Intimate Caresses (The Love and Danger Series) (3 page)

He shook his head and forced his eyes to focus on the
secreta…administrative assistant, he corrected himself mentally.  “So you and Jared worked well together,” he repeated, keeping his opinion of her assertion to himself. “What about late nights?  Were there lots of those?”

Joan blushed slightly and Brock instantly knew that this woman was either sleeping with the deceased, or had wanted to.  He’d bet money that it was the first. 

He reached his arm out and grabbed the box of tissues that was sitting on the side table.  “I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, ma’am, but Mr. Silverberg died last night.”  He watched as her face crumpled right in front of him.  Brock extended the box of tissues to her just as she burst into tears.  He thought it was odd that there wasn’t any delay in the reaction.  It was almost as if she were waiting for the news to be given to her, as if she knew what he was going to tell her.  It suddenly occurred to him that she had been using the past tense during their conversation instead of the present tense when describing her boss. 

That could be because she’d killed the guy, or it could be because she’d heard the news from someone else in the building.  Something like
a murder happening in an office wasn’t kept a secret for long.  He let her cry for several excruciating moments before he decided that he’d been patient long enough.

“Thank you for your time,” Brock said
gently, not wanting to put her on the defensive because he’d need to speak to her again, then stood up.  “I think you should probably take the day off.  I don’t think there’s going to be a lot for you to do today.”  He was about to leave the office when he stopped and turned back to her.  “I might have more questions.  Be sure and give the police officers downstairs your contact information, okay?  You might be a huge help to the investigation.”

Her eyes were wide as she nodded slowly.  Brock noticed the terrified expression and noted it in the back of his mind, storing it away for future reference. 
“Thank you for your time.” 

The woman scurried out of the office and he silently prayed that
Colt was finished with the wife.  He suspected that the administrative assistant and the wife should be kept as far apart as possible. 

He sighed and looked down at his notebook, his eyes scanning the names of the other suspects
he needed to interview and lit upon one in particular.  Yes, she was definitely next, he told himself with relish.

Moving back down the hallway, he stepped into the office of the
next woman on his list, the one he’d been itching to talk to ever since getting off of the elevator.  She was busy typing away on her keyboard, but as soon as he stepped into her office, she froze. She lifted her hands off of the keyboard and her whole body turned, facing him.  Her pretty blue eyes widened as she took him in. 

“Can I help you, O
fficer?”

Brock didn’t wai
t for an invitation.  He stepped into the relatively small office and sat down in the only available chair.  “It’s Detective, actually,” he corrected.  “But lots of people make that mistake.”

She placed her hands in her lap and his mind snapped back to that image of her as a prim librarian, until she let her hair down.  Then she became all…

He mentally shook his head and forced his eyes to look down at his notes.  “You’ve worked here for how many years?”

“Three years.  I’m sure this is all in my personnel file.”

He nodded his head and looked back at her.  “How long have you worked for Jared Silverberg?” he asked.

Her jaw clenched slightly with that question and Brock had that sensation that she was hiding something again. 

“I’ve worked for him for eighteen months.”

“Did you request the transfer to his project?”

She leaned back in her chair but her posture didn’t relax at all.  “I was promoted to the role of technical manager for the project.  He wanted someone with programming experience and not just project management experience.”

“And how do you like working for Jared?”

Nina cringed inwardly at the question.  “Are you here because of human resources?” she asked carefully.

He didn’t even smile.  “I’m
a detective with the
Chicago Police Department
.  My name is Brock Transom.”

Her eyes widened with that statement, then narrowed.  “What’s going on?  Why would the Chicago Police be here?”

Brock leaned forward, feeling like there was a hidden issue that was important to the investigation.  “Why would HR have someone investigating you?” he asked, not answering her own inquiry.

Crossing her arms over her chest, she shrugged slightly.  “I know there are rumors going on around here.  But I don’t know where they started or even if they are true.  As far as I’m concerned, they aren’t any of my business.”

