Bear Claw Lawman - Jessica Andersen 2 стр.


Even better, she loved it in Bear Clawloved the people, loved the cityand she was determined to earn a permanent place in the Bear Claw crime lab. But that didnt mean she couldnt have a little fun on the side, as long as it didnt interfere.

Catch up with me later, Gigi said as the meeting wound down and the task force members started to disperse. Id like to have you take a look at a couple of soil samples.

Jenn nodded. Will do.

Although all of the analysts in the six-person crime lab could handle a scene, they each had their strong suits when it came to the nitty-gritty: Alyssa was a whiz at facial reconstruction; Maya was a profiler; Cassie knew all the latest and greatest advances in DNA; Ravi was the local bugs-and-beasts expert; and Gigi was their crossover to active duty, with SWAT training in addition to a pedigreed résumé in crime scene analysis. Jenn was hell on wheels, literally: tire tracks, footprints, soil samples and other assorted smudges were foreign languages for her to decodesometimes it took a while, but she could usually figure out what was going on, making her invaluable in the lab.

And besides, Gigi shot over her shoulder, I want to hear how the interrogation goes!

Jenn laughed and waved her off. Ill see you later.

Stowing her cell in the pocket of the trim brown leather jacket shed left on against the chilly airwhich was only going to get worse as the winter wore onJenn grabbed the rest of her gear and headed for the far hallway, which led to the interrogation rooms.

As she slipped through the same door Nick had used, giddy flutters took root in her stomach and she was suddenly very aware of the weight of her jacket and the way the sleek lining of her wool trousers slid across her skin. And when she reached Room Three, she paused for a second with her hand on the knob. Take it easy, she told herself. Play it cool.

Not that this was a game, of coursethey had both been up-front and honest with each other from the very beginning about what they wanted and what they could give. But that was before a first date that had them up and talking until sunrise, a third date that had culminated with the best sex of her life and a fourth date that had seen them moving his things out of the hotel and into her apartment because there didnt appear to be any point in wasting the departments money for the remainder of Nicks two-week stint in Bear Claw. Which, it seemed, had just been given a stay of execution.

Letting out a long, slow breath and trying not to be too obvious with the happy-happy-joy butterflies, she pushed through the door into Interrogation Three.

The fifteen-by-twenty, gray-painted space, with its table and chairs, mirrored window and surveillance camera, should have been stark and unrelenting. But with Nick standing with his back to her, watching their reflections in the one-way glass, it became intimate instead. She saw his eyes in the mirror, saw him track her as she crossed the room and tossed her things on the table next to his bomber.

She moved to stand beside him, liking the pair they made in the mirrored glass. She was a good eight inches shorter than his solid six feet, and had wavy brunette hair and curves that contrasted with his big, lethal body. Even their eyes were differenthers alight with interest and anticipation, his level, almost reserved. Cops eyes.

Nerves stirred, but it was just his work face, she knew. Trying to meet him halfway on that one, she bumped him with her shoulder, coworker to coworker. Hey. Way to give a girl the heads-up that youre going to be sticking around. Guess I should lay in some more buffalo burgers.

Two weeks ago, shed had nearly ten pounds of the stuff in her freezer, leftovers from a late-fall barbecue. Now she was down to three lonely patties, thanks to her and Nicks habit of planning to go out for food, but then getting otherwise occupied in the bedroom. Or the couch. Or wherever. Shed been watching the supply dwindle as the days counted down, figuring theyd both hit zero at the same time. Now, though, she thought it would be nicely symbolicwhether he knew it or notto replenish the stash.

Except he wasnt grinning at the inside joke. He was staring at her in the mirror with something more than reserve in his expression now. Something that looked an awful lot like guilt.

The butterflies took a dive. Nick?

He cleared his throat and turned to face her, so those killer eyes were looking down at her, guarded and, yes, guilty as he said, Listen, Jennwe need to talk.

And all she could think was, Oh, hell.

* * *

W E NEED TO TALK . For years now Nick had thought those were the worst words a man could hear, not because of what they meant, but because of what they symbolizedproblems, issues, changes .

