He should be out of the building by now, on his way back to his office or his home. She refused to think about the dark circles under his eyes, or whether or not he was going to get any sleep. That was none of her business, and she couldn’t care less. There were plenty of things to worry about right here in the office.
Grabbing the stack of papers in front of her, she began to shuffle through them until the image of Lucas McKinley receded, replaced by questions about the seven detectives she was investigating. She had breathed, eaten and slept this case for the past two months, and it never really disappeared from her mind. It was always there, hovering on the edge of her consciousness, haunting every part of her life. Scanning the computer printouts, she again said a prayer of thankfulness that she had been assigned to this case. She couldn’t begin to imagine the ramifications if someone else had gotten hold of it.
She was so engrossed in studying the charts in front of her that she almost didn’t hear the soft knock on her door. When it came again, she looked up with a start to see Luke standing in the door. Her heart began to pound as she said, “Come in.”
“I forgot to ask you the make and license number of your car,” he said abruptly.
She gave it to him, watching as he wrote it down. “What’s that for?” she demanded.
He gave her a humorless smile. “I thought I’d check and see if anyone’s been inquiring about your car down at Motor Vehicles. It might be enlightening for you.”
Another knock sounded at the door, and without waiting for an invitation a tall, slender man with dark blond hair slipped into the room and flopped into the chair next to Julia’s desk. “How’re you doing, Skinny?”
Julia licked her lips and struggled to look at her brother and not at Luke. She was afraid he would see the sudden fear in her eyes. “Hi, Bobby.” She took a deep breath. “Do you know Luke McKinley?” She nodded in his direction. “Luke, this is my brother, Bobby.”
“Only through department legend,” Bobby answered easily as he turned around to look at Luke. “How’re you doing?”
Luke took the hand Bobby had extended. Julia thought his gaze sharpened as he looked at her brother. “You a member of the force?”
Bobby gave him a charming smile. “Your old precinct. Is that coincidence or what?”
“Yeah.”
Instead of leaving, Luke settled back against the wall and watched Julia with hooded eyes. Forcing herself to look away, she turned back to her brother.
“What are you doing here, Bobby?”
“Is that any way to greet your baby brother?” Bobby pulled his features into a mock frown. “A guy would think he wasn’t welcome. Or was I interrupting something?”
She felt herself blush as she glared over at Luke. “Of course you weren’t interrupting. Mr. McKinley was just leaving. I’m surprised you’re here, that’s all. I didn’t expect to see you until this evening.”
“Actually, that’s why I stopped by.” He looked away from her briefly, with the guilty expression she’d known since childhood. “Something’s come up, and I can’t make it tonight. Rain check?”
“Of course,” she forced herself to say with a smile. “Did you get a hot date with that woman you met in the bar?”
“I wouldn’t stand you up for another woman!” He sounded truly shocked that she would even suggest such a thing. “You should know better than that, sis. This is work related.” He looked away again. “I have to work a little overtime.” Staring down at his shoes, he said, “Can we make it another time?”
“Sure,” she forced herself to say. Gripping the arms of her chair, she tried to ask in a casual voice, “Is something big going on in the department?” She didn’t dare look at McKinley. Her stomach began to roll as she waited for Bobby to answer.
“Nah. Just a couple of guys out sick with that flu that’s been going around.” He looked back at her, his gaze clear and sincere. “I didn’t want one of the guys with a wife and kids to have to do a double shift, so I volunteered.”
“That was nice of you, Bobby,” she murmured. Watching him for a moment, she forced herself to smile and said, “Give me a call when you have another free night, and I’ll let you make it up to me. We haven’t had a chance to get together for too long.”
“Yeah, I know.” He stood up quickly. “Thanks for being so understanding, sis. I’m sorry I had to cancel at the last minute like this, but I figured you’d understand.”
“I understand,” she murmured. “Take it easy tonight, Bobby. And be careful.”
At that he gave her his normal cocky grin. “I’m always careful, Skinny. That’s my middle name, remember?” He bent over and gave her a kiss, then strolled out the door.
“Don’t I wish,” she muttered at the place where her brother had disappeared. Reckless would be closer to the truth. And lately, she’d sensed a hint of desperation in his recklessness.
Feeling the noose growing tighter around her heart, she told herself for perhaps the hundredth time that there was no way Bobby could be involved in the case she was investigating. No way. Unwillingly her gaze dropped to the sheaf of papers in front of her. He couldn’t be accepting bribes from drug dealers, betraying everything his badge stood for.
Luke slowly pushed himself away from the wall, his eyes hooded and impossible to read. “You didn’t tell me you had a brother working in my old precinct.”
“It doesn’t affect the case, so why should I have?” She gripped her hands together in her lap, keeping them out of his sight. “He’s just a rookie, so he probably won’t stay there, anyway.”
“Still, it’s kind of a coincidence, isn’t it? Cases with a lot of coincidences are always more interesting.”
She stared at him, speechless, as he strolled out the door.
“I’ll see you later, Julia.”
Oh, God. Why did Bobby have to walk in the office right then? Why couldn’t he have waited another five minutes? Why did Luke have to find out her brother worked in the precinct?
