by B. J Daniels
“It’s about our star witness’s newspaper ad. It worked.”
Jack felt himself jerked out of the euphoria of the kiss and drop like a parachuteless fool from high altitude, the ground coming up fast.
“Maybe worked too well. We got two responses. I guess there’s more than one guilty guy out there.”
“Two responses?” Jack echoed, slamming into solid ground with a thud. He looked over at Karen, his heart pounding but for all the wrong reasons now.
Her eyes were wide and still more blue than green or gold. Magical eyes. But now filled with concern rather than longing.
“I think you’d better get down here,” Denny was saying. “One of the respondents to the ad wants to meet with Karen at noon today at a little Mexican-food place called El Topo on Higgins. You ever have their fish tacos? They’re great.”
“No, I haven’t,” Jack said impatiently.
“You should try them sometime,” he said. “Anyway, Baxter says I’m to have her there or else. You, of course, are persona non grata. But I thought I could meet you at the newspaper. You bring Karen and the tape. I’ll bring the crime-lab boys.” He hung up.
Jack glanced at Karen again as he clicked off his phone and shoved it back into his pocket. He could see by the look on her face that they weren’t going back where they were before the call.
“Two men answered your ad,” he told her. “One of them wants a meeting at noon at El Topo.”
She nodded and slid off the rock wall. “Let’s get it over with.”
He almost made the mistake of asking her if she was sure she wanted to go through with this. One look at her answered that question in spades.
He was reminded of the first time he saw her. His Girl Next Door. He could see how he’d originally thought that. She had the look. Except this woman refused to fit his mental mold. What had Denny called her? A gutsy lady. Too gutsy for her own good, Jack thought.
LEAN ON JACK? The thought pulled at her, tempting her, making her ache inside for a lot more than just leaning. But she knew she couldn’t trust her body, let alone her emotions, right now. Nor did leaning on Jack in any way seem like a good plan. He confused her, made her feel things she’d gone for twenty-eight years without feeling.
Like his kiss. The kiss had been electric. Her limbs still tingled from it and her knees had gone weak. Karen Sutton. Weak-kneed. How about that? Just what she needed right now.
Oh, why was this happening now? Now, when it didn’t seem like the time to have her head in the clouds? Now, when maybe there was a killer out there looking for her? Now, when she didn’t even feel comfortable in her own skin, with this new Karen acting up?
She had to get tough. That was the ticket. It had worked for her before; she had to trust she could get through this, as well. But that meant finding her own strengths. She’d weakened back at the lodge, touched by more than Jack’s concern, but now that the effects of his kiss were finally starting to wear off some—
“May I ask you something? Why do you feel the need to protect me?” she asked as they drove down the mountainside toward Missoula.
“It came with my badge,” he said and smiled over at her. “And I told you, I like the way you eat lemon-filled doughnuts.”
Right, a man who liked to see a woman eat. She hadn’t bought that yesterday; she wasn’t buying it now. “Does it have something to do with your friend Denny Kirkpatrick and the fact that he knew Liz?”
His smile faded a little.
“He hadn’t told you he dated her, had he?”
“No.” Jack stared straight ahead at the road.
“Do you think he could be involved in her murder?” she asked and could see him fighting with the question.
“Denny and I have worked together for seven years. I’d trust him with my life.”
“What about mine?”
Jack looked over at her. “You really go to the heart of the matter, don’t you?”
Always. Unless it involved her own heart. Then she ran. Just as she was trying desperately to do now. Run from this unlikely chemistry she felt between her and Jack. The cop and the cabinetmaker. So unlikely a match. And yet she felt drawn to him with a sudden sense of urgency—
The murder. Of course that was it. The intrigue, the suspense, the danger had ignited a passion she never knew she possessed and heightened Jack’s coplike protectiveness.
Once the murder was solved, it would be like Cinderella after the ball. Karen would go back to being the old passionless Karen and Jack would go off to protect some other damsel in distress. Not exactly your happily-ever-after ending, but an ending just the same.
