Chapter Nine
‘It’s incredible.’ The Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police dropped the late edition of the Evening Standard on his deputy’s desk. Banner headlines flared across the page – Hit Man in the Park. ‘A police officer gunned down – executed – in a public place, in daylight. I don’t have to tell you that I want all the stops pulled out on this one.’ He threw himself into a chair. ‘What do we have so far?’
‘Doesn’t seem any doubt that Phil was responding to a call from a supposed informant. He logged it before he left. We’re tracing it, but it will almost certainly be from a stolen mobile phone.’
‘Which is now at the bottom of the river,’ the Commissioner finished for him. He saw the light in his deputy’s eyes. ‘What else?’
‘This is interesting. Just before the last incoming call Phil made a call. To France.’
Chapter Ten
Devlin raised his hand in front of his face, inspecting it. It was still trembling slightly. With an effort, he dug an elbow into the bed and heaved himself up. Kaz was stretched out beside him, eyes closed. Her chest was rising and falling, so she was still alive.
He propped himself up on a pillow and watched her chest. It made good viewing. When he had his strength back he was planning on kissing those two gorgeous peaks a whole lot more. Gonna do a little teasing too, and fondling. Breasts, throat, thighs. He had a programme.
Christ, he was getting hard all over again.
His body was still quaking in aftershock. He reached up to brush back a strand of hair that was falling over her face. The feel of that hair, rippling against his body.
He breathed out, a long shudder of remembered pleasure, dropping a kiss on the bare shoulder that was closest to his mouth. If there was a part of this woman that didn’t turn him on, he hadn’t found it yet. He was going to need a lot more time. A whole lot more. Like an intensive study. When he got the proper use of his limbs back.
He could feel a stupid watermelon grin turning up his mouth when her eyes flicked open. He’d put that dazed expression there. He was damn near immobile, she was punchy. Looks like this thing is just full of possibilities.
‘Hi.’ He rolled over carefully, kissed her on the mouth, very gently. Boy, she tasted good. He dipped a little deeper.
‘Devlin.’ She was kissing him back, but he could feel her laughter under his lips. ‘You can’t want to go again already.’
‘Babe, you have no idea.’ He eased back, leaning on an arm so that he could look at her. ‘Katarina Elmore, you are one hell of a woman.’
‘Thank you.’ The smile was pure, feminine, cat-got-the-cream satisfaction. Didn’t you just love it when your woman looked like that?
He outlined her lips with an exploring finger. ‘So, now that you’ve had me, are you gonna fire me?’
‘Now that I’ve had you, are you going to quit?’ she countered, rolling so that her face was level with his.
‘Nope.’ He slanted his head. ‘But I am going to stop taking your money.’
‘Devlin!’ She sat up in a rush. ‘I didn’t do this to –’
‘Hey.’ He pulled her into his arms, her head against his chest. Which felt really good, even though her muscles were tense against him. ‘I never thought you did.’
He raised himself slightly, to kiss the back of her neck, waiting for her to relax. Her hair was in his face. He brushed it away. It smelled of green grass and vanilla. Bugger. Sensory memory. Scent was the strongest trigger there was. New-mown fields and baking now and he was always going to think of her. He rocked her gently, teasing out the last resistance from her shoulders. And found they were shaking. With laughter. Bemused, he put a finger under her chin, to tilt her head up. ‘What did I say?’
‘Not you.’ She was blushing a little, through the giggling. His chest constricted, unexpectedly. ‘My mother. I just remembered. I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but she told me that if I had to sleep with you, to get you onside, that she had no problem with that.’
Devlin let out a bark of laughter. ‘An interesting woman, your mother.’
Kaz braced her hands on his chest, looking into his face. ‘I’m not here in your bed for any other reason than that I want to be.’ She put her hand over his mouth to keep him quiet while she talked. ‘What we just did. Well for me, it was damn near perfect. I just wanted to say that. I’ll take your help, to find my daughter, as a friend, as a lover. But if you need to go, because of your business or anything, you tell me, and that’s okay.’ She blinked. Why was being in his arms like this giving her the power to tell him he could leave? She could feel strength running into her as if it were coming out of him. It was the craziest thing. ‘Deal?’