It didn’t matter, she told herself, staring at the door as she listened to Luke’s footsteps fade away down the stairs. Bobby wasn’t involved in the case. There was no evidence linking him to Eddie Timmons and the rest of the crooked cops.
It was just a coincidence that he was busy tonight, she tried to assure herself. He was almost certainly telling the truth about the officers out with the flu. She’d heard there was a lot of it going around.
And now Luke knew she had a brother who was a cop in the precinct. Taking another deep breath, she waited for her stomach to settle down. He wouldn’t find any connection between Bobby and the detectives she was investigating, because there wasn’t any connection. There couldn’t be.
Chapter 3
Leaden gray clouds hid the sun and darkened the early evening sky as Luke swung his battered navy blue sedan into a parking spot near police headquarters. He sat in the car for a few minutes, waiting to see if anyone behind him pulled abruptly into the curb. His gaze drifted over the other parked cars, looking for anyone lingering in his car. Spotting no watchers, he got out of the car and stretched his legs.
He strode toward the imposing and formidable structure that housed police headquarters, trying to concentrate on the case instead of Julia Carleton. She was his client, and he was picking her up to ensure her safety. Thinking any other way could be dangerous. To both of them.
As he walked through the lobby, he heard someone call his name. Turning around, he saw his ex-partner, Eddie Timmons, waving to him as he hurried across the scuffed marble floor.
“Hey, Luke, what are you doing here?” Eddie greeted him.
“Unfinished business.” His answer was deliberately vague as he waited for the other man to reach him. Eddie was bound to find out he was involved in the case sooner or later, but Luke preferred to make it later. There was much to be said for the element of surprise.
“This is the last place I expected to see you,” Eddie continued as he shook his hand.
“You do
what you have to do,” Luke replied, taking in his ex-partner’s expensive suit and Italian shoes. “You look good, Eddie. You going undercover as a slick broker type?”
“Like you said, you do what you have to do.” Eddie flicked an imaginary speck of dust off the lapel of his jacket.
“What’re you doing in this neck of the woods anyway?” Luke asked casually. “Last time I heard, you weren’t a big fan of IAD.” He watched the other man carefully as he spoke.
If he hadn’t been Eddie’s partner, he probably wouldn’t have noticed the slight hardening of the other man’s eyes. “The same as you, Luke. Taking care of business.”
“I won’t keep you, then,” McKinley said, taking a step toward the elevators. “We’ll have to get together sometime.”
“Yeah, I’ll fill you in on all the latest gossip from the precinct. Take it easy.”
Eddie clapped him on the back and headed for the door as Luke watched him go. Eddie Timmons could have a million reasons to be at police headquarters, none of them having anything to do with the case Luke was now working on. Except that Luke had seen the look in Eddie’s eyes when he’d mentioned Internal Affairs.
As Eddie disappeared from view, Luke shook his head. A man wasn’t tried and convicted for being in a busy building. But he’d still ask Julia to check on why Eddie might have been at headquarters today.
He chose another staircase to get to the sixth floor this time. It didn’t hurt to know all the ways in and out of a building. You never knew when that kind of information could be important.
As he approached Julia’s office, a swirl of anticipation swept over him. It was just the rush of starting a new case, he told himself. A case that was going to pay off a lot of his bills. Julia Carleton had nothing to do with it.
He stood outside her door, waiting for the hammering in his chest to subside. Shoving one hand in the pocket of his jeans, he took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
Julia sat at her desk, reviewing yet another set of statistics on Timmons and the other suspects in the case. She didn’t believe in coincidence, especially in her line of work. And there was just too damn much of it in this case.
Timmons and the others were good detectives, as long as they weren’t going after the gang that controlled the drug trade in their precinct. When it came to that gang, they were curiously inept. Busted raids and suspects walking for lack of sufficient evidence were the norm instead of the exception. When they did manage to make an arrest, it was inevitably just a kid caught dealing. It had to be more than coincidence, and somewhere in these printouts was the hard evidence that would convict them. She was sure of it.
“You look busy, investigator.”
She jumped and looked up to see McKinley lounging against the door to her office. “Didn’t your mother teach you to knock?”
“I did knock,” he drawled lazily, one hip holding up the doorframe. “You just didn’t hear me.”
As her eyes met his, Julia thought that some women would consider Lucas McKinley a very attractive man. Wide shoulders and narrow hips emphasized his long, rangy body. His hard face complemented the reckless, I-don’t-give-adamn look in his eyes. The aura of sexuality that hovered around him was only more potent because he didn’t seem aware of it.
She was staring at him, she realized suddenly. Hastily she looked down at the papers on her desk. “Let me get these together and I’ll be right with you.”
He moved away from the door and settled himself in the chair next to her desk. Too aware of how close he was, she wished fervently she hadn’t placed that chair so close to hers.
“Any hot news flashes for me about the case?”
Her lips tightened as she shook her head. “No. I haven’t found anything new. If you’ve had a chance to look at the files I gave you, maybe you have some suggestions.”
