The Deception

by Kat Martin

  She reached up and touched the scab that had formed on his cheek, directly below the one on his eyebrow. “Did you get him?”

  A muscle tightened in his jaw. “Yeah, we got him.”

  She turned to her father, who stood silently beside her. “Dad, this is Jason Maddox. We’re...um...working together. Jase, this is my father.”

  “Frank.” Her dad extended a hand that Jase shook. “Nice to meet you, Jason.”

  “You, too, sir.” Frank Gallagher didn’t look much like Kate, though she had probably gotten her height from him, as well as her gold-flecked brown eyes. Kate had barely mentioned him. Jase was a little surprised to see him at the funeral.

  “And these are my friends, Cece Jacobs and Lani Renton. They drove me down.”

  Both of them were pretty. Cece had dark brown hair; Lani’s hair was black and she was taller.

  “Kate’s talked a lot about you. It’s nice to finally meet you. Thanks for looking out for her.”

  “We were glad to come,” Cece said.

  “It’s nice meeting you, Jason,” Lani said. “I know you and Kate have been working together. I hope you’re making progress.”

  He could feel Frank Gallagher’s dark eyes on him. Since he didn’t know how much Kate had told him about the case, he kept his answer simple. “Some.”

  His gaze returned to Kate. He could see the stress in her face, the sadness. He was glad he had come.

  “I’m afraid I have to go,” Kate’s father said. “It was good seeing you, sweetheart. I wish the circumstances had been better.”

  Kate swallowed. “Me, too.”

  Frank bent and kissed his daughter’s cheek. “I’ll call you, honey. I won’t wait so long this time. I promise.”

  Kate nodded, but didn’t look convinced. She watched her father walk away, then turned back to Jase. “I guess we should all get going.”

  “Since you didn’t drive down,” he said, “maybe you could fly back home with me.”

  Her head came up. “You flew down?”

  “Drove Ryker back to Dallas early this morning. I called the funeral parlor, found out the time of the service. Flying was the only chance I had of getting here before it was over.” He looked around. Most everyone was gone. “Almost didn’t make it.”

  “I’m really glad you’re here,” she said softly.

  “Go home with Jason,” her friend Lani urged. “Your spirits could use a lift.” She flashed an impish grin. “Pun intended.”

  Kate smiled faintly. “All right, I’d like that. I appreciate you both coming with me. It really means a lot.”

  Cece leaned over and hugged her. “Like we said, it wasn’t open for discussion.”

  Lani hugged her. “We’ll see you when you get home.”

  Kate watched her friends walk away. She looked back, studied the new cut on Jase’s cheek. “Looks like Harding put up a fight.”

  “He didn’t go down easy, that’s for sure.” Jase set a hand at her waist. “I’ll tell you all about it on the way to the airport.”

  As he walked her across the grass, Jase told her about arresting Randy Harding, about wounding a man in the firefight in the apartment, about the man Jax Ryker had killed.

  “It was self-defense, but the cops have to be sure. There’s hours of questioning. They have to cross every t and dot every i.”

  “That’s probably good.”

  “No doubt about it. It just gets frustrating, telling the same story over and over, answering the same questions a dozen different ways.”

  “What happened to Rosa?”

  “There was obvious domestic abuse. Plus she agreed to testify against Harding and his buddy Yancy Pike. I spoke to her briefly, told her that her brother loved her and that he’d help her any way he could. She’ll probably be okay.”

  “Pike’s the one you shot?”

  “Yeah.”

  Once Jase had her settled in his rental car, it didn’t take long to reach the Coffield Airport, the small, regional airstrip where his Cessna was tied down. His flight that morning had been a little rough, but typical Texas weather, the clouds were mostly gone now and the sun was shining.

  He parked in the return car lot, left the keys and they walked out to the plane. Jase helped Kate into the copilot’s seat.

  “This is nice,” she said, running a hand over the sky blue leather interior that matched the stripe on the side of the airplane.

