She pushed off the hood of the car and started walking the twenty yards separating them. In her short skirt, skintight top and three-inch heels, every pair of male eyes turned toward her but she kept her gaze locked on Rob’s eyes and wished he weren’t wearing those damn dark sunglasses.
It took all her effort to keep the smile on her face because her ankle felt as if it were on fire. Thankfully, her own dark shades masked the pain she knew was showing in her eyes.
When she was only a few feet from Rob, she turned her head toward the man next to him. For the first time all morning, a smile that wasn’t forced spread across her face. He was tall with short, light brown hair, broad shoulders and trim hips. She was almost to him when he pulled off his shades and blatantly inspected her from head to toe before giving a low whistle.
“Honey, you are one fine specimen of female flesh.”
“And your cocky attitude hasn’t changed in six months.”
“Nope, and it won’t change in another six.”
Eris glared at the man but when he opened his arms, she happily went into them. “I wouldn’t want you to change.”
“That’s my favorite girl.”
Rob eyed the pair and couldn’t help but notice how well they looked together. “I’m guessing the two of you know each other.”
“I’ve known Nate since he was a gangly teenager hanging out with Zane and getting into trouble.”
“Gangly? If I remember, you were still wearing pigtails and playing with dolls.”
“Great, then I don’t have to waste time making introductions.” Rob purposely turned his back on them because the sight of Eris with another man’s arm around her waist was sheer torture.
“Why is Nate here?” Eris questioned.
Rob took a deep breath and steeled his raw nerve endings as he turned back to them. Nate now stood with one arm casually draped across Eris’ shoulders and was grinning like a man who just won the lottery. Rob clenched and unclenched his fist. “Titan requested his help on this case since Matt’s been laid up.”
“I didn’t know you worked with Rob and LD,” Eris directed her statement to Nate.
Nate smiled at her. “I help them out when my schedule allows.”
“I thought you’d been commissioned to do a couple of pieces for that museum in Chicago?” Eris continued the questioning.
“I was and I delivered the pieces last week,” Nate answered in a very serious tone.
“I’m confused, Nate, what is it you do for a living?”
Rob wanted to end this conversation and move on with the investigation, so he answered for him. “Nate does a lot of government work that he can’t talk about. It’ll do you no good to ask. He won’t even tell LD.”
Eris gave Nate a look of honest concern that made Rob grind his teeth. “Eris, we need you to take a look at this truck and see if you can identify it from last night.”
Eris turned toward the vehicle and moved to stand beside him. She put her hand on the truck and closed her eyes. After a few seconds, she opened them and looked at him. “The killer…she was here.”
“That’s good to know, but the cops are going to need more to go on than that.”
She stepped away from the truck. “I didn’t get a good look at the vehicle. This one could be it, but I thought the truck last night was black. This one is dark blue.”
“True, I thought it was black also. But between the rain and the poor lighting, we could both be wrong about the color. Is there anything else you can remember?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?” Nate asked as he stepped forward and stood on the other side of Eris, his shoulder brushing hers. “If you talk your way through the event, you might remember something.”
Eris visibly stiffened but didn’t move. “Once I started running it was all a blur. There wasn’t anyplace to hide and I knew I couldn’t make it to the end of the alley before the truck reached me. I remember hearing the sound of metal against brick then feeling debris hitting me.”
“Can you remember which side would have come in contact with the wall?” Rob prodded, hoping to jog her memory without influencing her response.
Eris closed her eyes and he knew she was reliving last night’s events. It impressed the hell out of him how she could do it with so much composure because thinking about it still unnerved him.
“The passenger side. I’m sure of it.”
“There’s some damage to the passenger side.” He turned to Nate. “I’m going to let Olson know he needs to send a team to the alley. I want you to get in touch with LD and have him send our guys to the alley after the police are finished. Go over the place from one end to the other.”
“No problem, I’ll call as soon as it’s done.”
Rob’s cell phone rang, distracting him from the conversation. He glanced at the caller ID before walking away from the group as he flipped the phone open. “I’m busy at the moment.”
“I don’t give a damn how busy you are. I want to know why my granddaughter was almost killed last night. Your company is supposed to be the best, so tell me how the hell this happened!” the old man’s voice boomed.
Turning to ensure he wouldn’t be overheard, he caught sight of Eris and Nate standing extremely close, carrying on what appeared to be an intimate conversation. It gnawed at his gut seeing her so chummy with another man, so he averted his eyes. “I’m trying to keep your granddaughter safe, but it isn’t easy to do when she sneaks out of the house and goes wandering off alone.”
There was a sizeable stretch of silence followed by an audible sigh. “The girl’s going to be the death of this old man.”
That makes two of us, Rob thought and almost felt sorry for Criswell. “This is a two-way street and I need her cooperation to make it work.”
“Cooperation. Not a word that’s a part of her vocabulary.”
“I’ve noticed, but after last night, I’m thinking she’ll be a little more agreeable.”
“Let’s hope so.” Rob heard a note of wariness in the man’s voice that betrayed his age.
