Justice Hunter

by Jennifer Morey

  “Joseph told me.”

  One morning she’d awakened like any other, with the sunrise, the news and a cup of coffee while she prepared for work. Her new schedule. She’d finally arrived. She was one of the commuters in the traffic report. Might seem insignificant to most, but she’d never had a job with hours that coincided with rush hour.

  Then a breaking story had come on with video of Luella Palmer’s crime scene. When the screen changed to her place of residence, she’d recognized the house instantly. Jared had taken her there on a few occasions, not often, but often enough to keep her from becoming suspicious. Luella must have been traveling or out with friends. She’d stood there, stunned with a mounting storm of emotion. Betrayal, disbelief, a surreal unreality. He couldn’t have...

  But he had.

  How could he?

  Next, the news showed Jared Palmer walking into the police station for questioning. The husband was always one of the first suspects, but what motive would he have?

  “He tried calling me afterward,” Rachel said. “I didn’t answer. I never wanted to talk to him again. I didn’t even want to hear his explanation, because to me, there was no explanation worthy enough to hear. He lied about being married. He made me the other woman without my awareness.”

  “Why didn’t you go to the police?”

  Had Lucas already judged her for not doing so? She had to be careful how much she said. “I wanted nothing to do with him. I had nothing to do with Luella’s murder. I didn’t even know she existed. I wasn’t with him the night she was killed. For all I could see, he could have killed her. What if he lied to police?” Part of her had hoped he’d be sent to prison. If she could have helped that process along, she would have.

  Gloria leaned back, crossing one leg over the other. “Lucas has always believed Jared killed her.”

  “Why? What has he discovered?” Surely, Lucas must have unearthed something. And then another thought came. “If he’s so convinced Jared killed Luella, then why go after me?”

  “Your affair, of course.” Gloria bestowed her with a shrewder look. “And the fact that you didn’t go to the police.”

  Rachel didn’t back down. But neither did she offer any further explanation. No one would look out for her except herself, and revealing too much could draw danger to her door.

  “And I wouldn’t say he’s gone after you. He just...needed a way to get information.”

  Rachel wasn’t sure she liked this woman. She put on a friendly front, but boy, look out for what lay beneath.

  “I should get going.” As she stood, she saw Lucas step out from the entry.

  She froze with shock. How long had he been there? Had he listened to her conversation with Gloria?

  “Hello, Rachel.”

  The way he said Rachel had her on edge. She replayed all she’d said. Nothing too terrible.

  Hearing Gloria stir, she watched her stand and smile at her son. “Lucas.” Going there, she hugged him. It all looked genuine. “I can’t imagine what’s brought you here.”

  In other words, she had a crystal clear idea. He held his mother, but hard eyes targeted Rachel.

  Why did he look at her like that? The kissing. His touches. The passion. None of that mattered now. Flustered, unable to grapple with the conflict between him last night and him now, she stepped toward the entry, intending to pass Lucas and his mother. She would have walked right past them, but Lucas moved in her way.

  “You’re not going anywhere.”

  What would he do to stop her? Rachel stepped back and out of his reach. Passion had stolen her mind last night. Today she saw his true agenda. She should have never let down her guard. She’d sensed something off in him. She should have listened to the silent warning.

  Well, she’d listen now.

  “You told my mother you haven’t spoken with Jared,” he said.

  Why had he zeroed in on that? What interest did he have in Jared, other than his possible involvement in his sister’s murder?

  “I didn’t,” she said. “Not after I found out he was married.”

  “But you have talked to him.”

  She began to have a bad feeling. How would he know if she’d spoken with Jared or not?

  “He tried to restart things with you,” he said.

  His mother turned sharply to her, and Rachel drew her head back, an involuntary flinch.

  “How do you know that?” Then her jaw went slack as the reason came to her. “You spied on me?” Not only had he lied to her, he’d spied on her! He knew about Jared. Furthermore, his ex-wife was trying to restart things with him. All the distrust she felt with Jared rushed forth with Lucas. She refused to be victimized again.

  Giving him a shove, she went to the door.

  He caught up to her, taking hold of her arm and pulling her back toward him. “What are you hiding, Rachel?”

  “Let me go.” She’d feared consequences like this, both the danger to herself and those close to her. While she even now didn’t second-guess her decision, she often wondered if she should have been braver.

  “Tell me about your job at the insurance company. It was Jared’s, wasn’t it? You worked for him.”

  Oh, God, no. This could not come out now. She yanked her arm free and left the house.

  Lucas followed her. She walked down the street.

  “If there’s something you know, you have to do the right thing and tell me.”

  She ignored him and kept walking.

  “Rachel.”

  “Leave me alone. I wish you well and that you find your sister’s killer. I don’t know anything that will help you or the investigation.” She glanced pointedly at him. “If I did, I’d have gone to the police.” If she had something concrete.

  “The smallest detail could change the direction of the investigation,” he said.

  The smallest detail...