Brock thought that was an interesting revelation.  Especially since several of the rumors circled around her relationship with the deceased.  “Even if you are the topic of those rumors?”

She was quiet for a moment, her mind going through the
question in her mind, trying to decipher what he was asking her.  When the answer finally occurred to her, she gasped and sat up straighter.  “They’re saying that I…” she looked out her empty doorway, “and Jared?” After several tense moments, she slumped down in her chair.  “Unbelievable,” she whispered.  “I thought it was Jared and…” she stopped and looked up at him, as if suddenly realizing that he was still in her office. “Never mind,” she said and leaned forward.  “I’m not sleeping with Jared, nor will I ever sleep with him.  He’s my boss and that’s it.”  She sighed.  “Really, the only communication we have with each other in person is in the Friday morning update meetings.  All other communications are through e-mail.”

Brock noticed that she was back to closing herself up, wrapping her fingers tightly together and her shoulders were tense.  “We’ll be checking through those,” he commented, just to see what her reaction was. 
Nothing.  She almost seemed relieved. 

“Good.  So there’s no need to investigate any other rumors, right?  The e-mail communication between us should tell it all.  We
are professionals, co-workers.  That’s it.”

Brock really wanted to believe her.  All her body language told him she was telling him the truth.  But there was something about her, something she was hiding.  This beauty had a secret
, and that secret was pretty important to her. 

“Do you have any other questions?” she asked when he didn’t say anything.

Brock had to be impressed that she wasn’t intimidated by the silence.  A point in her favor.  Whenever he kept quiet, people tended to get nervous about the silence and fill it with idle comments.  Sometimes those comments were extremely revealing. 

S
o she was smart as well as beautiful. 

That didn’t mean she wasn’t sleeping with her boss. 

“I think that’s all for now.  But I’ll be in touch,” he told her and stood up.  “We’re interviewing all the employees with ties to Mr. Silverberg.”

Nina had no idea what that was about,
so she turned back to her computer and dismissed the man from her mind.  Or tried to, at least.  He was a bit too big to completely dismiss.  And obnoxious.  And arrogant.  Darn it!  She backspaced several times to get rid of the code she’d just written – it made absolutely no sense.  The man was distracting her! 

For the next two hours, she sat in her office and worked on the
program segments she’d received from one of her teammates late last night.  Unfortunately, she only got about a quarter of the work done that she normally would, and it was all because of one tall, gorgeous man that looked like he needed to shave.  And the fact that she wanted to run the tips of her fingers through that five-o’clock shadow, see what it felt like, explore the texture of that bristly beard over that fascinating scar. 

Shaking her head, she gritted her teeth and focused once again on her computer screen. 

There were some errors that needed to be fixed and, instead of asking this particular programmer to fix them, she just went ahead and corrected the issues herself.  He was an older gentleman and didn’t take well to being corrected by a not-yet-thirty year old woman.  And since he was a year away from retirement, as he’d plainly stated two months ago when she’d tried to help him, she didn’t see the need to show him how to do things correctly.  He was good enough to keep on the project, but not one of her stellar team members. 

When the e-mail request popped up on her screen, she was irritated because she’d finally gotten the man out of her mind
. Now he was “requesting” her presence in the conference room?  Was anything about this day going to be normal? 

As she walked down the hallway, she tried hard to focus her mind on her work, to not think about the next confrontation with the man who had invaded her senses and, obnoxiously, wouldn’t get out. 

Nina walked into the conference room and immediately her defenses rose.  Just seeing him again made her temper flare. “What?” she demanded angrily.  “Following me into the elevator and down the hallway wasn’t enough?  Disrupting my morning routine didn’t give you enough kicks?  Now you think you can summon me to a meeting?”  She was bristling with irritation and couldn’t hide it.  Every rational thought was telling her to calm down and respect this police officer, or detective or whatever he called himself.  But rational thought wasn’t in charge as she stepped into the conference room.  She felt like she was in a battle, but wasn’t really sure what the war was about.  She had to admit that this man was getting under her skin like no other male had ever been able to do before. 

