asked.
“I was wondering how there was enough room for you and your ego on that bench seat,” Tessa said. Humor had always been the best way to handle the routine advances she’d encountered on the job over the years.
Luke laughed and shook his head. “You’ve got me.”
“Good, maybe now you’ll tell me why you went digging into Kelly’s case even though I made it clear I wasn’t going to hire you?”
“You’re not going to like the answer.”
“Try me.”
“Your father contacted me because he thought you might be in over your head. He thought I could help, so it’s now my job to be concerned about you and this case. Which I am, given that you’ve received threats over the telephone and someone has broken into your office,” Luke said.
“My father hired you?” Tessa asked as she reached for her bag. “So much for the credit card bullshit.”
“Wait. I am on retainer for the credit card companies, so that gives me good cover to be poking around the case. It will enable me to do a lot more work than you can. Besides, I may prove useful, especially since I have access to methods and information that are strictly off-limits to the police.”
Tessa hesitated. He had been able to get very helpful information, details that she hadn’t uncovered in over a week of active investigation. His facts corroborated some of the data she’d gathered, giving a view of the big picture. They complemented each other, and that could be very useful during the investigation. She shouldn’t let her feelings about her father obscure that fact.
“I can almost hear the cranks turning in your brain,” Luke said. “Your father trusts me to get the job done. God knows he’s a cynic, so you can trust me as well.”
“I don’t want him paying the tab to solve my problems,” Tessa said. “I’ve taken care of myself for a long time.
Luke knew he was on shaky ground, so he tried logic. “I doubt you can afford my daily rates. Remember, I was a public servant as well, I know what you get paid. So are you going to keep your pride intact or help Kelly? Do you want to curl up with your principles at night, or sleep soundly with the knowledge that you’ve helped take a rapist off the street?”
“You’re basically asking if I want to follow the rules or get the job done,” Tessa pointed out.
“You’re right. If you can’t deal with that, you’re too naive to be working at the D.A.’s Office as anything but a photocopy girl.”
“There’s no need to get nasty,” she said quietly. “I know it’s not fair to ask Kelly to pay for my scruples, or to trip up an investigation of this magnitude with my pride. But I think we can help her without breaking the law.”
“It’s that important to you?” Luke asked.
“It’s everything I believe in. I couldn’t get up and come to work every morning if I didn’t think I was upholding the system and the order it brings. I know that sounds stupid, but—”
“It doesn’t sound stupid. I think you’re a decent, honorable person. But I’m not accustomed to working with the police or any branch of law enforcement these days, despite my background with the sheriff’s department. I learned there that bureaucracy gets in the way of getting things done. I’m willing to try it for a little while if that’s what you want—I just hope that it doesn’t handicap us too much.”
“Did you just say ‘us’?” Tessa asked, ignoring the bigger question under his comment.
“Yeah, I guess I did.”
“Where do we start?” Tessa asked.
“I want to start with detailed questions on Jerry’s background, and get some answers as to how Kelly came in under the official radar in the state of Colorado.”
“I know the police are looking at that as well. Any ideas on where to start?”
Luke nodded. “But it’ll cost you my per diem to find out what they are.”
“I’ll give you a few days—on my father’s nickel—to prove that you can be useful. If we can break the case, the D.A. will pick up the tab retroactive to today,” she said.
At least I hope Carmen will, Tessa thought.
“Even if the D.A. doesn’t approve the charges, if I can prove credit card abuse or fraud, I can bill my time to the banks.”
“We have to play this carefully—the division of labor is important because I don’t want to be stepping on the toes of the police,” Tessa said.
“If that’s the way you want to play it,” Luke said. “But I have to look at the big picture and keep the interests of all my clients in mind. That means I can’t afford to ignore any aspect of what’s going on in Kelly’s life.”
“Who takes priority if client interests are in conflict—Kelly or the credit card companies?”
“You do, Tessa.” Luke ignored the way she shifted in her chair. “Your father hired me specifically for this case. If I can turn it around to do work for my ongoing bank clients, that’s fine.”
“So we all walk a fine line and try to keep everyone happy.” Tessa stirred her coffee as she thought about how to sell this new plan to her boss.
“Not too hard with a team of two, when both members are interested in the truth,” Luke pointed out.
“Don’t forget Ed and Ronnie,” Tessa said. “Remember I told you about pushing to have Kelly’s case reassigned to officers I’ve worked with who have a lot of experience dealing with major crimes and high-profile cases. Ed’s a veteran, and Ronnie is his protégé.”
“Ed Flynn is a good cop. The best. I worked on a couple of task forces with him.”
“He tried to talk to Kelly, but frankly we were so disturbed to find she’d been smacked around that we didn’t press the issue beyond the lie detector test. We decided to back off while I tried to get her to trust me and understand that I’m on her side. Now that she’s had a few days, why don’t we start with her?” Tessa asked.
