“Cassidy?” Diego said with his eyebrows raised.
“Dr. Barnes, if you prefer.” Ronan gave him a pointed look.
Diego returned it. “I prefer Cassidy, myself.”
“Then we’re of a mind, there.”
They sat staring at each other for a few seconds, stupidly and with way more testosterone than should permeate any room in the twenty-first century, but there it was. Diego glanced away first as he stood up. Ronan in no way took that as a sign of the other man’s weakness or capitulation. He stood, too, and followed his partner silently out to the car. By unspoken agreement, they didn’t talk about anything on the way to the morgue. When they entered the chilly and creepy room where Cassidy had their vic laid out, she greeted them with a friendly smile and a wave for them to come join her by the corpse.
That smile hit Ronan low in the gut, putting a momentary hitch to his stride. Even all suited up in her protective autopsy gear, her figure was on full display. She wasn’t very tall even for a woman, but she possessed the traditionally sexy hourglass curves. He liked the look, never having developed a taste for tall and thin. The way her breasts filled out the top of her scrubs made his palms itch. He reflexively curled his fingers, as if grabbing a handful. A small exhalation of air beside him confirmed Diego had a similar reaction. The fucker.
Ignoring his partner, Ronan poured on the charm, greeting Cassidy back with a wide smile. “Hey, Doc, what do you have for us?”
Turning back toward the body, Cassidy started her report. “I can definitely confirm he was killed by a single slash to his throat that cut through his trachea. Given the one-shot precision of the swipe, I’d say the killer knew what they were doing.”
“They?” Diego asked as he and Ronan walked to the other side of the table.
“Sorry, I’m being gender neutral in my assumptions in a grammatically incorrect way. I have no reason to believe there was more than one person involved. There were no signs of a struggle, no bruising or abrasions.”
“He knew his killer,” Ronan surmised.
“Or they caught him by surprise,” Diego amended.
Cassidy nodded. “One or the other. The contents of his stomach indicate he had a nice last meal, fish and vegetables. There appears to be alcohol in his system, but I won’t know how much or whether he ingested any drugs until the tox screen results come back. You know that takes a while.” She wrinkled her nose in an adorable fashion. “My gut’s telling me he wasn’t drinking for long, and his body shows no signs of alcoholism.”
“You mean he was in good health?” Diego asked.
“Fairly, yes, given his age. There’re no signs of cirrhosis or other liver disease. He has some plaque in his heart, but no more than a lot of guys his age. His muscle tone was good, although he could have stood to lose about twenty pounds.”
“What was the condition of his feet?” Diego prodded some more.
Cassidy shrugged. “He could have used a pedicure, I suppose. Again, nothing out of the ordinary for a man his age.”
“So, it didn’t look as if he’d been wearing shoes that didn’t fit for a long time?”
“No, and I did notice the shoes and his clothes in general didn’t fit him well.”
Leaning into the body more, Ronan peered at the guy’s face. “I haven’t seen too many homeless men that are well fed.” He cocked his head to get a better look. “This guy looks familiar to me.”
Diego moved closer to Ronan and scrutinized the guy, too. “You mean you busted him once or maybe just rousted him from someplace when you were in uniform?”
“Maybe.” There was this weird niggling in the back of his head that said this man was important in some way. The memory of when, where, and how he might have seen him slipped away as soon as he tried to take hold of it. It was maddening.
Finally, Ronan gave up and straightened. “It’s not coming to me. Hopefully, we’ll get a hit on his fingerprints on the Fed’s IAFIS.” He flashed a smile at Cassidy. “Anything else you can tell us?”
Cassidy blinked back at Ronan stupidly for a second or two, the force of the guy’s smile killing a few brain cells.
Well, yes. When you smile at me like that, my heartbeat speeds up and my knees go weak. Classic signs of arousal.
Despite the cool temperature of the autopsy room, her cheeks felt flushed and she was damp between the legs. This was so not good. She’d told herself her reaction to these men had been some bizarre aberration brought on by the gruesomeness of the corpse and the ungodly weather of the day. That excuse wasn’t going to cut it now. She was well acquainted with Mr. John Doe at this point, and there was no heat and humidity inside to blame. It was libido, pure and simple.