  Telling him about the first and last time she saw his sister wouldn’t hand him the killer, and she didn’t qualify what little she did know as a small detail. Or the things that had occurred afterward. But dare she reveal anything?

  Without responding, she kept walking. He sighed with resignation.

  “Where are you going?” he finally asked.

  “Bus stop.”

  “Wait.”

  He seemed awkward over a shift in his mood, going from angry and frustrated to needing something from her. Information.

  “I’ll drive you home,” he said, his persuasive side coming out in a forced way. He must have sensed she held back and didn’t like that, but he’d try to get her to talk. To what extent would he go? He’d already lied to her. She had to expect he could lie again.

  “No, thanks. You did that last night.” And he had his ex-wife to deal with. She wanted no part of him with even the slightest chance he’d go back to her.

  “This has nothing to do with last night.”

  How could he say that? “Last night was based on a lie.”

  “I have to find my sister’s killer, and you aren’t exactly a fountain of information.”

  She wasn’t helping him at all. She couldn’t. “I didn’t kill her.”

  “Do you know who did?”

  Rachel thought of the faceless man who’d stalked her, frightened her and still did. “No.” She reached the bus stop, where she’d have to wait twenty minutes.

  “Let me drive you home.”

  She eyed him, seeing his distrust and lack of appreciation. He’d like to let his irritation loose, she’d bet.

  “You lied to me, and all you care about is what you think I might know, which is nothing,” she said.

  His attitude changed in an instant. He softened and regarded her contritely.

  “It’s cold out here,” he said. “Come on. I’ll dr
ive you home.”

  “There’s nothing I can say that will help you,” she said. “So maybe you’d rather not waste your time on a girl like me.”

  He blinked acknowledgment of her insight. “I won’t be wasting my time. And I’m sorry for lying. But as you can see, this case is very important to me. Come on, Rachel.” He held out his hand. “Come with me.”

  She wasn’t ready to let him off that easy. “What about your ex-wife? Won’t she mind if you take me home?”

  He took a second or two to piece together what she’d said. “I don’t care if she does.”

  Jared would have said something like that to her. Experienced liar.

  She looked away.

  “Hmph,” Lucas scoffed. “You think I’d actually take her back after what she did?”

  She rolled her eyes his way. His lying bothered her more than the threat of his ex-wife.

  “I’m not Jared,” he said. “And I resent you comparing me to that.”

  Again, she turned away.

  Lucas took her hand and pulled her toward him. “I get why you don’t trust easily, especially since I lied to you. But you aren’t in any danger if all I do is drive you home.”

  Pulling her hand free of his, she started toward his black SUV.

  “Where’s your car?” she asked.

  “In my garage. I have more than one vehicle.”

  Of course he did. He had money.

  It was the cold, not him, that made up her mind. She’d be a fool to trust this master manipulator.

  Chapter 5

  Lucas pulled to a stop in front of Rachel’s apartment building.

  “Don’t walk me to my door.” She started to open the SUV door.

  “Rachel.” He had to agree; walking her to her door obviously presented danger to both of them, but words still had to be said before he let her go. “Don’t hold my dad responsible for what I did. You should keep your job with him.”

  Glancing over, he caught her slow blink before turning toward the window.

  “He’s a good man. And I know you need the income.”

  “Unlike you?” she asked.

  “That I don’t need the income?”

  “No, the other.”

  That he wasn’t a good man. Lucas suppressed a grin, hearing the hint of teasing sass. “I’m a little rough around the edges.”

  She turned from the window as he pulled into the parking lot. He met her look, watching sass go sober. “Were you really in training to be a SEAL?”

  She liked that part about him. “Yes.” He would have liked to have kept being a SEAL. And she would be the kind of woman who’d support a man like that.

  Why he’d thought that, he didn’t know. Reaching for his door handle, he stopped when she asked another question.

  “What about the dot-commer?”

  “Lie. I’m sorry.”

  Her mouth pressed tight but she recovered to ask, “And the ranch?”

  “All mine.”

  “Did your dad buy it?”

  “I have a trust fund, but I also earned money as a SWAT cop.”

  “You’re a cop?” Her voice rose high with the last word.

  Pleasant surprise and interest sparked, the way it had when he’d told her he went to SEAL training. “Yes. LAPD. Until I joined Dark Alley Investigations. Local police weren’t getting very far.” His time with the Los Angeles Police Department had provided an adequate diversion. Every day brought new disorder to bring to order. Murder. Robbery. Domestic violence. Rape and crimes against children had been the worst.

  He noticed Rachel had turned away again. She hadn’t gotten out of his SUV, though. Maybe he had hope, after all.

  “What about your ex-wife?” she asked.

  “I’m not getting back with her. That’s not a lie.”

  Her distrust had built a robust wall of defensiveness to protect her against lying, cheating men. He understood why she kept going back to that.

  She mulled that over awhile, debating whether to believe him on any topic.

  “Dark Alley seems very elite,” she said without looking at him.

  He kept a grin from sprouting. She was curious about his job with DAI. “Elite isn’t a word I’d use.”