Rob turned back to the woman in question as Nate brushed a kiss across her lips and walked away. She was the perfect woman for a family-minded man, he reminded himself. His job was to keep her alive so she could have the opportunity to find the man who would make that dream a reality. “I need to be getting back to the case. Do you have any other questions?”
“No. I need you to keep her safe, Jackson.”
“Then let me get back to work.”
“Be sure to call me with a status report.”
“Will do.” Rob closed his phone and made a mental note to call the man back when he had a moment to spare.
He moved back to where Eris stood and made a promise to himself to help resolve this case as quickly as possible so they could each get on with their lives. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know. One of the officers found something over there by the side of the road. Olson and his groupies scurried over like a heard of roaches,” Eris answered as she shifted her weight, and he wondered how uncomfortable she was in those ridiculous shoes. They made her legs look as if they went on forever, but her ankle had to be killing her.
“You wait here. I’ll go see what’s happening.” Rob took a couple of steps then stopped when he heard the sound of an approaching vehicle. The side of the van was painted with the logo from one of the local newspapers.
Backtracking, he took Eris by the elbow and propelled her toward the passenger door of his car. “I want you to wait in here. The last thing we need is your picture splashed across the front page of the local papers.”
“What difference would it make?” Eris questioned as she attempted to keep pace with him. “The killer already knows I’m on the case.”
“True.” Rob reached for the door handle and heard the unmistakable sound of a camera snapping pictures. He muttered a few choice words as he jerked open the door and shoved Eris into the car. She landed in an unladylike heap and
glared up at him.
“That was uncalled for.” She straightened her legs in front of her and adjusted the hem of her skirt.
“I disagree. I’m trying my hardest to keep you safe and the last thing we need is for the stargazing loonies to get a whiff of this story, come out of the woodwork and start following you around.”
“No need to worry about that, it was Orbit they followed, not me.”
“Good, and I plan on keeping it that way. Now stay put while I go talk to Olson and Tarrington.”
“Wait, you don’t plan on leaving me here very long, do you? It’s like an oven in here already.”
Rob pulled his keys from his pocket and tossed them into her lap. “Crank it up, lock the doors and turn on the AC, but do not roll down the windows.”
He slammed the door so hard the car rocked. The woman only needed to look at him for his world to tilt off center. Thankfully this wouldn’t be a problem much longer now that Nate was back in town and helping out. Matt was out of the hospital and even though it would be a while before he was back on his feet, he was performing needed research from the comfort of his bed.
Rob forced his mind away from Eris and back to the assignment that suddenly meant everything to him. As he walked, he mentally put together a task list for each man and prioritized the items. He was totally focused on the task at hand by the time he reached the detectives and was certain nothing could or would distract him again.
Eris opened her eyes as the driver’s side door opened and watched as Rob folded himself into the car. He didn’t say a word to her as he put the car in drive and started the slow trek down the rutted dirt road. She absolutely hated this side of him.
It didn’t take Einstein to figure out that drawing inward was how he often survived his turbulent childhood. When things got too bad, he would simply shut it all out. What she couldn’t figure out was why now? She had absolutely no clue and knew it would be futile to ask him, so she’d talk about something that would obtain a response. “What did Olson and his minions find?”
“You really don’t like the man, do you?”
“No, I don’t.”
“He’s a good cop, Eris.”
“Right.” She couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of her voice. “So good he couldn’t keep Orbit alive.”
“That’s not fair. He didn’t know Orbit was a target. If he had, he would have gotten her protection.”
“That’s your opinion.” Eris stared out the front window and couldn’t believe they were having a fight over a detective she despised and, at best, he tolerated. For once, she should keep her mouth closed and do the smart thing.
“At least Tarrington is compassionate.” Okay, so doing the right thing wasn’t one of her strong points.
Rob gave a quick sidewise glance in her direction and then just as quickly looked back out the front window. “You hit the nail on the head with that one. Tarrington is compassionate but he’s not a cop. The more I see him, the more I wonder how the hell he got where he is.”
“That’s not very nice to say.”
“Yeah, but you didn’t see him a few minutes ago. His clothes were so wrinkled he looked as if he’d slept in them.”
“Maybe he did.”
“His eyes wouldn’t have been so bloodshot if he’d gotten some sleep.”
Eris mulled the information over for a few minutes and then as the car rolled onto an actual blacktopped road, she sighed. The low-slung sports car was not made for off-road driving. “Guess we’ll never agree.”
“No.”
She ground her teeth at the one-word response. “You never did answer my original question.”
“They found some hairs, along with lots of fingerprints, and a receipt for a recent oil change at Mannies Truck and Tow Center inside the truck.”
“Mannies, that sounds familiar.” Eris nibbled on her bottom lip as she rolled the name around in her head.
“It’s been around for years. You’ve either seen their commercial on late-night TV, driven by it or been to it.”
“No, that’s not it.” Eris strummed her fingers on her thigh. “Jeez, I hate it when the information is right there on the edge of your memory but you can’t quite grab hold of it.”
