Intimate Desires (The Love and Danger Series) (9 page)

“True,” Debbie replied, working steadily beside Hannah.  “But that doesn’t mean I can’t look and appreciate what’s out there.”  She even laughed at her own joke. 

Several hour
s later, Sam leaned back in the conference room chair where they’d set up their boards, trying to lay out all the details in the hopes of finding a pattern. “We’re not getting anywhere.  We’ve been all over these details a hundred times and nothing is making any sense.”

Colt looked up, frustration written all over his face.  “You’re right.  We’re missing something here.  What’s going on?”

Walker paced back and forth, his mind sifting through the details.  “We have three connections.  Both victims were homeless.  Both hung out some days at the chess park.  And Hannah knew both of them and gave them free coffee whenever she saw them.”

Sam grimaced at the idea of his Hannah being in danger and none of them understanding why.  “There’s got to be a pattern.  But motive?  I don’t see it.”

Brock stared at the board, eyes narrowed.  “What if we’re talking about a genocide type of personality?  Someone who is trying to get rid of all the homeless people in the area?” The thought actually made the scar on his cheek look whiter, more intense.  It was almost as if that scar were a barometer for his inner thoughts. 

Sam let his chair fall on all four legs
as the impact of that statement sunk in.  “If that’s the case, why prop them up in an alley behind the coffee shop?  That doesn’t make sense with whatever statement this guy is trying to make by the location.”

Colt’s eyes were narrowed as he reviewed the white boards and the information spread out across the surface. 
“What if Hannah isn’t involved? What does that do to the known connections?”

Sam looked around, hopeful but not optimistic
.  “Do any of you guys really believe this doesn’t involve Hannah?”

There was a long silence and then all of them shook their heads.  “I can’t put my finger on why, but my gut is telling me that she’s the key.”

Sam groaned inwardly. “I agree,” he replied, wishing it were otherwise. 

He sifted through the papers.  “So where do we go next?” he asked. 

“Go play basketball,” a new voice called out.

All four men looked over at their captain who was standing in the conference room doorway.  He moved into the room and leaned his hip against the conference room table.  “Take a break.  You guys have been going over these details for hours and you’ve got no
new ideas.  It’s time to get out to the court and battle it out.  You know that things always come to you four brutes when you’re tossing a ball around.”

Walker
and Brock chuckled while Sam and Colt shook their heads.  “I don’t think…” Sam started to say.

Their boss interrupted Sam. 
“Not a request.  That’s an order.  If nothing else, you need some fresh air and a few hours off.  Maybe by the time you get back, Joe will have finished the autopsy and you’ll look at everything new tomorrow morning.”

With that, he walked out the door, assuming that his detectives would follow his orders. 

Sam stood up and looked around.  “He’s right.  Let’s just wait until the autopsy is finished.  We’ll start fresh tomorrow.”

“You’ll go get Hannah?” Colt asked. 

Walker and Brock waited for his nod of confirmation before they continued.  “We’ll meet you at the gym in,” Brock looked at his watch, “thirty minutes.  Will that give you enough time?”

Sam thought about all he wanted to do to Hannah but knew it would have to wait.  “Thirty minutes,” he agreed.

Colt chuckled as he smacked Sam on the back.  “Later,” he commented, knowing exactly where Sam’s mind had gone for that split second.

Sam grumbled something under his breath which caused
the other three men to laugh as they walked out of the conference room. 

“You know you’re
gonna lose this time,” Brock said to Sam.  “It doesn’t matter that you have a woman.  She’s not going to help.”

Sam rolled his eyes.  “You have no idea the magic that woman can produce,” he came right back
, thinking of the few hours of sleep he’d gotten but didn’t feel tired at all.  Hell, just the thought of seeing Hannah sent a jolt of energy throughout his system.

The four of them walked out of the station, badgering each other until they separated to go to their own cars. 

Sam pulled up outside the café and spotted Hannah inside talking to some of the customers.  He looked at the clock and realized it was five thirty.  She’d been here an extra half hour because he’d gotten too involved in the case.  Since she’d been there since five o’clock this morning, she must be exhausted but she was still smiling, still chatting away with her customers. 

She must have sensed he was there because he wasn’t even out of his truck when she looked out the windows.  The sun was still shining since the days were long
er, but he was pretty sure she couldn’t see him from this distance. 

Stepping out of the car, he wondered about that. 
Liked it.  And actually, felt the same way about her. 

He walked inside, his eyes scanning the patrons, mentally memorizing their faces in case they showed up during this investigation. 
“Ready to go?” he asked, stopping on the other side of the counter. 

“Yes.  But we need to set the ground rules for the night.”  She walked around the counter, smiling goodbye to her night manager.  “You’re not sleeping in my bed tonight.”

He agreed with her.  “You’re right.  You’re going to need to grab some things and come to my place.”

She stopped in her tracks and turned around, looking up at him. 
“Your place?  Why would I go there?”

“Because some nut job is acting like a cat and leaving dead things outside your door, showing you that he likes you.”  He hadn’t thought about things that way but now that the words
were out of his mouth, they sounded right. 

“I don’t think…”

“Get your purse, Hannah,” he told her, nudging her in the direction of her office where he knew her purse was stored.  “We have some place to be tonight.  And you’re going to be my good luck charm.”

She grabbed her purse, confused by his statement.  “I’m not anyone’s good luck charm,” she came right back
indignantly.

“You are tonight.”  He took her arm and led her out of the café, waving
to the night crew who called out good wishes for her before he tucked her into his truck.  He’d just slammed the door closed and was halfway around the front of his truck when he stopped and turned around.

