Veiled Intentions

by Delores Fossen

  It seemed more than a little awkward standing outside the chief’s office and having such a civil conversation with the man he was supposed to be investigating. Brayden had to know why Joe was waiting to see Chief Ryland, but he didn’t show it. No dark emotion simmering just below the surface. No pondering look. Just shop talk and an occasional fatherly glance in his son’s direction.

  “How badly was Katelyn hurt in the shooting?” Brayden asked.

  Okay. So maybe not totally shop talk. That question threw Joe off balance. “Hardly more than a scratch on her arm. She’s fine. How’d you know?”

  The corner of his mouth lifted. “Lucky guess.”

  Right. The man had probably never relied on luck or guesses in his entire life.

  Brayden did a no-no motion with his index finger when his son started to remove a flyer from the bulletin board. The child promptly obeyed and moved on to a hands-on examination of the carpet.

  “If you’re waiting for my permission to discipline Katelyn for not following procedure about an injury,” Brayden told him, “the wait’s unnecessary. You’re her boss.”

  “Believe me, I haven’t forgotten that.” Well, maybe he had while they were in that bathroom. Joe shook his head. “No disciplinary action will be required. Not unless you want to aim it at me. I didn’t report her injury even after she…informed me of it.”

  “Then you must have believed it wouldn’t have an impact on this assignment.”

  “She convinced me that it wouldn’t,” Joe said, rather than lie to the man.

  Brayden grunted. Not an ordinary grunt. But one to indicate he was deep in thought about something. “That day in my office, you said something about Katelyn coloring outside the lines.”

  Joe winced, recalling the words in perfect detail. “I meant—”

  “She does. So does Garrett. It drives me nuts, but I swear they can sort through things that look like a junk pile to me. Like zooming in on Perfect Match after only one shooting. You managed to do that, too, but you used department resources. Katelyn didn’t, because she worked on it while off-duty. Added to that, she was also dealing with the grief from her friend’s murder. Yet, I believe she got to the right place about the same time you did?”

  “She did.” Joe smiled, but he made sure it didn’t stay on his face too long. In this case being proud of her probably wasn’t a good thing to display. “Is there advice somewhere in that?”

  “There is. If it comes down to a situation where someone negates the rules, trust Katelyn.”

  Joe met him eye-to-eye and nodded. “With my life.”

  And it wasn’t something he had to think about.

  Nor was it a question.

  Brayden gave him a pat on the back and turned to leave.

  “What—no veiled threats about not hurting her?” Joe asked, certain that he deserved such threats. Heck, they might even make him feel less guilty.

  Joe felt Colton tugging on his pant leg, looked down, and the boy flashed the fake badge at him. “Know what a frisk is?” Except instead of frisk, it was fisk. Joe winked at the kid, ruffled his hair and assured him that he did.

  “That’s something my brother taught him,” Brayden explained, obviously not too pleased about it. He passed the box to Joe so he could scoop up his son in his arms. “And as for your relationship with my sister, Katelyn can take care of herself. I’m more concerned about you than her.”

  “Me?”

  “Katelyn feels she has to work twice as hard and twice as long to prove herself. Added to that, she’s not just married to the badge, she’s in love with it. And she won’t give that up for you or any other man.”

  Not exactly a newsflash. Joe had known and admired that about her from day one. “I wouldn’t even think of asking her to give it up.”

  Brayden stared at him a moment, and Joe felt as if the man were sizing him up. Probably was. “It’ll be interesting to watch.”

  “Know what interrogation is?” That from Colton. Except it was terrogation.

  “I know.” In fact, Joe thought he might be in the middle of one. A subtle one, where the lieutenant was getting him to ask the questions and then provide the answers, as well.

  “What’ll be interesting to watch?” Joe directed at Brayden.

  “How Katelyn deals with you.”

  Joe got the feeling Brayden left off a portion of that observation. The flip side to that coin was how the heck was he going to deal with her?