“I’m just being a cop. Suspicious. Cautious.”
Jack’s words jerked her back to reality.
“Just can’t fight that need to save the damsel in distress,” she said, hoping he’d deny it.
“Something like that.” He drove in silence for a few minutes as if grappling with his own reality. “What was their relationship like in high school, Denny’s and Liz’s, do you know?”
Karen thought back, glad for the change of subject. “Like I said, I didn’t know Liz well. We ran in different circles. I was Miss Goody Two-shoes, Exemplary Student and Nerd Extraordinaire. Liz seemed a little wild back then, adventurous, daring, but that was just from my limited perception.”
“It doesn’t sound like she changed all that much,” Jack pointed out.
“No, I guess not,” she agreed. “Denny wasn’t exactly a secret lover, that’s for sure. But he was a biker, three years older and from the wrong side of the tracks. He drove a motorcycle, wore a black leather jacket and slicked back his hair.”
“He told me that he grew up poor and without much parental supervision,” Jack said. “I know he got into some trouble with the law.”
She nodded. “I think that was after he and Liz broke up.”
“Do you think he and Liz were serious about each other?”
She thought about that for a moment, then remembered a time she’d seen them together. “I remember this one day when he came to pick her up at school on his bike. The reason I remember it was because of the way he looked at her.” She sighed. “I wondered at the time what it must be like to have a man look at you like…that.”
“You mean, like he was in love with her?” Jack asked.
Karen glanced over at him, blinded as a memory blazed bright as a camera flashbulb going off, freezing a moment in time as clear as any snapshot. Jack. And the way he’d looked at her earlier that morning. He’d looked at her the same way Denny had looked at Liz!
She blinked.
Jack eyed her strangely. “Like Denny was in love with Liz?” he asked again.
“Exactly. But maybe he didn’t realize it at the time.”
“I suppose that’s possible,” Jack said, not sounding convinced.
Was it possible?
LOST IN HIS OWN thoughts the rest of the ride into Missoula, Jack hadn’t noticed that Karen didn’t seem herself until he opened the door of the newspaper office for her.
“Nervous?” he asked, touching her arm.
She almost jumped out of her skin. “No. I’m fine.”
She didn’t look fine. She looked the way she had the first time he’d seen her. Nervous. Overly anxious. Strangely suspicious. He wondered what had happened to make her that way when she’d seemed fine before they’d left the lodge.
Amend that. Before they’d kissed.
Denny met them the moment they stepped inside the newspaper office and quickly ushered them into a conference room. He closed the door and the blinds without a word.
Jack could feel the anxiety coming off his friend in waves. Were Karen and Denny just beginning to realize how dangerous this was? Jack knew he’d secretly been hoping no one would answer the ad. But at the same time, he wanted this over with and Karen out of danger.
Denny’s anxiety today seemed at odds with his non-chalance about using Karen as bait yesterday. Was it just his need to break this
case before Jack managed to get them both fired? Or was it something more? Denny’s love for Liz Jones? Or his need to hide the truth?
Karen pulled up a chair at the table in front of the two white envelopes waiting for her. As Jack took the chair next to her, Denny shot him a questioning look. Jack ignored it.
“Both replies were put in the drop box outside sometime after 3:00 a.m., after the paper hit the streets,” Denny said, taking a chair across from them.
Jack watched Karen pick up the envelopes with obvious reluctance.
“Don’t worry,” Denny said. “They’ve been dusted for evidence.”
“And?” Jack asked.
Denny looked up at him. “You’re still here, huh?”
“Yeah, I’m still here.”
He shook his head, but answered the question. “No latents on one. The prints on the other didn’t come up in the computer.”
“One of the respondents took the time to use gloves?” Jack asked in disbelief.
“Looks that way,” Denny said.