This was the first time, though, that he realized as much as it had sucked him to hear the words, it ripped him up even worse to say them to someone else. Especially someone like Jenn.

Shed come into the room ready to celebrate, but now the light dimmed in her chocolate-brown eyes and the color drained from her face, making the sprinkling of freckles on her cheeks and nose stand out. You didnt ask your bosses to let you stay longer, did you?

No, I didnt. The DEA wants the Investor in custody before he hits any other cities with the Death Stare.

What about you? she asked. What do you want? And damned if her voice didnt crack a little on the last word.

I He trailed off, guilt stinging at the sudden sign of vulnerability.

She wasnt supposed to be vulnerable, darn it. She was supposed to be gritty, tough and self-reliant

he wouldnt have gone after her in the first place if she hadnt been. More, she had been totally on board with the no-strings short-term fling that was all he ever offered. Heck, she was the one whod brought up the ground rules in the first place.

Theyd wound up getting in way deeper than that, though, and from the look in her eyes, the lines had started to blur for her, far more than hed suspected.

Nick cursed himself inwardly. He shouldve stuck to his no-overnights policy, shouldve put the brakes on when things first started to slide. He didnt like that hed let things go as far as they had, didnt like how his normal control had slipped. And he hated doing this to her nowbut there was no way he could let things keep going the way they had been, or worse, let them go further.

I want Damn, this was harder than hed thought it would be, and hed known it would be hardthat was why hed kept putting it off, not telling her there was a chance hed be staying until it was an absolute done deal. He was paying for that now, though. Tucker found me a two-room apartment around the corner that I can rent by the week. Im moving in there today.

Youre breaking up with me. Her voice was a monotone, her face a pale mask.

When hed gone over it a hundred times in his head, hed planned on saying something about how theyd agreed it was just for a couple of weeks, reminding her that they had promised when it was over, that they would walk away with no hard feelings. But they had already gone too far beyond where that wouldve made sense, so he just nodded. Im sorry, Jenn. I wish

Dont. She held up a hand, snapping that hard-eyed, determined mask of a poker face back in place. Just dont, okay? Its Its like we saida couple of weeks of fun. Its been a couple of weeks, and tomorrow wouldve been goodbye, right?

Dont. She held up a hand, snapping that hard-eyed, determined mask of a poker face back in place. Just dont, okay? Its Its like we saida couple of weeks of fun. Its been a couple of weeks, and tomorrow wouldve been goodbye, right?

He nodded, though he wasnt sure it had really been a question. Right.

Then theres nothing more to say. She turned away to snag her stuff off the table, then stood there for a moment, shoulders stiff. He couldnt see her face, didnt know if she was fighting tears or anger, or both. Her voice was steady, though, when she said, Dont worry about any rumors, or seeing me around the station. I can handle it.

He winced, but couldnt think of anything he could say that would make things better, and figured he shouldnt try. The situation was the situation, and they were both going to have to get through it as best they could until the sting wore off or he went home, whichever came first. Ill come by after work and get my things.

She nodded, still with her back to him. Okay. Ill see you later, then. She hesitated, but when he didnt say anything else, she headed for the door without another word.

He told himself to stay put. Instead, he caught the door on its backswing and stood at the threshold of the interrogation room, watching her walk away.

Her strides were loose and limber and her shoulders were square beneath her butter-soft leather jacket, and she walkedas she always didlike she was ready to take on the world. That was one of the things hed first noticed about her, the way she was always up for any challenge, any experience. Hed liked that about her. Hell, hed liked damn near everything about her.

You did it, huh? Tucker said from farther down the hall.

Nick exhaled as Jenn took the stairs heading down to the basement, where the crime lab was located, and disappeared from view. Then he glanced over at the big, rangy detective. Yeah. I did it.

He hadnt meant to bring Tucker into things, but they had been friends a long time. Tucker had been the one whod recruited him into the case, and hed been the one who dropped the congrats, youre staying in Bear Claw until we catch the Investor bombshell the other dayso he was the one whod gotten the whole storyor most of it, anyway.