  “Wait,” Joe said when Brayden started to walk away. “You forgot your box.”

  “It’s for Katelyn. Make sure she gets it.”

  There it was again. That almost smug look that Brayden aimed his way. Or maybe it was a look of sympathy. If so, Joe needed it.

  The door to the chief’s office swung open. “Come in, Rico.”

  Definitely not a polite suggestion, and judging from the way the man gruffly gestured for him to sit down, this wouldn’t be a long meeting.

  “You’re closing in on this sniper case?” Ryland asked, which was probably the only semblance of a greeting Joe would get.

  “I hope. Detective O’Malley and I have been undercover on it all week.”

  “I heard. I’m not sure why Brayden paired you with her for this.”

  “She was the right person for the assignment,” Joe calmly insisted.

  Best to leave out the part of how she’d become the right person. Besides, it no longer mattered. She was the right person, and that had nothing to do with all the sexual stuff going on between them.

  The chief put his elbows on the desk and steepled his fingers. “So what about these allegations?”

  Now this was the part where Joe wouldn’t leave anything out. “I haven’t seen a single incident of favoritism, and I’ve been in contact with all three of the O’Malleys on this sniper case.”

  The fingers unsteepled, and the man made a huffing sound. “Did Katelyn O’Malley have anything to do with helping you out with that conclusion?”

  Joe pondered that a moment. Not because he needed time to think about it, but he wanted to put a chokehold on the anger he felt over that question. “No,” he said honestly.

  “No,” the chief repeated. “You sure you’re not thinking below the belt on this, Rico?”

  Joe tightened that chokehold a little more. “If you’re questioning my objectivity—”

  “I am. And don’t look so damn riled about it. It wouldn’t be the first time.”

  “It would be for me.” If that didn’t thoroughly tick off the chief, the next thing he had to say probably would. “I’m attracted to Katelyn O’Malley, but I wouldn’t lie about allegations because of my feelings for her. And if you think I’m the kind of man who’d do that, then you need to get someone else to do this investigation.”

  The chief studied him. Scowled. “I don’t want anyone else. You’ve got a fresh eye since you haven’t been here that long. Keep looking. If there’s something to find, I want to know about it.”

  Ryland gave him a dismissal wave, which Joe ignored. Joe got to his feet, but instead of leaving, he stared down at the chief. “Have there even been any legitimate complaints against Lieutenant O’Malley?”

  Ryland had already reached for his brown-bag lunch, but that stopped him. “A rumor or two.”

  “Rumors?” Joe couldn’t help it. He cursed, and he didn’t keep it under his breath. “And you’re willing to put his career at risk for rumors?”

  With his scowl tightening, Ryland snatched his lunch bag and dumped out the contents. He rifled through, found a Snickers bar, and ripped off the wrapper. “I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make sure morale stays high.”

  “That’s the wrong way to go about it, sir.” Joe’s hands went on his hips. “I’ll give you my final report when I’m finished with the sniper case, but there won’t be anything in it that I haven’t already said to you right here, right now.”

  And with that, Joe walked out, no doubt leaving any chance of his promotion behind
in the chief’s office.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Katelyn had braced herself for just about anything to happen during their meeting with Addison Merrick. But what she hadn’t anticipated was that things would get interesting before they even reached Perfect Match.

  She stared in the side mirror, her heart rate automatically kicking up a few notches.

  “You see it?” she asked Joe.

  “Yes.” He continued to drive, but like her, he was keeping an eye on the rearview mirror. “A black BMW.”

  “That’s the one.” At the moment it was three cars back, but it’d stayed close enough behind them since they left the parking lot of the apartment. “Did you happen to notice it when we got back from headquarters?”

  “No. You?”

  She shook her head. And if it’d been there, Katelyn almost certainly would have seen it. That’s exactly the sort of flag that she’d been looking for. If the sniper was truly suspicious, then in all likelihood he or she would try to follow them.

  And perhaps even try to kill them again.