‘Deal.’ He took one of her hands and pressed a kiss into her palm. ‘Now, about this damn near-perfect thing. You want to try for perfect?’ His mouth was wandering up her wrist. Licking. Involuntarily, her hips flexed. ‘It’ll take a bit of time,’ he cautioned.
Kaz caught her breath as his hand strayed across sensitised flesh. ‘Take all the time you need.’ She wriggled against him, saw his eyes darken. ‘I’m entirely in your hands.’
Chapter Eleven
It felt strange, yet right, to be wandering along the Ponte Vecchio with Devlin, part of the crowd flowing across the bridge to or from a late dinner. His arm rested loosely on her shoulders. She tucked her fingers into the waistband of his jeans.
The sky was the soft blue-black, not-quite-dark, of night in any city. Pools of deep golden light spilled out from the shops, some no more than kiosks, that lined the bridge. The wares of the goldsmiths glittered behind plate glass. Couples were huddled close to the windows whispering and stealing kisses. Leaning sideways Devlin drew Kaz easily out of the path of two small boys who screamed as they chased each other. Elderly ladies with bored dogs on tooled leather leashes stopped to gossip, blocking the pavement. Families ate ice cream. Kaz gave a sigh. This was good. Normal. Something she’d all but forgotten.
They walked on, through the dusk, and the cluttered maze of streets.
‘You want to go in?’ Devlin paused at the entrance to the square that led to their hotel. Kaz looked around. The evening was soft and warm, enticing her to linger.
‘We could have coffee?’
The bar opposite the hotel was small, but now even more tables overflowed into the piazza. The pigeons were still pecking around, hoping for crumbs. Kaz looked up. She could see the window of her room, with its tiny balcony. They’d shown Jeff’s picture to people here, on the very first evening. Got the first round of polite smiles and headshakes. But tonight she wasn’t going to think about that. Only tonight.
She chose a table on the square, watching Devlin ordering their drinks, admiring the view as he leaned on the counter. The guy had a spectacular rear. She’d never taken time to admire it before. Glancing away, she caught the eyes of the Italian girl sitting at an adjoining table, who’d been looking the exact same way she had. The young woman smiled and made an approving gesture and they both dissolved into giggles. Devlin, coming back to the table with tiny cups of bitter espresso, looked them over suspiciously.
‘It’s a girl thing,’ Kaz didn’t explain as he put the coffee down in front of her. ‘Thank you.’
‘Huh!’ Devlin hooked out a chair with his foot and planted the spectacular rear on it. ‘Guy at the bar says they have another place, in the Oltrarno district. One of the waitresses, she works both bars and another restaurant at lunchtime. Might be worth trying her with the photo.’
‘She’s not here now?’
Devlin shook his head, looking out across the square. Kaz studied his profile. She’d known this man for less than two weeks. She was alone in a foreign city with him. He’d just given her the best time in bed that she’d ever had. In her life. ‘Who are you, Devlin?’ she asked softly. ‘Why should I trust you?’
The word sent a tremor through her, but it was out now.
He looked back at her. ‘Goes with the territory,’ he said unexpectedly. ‘You protect people and their possessions for a living, they have to be able to trust you. That works with me. I don’t know why.’ There was a shadow in his eyes. Then he grinned. ‘Plus, in this case, I have what every nice girl needs.’
Kaz frowned, not entirely sure she wanted to be described as a nice girl. It sounded boring. ‘And that is?’
The grin got wider. ‘Your mom’s approval.’
‘I should never have told you that.’
Devlin shrugged. ‘Done is done. She’s a cool lady, your mom. Very cool. She and your dad, how did that happen?’
‘She was a model. Fashion.’ Kaz dropped a sugar lump into her cup. ‘People don’t remember it much now, but she was on the cover of Vogue, twice, before she was eighteen. She had one of those Svengali type managers. José.’ Kaz found herself smiling. ‘She still has press cuttings and photographs. There’s one – she’s got these huge panda eyes and legs like a racehorse and José’s in floor-length fur and ringlets. He was very good with money. Put it into property for her. The house in Chelsea, her flat in Notting Hill and her shop. She owns them all. Plus a lot of paintings and sketches from my father.’
