Jennifer Morey - Cold Case Manhunt

He came out of the station with the same hard set to his eyes she’d always found so unreadable. Now he just looked sexy. Six-four with dark hair and blue eyes a shade lighter than hers, he dressed in slacks and a suit and tie. When he’d first introduced himself he’d said, I’m Detective Calum Chelsey, but call me Cal.

“There’s a good deli just up the street,” he said.

“Okay.” She walked with him, feeling self-conscious of her appearance. Did she look good enough? Why did she worry about that when she was with him?

“Are you from here?” he asked on the way.

“Yes. My family lives here. You?”

“No. I’m from Texas. I like not being close to my family.”

“Black sheep, huh? My family is very close. I’m the second youngest of four very different people who all got varying professional degrees.” Talking eased her nerves. Why was she nervous anyway?

At the deli, they ordered and found a table next to the window. Although a clear day, it was chilly and she could feel the cold air radiating inside. Winter had set in early this year. She saw snowflakes and dead leaves blow across the street, whipped up by passing cars.

“What about you?” Cal asked. “You said you were a geologist but what do you do?”

“I’m an environmental geologist. I work with renewable energies at a consulting firm.”

“Interesting.”

“I’ve always loved earth science. At the risk of sounding insensitive, in college, I was not very interested in the environment but those were the hot jobs at the time. I care about the environment, but as a science it isn’t very fascinating. I need that kind of stimulation. I don’t do meditation well. Sometimes I think I should have gotten into seismology or something.”

“You would have had to move away from Chesterville. Not much earthquake activity here.”

She smiled. Moving away had never occurred to her. She enjoyed being with her family, especially her parents. She couldn’t imagine not being able to stop by for tea in the sunroom with her mother. They could talk for hours.

“Why don’t you like your family?”

“I like them...well, sort of.” He grinned. “My dad loves the NRA and ranching. He’s ex-military, so he was always very strict. That I didn’t mind so much. Guns have their usefulness but being an NRA fanatic goes too far in my opinion. My younger brother loves guns, like my dad, and capitalism. They are both executives at the same oil company. Corbin followed in Dad’s footsteps. They are both very successful. I never wanted to be an executive. I wanted to make more of a difference than a ton of money. My dad and I had a lot of arguments about my career choice.”

“What about your mother? Surely you like her.”

He chuckled briefly. “Of course. She didn’t have to work, but the ranch keeps her busy. She always let Dad make all the big decisions when it came to us. I guess I resented her for that, but not anymore. She was a great mom.”

He seemed to like his family more than he let on. He might have a rift with his father and maybe his brother, but what family didn’t have their differences?

“Is it just you and your brother?” she asked, wondering why she was so curious. They had never talked like this before.

“I have a little sister. She is the ranch manager. I’m probably closest with her.”

“And you’re a homicide detective.” Jaslene pondered that a moment. “Why?”

“My grandfather was murdered. He was in a convenience store when some robbers arrived. He tried to stop them and one of them shot him. I was very close to him. It changed me. Losing him that way.”

“I’m so sorry.” She could feel his sorrow. Even after all these years he still missed his grandfather. Jaslene averted her gaze as she thought of her own loss. Her husband had been murdered, too. Before that all-too-familiar pain overtook her, she smothered it as she usually did.

“It made me want to go after every thug who hurt anyone,” Cal said. “I still do. Joining DAI will allow me to help more people who have nowhere else to turn. That will give me the most gratification.”

She had sensed that in him early on, his determination to catch criminals. He had gone after Payton’s missing persons case with an aggression she had not seen in other officers. She had never doubted him when he said the case had gone cold. She had despaired numerous times but had never had any reason to fault him. He had left no stone unturned.

As they finished and left the restaurant, Jaslene marveled how much things had changed in less than a day. This morning she hadn’t thought much of Cal Chelsey. Now she saw him in a completely different way. Maybe it was his understanding over the way she felt about losing Payton. Maybe it was his devotion to victims of violent crimes.

“This is my car.” She stopped at her sage-green Jeep Renegade.

“I’ll call you when I have an office set up,” he said.

This felt like the end of a really good date, connecting on a more personal level than they had ever before. She wondered if he felt it, too. He stood a little close to her, just outside the driver’s side door. His blue eyes sort of twinkled as he took in her face.

“Okay,” she said at last, looking at his lips.

When she lifted her eyes, she saw his flare with unmistakable desire. Hot tingles spread through her in instant response. Flustered, she dug in her purse for her keys and dropped them when she lifted them out.

He bent at the same time and their heads bonked.

Laughing and holding her head, she let him pick up her keys, hearing his deep chuckle. He unlocked her door and opened it for her.

Holding out her hand, she waited for him to drop her keys there. He did, his rougher fingers brushing hers and stirring more hot tingles.

She climbed into her Jeep and he shut her door. She looked at him through the glass, watching him back up and then step onto the sidewalk, then started the engine, needing to catch her breath.

As she backed out of the parking space and began to drive away, she wondered what had just happened. Why him and why now?

She didn’t have an answer, but she began to look forward to his call. Then she remembered her husband.

“So, the Ice Queen isn’t as icy as you thought.”

Cal glanced over at Roman Cooper, who had finished moving his things into his office next to Cal’s at Dark Alley Investigations. He wished he hadn’t told him about the drastic change in Jaslene.

“No. We ended up having a great time.” Cal shook his head. “She was a completely different woman.”

“She liked the news of you coming over to DAI, huh?”

“Maybe that’s all she liked. She hired me.”

Roman chuckled. “Don’t take it too hard. My bet is she’s like you and something happened to make her turn away from love.”

Had he turned away from love or just accepted that in his line of work it would take a rare woman to stick it out with him?

The front door opened and Jaslene appeared, wearing black slacks and a white-and-black-patterned blouse with a V-neck. Dressier than the last time he’d seen her, than any other time he’d seen her. Maybe something other than new hope for progress in the Everett case had changed her perspective. Had she worn this for him? While excitement over what could come zinged him, he held on to caution.

Someday, though, he’d like to see her in a little black number.

She looked around the new DAI office. He and Roman had rented a small space on Main Street, in the middle of a row of old, connected commercial spaces. It had a single door and window in front with room for a table where they could meet with clients. Two doors in back led to their offices and a hallway between led to a door that opened to a dark, creepy alley. They planned to do some upgrades but it would do for now.