  “You like to fly?”

  “I’m not a big fan of commercial, but then who is?”

  He smiled. “You’ll like this better, I promise.” He closed the door, walked around doing his visual inspection and unchocked the wheels. Satisfied, he climbed into the cabin and started the flight check, found everything to be in order, as he had expected.

  He glanced over at Kate, saw her smiling for the first time that day.

  He strapped into his seat. “Sit back and enjoy the ride.” The engine fired, the propeller whirred to life and he finished the flight check. As the wheels started rolling and the Cessna taxied down the runway, he noticed the color was back in Kate’s face, her golden brown eyes sparkling.

  The plane lifted into the air and she grinned. “This is great.” Her gaze went to the patchwork colors of the land spreading out below them. “I love it.”

  “After a night like the one I just had, it feels good to be up here where I can breathe.”

  “It really does. Thanks for bringing me.”

  “My pleasure.” And it was. Her excitement had him smiling. He laughed at something she said. The events of last night slowly faded, leaving him feeling clean and whole again.

  She was good for him, he realized, buoyed by having her up there with him, enjoying the flight. But as the plane neared the city, his thoughts returned to the capture he’d made last night, to the scum he dealt with and the risks he took on a daily basis.

  Kate was good for him.

  Trouble was, he wasn’t good for her.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Kate stared at the lights of Dallas through the floor-length glass windows in her living room. She’d tried to keep from falling back into the black mood she had been in that morning, but as the evening wore on, the sadness returned.

  Jase had dropped her off and left to deal with some business he needed to handle. She figured some of it involved collecting the bounty on Randall Harding. He was back now, had returned with takeout from Luigi’s, the family-owned Italian restaurant around the corner.

  The man could really eat and he had been hungry. Kate had mostly pretended to eat, moving the pasta around on her plate, taking an occasional bite of green salad. The food didn’t sit well in her unsettled stomach.

  It was getting late. For the past couple of hours, Jase had been sitting at the kitchen table, working on his laptop. Kate had gone into her home office and answered some texts, tried to do her email, but it was hard to concentrate. Her mind kept spinning back to the cemetery, to the coffin in front of the mound of earth.

  She walked back out to the living room, her eyes stinging at the memory as she stared through the glass. She blinked, and the lights of the city came back into focus. The sound of heavy footsteps reached her as Jase came up behind her. His blazer was gone, but he was wearing the same jeans and T-shirt he’d had on all day.

  “It’s getting late, honey. You ready for bed?”

  The words didn’t thrum through her the way they usually did. She felt none of the warm anticipation that usually stirred deep in her core. She turned and looked up at him. “You go on. I’ll be there in a minute.”

  His gaze found hers, steady blue into her pain-filled brown. “You okay?”

  “For a while, I was.” She sighed. “I can’t get her out of my head, Jase. I keep seeing her on that table in the morgue. I keep thinking of her in that satin-lined box.” She swallowed
and shook her head. “I’m sorry. Maybe you should go home. I’m not very good company tonight.”

  He studied her for several long moments, considering, as if making some sort of decision. “Let’s go.” He took her arm and urged her toward the bedroom. Maybe she could sleep, but she didn’t think so. He wouldn’t press her for sex, though. Not if she really wasn’t interested. There was a sweet side to Jason Maddox that few people got to see.

  Her thoughts returned to the moment, and weariness washed over her as he led her through the bedroom door into the room done in pink she usually found so comforting.

  He reached up and loosened the now-drooping knot that still held up her hair, took the pins out and set them on the dresser. She didn’t move as his fingers sifted through the heavy curls, spreading them around her shoulders.

  “It’s been a long, hard day,” he said.

  “Yes, it has.”

  Then he cupped the back of her head, leaned down and kissed her. Slow and easy, not pushy but coaxing a reluctant response. Little by little, he shifted gears, took the kiss deeper, from gentle to hot, wet and wild.