“Is tomorrow okay with you?”
Tessa nodded while Luke paid the tab for their breakfast. For some reason, she’d thought he would protest more about taking her along while he questioned Kelly. The fact that he didn’t was a good sign.
She was going to have her hands full enough keeping an eye on Luke Novak, loose cannon. She didn’t need the added strain of fighting with him every step of the way. Hopefully, he took orders well.
Tessa looked at him out of the corner of her eye. Yeah, right. He jumps through hoops, too.
She shook her head. All the more reason for her to work closely with him and keep him out of trouble.
Chapter 15
Santa Monica, California
Wednesday, March 3
Luke pulled into the parking spot beneath Tessa’s apartment and shut off the sleek Mercedes his company leased for client visits. Tessa had a second-flo
or unit in an older Santa Monica beach house converted to multiple dwellings in the 1980s. He trotted upstairs and rang the bell. He rang it again after there was no answer, remembering with a grin her sleepy response to his phone call the morning before.
A dog barked loudly from the other side of the door. Luke could hear the animal place its nose on the floor and snuffle noisily at the crack beneath the front door. Then he heard the distinct sound of paws hitting wood, before the dog barked again. Several times.
Luke’s grin faded as he heard a deep male voice telling the dog to be quiet.
A boyfriend. He should have known that a woman like Tessa would be taken, even if she wasn’t wearing a man’s ring.
The door opened and Luke found himself face-to-face with at least six-foot-four of muscled male god dressed in boxer shorts and nothing else. Light brown hair stood on end, and navy blue eyes regarded him blearily.
The man mumbled, rubbed his eye, then tried again. “Time is it?”
“Seven,” Luke replied cautiously.
The man grunted, then made a belated grab for the dog’s collar as it lunged toward Luke.
“Roscoe, no! He won’t hurt you,” he said to Luke.
Luke had shoved his knee into the dog’s chest to keep it from jumping, and now bent down to stroke ears and thump the dog’s sides. “Of course he won’t. Labradors don’t make the best watchdogs.”
“Come in,” he stepped back. “Tessa’s in the shower.”
Great. I’ll be days getting that image out of my head. Luke smiled politely.
“I’m right here,” Tessa said, peeking out from her bedroom. She had wet hair and was wrapped in a towel. “I wanted to make sure you checked who it was before opening the door.”
“Have you had any unwanted visitors lately?” Luke asked, crossing his arms as he leaned against the door. The other man began making his way through kitchen cupboards, putting together the makings of coffee.
“I’m going to plead the Fifth on that one,” Tessa said.
“Lawyers.” Luke shook his head as Tessa shut her bedroom door.
“Coffee’s on. Don’t take any crap from Roscoe. I gotta get ready.”
Luke watched the other man practically sleepwalk down the hall. It looked like Tessa wasn’t the only slow starter in the mornings. Luke loved dawn, but had learned to take it easy on those whose metabolisms prevented rational thought before 10:00 A.M.
After snooping around for a few minutes, he made himself comfortable with a cup of coffee and a newspaper he’d found on the front stoop. Roscoe casually jumped onto the couch beside him and put his head in Luke’s lap. Since the dog acted like it was a common occurrence, Luke let him be and scratched soft ears as he read the paper.
That was the sight that greeted Tessa when she walked down the hall—Luke Novak making himself at home in her living room while stroking the ears of her brother’s adoring dog. It was such a domestic scene it gave her a start.
How long had it been since she’d allowed a man to make himself at home in her apartment?
Frankly, she couldn’t remember the last time. Probably when she was in college. Sometime between law school and moving to LA, Tessa had become the queen of long-distance relationships. Which meant that more often than not, she ended up meeting her boyfriends on vacations and holidays, giving a feeling of unreality to the relationship. That was why she’d eventually broken up with her college sweetheart after moving to LA, and why her more recent long-term relationship with a graduate student cum teaching assistant from San Diego had also fizzled.
“Penny for your thoughts,” Luke said.
Tessa started. “Sorry, as you know from yesterday I’m not at my best until I’ve had some caffeine.”
“Apparently your young friend isn’t, either,” Luke didn’t like to think how young the guy was. He wondered how Tessa could be interested in some jock at least ten years younger than she was.
It’s called hormones. Men don’t have the corner on the hottie-with-a-naughty-body market.
“You mean Kevin?” Tessa asked, gesturing down the hall. “Clearly that gene came down from the Jacobi side, since we both have it.”
Luke goggled. “That’s your brother? Your sixteen-year-old-brother?”
Tessa nodded. “I know, he’s gorgeous, isn’t he? I only hope he’ll ignore all the modeling agents and stay in school. I want more for him than the life Lana had.”
Luke sat there in stunned silence.
“What, you don’t believe we’re related? Who did you think he was?” Tessa asked.