Except nothing was simple about finding herself simultaneously attracted to two men. Perhaps her reaction was a rebound effect from dumping her fiancé of five years. She had studiously ignored the attractiveness of men who were not Thomas, being the good girl as always. She’d especially given overtly masculine men a wide berth, telling herself she preferred quiet intellectuals who went to the gym just enough to stay a healthy weight, but not so much to develop obvious muscle. Yeah, that had been a big fat lie. Men with strong physiques were her go-to fantasies these days.
These two cops were something right out of those fantasies, too. Ronan Callaghan was tall and sleekly muscled, the picture of boyish beauty with dark hair that was too long and curled around his ears and the nape of his neck. He looked like a guy who’d just rolled out of bed. His bright blue eyes actually twinkled when he turned his attention on her, which so far was non-stop since they’d met. The guy was full of Irish charm, and if there was a woman on the planet who could resist him, she’d be very surprised.
Diego Nieves had the dark and smoldering thing going on. A bit shorter and more thickly muscled than Ronan, he kept his hair on the short side, and everything on him was neat as a pin. He appeared to be the kind of guy who took great care of everything in his life, a serious guy, but one who promised an explosive time in bed. When he fixed his deep brown eyes on her, she knew she was the center of his attention.
Jesus, if she ended up going out with only one of them, she’d count herself lucky. The only fly in the ointment was, she was sure both of them were a few years younger than she was. As Diego had indicated at the crime scene, Ronan was maybe mid-twenties and Diego closer to thirty. Regardless, at thirty-two, she was older than both, not by a huge margin, just enough to be noticeable. Except neither of them seemed to care about that if the looks they gave her meant what she thought they meant.
“Dr. Barnes? Cassidy?” Ronan’s voice permeated her sexual fog, and she remembered he’d asked her a question.
Crap, she needed to get her head back in the game. “Um, no, that’s all I have of particular interest. No signs of recent sexual activity, either, if that matters. And there was what I’d take to be an old bullet wound on his side.”
“How old?” This from Diego.
“Oh, hard to say, but it’s many years old. Here.” She lifted the sheet to show them.
The two men bowed down, heads almost touching, to look at the scar. That was another thing to recommend them both. Even though she could tell they were interested in her, they were still focused enough and dedicated enough to do their job thoroughly.
She felt stupid for her lapse in attention, although she was sure of her autopsy results. Details were her strength, and she loved solving puzzles. Healing people had its appeal, of course, and she’d done well as an intern and resident. When it came to a career path, however, being a medical examiner was the perfect fit for her. Too bad her parents didn’t see it that way.
The cops straightened up. “Well, at least we know he didn’t live a completely quiet life,” Ronan observed.
“Yes, but that doesn’t put us any closer to figuring out who he is,” Diego replied. He smiled at Cassidy. “Thanks. I guess we’ve seen and heard enough. You’ll let us know about the tox screen?”
Cassidy crossed her
heart. “As soon as I hear.”
He smiled again. “Thanks.”
“Yeah, thanks,” Ronan chimed in. “You’re more fun to visit with than Morris.”
She frowned at him. “Morris is a nice man.”
“You’re nicer. See you around.”
“Good-bye,” Diego added as he followed his partner out.
Pulling the cover more fully over the victim, Cassidy started to strip herself of the gear in the vain hope that shedding some of her clothing would make her more comfortable. Her reasoning was stupid because she knew the heat came from the inside. Although, hopefully with the men gone, her core temperature would return to normal.
Her hip started to vibrate. She poked through the surgical gown to grab her phone. She couldn’t hold back a grin when she saw the caller I.D. “Hi, did you forget to ask me something?”
“As a matter of fact, I did.” There was a hint of laughter in Ronan’s voice. “I forgot to ask you if you’ll go out with me.”
Nerves fluttered in her stomach like angry butterflies. It had been years since a guy’d asked her out. She wanted to play it cool, but hard-to-get had never been her style. “I’d love to. When?”