  Her body shot from cold to scorching. Kate gripped his heavily muscled shoulders as the kiss turned hard, rough and hungry. Heat crawled through her, prickled her skin, turned her mind to mush. Jason kissed her and kissed her. She felt like begging when he stopped.

  A look of burning intent settled over his handsome face, a look she had never seen before. “Take off your clothes.”

  She stared, her mind fuzzy. “What?”

  “You heard me. Do it, Kate.”

  Interest filtered through her, grew stronger when he peeled his T-shirt off over his head to reveal his sculpted chest. The eagle on his biceps promised to make her fly away.

  “Do it, Kate.”

  Her mouth went dry while her insides turned hot and liquid. She reached for the buttons down the front of her blouse, opened them one by one, her eyes on his face. He looked different, harder, more in command. The change in him intrigued her.

  “Lose the jeans,” he said.

  Heat slithered through her, settled in her core. She slipped off her sandals and unzipped the jeans she had changed into, pulled them down over her hips and stepped out of them.

  “Get up on the bed.”

  There was something erotic about being naked while he still wore clothes. She moved toward the bed and started to pull back the covers, but Jase shook his head.

  “Hands and knees,” he said.

  Her stomach contracted so hard she trembled. Dear God, had she really believed she wasn’t in the mood?

  He unzipped his jeans as she climbed up on the mattress, turned her head to watch him undress over her shoulder. Hard muscle rippled with every move, tightening the hot knot of anticipation coiling low in her belly.

  In seconds his boots were gone, his jeans and briefs. Her mouth watered as he walked toward her. He was big and he was hard. This was Hawk Maddox and she wanted him. So bad a soft moan slipped from her throat.

  Jase climbed up on the bed and moved behind her, lifted her hair aside and pressed his mouth against the nape of her neck. Soft bites and moist kisses trailed over her shoulders and down her spine. Big hands ran over her hips. He bent and kissed her butterfly tattoo.

  Kate whimpered. When he stroked her, settled himself behind her and eased deep inside, pleasure scorched through her. There was no room for sadness, no room for anything but Jason and what he made her feel.

  He started slowly, taking his time, heightening the pleasure. Some intuitive part of her knew this was for her, a respite from the terrible day she’d had, the awful grief and overwhelming despair.

  She arched her back to take more of him and he increased the rhythm, gripping her hips to hold her in place, giving her what she needed. Heat erupted like lightning, burning over her skin, hurling her toward the peak. She cried out as a powerful climax struck, traveling from the base of her spine out through her limbs, gripping her and refusing to let go.

  Jase didn’t stop, just keep driving into her until she came again before he followed her to release.

  Both of them collapsed on the bed, curled together spoon-fashion. Their hearts beat wildly, finally began to slow. Jase kissed the nape of her neck, then left to dispose of protection.

  She was groggy, more than half asleep when he returned, curling her against him back to front. A big arm draped over her middle, keeping her close. She felt safe in a way she never had before, safe and protected.

  Kate closed her eyes and drifted into a deep, untroubled sleep.

  * * *

  Bright morning sun beat through the windows. Yesterday had been sticky and hot, probably be the same today.

  Jase sat at the kitchen table, his coffee now cold, a few crumbs of the pastry he’d picked up earlier left on his plate. His laptop sat open, his mind once more on the Gallagher case and finding Christina Gallagher’s killer. Or possibly more than one.

  He needed a lead. He phoned Detective Benson, but it was Saturday and Benson was off for the weekend. Jase asked if Heath Ford was there. Heath was a friend, the best homicide detective on the force, as far as Jase was concerned, and he always seemed to be working. Sure enough, Heath was there.

  The line picked up. “Detective Ford.”

  “Heath, it’s Maddox. I know you aren’t working the Gallagher case, but I was hoping you could check, see if the liquor store has been verified as the primary crime scene.”

