Jennifer Morey - Taming Deputy Harlow

When she turned back to Kadin, she saw he’d finished and now observed them.

She cleared her throat. “As I’m sure you’ve ascertained from the report, no one knows what became of Ella after she closed the library. She never showed up to her husband’s work-related dinner party. Less than twenty-four hours later, a man with a flat tire saw her body and called the police. The evidence is limited. There were tire tracks and not much else. Lots of pictures. Her clothes and shoes were bagged correctly, each labeled Dress, Underwear, Pantyhose and Bra.”

“How were they rebagged?” Kadin asked.

Relieved that he’d dismissed her and Jamie’s steamy moment, she said, “Not taken out of their original packaging, just sealed better from what I can tell. I sent the clothes to a lab.”

“Good thinking. Can you stop them from going to your lab?” Kadin asked.

Taken aback, she recalled her conversation with Margaret. “I think so, our office manager said she’d take them Monday when she runs her other errands.”

“Send them to me. I have a lab that will do the best job. If there’s trace evidence, they’ll find it, and if anything has been contaminated, they’ll know how to handle it.”

“All right.” But Reese felt suddenly cornered. This could be the beginning of a connection and she wasn’t sure she was ready for that. Plus, he had a take-charge attitude. Would giving him her evidence be wise? Yes, for the case, but maybe not so much for her.

“This case is very cold,” Kadin said, probably picking up on her hesitation. “You need all the expert help you can get if you want to solve it.”

She did want to solve it. How badly began to take over. If she had to have an extended relationship with Kadin to do that, she would. But why did he offer to help? Was it passion for what he did—avenge victims of heinous crimes? Or did he sense something in her? Her personal reason for coming...?

He looked over more of the pages, coming to the pictures and taking special time to go through those. In the lapse in talk, she slid a glance toward Jamie and caught him checking her out again, sending more delicious tingles fluttering through her. He looked younger than Kadin but not by much. Kadin had to be well into his forties. She’d put Jamie at around thirty-one. Of all the things she imagined would happen while she was here, meeting a hunk wasn’t one of them.

“Have you talked with any neighbors or family and friends—if any are still alive?”

Reese turned back to Kadin. “There is no family.” Jeffrey had no living relatives and the report said Ella had no family, either. That had come from talking to neighbors and friends, who’d claimed Ella had told them she had none.

“Pay particular attention to the husband. Nine times out of ten, they’re the killer.”

“Not Jeffrey.” She couldn’t even picture him holding a rope around someone’s neck. “He was the most harmless man I’ve ever met.”

“The most demented ones usually seem that way,” Jamie said. “They’re good at blending into society, even to the point of being likable. Take human traffickers for example. They lure innocent foreigners to the US with the promise of honest work and force them into slave labor, or worse.”

He seemed to have firsthand experience with that kind of person. “But...what if he’s as innocent as he seems?”

“You said his wife was supposed to meet him at a dinner party,” Kadin said.

“Yes.”

“Sounds like a perfect alibi to me.”

Too perfect. What he implied hit her. No one had considered Jeffrey had gone to the dinner party on purpose, knowing his wife would close the library alone, knowing she’d never show up for dinner.

“Forget what a quiet, nice man Jeffrey appeared to be and look into any motive he may have had to kill her.”

Reese thought of the hidden money. “My God.”

“Already know of something?”

“The carpenters doing the renovations on my house found some money hidden under the floorboards of my bedroom. That’s how I learned of the murder. Jeffrey and Ella lived there. Jeffrey lived there until he died two years ago. If he killed his wife over the money, why hide it?”

“Maybe he didn’t know where it was.”

“Obviously, he didn’t. So, why kill her before knowing?”

“You must be a good deputy,” Kadin said. “Those are all the questions I’d ask. The key is asking them all, no matter how unlikely the motive seems. Even if he knew of the money, that could be enough motive. He may not have found it, that’s all. People have killed for less.”

She glowed and felt strange for doing so, because the way he instructed her felt like father-daughter advice. He shared from his vast experience. That she appreciated, but seeing him as a father figure gave her a panicky feeling. She did not want to be close with her biological father, did she? How drastically would that change her life? Her plans?

She had parents. Biological parents she didn’t even know couldn’t take their place. And she had plans of her own for her future. She was just curious. That’s all. Besides, her life had no room for obligatory relationships.

She uncrossed her legs and switched to her left one on top, a movement Jamie caught with manly appreciation, much more pleasant than her uncertainty over Kadin and what he represented.

“Let me have some more time with these documents,” Kadin said. “How long are you in town?”

“Just for the night. I have a flight late tomorrow afternoon.”

“Good. Let’s meet in the morning. Do you have a car?”

“I took a cab.”

“I’ll have one of my drivers take you to wherever you need to go, and to the airport tomorrow.”

“Thank you.” She felt special. He had drivers and cars. This operation was much more sophisticated than she thought. She glanced at Jamie, and he was the new security officer. A truly capable-looking man, if one judged by form. Few, if any, could likely overpower him. If the intelligence in his eyes was any indication, few, if any, would outsmart him, either.

Turning back to Kadin, she saw him take note of their exchange again and grew flustered.

“I should get going.” She stood.

Jamie stood right after her, and his looming body, even against her height, stimulated her pheromones.

“I’ll leave you two to...whatever it is you’re doing.” Kadin eyed them, teasing, as he stood.

She faced him, smoothing her shirt even though it needed no smoothing. “What time tomorrow?”

“Whenever you get here. I’ll clear my schedule. It’s not every day I get a forty-year-old murder case.”

She smiled back, feeling his passion for solving cases, especially those that didn’t haunt him. He’d offered to help for that reason, and that reason alone. He hadn’t picked up on any father-daughter vibes.

“Good to meet you, Reese.”

She shook his hand. “You, too.” She watched him leave and then the energy in the office changed. She was alone with this hot, sexy man. His presence engulfed her senses. If she touched him he’d burn her.

Where had this instant attraction come from? Was it the slope of his nose, the line of his jaw? His tall, muscular build? Or was it what she’d seen in his eyes? He was intelligent, yes, but he also exuded uncrushable confidence. Most likely what aroused her was the entire package. He physically stimulated and mentally intrigued her.

“Will you join me for dinner tonight?” he asked.

What an irresistible invitation. His lightness in flirting with her contrasted sharply with darkness lurking somewhere behind his magnetizing eyes. His mystery drew her as much as his physical perfection. How could she refuse? She wouldn’t. Dinner with him excited her.