“Tomorrow night? I thought dinner.”
“Oh, not just drinks? Isn’t that the way you kids do it these days. Make it for drinks and if we hit it off, we can always move onto dinner. If not, it’s over fast.”
Ronan chuckled. “First of all, what’s with ‘you kids’? You’re not that old, Dr. Barnes. Second, I don’t need the escape hatch of a drink date. I’m sure I want to have dinner with you.”
The certainty of his tone shredded the butterflies in her stomach. “Okay, me too. What time?”
“Sevenish? It’s hard to say for sure when I’ll get free. How about I text you tomorrow afternoon to confirm the time and place?”
“Sounds good.” She couldn’t keep the smile off her face and was glad there was no one else around to see it. She was sure she looked goofy, way goofier than a woman her age should.
They said their good-byes, and as she pressed end, her face fell. Damn, she didn’t have any more date clothes. Good thing the date wasn’t until the next night. She had shopping to do.
****
“Son of a bitch! You just asked Cassidy out.” Diego had caught the tail end of the phone call as he caught up to Ronan by the car. Asshole! He should have known the guy was pulling a fast one when he walked briskly ahead of Diego even with the sun still beating down on them.
Ronan shot him a smug look as he unlocked the door. “Yep. That a problem?”
“You know damn well it is. I saw her first.” Shit, now he sounded like a teenager.
“Sorry, man, I didn’t hear you call dibs.”
“Seriously? That’s so juvenile.” He buckled his seat belt and was too pissed off to grab anything as Ronan executed his standard out of the gate start.
Ronan shrugged. “I’m not the one whining about laying claim to Cassidy. A concept, I might add, she’d find offensive.”
“What are you, Gloria Steinem?” God, the more he spoke, the stupider he sounded. He should just shut up. And yet he didn’t. “There’s a bro code, or don’t you guys up here in Boston believe in that sort of thing?”
“Depends on what part of the code you’re talking about. Now, if you’re talking about having your back in the field, then sure, you can count on me. But if it comes down to stepping aside so you can move in on a woman like Cassidy, forget it.”
“So that’s it? We’re at war over this?”
“If you choose to see it that way.” Ronan shot him another smug glance that rubbed Diego’s last fucking nerve raw.
He took a deep and silent breath, using the relaxation techniques he’d learned in therapy to calm himself. He was too quick to anger since the worst night of his life, and part of coming to Boston was to break up old patterns. Fighting with his new partner over a woman, who was frankly out of each of their leagues, was a piss poor way to turn over a new leaf. Besides, there was no point in trying to get Ronan to step aside and for sure Diego wasn’t going to do it. The better part of valor was to retreat and find a way to outflank him.
Satisfied with his plan of action, he forced his body to relax. “Naw, forget it. We have a murder to solve. This isn’t high school.”
Pulling up to a red light, Ronan shifted to look at him. “I’ve known you for less than a day, but somehow I find it hard to believe you give up that easily.”
Diego gave him his most disarming smile. “If you choose to see it that way… Light’s green.”
Ronan hit the gas with a frown yet didn’t bother to challenge Diego further. When they arrived back at the station, they had an email from the lead forensic tech giving them the good news that the vic’s prints had matched someone in the Fed’s database. Each of them had a copy of the message, and they sat at their respective desks staring at the mug shots and other information contained in the file.
“Seamus O’Malley? Ring any bells?” Diego asked.
The guy had been arrested pretty regularly starting at eighteen, and likely there were sealed juvenile records as well. The last arrest had been almost eight years ago when the man had been in his mid-thirties. It was obvious this was their vic.
Ronan didn’t answer right away. He peered at his screen intently. “I know this guy. This last mug shot in particular is familiar, although the name doesn’t mean anything to me.” He shrugged. “Obviously, he’s Irish, but it’s not like all the Irish in Boston know each other.”
Diego snorted. “Yeah, I get that. And there’s no way you ever busted him. You weren’t even a cop, I bet, the last time he was arrested.”