  “I don’t have to check. I know it has. I heard Benson talking about it. Blood type found at the crime scene matched the dead girl’s. Benson followed up, got a DNA match on her from the autopsy.”

  “Did they find any other DNA?”

  “They found a splinter of wood from the murder weapon, some kind of club, I gather. Skin DNA on the wood. Unfortunately, there was no match in the system.”

  So Eli had been telling the truth. Considering he’d had a pistol stuck in his mouth at the time, Jase wasn’t really surprised. Zepeda had left Tina alive. If his DNA had been on the wood, his name would have popped. As many times as Eli had been arrested, he would definitely be in the system.

  “Did Benson say if he’s turned up anything else?”

  “Not that I know of. He’s got a lot of cases right now. We all do. Wish I could be more helpful.”

  “At least I know I’m on the right track. Thanks, Heath.”

  Jase looked up as Kate came into the kitchen. He should have gone home last night. He’d been spending way too much time with her. He needed some space. Figured she did, too.

  Still, he didn’t regret staying. She might not have known it, but she’d needed him last night. She’d had friends and sympathy all day. More of the same wouldn’t have done her any good. She needed something else, something to challenge her, fire her blood, and he understood her well enough to know exactly what that was.

  He’d done what he’d set out to do and given her a little peace. Kate had slept like a baby.

  His body stirred just thinking about it. It took a real woman to handle a big man like him, and Kate Gallagher was up to the task.

  She walked behind him, leaned down and kissed his cheek. “Thanks for last night. You were amazing.”

  His smile held a trace of arrogance. “You were pretty amazing yourself.”

  “I feel a lot better today. The funeral’s over and my sister’s at rest. I feel like I can move forward, get back to where we left off, concentrate on finding the killer.”

  “You’ve had some time to think. You’ve got a company to run. You could let me take over and get back to your life.”

  She just shook her head, moving the honey blond curls he admired so much. She was wearing tight brown leggings with a cute little blue-and-brown print top. Hauling her back to bed would be a lot more enjoyable than talking about murder.

  “I’m not quit
ting.” She headed over to the kitchen counter, poured herself a mug of coffee and took a sip.

  “What about your job?” he asked.

  “I haven’t taken a vacation since I started the company.”

  “Hunting a killer doesn’t exactly count as a vacation.”

  She just shrugged and took another sip of coffee. “I’ve been keeping up with things in the office. I worked part of the day on Wednesday, and I was on the phone with my people yesterday afternoon.”

  She walked back to the table and sat down, cradling the mug between her palms. “As far as work goes, everything seems to be under control.”

  Jase blew out a resigned breath. “In that case, here’s where we stand. I made a few calls this morning.” He told her about talking to Detective Ford, and that it appeared Zepeda had been telling the truth—the liquor store was the primary crime scene. He told her the CSIs had found skin DNA, but there was no match in the system.

  “Which means it wasn’t Zepeda,” he finished.

  “So where does that leave us? What do we do next?” She took a sip of coffee. “We never talked to that guy Bandini. Maybe we should.”

  Jase shook his head. “We can, but at this point, I don’t think it was Bandini. Both Zepeda and Holly said Tina was on the run. She was hiding from someone. She’d only been in Dallas a few weeks. Eli thinks whoever she was involved with tracked her to the rehab center, followed her that night and killed her.”

  “Why, though? It must have taken a lot of effort to find her. Why would someone from out of town go to that much trouble? Why did he want her dead?”

  “Good question.” One he might be able to answer. “Eli mentioned the tattoo on Tina’s neck. He said it identified her as being one of theirs. A group, not a person.”

  “Theirs. I don’t get it. What am I missing?”

  He wished he didn’t have to tell her. He’d tried to warn her off this case half a dozen times. “There’s a possibility we haven’t really discussed. There’s...ah...a chance that when your sister left home, she somehow fell into the hands of a trafficking ring.”