Devlin leaned back in his chair. ‘Is José still around?’
Kaz shook her head. ‘Aids – 1989. But my father lured her away from him long before that. He’d seen her photos and decided he wanted her. He was ten years older than her, and he was her first lover. My father can be very charming, when it suits him. The way Mum tells it, all the girls she grew up with settled for a couple of Babychams and the back seat of a Ford Anglia. She held out, and got vintage champagne and a palazzo in Venice. A mostly ruined palazzo, but still a palazzo.’
Kaz finished her coffee, her mouth twisting. Damn! Devlin had done it again. Diverted her into an old story about her parents, and away from him. How did he do that? This time she was going to nail him. She leaned forward. ‘You didn’t –’
‘Signor?’ The bartender was standing beside the table. A girl, with a denim jacket slung over waitress’ blacks, hovered behind him. ‘This is Giuliana. She here to pick up her wages. I tell her about photograph. She wants to see. Yes?’
Devlin was already on his feet, sliding the picture out of his pocket. Giuliana stepped towards him, a sexy smile on her face. Her fingers rested against his, to steady the picture as she stared at it. Kaz held her breath.
The girl narrowed her eyes. Looked up flirtatiously into Devlin’s face. ‘Si. I know him.’ Long eyelashes fluttered. ‘Signor Elmore. Jeff. That’s his name, si?’
Chapter Twelve
Kaz stood in the foyer of the hotel, watching Devlin crossing the square towards her. The long-legged lope was faster than it looked. She felt the flicker, low in her abdomen. Everything about the man spelled competence – and sex.
In response to the slight tilt of Devlin’s head, which chimed with her own instinct, she’d melted into the darkness, leaving him alone to question the girl.
She had the glass door open by the time he reached it. He gave her a swift, hard kiss, that flickered her stomach some more. ‘Thanks for that. You were so quick.’
‘It was obvious that you were going to get more out of her if I wasn’t there.’
‘Including her phone number.’ The smile was wry. He ran a hand through his hair. ‘She knows Jeff all right. Way I read it, there’s some jealousy going on, with one of the other waitresses, or she wouldn’t have been so willing to talk.’
‘Jeff’s never been known for his exclusivity,’ Kaz said dryly. ‘Shall we go upstairs and you can tell me all of it?’
Kaz sat cross-legged on Devlin’s bed, absently sipping the glass of wine he’d poured for her. Devlin was sprawled in the chair, nursing a glass.
‘Jeff eats at the place she works lunchtime, on a regular basis. Big tipper. You’ve seen our girl. That wouldn’t be the only thing to catch her interest. At a guess, they’ve walked out a few times together and Jeff is cooling, letting his eyes stray. So she was willing to take my money for information. He eats there usually at the weekend, sometimes Thursday also.’
‘Tomorrow is Thursday.’
‘And I guess we know where we’ll be eating lunch.’ He paused. ‘I questioned her as closely as I could, Kaz, without making her suspicious. It didn’t sound as if she’d ever seen Jeff with a child, or heard him talk about one.’
Devlin saw something in her face crumble. It hadn’t been much, just a tiny glow of hope. She chewed her lip, head down. Then she looked up, eyes so brave he had to grit his teeth.
He’d beat Jeff Elmore bloody, when they found him.
‘We didn’t really expect it, did we?’ She sighed. ‘After running into Gwen like that, it must have made him cautious. He has to have someone looking after Jamie for him. He’ll have a place outside the city. Fiesole maybe. Jamie will be there.’
‘We’ll find her.’ Devlin reached over and took the almost-full glass out of her hand, hooking up a strand of hair. ‘We can plan in the morning. Jeff has no idea that we know about Jamie. We can work with that. You need to sleep. You want to go back to your own room, or stay here?’
‘My own room,’ she said, after a second. ‘I need some time to think. Thanks, Devlin.’ She laid her hand over his. ‘Thanks for everything.’