Ronan went still. There was nothing overt about his reaction, yet the sudden tension in the man was palpable. “No,” he replied with a slow shake of his head. “I was just out of high school.”
Diego snorted again. “You’re just a kid.”
Ronan didn’t react to the jibe. Instead he said, “The summer after I started college, my parents were murdered.”
Oh, shit! Yeah, he’d caught wind of that fact already. “I’m, ah, sorry.” He winced at how lame his apology sounded.
Sitting back in his chair, Ronan stared off in the distance. “I don’t know why I just said that.” He frowned and looked at Diego. “Sorry, that was a weird non sequitur.”
“No, it wasn’t. I poked at your age, and O’Malley’s record took us back to around that time.” He stopped talking because he wasn’t sure what to say. For the first time all day, his cocky and charming partner looked vulnerable. Damn, it was easier to deal with him when he was acting like a bastard.
Ronan shook himself, and the easy smile returned. “Let’s see if we can get an address on Seamus. I can’t believe he turned over a new leaf and stayed out of trouble for nearly a decade.”
Okay, if Ronan was going to act like nothing had happened, Diego would, too. “People do change, although in my experience rarely when they start that young and are so relentless about getting arrested.”
They spent the rest of the afternoon digging into the possible residence of O’Malley, and while there were enough men in the Boston area with that name, none popped as their guy. Just after five, Ronan threw up his hands. “Maybe the guy was really homeless.”
Diego frowned. “You don’t believe that any more than I do. He’s just managed to stay off the grid somehow while still living well enough to eat fish, brush his teeth, and cut his fingernails.
“Takes cash to do that without leaving a trail.”
“Or living with relatives.”
“Yeah, that could be it.” Ronan stood up and stretched. “We should start hunting down relatives.” He glanced at his watch. “I’m good for a few more hours. How about you?”
Diego hesitated. While he was willing to put in long hours to solve a case, he had a different plan for the evening. Fortunately, he was saved from making excuses. A uniform came up to speak with Ronan.
“S
ergeant Callaghan requests the pleasure of your company, Ronan.” The uniform grinned as he pivoted away.
Ronan groaned. “Sorry, we’ll have to pick this up tomorrow. My brother has other plans for me it seems.”
“Sure, no problem. See you tomorrow.”
Diego made himself spend five minutes at his desk, neatening things up a bit before he left. He didn’t have much time to put his plan into action, and it was a crap shoot as to whether it would work or not. But if it did?
He couldn’t keep the grin off his face at the thought.
****
Cassidy came to a stuttering halt when she caught sight of the man leaning against the motorcycle. He looked so different in jeans and a polo shirt snuggly hugging his torso. Both his arms and his legs were crossed until his gaze latched onto hers. He stood up straight and gave her a welcoming smile, although his aviator glasses hid his eyes.
She returned the look and walked over to him. “This is a surprise, Detective Nieves.”
He tore the glasses off his face. “Diego.”
“Diego.” Stopping a couple of feet from him, she hefted her messenger bag higher on her shoulder and debated internally how to phrase the question on her mind. “Did you need something from my report?”
It was kind of a dumb question, but she really didn’t want to assume he was there for her. Maybe he was waiting for some other woman.
“No.” He dropped his gaze, as if embarrassed. “I was waiting for you. I’m hoping you’re free for dinner.”
“Oh. Um.” Now she stared at the ground. The idea of a man hanging around her place of employment in the hopes of taking her out was kind of thrilling. No one had ever been so interested in her that he’d taken such a chance.
“How did you know I was still working?” she asked, looking up at him again.
He shrugged. “I’m a detective.” This time when he smiled, there was heat in his eyes.
The look drove away thoughts of dinner and replaced them with thoughts of bed. God, what was wrong with her? She’d already accepted a dinner invitation with this man’s partner. Going out with Diego seemed, well, unseemly. Didn’t it? Perhaps Diego didn’t know about her plans with Ronan. It was only right she tell him, although a naughty part of her was disappointed at the idea of missing out on a date with each of them.
Double The Risk Page 3