Hannah watched his progress
back to her side of the vehicle, not sure what he was doing when he came back and opened her side of the truck.  “Did I forget some…” she didn’t have a chance to finish that thought.  He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her against him, kissing her until she couldn’t speak any longer. 

“I’m sorry I’m late,” he told her when he lifted his head to look down at her. 

She was breathless and flustered, but loved the way his gruff voice flowed over her skin.  “I didn’t notice, actually.” 

Sam liked the starry look in her eyes and nodded his approval.  “It won’t happen again.”

She blinked and suddenly realized they were sitting out in her parking lot where anyone could see them, his hips were between her legs and she was holding onto his shoulders with a death grip.  She jerked back, embarrassed to be in such a compromising position at her place of work.  “Goodness!” she gasped and pushed uselessly at his shoulders.  He stood there grinning down at her but finally moved back when she started to pull her legs away from around his so she could primly sit in the seat. 

“Get used to it,” he told her before he once again slammed the door for her.

Hannah grumbled while she watched him walk around the front of his car and decided that she didn’t have anything to say to him if he was going to act like a cave man around her.  That lasted approximately thirty seconds before she couldn’t contain her curiosity any longer.  “So what did you guys discover today?” she asked.

“The second victim was killed with a heart medicine but we’re not exactly sure
which one yet.  It isn’t anything that Joe can identify on the pharmacological charts,” he said as he turned to the right and headed in the opposite direction from her apartment.  “We can’t figure out the source yet, but Joe sent samples to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, hoping they might have a source we can investigate.”

This was news to Hannah.  “How does he know it was a heart medicine?” she asked, fascinated by the possibility. 

“Because the heart was the first thing to stop,” Sam explained.  “Beyond that, I have no clue what he does.   We’ll know more once the autopsy is completed later tonight.”

She
sat beside him, feeling worried, both for his safety as well as fear for whoever this crazy person might target next.  “So what are you going to do now?”

He drove out of the parking lot and turned in the opposite direction from her apartment.  “Now,” he said and turned left again, “we’re going to play basketball.”

Hannah blinked, completely confused.  “Basketball?”  She shook her head and made a funny grimace with her lips that he didn’t see, thankfully, because he was looking in the opposite direction. 

“Or more specifically, I’m playing basketball.  You are going to be my good luck charm.  Walker and I play against Colt and Brock over at the gym and we’ve lost to them
the past four games.”  He turned to look at her and winked.  “You are going to change that today.”

She laughed, feeling that silly, warm fuzzy feeling again.  “Shouldn’t you be doing some police work or following up on a lead?”

“Captain’s orders.  He said we need to relax.  And he’s right.  When we’re out on the court, we relax and get a bit crazy.  It helps us to think better, clears our heads.”

She nodded, completely agreeing with him.  “I do that with my aerobics class.  It helps me get my mind off of whatever problems I’m having at the coffee shop and I usually can come up with a solution
.”

“Exactly.”
  He turned into a large parking lot.  “And it also helps when Walker and I crush Colt and Brock,” he said with a grin.  “Come on.”

He moved quickly around his truck and was beside her before her feet could touch the ground, lifting her up and placing her gently on the
asphalt.  “You look good enough to eat,” he grumbled.  “I think I chose the wrong thing to clear my mind.”  He watched and actually chuckled when the expected blush arrived.  “And you become even cuter when you do that.”  He bent down and kissed her gently.  “Come on, before I change my mind and go with my preferred outlet.”

Hannah followed, still not sure why he wanted her here.  She’d never been a good luck charm to anyone, but she could sit on the sidelines and watch.  The idea was actually very enticing. 

Thirty minutes later, she had a completely different opinion.  These four men didn’t play normal basketball.  No, their idea of playing basketball was full body blocking, elbows accidentally hitting chests and chins, arms moving around, feet, knees, heads and just about every body part in between would probably be bruised. 

Hannah had been expecting a fun game but she cringed as their sweat covered bodies battled on the wooden floor of the gym.  And they laughed!  She couldn’t believe how one would take an elbow to the gut and grunt with the pain, but then get right back into the thick of the insanity, laughing as they stole the ball back and raced to the other side of the court.  Back and forth, one foul after the other, they scored, poked, cheated and basically rumbled through the game. 

Hannah covered her eyes, tried to look away, gasped and cringed as the four of them “played” basketball.  She was fairly certain that their basketball methods would constitute some pretty major violations if they actually paid attention to the rules. 

Brock was knocked to the right as Walker stole the ball, his butt sliding several feet even while his eyes watched Walker pass to Sam.  Sam then took a hit to his side and lost
the ball to Colt who used his whole body to block Sam who would have fallen, but ran into Brock who had just gotten back up.  Brock almost stumbled down again, but he used both hands to push Sam out of his way, which effectively pushed Sam back into play.  Sam grinned as he stole the ball from Colt, but then Brock popped the ball out of Sam’s hands, almost smacking Sam in the face in the process. 

Over and over again, the ball went down the court, one team scored, the next moment they were racing down the court again, no body part safe as they fought for control and points.  It wasn’t basketball.  It was complete insanity! 

When Sam looked over, laughing at how he’d just lost the ball, he noticed Hannah was sitting in the bleachers, her hands covering her head as if she wanted to dive under the wooden bleachers. 

“Are you okay?” Sam asked, holding the ball even while the other three continued to joke around, punching each other and laughing about the various plays they’d accomplished or foiled. 

“Is it over?” she asked with a worried voice, peering up slightly. 

“Sure is!” Walker replied with a wicked grin.  “And we won!  Thanks Hannah!”

Hannah breathed a sigh of relief and lifted her head now that it was safe.  She looked at Sam’s face where a bruise was already forming on his cheekbone.  She had no idea which elbow or smack, or even ball in the face, had created that bruise but it looked like he’d been beaten.