“My first suggestion is to get out of here before we do any talking. I don’t know who else in IAD is interested in this case, but I saw Eddie Timmons in the lobby a few minutes ago.”
She paused in the act of putting the printouts into her briefcase to glance up at him. “Eddie was here? What for?”
“He didn’t say,” Luke answered dryly. “Just like I didn’t tell him why I was here. And as far as I’m concerned, he’s not guilty until you prove it to me beyond a shadow of a doubt. But given the fact that you’re investigating him and he probably knows it, I thought it was very interesting.”
She shoved the papers into her briefcase and stood up. “Tomorrow morning I’ll do a little sniffing around and see if I can find out who he was here to see. As far as I know, there isn’t any reason for Timmons to be in this building.”
“There are other departments here besides Internal Affairs.” McKinley spoke lazily as he looked up at her from the chair.
“I hardly think he’d be visiting with the superintendent or his staff,” she answered tartly. “And detectives rarely need to see anyone in Communications or Identification or any of the other departments here. Any problems he’d have could be handled at the district level.” She paused, trying to rein in her temper. After all, she had hired McKinley knowing he’d be adamant in believing Timmons innocent. “Tell me, how many times did you visit police headquarters while you were a member of the department?”
“Quite a few,” he drawled, standing up and towering over her. “In fact, you probably know exactly how many times I visited this building. I’m sure it’s all written down in your notes on my case.”
She shifted her briefcase to her other hand. “Besides that, I mean.” Her voice was tight.
He shrugged. “Who knows? Not often, I’ll grant you that. But I did have to come down here occasionally.”
“A few minutes ago you implied that Eddie was here for guilty reasons. Now you’re trying to convince me that he wasn’t. You can’t have it both ways, McKinley. Which is it going to be?” She pushed her hair away from her face and stared at him with frustration.
He smiled blandly and moved to open the door for her. “Just playing devil’s advocate. I know you’re convinced that Eddie’s guilty, but in order to investigate him objectively you have to be able to accept the fact that he may actually be innocent. It always pays to be able to look at both sides, Julia. Remember that.”
Looking into his eyes, she saw the shadows of old pain lurking in the dark blue depths. Pain he tried to hide. He wasn’t talking about Eddie Timmons at all, she realized. He was talking about his case, the one she’d investigated two years ago.
She lowered her eyes and walked past him into the hallway. “I always try to look at both sides.”
“Do you?” he murmured. “I’m glad to hear that.”
Holding her briefcase more tightly, she headed for the elevator. When he touched her arm she froze, feeling a surge of heat even through her suit jacket.
“We’re going to take the stairs.”
Shifting subtly to move away from his touch, she swallowed hard and said, “How come? And don’t try to tell me that assassins lurk in the police department elevators.”
He raised one eyebrow. “We don’t know why Eddie was here. And we don’t know who’s going to get on that elevator with us. Are you sure you want to advertise our… association?”
“You’re right,” she muttered. “I wasn’t thinking.” And it was your fault, she added silently. From now on she’d stay as far away from Lucas McKinley as possible. She didn’t need any more accidental touches distracting her from her purpose. His effect on her was far too disturbing. From now on, she’d make sure there was at least three feet between them.
He held open the door to the stairwell and she brushed carefully past him. She’d started down the stairs when he touched her shoulder lightly. Spinning around, she backed down a couple of steps and faced him.
“What are you so jumpy for?” His whisper echoed harshly off the cinder block walls.
“I’m not jumpy,” she denied quickly. “And why did you stop me? I thought the idea was to get out of th
e building as quickly as possible.”
“I want to go first. You were running down the stairs like the demons of hell were after you.”
The description was close enough. No demon from hell could make her feel any more threatened than Luke did when he touched her. Plastering herself against the railing, she waited until he was several steps ahead of her before following him down.
When they reached the lobby they paused in the doorway for a moment, then Luke touched her elbow and started forward. Damning herself for her unwanted reaction and damning Luke for causing it, she followed him out the door of the building and headed for the parking lot where her car waited.
He was at her side in a moment. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“To my car, of course. Where else would I be going?” Her voice was sharper than necessary, and she told herself to calm down. It wouldn’t do any good if McKinley suspected the effect he had on her.
“I’ll drive you home in my car.” He turned so he stood in front of her, blocking her access to the parking lot. “If someone is following you, we’ll look like a damned silly parade heading north and they’ll know we’re on to them. I can come back and get your car later.”
“Don’t you think you’re being a little paranoid? And what are ‘they’ going to think if they see me in your car? Aren’t they going to be suspicious then?”
“They’ll think we’re dating and that I picked you up from work. They’ll think, ‘How romantic.’” He took a step toward her and she backed up until she felt the chain-link fence against her spine. “They’ll think we’re so wrapped up in each other that we won’t notice them, and then maybe they’ll get careless.”
Licking her lips, she stared at him. He was so close that she could see the deeper violet flecks in the iris blue of his eyes. “I don’t think we ever discussed using a dating situation as cover. I’m not sure it’s necessary.”
He leaned closer. “You’ve hired me to get a job done, Ms. Carleton. I’ll use whatever I think is necessary.”
An Honorable Man Page 4