Tucker glanced back in the direction Jenn had gone. You want me to give Alyssa the heads-up, ask her to make sure shes okay?

Nick told himself to leave it alone. Instead, he nodded. Yeah. But dont tell her why I did it.

Tucker sent him a sidelong look. You sure?

Leave it alone. Nick inhaled, trying to fill the empty spaces. Shes better off without me.

What about you? Are you going to be better off?

Thats not a priority. Im just here to help close the case.

Tucker didnt look convinced, but he shrugged and held out a sticky note. Then youre going to want this.

Nick took the paper and skimmed the address written on it. Whats the deal?

Thats what I need you to figure out. Looks like we found one of the lieutenantsor whats left of him.

Chapter Two

One month later

This one looks even worse than the first two, Jenn commented from the doorway, breathing through her mouth and doing her best to see the scene in terms of the evidence it might provide, rather than what it said about the victims last hours of life.

The MEs office had collected Chuckie Dennisons corpse, but what was left behind was plenty gruesome in its own right. Everything from the dining room chairwhich had ropes sagging off it and a series of fingernail scrapes where the victim had struggled to free himselfto the array of kitchen utensils and small hand tools meticulously spread out on the stained burgundy tablecloth, said that the victim had been brutally tortured.

Gigi, who had gotten there first and started methodically photographing the scene, let the camera hang at her side as she took a look around and grimaced. Well need the autopsy to be sure. But, yeah, its bad. And, yeah, I think youre right that it fits the pattern. Odds are that its the Investor again.

That was the word on the street, anyway. The rumors said it was the mastermind himself who had hunted down twonow threeof his former lieutenants in the Ghost Militia. The men had been found tortured to death, with the scenes showing every sign of an ordered, organized and ruthlessly self-controlled killer. Nobody knew whether the Investor was disposing of potential witnesses, getting revenge, or what . Or if they knew, they werent telling.

Which meant that the task force was dealing with three bodies, three crime scenes and lots of evidence, but they still didnt have a name or description of the Investor, and no idea when or where he would strike next. The former members of the Ghost Militia werent the type to ask for police protection; in fact, the last few remaining higher-ups had gone even deeper underground after the killings started.

You dont think its a vigilante? Jenn asked as she set down her field kit, gloved up and got to work on the chair, which Gigi had already photographed.

That was the other theory the cops were working on, that it wasnt the Investor at all, but instead, a local who was hunting and killing the remaining members of the Ghost Militia. Unfortunately, the list of people with possible motives was all too longeighty-three people had died from Death Stare overdoses, and another dozen innocent bystanders had been killed during the Militias last desperate struggle to escape from the crackdown. Although many of the dead drug users had been among the citys homeless, meaning that some had been tagged with just a first name, or sometimes not even that much, others had been IDd. Which meant there were hundreds of bereaved family members out there, even more grieving friendssome of whom might be inclined to take matters into their own hands.

But Gigi shook her head. Its a plausible theory, sure, but Im going with the word on the street. Nickum, the task forces connections have a pretty good track record so far.

Jenns cheeks heated, but she made herself concentrate on the ropes that had been used to bind the victim, photographing them from even more angles before cutting them free and bagging them. After a moment, she said, You can say his name, you know. Its not like I dont see him around.

The dubious look Gigi shot her spoke volumes about just how bad Jenn had been at camouflaging her disbelief and unhappiness for those first couple of weeks after Nick dumped her. Or, at least, how bad shed been at hiding it from Gigi and her other friends down in the crime lab. As far as anyone else knewshe hopedit hadnt been at all obvious that she had been hurting.

She was damn good at making it look as if everything was okay, after all. And in the fine tradition of fake it until you make it, eventually the sting really had worn off.

Im fine, really. Im over it. Jenn sealed a bag and signed her name on the first line of the label, starting the evidence chain. It wasnt even about him, reallyit was everything. She filed the bag in her kit, then rocked back on her bootie-covered heels to look over at her friend.

She hadnt really talked about the breakup, even with Gigi, partly because shed needed to work it out for herself, and partly because shed hoped it would quickly become old news.

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