Karen opened the first envelope, read the contents, then handed the letter to Jack.
He read the words scrawled in blue ink: “Meet me at the El Topo at noon today.”
The second letter was even more to the point and neatly typed. “Tomorrow evening. Five-fifteen p.m. Ride the carousel. Come alone.”
“I’ve already got things ready for your noon meeting,” Denny was saying. “I think what we’ll do is—”
“Why would he want to meet in broad daylight?” Jack asked.
Denny looked up, irritated. “Who knows? Who cares? Maybe because he’s the secret lover but not the killer and he’s ready to come out of hiding.”
“Then why not just go to the police?” Jack persisted. “And why noon today? Why the rush?”
“I guess he’s anxious to get this over with,” Denny said, getting more angry at Jack’s butting in.
“That’s exactly what I’m afraid of,” Jack noted. “That he wants to get it over with. But you have to ask yourself, why would he take the chance of showing up today in broad daylight?”
“Because he thinks she already knows him,” Denny said impatiently. “He needs to find out just what she does know, who she’s told and what she wants for her silence.”
“Blackmail.” Jack shook his head. “I don’t like anything about this.”
“I think you’ve already made that abundantly clear,” Denny said. “But like I told you. Karen will be protected. We’re going to wire her for sound. We’ll be able to hear her as well as talk to her all the time it’s going down. She will stay a safe distance away, under wraps. All she has to do is say, ‘It’s him,’ and we move in. Simple.”
These kinds of things were never that simple. “What if he hangs back looking for her, hoping for an opening with a high-caliber rifle?”
“Look, Jack, I hate to pull rank on you, but you’re interfering in my investigation. I’m asking you to stay out of it. If you don’t—”
“I want him there,” Karen said.
They both turned to look at her. Jack had almost forgotten she was there. He suspected Denny had, as well. But Jack hadn’t forgotten that she hadn’t wanted to lean on him. What had changed?
“I want Jack at the meeting,” she repeated. “If it’s what he wants.”
Jack smiled. “Nothing would have kept me away, anyway.”
Denny raked a hand through his dark hair. “He’s off duty, the same as a civilian, Karen. He has no business or authority—”
“If he’s not there, I won’t be, either,” she said, getting to her feet.
Denny’s jaw tensed. He studied her for a moment, then gave her one of his killer smiles. “This is your show, sweetheart.”
FROM HER BIRD’S-EYE VIEW, Karen glanced at the small Mexican food restaurant across the street and tried to still the butterflies as big as vultures circling in her stomach.
“How are you doing?” Jack asked softly into her earpiece.
Jack had left to take his position somewhere down on the street soon after she’d been wired. He’d said he wanted to check out the equipment. Karen knew he had to keep his distance because of his probation. But she also suspected it was more than that. He would want to position himself where he could stop this stakeout if he felt he needed to.
Denny stood nearby looking out the same window, at the same café, waiting, just like her.
“Fine,” she said.
“It’s not too late to back out,” Jack said quietly.
Denny looked over at her and shook his head. “Guy just doesn’t quit, does he?”
“I’m fine,” she repeated. “Let’s just hope this is the one.” She tried to still the trembling in her hands as she studied the diners at the café through the high-powered binoculars. She wasn’t looking forward to doing this again tonight if this wasn’t the right man.
The café was small, with just a few tables inside and a half-dozen patio tables with umbrellas outside. Right now, most of the tables were filled.
Denny glanced at his watch. “Twelve noon. Do you see anyone who looks even vaguely familiar?”
She shook her head. She’d been watching the café since a quarter after eleven but she hadn’t seen anyone who looked familiar. The place was busy, but no man came in alone, waiting for her.
“I’m going down there,” Denny said. “Let us know if you see anyone who could be the guy.”
She nodded and continued to scan the tables through the binoculars. Another five minutes passed. “Maybe he’s not going to show,” she said, then realized a half-dozen cops were listening to her.
