Brenda Jackson - Married Or Not?

She turned out the living room/dining room/kitchen light and went to her bedroom. She glanced at her watch. It was eleven o’clock. She felt as though she’d been up all night. She sat on the side of her bed and finished her yogurt. Then she went in and took a long, warm shower.

When she finally crawled into bed and turned out the light her mind returned to the dead man. She shivered. She hadn’t gone near him but she had seen what he looked like from her car.

Sherri wished she could remember more about those men. They had definitely got a good look at her. Would they think she could identify them? She sincerely hoped not.

When Sherri drifted off to sleep she didn’t dream about the murder. Instead she dreamed about Detective Greg Hogan of Homicide.

In her dream something or someone was chasing her. She was in a panic because she couldn’t get away. Next, Greg Hogan was there. She ran into his arms, knowing she’d be safe. He held her so close she could hear and feel his heart beating. In the next scene she was watching him slowly take off his clothes…baring his broad shoulders and muscled chest, slowly unfastening his pants and sliding them down. She was mesmerized by his male beauty. He held out his hand and she took it, only then aware that she was nude.

He held her close and began to kiss her, which kindled flames of longing in her. He laid her on a wide bed and continued to kiss her as his hand stroked her body. She returned his kisses, feverishly wanting him to make love to her.

Sherri looked into his eyes as he moved away slightly and settled between her legs. Yes! This was what she wanted! She—

She woke up with a start. What in the world? She’d been dreaming about that detective. She sat up in bed and clutched her head. The dream had been so real.

How embarrassing. She had to go to the police station this morning to look at photos and to write out her statement. How was she going to be able to face him after having had such an erotic dream about him? How strange. Why would she have dreamed such a dream? She’d barely noticed him last night.

Liar. You were scared but not so scared that you missed his strong features, his sensuous mouth and his gentleness with you .

She went into the bathroom and took her shower, adjusting the water to be cooler than normal.

Seven

“Hey, Hogan, you’ve got a visitor.”

Greg looked up from the file he was working on and saw Sherri Masterson standing just inside the bull pen area of the station, looking a little lost. He stood, once again irritated by his body’s instant reaction to her.

Today she wore some kind of flowery dress. Greg forced himself to concentrate on why she was here while he strode over to where she waited.

Greg stuck out his hand, “Mornin’, Ms. Masterson. Thank you for coming in. I know last night was very traumatic for you. Did you sleep well?”

His innocent question caused her to turn a fascinating red and she looked away from him. Now what was that about? Had she spent the night with her boyfriend? He didn’t know why, but that thought bothered him.

“Mmm, yes, I slept all right…and please call me Sherri.”

“Sure. And I’m Greg.” He took her elbow and felt her stiffen. He immediately stepped away. “I’ve set up one of the rooms for us so we can have some privacy.”

And she blushed again. What was her problem? He tried not to come across as intimidating, but she was definitely nervous around him.

He cleared his throat. “Would you like some coffee?”

She smiled. “Is it as bad as I’ve heard police station coffee generally is?”

He grinned. “Naw. We just want people to think that. Otherwise, we’d take most of Starbucks’ business away.”

She chuckled and he relaxed a little. Maybe this wasn’t going to be as bad as he’d feared. His biggest concern was that she might be picking up his strong attraction to her. He was a professional and he didn’t want anything to get in the way of obtaining this woman’s help in solving a murder.

“Yes, thank you. I’ll take some coffee.”

He opened a door and motioned to the table. “Have a seat and I’ll be right back.”

He closed the door behind him and took a big breath. He was being absolutely ridiculous. Maybe he should get his partner to do the interview. No, that wouldn’t work because he would somehow have to explain why he couldn’t do it.

He poured two mugs of coffee and headed back to the interview room.

“Here you are,” he said, setting one of the mugs in front of her and sitting down across the table. “I’d like you to write out your statement for me. If anything came to mind since we spoke, please let me know.”

She sipped her coffee. “Okay.”

He watched her write. She was a lefty. When she finally looked up, she caught him staring at her. He quickly blinked and smiled.

“Finished?”

“I think so. I can’t think of anything else.”

She handed him the paper and he put it aside. He opened a file and pulled out a photograph. “Have you ever seen this man before?”

Sherri took the picture and studied it. This wasn’t a mug shot. The man was smiling into the camera, his arms around two small children.

She looked up. “You know, I think he may have been in the restaurant last night.”

“Really?”

“I wouldn’t swear to it, but his smile reminds me of a man we passed as the hostess led us to a table. In fact, my friend teased me about it.” She looked back down. “I didn’t pay all that much attention to him, though. He left before we did. Is he important to this case?”

“He’s the victim in this case.”

“Oh, no!” She sounded horrified. “Are you sure?”

He nodded. “I spoke with his family this morning and they gave me this photograph.”

“Are these his children?”

“One is. The other one is his nephew. We wanted to see if he’d been in the restaurant that night. His wife said he had a meeting to go to, although he didn’t say where.”

“I’m so sorry for his family.”

“Was he alone when you saw him?”

She thought about his question before finally saying, “He was when we passed him. After that I had my back to him. All I know was that he wasn’t there when we passed that table on the way out.”

“We interviewed several people, including your friend, who were at the restaurant last night. You seem to be the only person who actually saw the two men run from behind the restaurant.”

She shivered.

He moved his hand so that it rested on hers. “They have no idea who you are. You don’t have anything to worry about.”

She looked at his hand. He noted that his hand swallowed hers. She didn’t pull away so he left it there. She looked back at him. “But they saw me very clearly. They saw my car.”

“Unless they have someone in their pocket who can run a DMV check on you, they won’t bother you.”

She nodded. “Okay.”

“Next, I’d like you to look at some of these mug shots to see if you recognize anyone. We’re still investigating his possible contacts and hoping you see someone here that you recognize.”

He opened the book and she blinked. “That’s a lot of people. And I never saw their faces.”

“There may be something that might trigger a memory…a tilt of a head, the shape of a jaw, that sort of thing. I’ll leave you to look and will be back a little later.”

He checked on her from time to time, but in the end she didn’t recognize anyone.

“I’m so sorry. I know I’m not being much help,” she said.

“Actually, you are. We know these guys weren’t involved.”

“We can hope. I should have been more aware.”

Greg looked at his watch. “It’s almost lunchtime. Would you care to go get something to eat? That is, if you don’t have other plans.”