  Now she turned to him. “What word would you use?”

  He searched for something adequate. “Facilitative.”

  Those golden orbs slid over from the angle of her head, losing some of her distrust and becoming seductive. Attracted...

  “Facilitative?”

  He had to actually curb an outright chuckle. A moment more to overcome the impact of her lovely face, and he had the wherewithal to respond.

  “I have a lot more room to investigate with them than I would in LA as a cop.”

  “Meaning, they look the other way when you do something illegal but in favor of the investigation.”

  “Something like that. I wouldn’t call myself a mercenary, but I could be a mercenary with a heart.”

  He watched her struggle to hold back a grin. Opening the door, she said, “You’re a liar,” and got out.

  Seeing her glance back on her way to the dimly lit, cheap front apartment door, Lucas fought a tickle of adoration. Her hair sailed with the turn of her head, and her hips swayed like a confident woman misplaced in her current setting. She opened the front door and went inside.

  Lucas leaned his head back, basking in a mysterious glow. Still parked where he’d let her go, he took a few moments to settle back down to Earth.

  Then dread marched a slow invasion. He hadn’t felt that tight pull in the pit of his stomach since the last time he’d met a woman who touched his heart. He’d met her a year after his divorce, after he’d started as an LAPD cop, after he’d acclimated to the ugliness of crime and set his sights on becoming a detective.

  Nicole had been an administrative assistant in his department. She always had a cheery hello for him and had a young, sexy body. Her fun personality had masked what grew between them. Then she’d invited him up to her apartment after dinner and a movie. They’d made love, and Lucas felt as though he could be with her, really be with her.

  That tight pull inside had preceded a sick feeling and reminders of how he’d been fooled before. Fear of being fooled again hadn’t been what made him withdraw from that sweet, funny girl. She hadn’t understood and he hadn’t explained anything to her, just stopped calling and going by her desk. She’d tried to intercept him, and the last time he saw her, she cornered him and demanded an explanation.

  I’m not interested in anything lasting, he’d said.

  He hadn’t been prepared to talk about his feelings. He hadn’t understood them himself. But after that girl had quit her job and left LA and he’d read the email she’d sent him, he’d thought of nothing else for months. He’d broken her heart. His dishonesty had crushed her. He’d never explained about his ex.

  After he’d sorted out his thoughts, he realized he wasn’t ready to be with another woman. He’d told the truth that he wasn’t interested in anything lasting, but he’d left out that he didn’t think long relationships were worth the investment of trust. Becoming a damn good detective had taken priority. He had to be good at something. He’d quit SEAL training. He would rather die than give up his career as a detective. He had something to be proud of, and that went a long way in making up the loss of a dream.

  Now, though, he wondered how so many years had gone by without thinking of that sweet, funny girl. Would he spend the rest of his life single? That thought didn’t bother him. The thought of spending the rest of his life with a woman did. That tug in his stomach tightened, as though Rachel could draw him away from all he’d built. She could send him down a different path, just like his ex.

  Just as he put the gear in Drive, h
e spotted someone climbing up a fire escape. Lucas had parked opposite the alley beside the run-down apartment building. Silhouetted against light coming from a streetlight near the next building, the man reached the fifth floor. Rachel’s floor.

  Without hesitation, Lucas put the gear back in Park, turned the engine off and pushed open his door. He jogged toward the man and the fire escape, staying in the shadows.

  The man worked on the window, testing the lock and then using something to pry the window open. Was that Rachel’s apartment? He pictured her getting ready for bed, unsuspecting.

  Lucas began to climb the fire escape, seeing the man disappear into the building, leaving the window open. He ran up the metal stairs to the window. No sound came from inside. Did the man think Rachel wasn’t home, or had he waited for her to return?

  Lucas didn’t think so. He would have seen Rachel get out of Lucas’s SUV. It was late. Maybe he hoped to sneak inside while she slept. Except she wasn’t asleep. Not yet.

  Climbing through the window and into Rachel’s small dining area, Lucas heard the shower running and then saw the man turn from the bathroom door. He was just under six feet tall with dark eyes and dark hair, and he wore black jeans and a black fleece jacket. Lucas didn’t recognize him.

  The man suddenly noticed him and charged. Lucas blocked a trained kick and the chopping swings of the man’s arms. He sparred with his feet and hands, connecting two blows to the man’s head. Realizing he had a formidable opponent in Lucas, the man ducked and rolled to escape, standing in the middle of the living room. Lucas kicked his torso, and the man slammed against the wall opposite the window. Before Lucas could continue his assault, the man jumped into a somersault and landed by the front door.

  Rachel appeared in the bathroom doorway with a towel wrapped around her. Distracted just long enough, Lucas couldn’t stop the man from running through the door.

  He ran after him, shouting to Rachel, “Stay here!”

  The man took the stairs.

  Lucas ran after him, leaping over the railing to the lower level stairs to gain distance. The other man was fast. He raced down to the lobby level.