“I thought he was your boyfriend or something. He looks very mature for his age,” he said.
“As if I could snare a young hunk like Kevin.” Tessa shook her head. “Anyway, he’s going away for a couple of weeks, so he crashed here last night. He stays with me at least once a week.”
“You’re very close, aren’t you?”
“He’s my boy,” Tessa replied in a husky voice. Then she cleared her throat. “And you, Roscoe, can be replaced with a stuffed animal. What are you doing on my couch?”
Roscoe put his head back in Luke’s lap and thumped his tail on the cushion. “Sorry,” Luke said. “He was so confident getting up here, I figured it was allowed.”
“It ends up being allowed. How can you say no to that sweet face?” Tessa walked into the kitchen and poured some coffee for herself just as Kevin came out of the bathroom.
Luke looked him over thoroughly and kicked himself for missing the resemblance. Tessa and Kevin had similar eye and hair color, with Tessa’s being a few shades lighter. Several of their other features were similar as well. And Tessa interacted with her brother in a motherly way, stroking his wet hair out of his face as she set coffee and a bagel in front of him.
Jealous of a high school boy. Excellent. What a mature way for a thirty-six-year-old veteran of the dating wars to act. Luke dislodged the dog’s head as he stood up to introduce himself to Kevin Jacobi properly.
“Where have you stashed Kelly?” Luke asked. He and Tessa had driven out of Santa Monica and were heading for the city center and their interview with the young rape victim. She gave him directions to get off the freeway.
“She’s staying at Three Sisters Shelter,” Tessa said.
Luke nodded. “I know the name, it’s just off the freeway exit. They do some good work with young women.”
“That’s why I put her there. The security is better than most places—the only off-hours for the roving guards are midnight to 5:00 A.M.”
“They probably can’t afford much more than that,” Luke said, looking at the shabby exteriors in the neighborhood as he pulled up at the correct address.
The shelter was set up in an old strip motel, so the residents had individual rooms. The former manager’s office had been turned into a security checkpoint, which all cars had to pass by in order to park in the lot. He followed Tessa down the walkway leading to the residents’ rooms, pausing while Tessa waved to the shelter manager.
Eunice Benson was a former nun from a remote East Coast order. She had given up the Church ten years ago to tend battered women in a way that ruffled the feathers of her former colleagues. Shelter residents were given freedom of movement, responsibilities and chores on the campus, and relatively few rules to live by—beyond staying clear of drugs and alcohol, obeying curfew, and not having overnight visitors.
The only other requirement was for tenants to work at least thirty hours a week once they were settled, and to pay 15 percent of their wages to cover rent and other services. The relaxed atmosphere and loose supervision had led to better results and fewer dropouts than some of the other, more strict halfway houses Tessa had visited. That was why she’d chosen to place Kelly here.
“This is her room.” Tessa knocked on the door, but there was no reply. She knocked again, but there was silence. Before Luke could stop her, Tessa had pushed the unlocked door open and walked into the room. He followed her quickly, noting that the small efficiency was empt
y except for two unmade beds, a portable baby crib, and a load of dirty dishes in the sink.
“Kelly?” Tessa called out. She went to the bathroom, but it was quiet and dark.
“She’s gone,” said a voice from the doorway. Tessa turned to see Eunice Benson leaning on a broom she had been using to sweep the walkway.
“What do you mean, gone? Where did she go?” Tessa asked.
“I have no idea. Jasmine told me this morning.”
“Who is Jasmine?” Luke asked.
“Kelly’s roommate,” Eunice replied. “When she went to bed last night around eleven, Kelly was already asleep. Jasmine said she woke up at three to feed her baby, and Kelly was gone.”
“What’s wrong?” Luke asked, as Tessa went to a closet and threw the door open. “Is that Kelly’s stuff?”
“Yes. And her toiletries are in the bathroom. We went shopping for all these things a few days ago. Kelly was very excited about some of the clothes and makeup I bought her. I can’t believe she’d leave everything behind.”
“I see this all the time.” Eunice shook her head. “You can’t force these girls to stay off the streets or out of bad relationships. It’s such a shame when they go back to the only life they know.”
Tessa knew there was something terribly wrong. There was no way the girl would go without leaving so much as a note. She remembered how scared Kelly had been on seeing Sledge Aiken on the street and knew she wouldn’t do anything that could lead to another encounter like that. She just wouldn’t.
Tessa looked at Luke, who searched her own face with concern. “Something is wrong with this setup,” she told him.
Please believe me, her eyes begged.
He stood next to her and slid an arm around her shoulders for support. “Where is Kelly’s roommate?” he asked Eunice.
“She’s at rehearsals for work, I think.”
“What does she do?”
Eunice pressed her lips together. “Jasmine is an exotic dancer.”
Luke’s eyebrows shot up at this information.
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