Brock knew that
this Ms. Jansen was a suspect, but just her bristly nature and the fire in those gorgeous blue eyes turned him on.  He actually had to shift slightly as his body reacted instantly to her feistiness.  “I have some more questions for you.”

Nina crossed her arms over her chest.  “And who gave you the right to summon me and ask me questions?” she blew out her breath again, shaking her head.  “I don’t know what’s going on here today, but it doesn’t have anything to do with me and I have a lot of work to do.”

She spun around on her heel and was about to walk away when she heard the man’s voice. “Stay right there,” he commanded in a deep, authoritative voice that sent strange shivers throughout her whole body. 

Brock stood up and walked around the table until he was
towering over her.  “A man died last night.  That means you’re going to stay here and answer my questions until I tell you I’m finished.  And if I have other questions, I’ll expect you to answer those as well.  And I’d appreciate it if you would do it with a smile on your pretty face, but it isn’t a requirement.  Just a preference.”

Nina
jerked back, her eyes wide with surprise and disbelief.  “Died?  Who died?” she asked, her voice softer this time.  She shook her head and looked around as if trying to place the missing person.  “Everyone showed up for work today.  No one is missing.”

Brock raised an eyebrow at that. 
“No one?”

Nina went through the p
eople on her team, mentally taking an attendance.  “Well, everyone from my team is here,” she whispered.  “Of course, I don’t know the people from the other teams.”  She seemed to fall into one of the conference room chairs.  “Who died?”

Brock wasn’t sure he believed her act.  If it was an act, she was pretty dammed good and pretending.  “Jared Silverberg?  Your boss?” he prompted. 

Nina stared back at him, her beautiful blue eyes showing absolutely no emotion other than a blank stare.  Then the anger flared once more.  “Jared isn’t dead,” she came right back with a furious voice and stood up, livid with the prank someone was trying to pull.  “This is some sort of sick joke and I’m not going to be the brunt of the latest office prank,” she said and stepped towards the doorway.  She had taken several steps, but the image of all the officers down in the lobby popped into her head.  If it were a prank, it was a pretty elaborate one.  But if it weren’t a prank…she shivered as the idea hit her.  “It is a prank, isn’t it?”

Brock was deeply aware of how pretty her voice
was.  He liked the melodic flow of her words, as if she’d grown up in Texas or Alabama.  He wasn’t completely sure about all the various southern accents, and hers was very subtle.  In fact, it had just shown up in the last few minutes.  Perhaps that’s how he could figure out if she was truly upset. 

“Jared Silverberg is definitely dead. 
Murdered, in fact.”

She watched Brock carefully again, then laughed. 
“Nope.  I don’t believe you.”  She made her way towards the door again, but one more time, she looked back at him. When she realized that he wasn’t laughing, not even teasing, but seemed completely serious, she took a deep breath.  “He’s not dead,” she shook her head.  “No.  The man’s a jerk, but he’s not dead.”  She fell back down onto the chair again and her breathing became erratic. 

“Are you going to be okay?” Brock asked, moving closer.  Bending down, he realized that she was starting to hyperventilate.  “It’s okay,” he soothed, and his hands bent her forward. “Here, put your head between your knees and take deep breaths.”

Nina followed his instructions because she wasn’t sure what else to do.  All she could think about was Jared.  Dead.  She simply couldn’t believe it.  It seemed impossible.  Just yesterday, she’d been slipping out of the kitchen to avoid being cornered by him again.  Thankfully, someone else had come into the kitchen at that moment, so she’d easily been able to slip out and head back to her office.  She had even brought in her own coffee maker a few weeks ago simply so she wouldn’t have to go to the kitchen as often.  Being cornered by that lecher was not an option.  He played dirty.