She lay face down on the bed, a pillow under her chin, putting her thoughts into order. She pushed Devlin, and sex, to the back of her mind. She had to focus on Jeff, how to draw him out, get him to admit –
The phone rang. She reached over.
‘Mum? What is it? No, we were out.’ Guilt flashed through her. She’d turned off her mobile when she went to Devlin’s room, and never turned it back on. Her mother was crying. ‘What’s the matter? Tell me.’
Devlin finished his wine, looked at the glass Kaz hadn’t drunk and left it on the side table. The maid hadn’t been in. The bed was still rumpled from the afternoon. Wrecked actually. He straightened the covers, picked up a pillow from the floor. The faint scent of vanilla drifted up to him and his belly contracted. Scent is the deepest trigger.
He jumped when someone thumped hard on the door, and kept thumping.
‘Kaz!’ She almost fell in when he opened it. The quip about changing her mind died on his lips when he saw her face. ‘What the hell is it?’
‘Uncle Phil. Mum just rang. She tried earlier. He … he was killed this afternoon.’ She looked up, her eyes wide and blank. ‘Someone shot him.’
‘Money.’ A light breeze blew across the hotel’s breakfast terrace, stirring the tablecloth. Kaz buttered a chunk of bread, hesitated, then put it into her mouth. Devlin watched her. Her face was still pale from shock, but she was functioning. He relaxed a little.
‘Sounds like a plan.’ He stirred his coffee. ‘How?’
‘Doesn’t really matter. It’s just a cover for me needing to find him, one he’ll go for.’ She shrugged. ‘Something left over from the marriage that needs both our signatures, before I can realise the asset. A painting of Oliver’s? He gave us one for a wedding present and another when Jamie was born. It would make sense if I wanted to get rid of them. Jeff won’t be interested in all the lawyer stuff.’
‘But he will want his cut.’
‘Of course.’ She met Devlin’s eyes squarely. ‘He doesn’t know that I know about Jamie. He’s bound to be wary but he won’t know that’s the real reason I’m here. But there is one thing –’
The way she paused, Devlin knew he wasn’t going to like it.
‘I think I should go alone. No – ’ She put her hand up, to forestall his objections. ‘I know Jeff. He’s no threat, but if I have another man with me he’ll jump to the obvious conclusion.’ A flash of uncertain humour crossed her face. Devlin cl
enched his fist. ‘I’m his ex-wife, but that doesn’t mean he won’t strut his stuff as the previous owner. And you’ll respond, and all that testosterone will just get in the way.’ She tapped the table for emphasis. ‘Jeff has to be relaxed, unsuspecting, when we meet. Then we follow him, or get him somewhere quiet and persuade him to talk.’ The grin was ferocious. ‘I leave you to decide about that.’
Devlin leaned back, sorting options. Everything Kaz said made sense. He didn’t have to like it.
‘I think we follow,’ he responded after a moment. ‘Priority one is finding Jamie. If you can convince Jeff that he has nothing to worry about, he could lead you straight to her. And you’re right. You will be better alone. If he realises I’m the one who found the crash site, it won’t take much to work it out. But I won’t be far off, and I’m going to get us some backup. A few guys I know.’ He answered the question in her eyes. ‘Are you sure you’re going to be okay with this today, with Phil and everything?’
He’d checked the story on the Internet. It had been a clean, professional kill, over in seconds. Phil himself would barely have had time to react. Ice-cold nerve and complete confidence. The shooter had simply done the job and walked away, to disappear in the Park. No witnesses. Or none who were admitting anything.
Kaz was nodding. She’d finished her breakfast, pushed away her plate. ‘It doesn’t seem real, but being a policeman, it’s always been there. The possibility of him getting hurt. Or killed. It’s just so … He wasn’t that far off retirement.’ She stopped. Devlin saw the confusion and the glitter of tears. ‘He was married twice, no kids. He didn’t know much about children, but when we went back to England, he did his best to be a father to me.’
Devlin reached to take her hand. ‘If you’re not ready we don’t have to do this today. We have the whole weekend.’
‘I don’t want to wait.’ Her eyes were dark with intent. ‘If Jeff is going to be at that restaurant, then I’m going to be there, too.’
Never Coming Home Page 8
