Susan Sleeman - Dead Wrong

Mitch leaned over and tugged the jacket closed but didn’t let go and looked deep into her eyes. “We need to get you out of here.”

“I want to stay to make sure Nancy’s treated right.” She took a deep breath and forced away more tears.

“We’re all professionals here, Kat. She’ll be handled with dignity.” He let go of the jacket and stood, offering a hand on the way up.

He was right. Nancy didn’t need her now. She’d needed her earlier. Before a man murdered her and Kat failed her.

She took Mitch’s hand and swayed again. He put his other hand under her elbow. She wanted to shake it off and be strong—be like the police officer she used to be where nothing made her feel so lost and dead inside. But she couldn’t find the resolve to do so and wasn’t sure she ever would again.

* * *

Mitch pushed open the front door to Kat’s town house and stood back to let her enter. She slipped past him, went to the kitchen adjoining a two-story family room with soaring windows and dropped her keys on the laminate counter.

He shouldn’t be here. Not in her home with her personal things all around, making him think of her as a person and not a victim in one of his cases. His first instinct had been to have a patrol officer take her home, but he’d told Tommy he’d try to help her cope. Plus he wanted to check out her house to make sure their suspect hadn’t decided to come here to finish what he’d started.

And maybe, if he stopped to admit it, something in his gut said she needed him. Not some unknown officer, but him. Mitch Elliot.

He hadn’t felt needed in years. Avoided it, actually, ever since his partner, Lori, was gunned down in front of him. Sure, he took a bullet himself that day, but he’d lived. She hadn’t.

He felt the scar on his neck, the raised reminder of how fast someone he loved could be taken from him and why he was better off going it alone in life. No matter how good it felt to discover he could connect again with a woman like Kat, he’d never risk another loss.

She turned and big, haunted eyes stared at him. His gut squeezed like a vise, but his fingers still resting on the scar kept his mind on business.

“Thanks for bringing me home,” she said. “And I haven’t thanked you for your help at Nancy’s house. If you hadn’t come along—” Another violent shudder wracked her body.

“You’re welcome.” He felt as if he should say more but opted not to dwell on what could’ve been.

He closed the door and took in the apartment’s white walls and dull beige carpet. Moving boxes lined the far wall and minimal furniture filled the small living space. Fire had destroyed her house last year when a drug dealer tried to burn out the woman she was protecting. This place was so not Kat. Her walls would radiate color. Bright, bold color.

“So when will your house be done?” he asked, wiping his feet on the small mat by the door.

“How do you know about my house?” She bit her lip, but her gaze never waivered.

“Tommy’s my partner, remember?”

“Right.” She frowned and tugged the jacket tighter.

But a tug of a jacket wouldn’t keep him out of her business. Partners shared a lot—were like old married couples in so many ways—and he knew all about Kat’s life. More than she’d likely want the man who’d once rejected her to know.

The sooner he did his check and got out of there, the better for both of them. “I’ll do a quick walk-through of the house then take off so you can rest.”

“You think he came here?” Her voice rose in alarm.

“Nah,” he said, to calm the renewed fear sparking in her eyes. “But it’d be a good idea to make sure. You stay here.”

He didn’t wait for her agreement but went down the hall. He checked each room, each window, to be sure the locks were secured and the blinds closed. As he headed back to the family room, his cell rang, making him jump.

“What’s up, Tommy?” he answered, passing by the kitchen and seeing Kat making coffee.

“Suspect got away.”

Mitch huffed out a disgusted breath and started up the stairs. “What happened?”

“Does it really matter? He’s gone.”

“Then it’s up to us to bring him in.” Mitch tried to sound optimistic but until he knew if the scene provided any strong leads, he couldn’t really be so sure they’d catch him.

“You get Kat home all right?”

“Yeah.” He glanced at her one more time before making the turn on the landing.

“She doing okay?”

“Not really. I’m clearing the house right now, but when I finish, I’ll insist she call someone to spend the night with her. Maybe her sister or one of her brothers.”

Thanks to Tommy’s nonstop chatter, Mitch knew all about the Justice family. Kat had three brothers and one sister. All of them were adopted. And all of them were former law enforcement officers who gave up their careers to find their adoptive parents’ killer. Now they continued to work together in a private investigation agency. No one better to care for her than her siblings.

Keep telling yourself that and maybe you can go home without a backward glance.

“Kat will never go for it,” Tommy said.

“I thought you said they were all tight.”

“They are, but if this guy is really trying to kill Kat, she won’t want them mixed up in this.”

“I don’t follow.” He checked a bedroom with a small bed and more boxes piled to the ceiling.

“She’s a worrier. She’s seen too many people she loves die and lets it get to her. So if there’s any chance they’ll get hurt, she’ll keep them out of it. She doesn’t even date. As she says, why find someone just to lose them.”

Mitch understood that. How he understood it. Losing his parents and Lori, plus his sister Angie’s plunge into the black hole of drugs, guaranteed that. Still, it didn’t fit the woman he thought he knew. “I never figured her for a worrier.”

Tommy laughed. “She puts on a tough front, but when it comes to people she loves, she’s a bowl of jelly.”

“Good to know. Still, I’ll have to insist she call them.” He went on to the next bedroom. This one was obviously Kat’s—neat, orderly and box free.

“Of course you will. Just wanted you to be prepared when she balks at it.”

Mitch opened the closet door. “You about done at the scene?”

“Yeah. I’m heading back to the office to get a jump start on this if you want to come in.” Not a request. More of a plea to help find the person who’d manhandled and almost killed his former partner.

“Want me to bring a pizza?”

“Yeah, man. That’d be good.”

“I’m putting mushrooms on it, so deal.” As he disconnected, he heard Tommy laugh over their longstanding debate about where fungus belonged. According to Tommy, it wasn’t on a pizza.

Mitch cleared the small bathroom, checking behind the shower curtain, then went to the stairs where the nutty aroma of fresh coffee drifted up.

Kat was standing at the bottom. She still wore his jacket and held a steaming mug. “I made coffee. You want a cup?”

Not really, but with the way she looked up at him all wounded and sad as if she needed him, he couldn’t say no. “Sure.”

She went to the kitchen, and he considered how he was going to convince her to let a family member spend the night. She had a reputation for being stubborn and headstrong. Not something he had much experience in dealing with when it came to women.

“I’m assuming we’re clear,” she said, joining him with a second cup.

“Yes.” He took the mug and put some distance between them. He waited for her to say she could’ve done that herself, but she just gave a sad, halfhearted nod. Not a good sign.

“You shouldn’t be alone tonight, Kat.” He took a sip of coffee and nearly groaned at the strong, freshly ground taste he loved.