  “I can’t read the license,” Katelyn informed him. “How about you.”

  “Not yet, but it’s Texas plates.” Joe took the last turn toward Perfect Match.

  So did the other car.

  “Maybe it’s Merrick?” she suggested.

  “It’s possible.”

  After all, Joe had called the man an hour ago and had asked him to meet them at Perfect Match, so it wasn’t so much of a coincidence that they’d arrive at the same time.

  But this just didn’t feel like a coincidence.

  She squinted against the sun and tried to get a glimpse of the driver of the BMW. However, in this case, the late morning sun was a serious hindrance. It glinted off the other car’s windshield, making it impossible for Katelyn to see who was following them.

  “The windows are bullet resistant,” Joe reminded her. “We’ll park and stay put to see what our visitor does.”

  It was a good plan, if the sit and wait didn’t take too long. They still needed to work on contacting Fiona Shipley, and that wouldn’t happen if they had to play games with the driver of that BMW.

  Joe pulled into a parking space directly in front of the agency. The spots normally filled with cars were practically empty. The closed sign on the door likely had a lot to do with that, and the fact that there’d been a recent shooting in the area.

  The BMW passed them and parked behind one of the few vehicles at the far end of the block.

  Katelyn tried to see through the sunny glare, but she could only make out a shadowy figure. She slid her hand over her weapon. And waited.

  Mercy, the waiting was the hardest part.

  A stir of movement to her right caused her to glance in that direction. Merrick opened the front door and motioned for them to come in.

  “Well, whoever’s watching us, it’s not Merrick,” she mumbled. That left Fiona, Donovan or even Dr. Kent. Of course, it also left any other sicko they might not have considered. Some other client or rejected lover with an attitude problem. Still, Katelyn didn’t think they were off the mark with their short list of suspects. It was more than likely one of those four. She just didn’t know how to go about proving which one.

  Merrick motioned again. This time, it wasn’t so friendly. It was definitely a hurry-up signal. But Katelyn was fairly sure that no matter how frantic the man’s signals got, Joe wouldn’t let either of them step out of the car with that BMW still lurking about.

  With a squeal of tires, the BMW backed up just enough so it could circle around to a side street, and it sped away.

  “Should we pursue?” she asked Joe.

  “No. Let’s stick with the plan. If it follows us when we come out, we’ll try to run the plates to see who’s interested in what we’re doing.”

  She smiled at Merrick and held up her index finger in a one-minute gesture. The man ducked back inside. That didn’t mean, however, that he wouldn’t be spying on them from the window.

  “This’ll be a quick in and out,” Joe said, going over the rules. “We tell Merrick about the wedding being set for tomorrow and see if he’ll give us Fiona’s number under the guise of us inviting her to the ceremony. And that’s it. Those two things, and we get out of there.”

  While he checked his weapon, Katelyn stared at the building that housed Perfect Match. But not just the building. The alley up the street where someone had tried to gun them down. Yes. She definitely understood Joe’s insistence of a quick in and out. Looking at that spot made her arm ache, and it didn’t do much for the rest of her, either.

  “What if Merrick won’t tell us how to get in touch with Fiona?” she asked.

  He shrugged. “The rules still apply here.”

  Not exactly the answer she wanted to hear. “I swear I’m going to needlepoint that on a pillow.”

  “No detours, Katelyn. No shortcuts.” That was as much of an order as it was a warning, and void of sarcasm or humor. “This isn’t the time to try to bring down a killer. We’ve got a plan set in motion to do that.”

  “Okay, okay. It just makes me crazy to think of this piece of slime walking around free while we’ve got two people dead and two more seriously wounded.”

  “I know, and we’ll get the person responsible.”

  That soothed her a little, but not nearly enough. Even though her brain told her the shootings weren’t her fault, there was still the sickening feeling that she should have been able to stop it. People were hurt because she’d failed. No words, even those coming from Joe, could ease that.

  Worse, that dread had spread to other areas.