“Relax and the information will come to you. Stay stressed like you are and you’ll never catch it.”
“You’re right.”
Eris thought as she leaned her head back against the seat. She wouldn’t get any rest until she remembered what was bothering her. “Did you find out who the truck owner is?”
“It’s registered to a freshman at Tulane.”
Eris closed her eyes. “Great. A vehicle that most of the freshman class at the university has used at one time or another. So much for useful information.”
“I’m not holding out much hope on the truck, but they did find something very interesting.”
“Really?” Optimism sprang forth as Eris turned to look at Rob’s profile. “Tell me.”
“They found a footprint in the mud next to the road.”
“That’s wonderful. Now they can take pictures, track down the manufacturer, trace that to a distributor then to a local department store and then straight to the killer.”
“You’ve watched one too many episodes of CSI haven’t you? It’s not that easy.”
Eris refused to let his pessimism dampen her spirits. “Well, I’m hopeful they’ll find something useful.”
Rob snorted. “Why the hell doesn’t that surprise me? Just don’t get your hopes up too high; the odds are against them getting any useful info from that print.”
“Well, if it’s so bad, why don’t you tell me why it won’t be easy to identify the shoe and who bought it.”
“Okay. For starters, unless the shoe print shows a brand name, logo or distinctive tread, you’ll have to try to match it to all manufactures. If a match is made by some miracle, then you have to track it to a local supplier. Then you have to search the store records and hope the purchase was charged and not paid for in cash. If all of that goes right you might have a lead or a few hundred thousand.
“There’s always the possibility the shoe was purchased in another city, state or maybe even country or via the internet. Let’s not forget it could be a shoe sold at a large, nationwide chain. Which means it could have been bought almost anywhere. Last but not least, there is the fact the shoe could be from a couple years ago. If it’s a past season and not currently on the shelf, it will make all of this even harder.”
Eris felt her optimism leave her like the air from a punctured tire. “You sure know how to suck the life right out of the party.”
* * * * *
Laughter drifted from inside the house along with the aroma of a home-cooked meal, leaving Rob frozen in place on the DuBoses’ large wraparound porch holding a birthday present. Through the open blinds, beside the front door, he watched the family interact in a way that was foreign to him. Hours ago he’d turned Eris’ protection over to Nate for the evening, needing some space. So why he’d agreed to deliver the present was beyond him when he could have simply let the store deliver it. He reached out to ring the doorbell, aggravated with his indecisiveness.
He pulled back his hand. God, he didn’t belong here. His home life had been dysfunctional at the best of times and unmentionable most of the time. Right now he sure as hell didn’t need to hang around here feeling like a fifth wheel. He’d leave the box on the doorstep and call Eris once he was back in his vehicle and on his way. After all, Nate was watching her until morning and there was a ton of work he needed to do. There was no reason for him to worry about Eris.
Feeling slightly better about his decision, Rob placed the box beside the door. The floorboards squeaked ever so slightly to his left as he straightened.
“Aren’t you going to join us, Mr. Jackson?”
Rob turned toward the soft female voice. The woman stood at the corner of the porch with the evening sun casting a warm glow of light across her. She was a couple of inches
taller than Eris and had dark blonde shoulder-length hair. The resemblance between mother and daughter still caught him off guard. “I didn’t want to disturb the family celebration, Mrs. DuBose.”
She closed the distance between them and he knew in that instant what Eris would look like in twenty years. “You won’t be intruding, Mr. Jackson, I can promise you that.”
Rob took a step away from the door and the woman. “I have hours worth of research waiting for me. Thank you for the invitation and please see that Trever receives his present.”
“Is this research more important than my daughter?”
“Because of your daughter, this work is the most crucial I’ve ever done, Mrs. DuBose.”
She sighed and looked him square in the eyes. “We could stand out here all night splitting hairs and getting nowhere. So I’ll be direct. My daughter needs to see you, Mr. Jackson. She needs the security you bring her right now. Oh, she won’t admit it to herself or to anyone else, she’s too stubborn and independent for her own good—but she does.”
“Nate can provide Eris with everything she needs.”
“I’m sure he’ll be more than happy to take care of Eris.” Mrs. Dubose gave a very knowing smile.
* * * * *
Eris hissed in pain as she lifted her foot onto the rattan ottoman and looked out across her parents’ backyard from the covered porch. She really shouldn’t have worn those heels today. If her ankle wasn’t hurting so badly she’d be out there with her brothers playing football.
“Here, take these.” Rob held out two aspirin and a glass of water to her.
She was in enough discomfort that she took the pills without an argument as he sat down beside her on the wicker loveseat. “You should go out there, the games are always fun.”
“I’m not in the mood.”
Eris played with the condensation on the side of the glass for a couple of minutes before the strained silence got to her. “You’re still mad at me for sneaking out last night, aren’t you?”
“Livid.”
“I’m not sorry about doing what I did. I’ll do whatever it takes to find Orbit’s killer.”
“I know.”
Bayou Heat Page 12
