Janie Crouch - Man Of Action

That was because everything she’d owned had been in the car. She’d been living in it at the time. Before she got the job at Jaguar’s and made enough money to move into a sparsely furnished, run-down studio apartment.

She was pretty sure the owner of Buckeye Auto Repair hadn’t charged her the full price for the repair.

She and Brandon pulled up to the town’s one decent hotel. There were a couple of others on the rougher side of town—ones that were rented out by the hour, or the opposite, used to house multiple illegal immigrants in one room. This was a much better choice for law enforcement.

Brandon checked them in, getting rooms right next to each other on the first floor. They grabbed their bags and headed through the lobby and down the hall.

“I’m going to call it a night,” Andrea said, slipping the key card into her door. She needed to be alone, away from all her thoughts and feelings about this town. She also needed to begin the painful process of studying the case files before tomorrow’s meeting.

“Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow. We’ll leave at eight o’clock.” Brandon turned to his door. “Are you okay?”

Andrea nodded. “Good night.” She shut the door behind her without another word, away from Brandon and his brown eyes that saw too much.

Because she wasn’t all right. Being back here was worse than she’d thought it would be.

This whole thing was a terrible idea.

* * *

THE NEXT MORNING at the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department office, Brandon and Andrea waited in the conference room for the local officers who would serve as their liaisons. The sheriff’s department was just a mile or so on the outskirts of Buckeye.

When Andrea had seen what building they were arriving at, her eyes had nearly bugged out of her head. Her skin had turned a concerning shade of gray. Brandon had reached for her hand, and she had clutched his, almost automatically. Her skin was cold, clammy.

A sure nonverbal tell of fright. This building frightened Andrea.

She’d taken a couple of deep breaths and gotten herself under control, releasing his hand. She’d smiled over at him, an expression nowhere near touching her eyes, so nowhere near real. Something about that fake smile nearly broke his heart.

Maybe the whole idea of bringing her back to Buckeye had been a mistake. Her input would be valuable, sure, but Brandon had solved a lot of cases without having an inside person.

Maybe the price of doing this was too high for Andrea.

Whatever judgments Brandon had made about her began to dissipate a little. Maybe she just wasn’t ready to deal with this.

“Andrea.” He’d turned to her from where they sat in the parking lot. “Perhaps this isn’t a good idea. It’s okay if I need to go in alone.”

“No, I’m fine. I just didn’t realize we’d be coming here, to this building, that’s all.”

What was here that made her so upset? “You have some history here?”

She took a deep breath. “Not really. This whole town just sets me on edge.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” He didn’t want her to get inside then panic.

“Yes, I’m fine. I promise.” The smile she gave him was at least a little stronger than the shadow of one she’d given him a few moments ago. He touched her hand. It was closer to normal temperature again.

But she looked tired, despite makeup that carefully covered it, as if she had been up most of the night. Maybe she had if the town had this sort of effect on her.

But except for the telltale signs that he was sure only he would notice, looking at her from across the conference table now, she looked like the consummate professional. Andrea wore sharp trousers and a matching blazer, managing to be attractively feminine and coolly businesslike at the same time. The high heels she wore everywhere were the perfect complement to the outfit. Not a hair was out of place in her chic bob.

She may have been scared out in the parking lot, but she was determined not to show it in here. Brandon’s respect for her ratcheted a notch. If only she was as prepared for the case as she looked, which he knew she wasn’t. Maybe he could help her out if she got stuck, save her any embarrassment.

Two men entered the room, one in his midfifties in a sheriff’s office uniform, one in his early thirties in a suit. Both looked a little tired, frazzled. The older man took the lead. “I’m Lance Kendrick from the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department. Since all three murders took place—or at least the bodies were found—in Maricopa, I’m taking the lead.”

“I’m Gerardo Jennison with the City of Phoenix Homicide Unit. We’re providing investigative resources for anything which the sheriff’s department may not have.”

“I’m agent Brandon Han from Omega Sector, as you know. This is Ms. Andrea Gordon, one of our behavioral analysts. She’ll be consulting as needed.”

As Jennison shook Andrea’s hand, Brandon could see his appreciation of her as a woman. Lance Kendrick, on the other hand, studied her pretty intently. Andrea had looked at him when they shook hands, but then glanced away.

Andrea recognized Kendrick.

That wasn’t impossible or even improbable. Andrea had lived here her whole life. She probably would’ve run into members of the sheriff’s office from time to time. “Have we met before?” Kendrick asked Andrea.

Her expression remained smooth although she shifted just slightly in her chair. “Maybe.” She smiled at him. “Omega works a lot of cases.”

A very nice side step. She wasn’t offering up that she used to live here or that she recognized Kendrick, so Brandon didn’t, either. Her comment seemed to pacify the sheriff’s deputy, although Brandon knew that wasn’t where they knew each other.

“We have three victims so far,” Kendrick said, tone bordering on bored. “All Caucasian females between the ages of twenty to twenty-five. Cause of death was strangulation with a thin rope. The ligature marks were quite clear. All had been restrained—marks on their wrists were obvious, but there was no sign of any other assault, sexual or otherwise. And they all were found outside a church. Different one each time.”

Putting the victims outside a church corresponded well with the purity theme he and Andrea had batted around yesterday.

“Any known connection between the victims?” he asked.

“They didn’t seem to know each other, as far as we can tell. All lived in Maricopa County, but different parts.”

“But two had been arrested for something in the last year or two,” Andrea interjected.

Brandon glanced at her discreetly. So she had studied the files.

Kendrick nodded. “Different charges, but yes. Brought here for holding, actually. One was arrested for solicitation, one for underage drinking. Neither of them were ever booked or went to trial.”

If Brandon hadn’t been looking over at Andrea, he would’ve missed her slight flinch. Had there been some trouble with the law in her past? Was that what made her nervous about this building?

“Occupations were not exactly upstanding, either. Two of them worked at exotic dance clubs somewhere in Phoenix or the surrounding areas. One worked at a diner that is known to be a hot area for solicitation.” Jennison grinned slyly at Kendrick.

Kendrick chuckled. “Yeah, I offered to do some undercover work at the clubs, but somehow couldn’t clear it with my boss, much less my wife.”

Brandon ignored the jokes. He wasn’t surprised about the women’s occupations. Quite often an arrest record accompanied such jobs.

“What exactly have you done concerning the investigation?” Brandon could hear the tightness in Andrea’s tone.

“We’ve done our due diligence.” Kendrick sat up a little straighter in his chair. “We interviewed employers, canvassed the area for witnesses, ran DNA and searched for any prints.”