  She caught his arm when he started to open the door. Unfortunately, she hadn’t really thought beyond that. Well, she had, but Katelyn hadn’t quite figured out how to convey the things she was feeling. “Let me just blurt this out because I don’t think I can make it sound palatable. You won’t take any unnecessary risks, right?”

  He angled his head to stare at her. “What’s this all about?”

  “I’ve already said it won’t make sense. There’s just this…fear. There, I’ve said it. I’m afraid. Not for me, but for you. And that’s so stupid because you’re a cop.”

  Joe did something with his mouth. Not really a gape but his version of it. “You’re worried about me?”

  Disgusted with herself, she nodded. She would never believe anyone who told her that sex didn’t change things between a man and a woman. Except she’d had sex with other men, and it hadn’t changed things. Not like this, anyway.

  Nothing had ever changed things like this.

  He slid his arm around her and pulled her to him. “I can take care of myself, Katelyn. You can take care of yourself. And when all else fails, we both make great backups.”

  “It’s that fail part that’s giving me some trouble here. It can’t happen, okay?”

  He nodded. “Anything else before we go in there?”

  Oh, she knew what he was getting at. His meeting with the chief. It was a bit of unfinished business that would have to remain unfinished a little longer. “Nothing else.” Katelyn took a deep breath. “Let’s do this.”

  She made yet another mental check of her weapons and communicator as they stepped from the car. Joe had parked close enough so they only had a few steps before they made it to the door. Moving straight into their lovers’ pose, they latched on to each other.

  “Kate, Joe,” Merrick greeted, opening the door and motioning for them to come in. “I was surprised to get your call. I figured all our clients had been scared off by the latest shooting.”

  “Oh?” And that was all Joe said. All in all, it was a good leading question.

  “You haven’t heard?” Merrick shook his head. “It’s been all over the news. There was another couple injured last night by this so-called Veiled Sniper. Unfortunately, they were former clients.”

  Joe nodded. Katelyn mumbled something about how horrible it all was. She certainly didn’t have to fake that part.<
br />
  Merrick went to the cooler tucked away in the corner and helped himself to not one but two cups of water. While he was there, he pressed some buttons on a wall pad, and music began to play. A heavy, sensual sax that didn’t exactly mesh with the adrenaline surging through her.

  “If you don’t mind, I’d like to make this visit quick,” Merrick continued. “The security guard that I hired part-time couldn’t come in today. He’s sick. So I’d rather not stay around here too long.”

  “We won’t keep you. We just wanted to invite you to the wedding.” Joe produced a mock invitation from his pocket. “It’s tomorrow. That’s short notice, we know, but we’d love for you to be there to celebrate with us.”

  “And not just you,” Katelyn added, making sure she sounded happy and not suspicious. “We want Bruce Donovan and all the other nice people we’ve met here to come, as well.” She snapped her fingers. “Including Fiona Shipley. I’m not sure if you know her, but Joe and she chatted.”

  Merrick’s smile faded, and he gripped the invitation with far more force than necessary.

  “Fiona was so friendly,” Joe added when Merrick didn’t say anything. “But I don’t know how to get in touch with her. I thought maybe you’d have her number so we could call her?”

  “Sorry. I’m not allowed to give out that kind of information. Tell you what though—if I see Fiona, I’ll tell her. And I’ll make sure Bruce gets the word, too. This might be just what we need to lighten the mood around here.” He studied the invitation. “You’re not worried though? I mean, because of these other shootings.”

  It was on the tip of Katelyn’s tongue to lie, but the door behind them flew open. Only because she saw Joe reach for his gun, she forced herself not to go for hers. Not immediately anyway. That way, if it were some legitimate visitor, it wouldn’t totally blow their cover for both of them to draw. One gun they could justify. Maybe.

  Instead, Katelyn kept her attention firmly on Merrick in case he planned to use this as some kind of diversion to try to kill them. Merrick’s eyes widened when he caught sight of Joe’s weapon.