Every woman’s dream to have that many men hanging on her every word. The lame thought made her realize how scared she was. How nuts this was making her. Maybe Jack was right. Maybe putting an ad in the paper had been a fool idea. What killer in his right mind would—
She suddenly noticed a table at the back, inside the building. Moments before the table had emptied out. But now she could see a man sitting alone with his back to her.
“I see someone,” she said.
“Is it him?” Denny asked. “Where is he sitting?”
She focused the binoculars on the lone man. But between the sun’s glare off the windows and one of the umbrellas on a table outside flapping in the breeze, her view was obstructed.
“I can’t tell from here,” she answered, still straining to get a clear view of him. “He’s in the far back.”
Karen waited to see if anyone joined him. He did appear to be expecting someone. Her?
She hesitated a moment longer. “I’m going down to get a closer look.”
“Negative,” Jack snapped. “Stay there. Wait for him to move.”
Karen watched the man a few moments longer through the binoculars. She knew going anywhere near the café would be dangerous if the man was the killer. But the way he had just suddenly appeared, she suspected he’d come in through some back way. Through the kitchen? She feared he’d leave the same way and she wouldn’t get a look at him.
“Stay put, Karen,” Jack ordered. “Denny, can you see from where you are? Denny? Are you picking up?”
Denny still hadn’t answered by the time Karen reached the street.
“Dammit, Karen,” she heard Jack say into her earpiece as she must have come into his view.
“I’m just going to take a quick look,” she said quietly and started across the one-way side street.
“DENNY?” Jack radioed again. Silence. Where the hell was he? Jack watched Karen advance toward the café, the hair on his neck prickling with foreboding. Dammit, he didn’t like this.
He told himself he knew Denny. His partner must have moved in too close to use his radio. That had to be it.
He held his breath as Karen disappeared behind one of the umbrellas on a patio table, then disappeared altogether as she rounded the corner of the building and dropped out of his sight.
“Karen?” No answer.
His earlier foreboding turned t
o dread and a terrible feeling of impending doom. “Denny? Have you got her?”
Silence.
His cop training argued that if he moved now, he’d blow the stakeout, ruin any chance Karen might have of identifying the man and more than likely spook the suspect and allow him to escape.
But right now Jack didn’t feel like a cop and it had nothing to do with being on probation or a forced two-week vacation. He swore and started to move in, telling himself he didn’t give a damn about anything but getting Karen out of there.
“Jack, I’m almost there.”
Her voice stopped him. That and the clatter of dishes. She must have gone around back and in through the kitchen. “You’ve got five seconds and I’m coming after you,” he said to her. Five. Four. Three. Two.
“It’s not him,” Karen whispered, sounding disappointed. “He’s not the man I saw with Liz.”
Jack felt the tension rush out of him. He closed his eyes. “Get out of there,” he told her. But his relief was short-lived. Now they’d have to do this again tonight.
“It’s a wrap, then,” Denny said over the radio, sounding more disappointed than Jack. Just as Jack had suspected, Denny had gotten too close to use his radio and had turned it off. Denny always had to be where the action was.
“Wait a minute,” Jack heard Karen say. “He’s not the man I saw with Liz, but, Jack, I saw him at the hotel Saturday night.”
Jack froze. The man in the back of the café got to his feet and started to leave by the side door.
“It’s Vandermullen,” Denny barked over the radio. “Move in.”
“Karen, get out of there,” Jack ordered as the other detectives swarmed the café.
Dr. Carl Vandermullen? Liz’s ex-husband had answered the ad? God, could Captain Baxter have been wrong about Carl Vandermullen?
Jack took the stairs from his hiding place and came out of the building just as Karen emerged from the café.
She saw him and stopped at the curb on the side street. He started across the street, feeling her gaze, feeling a connection that he could no more explain than he could levitate. Just seeing her filled him with such a rush of emotions that he felt himself smiling like a fool at her.
