Jacked (59 page)

Adam snorted. “I think that’s my usual face, actually.”

“No. It’s not. Usually your face is relaxed, like everything is cool, and when you smile… those dimples come out and you’re absolutely adorable. But this, well, whatever it is, combined with short answers makes it pretty obvious something’s up.” I may not be an expert on relationships, but to hell with dealing with not knowing. “Just so you know, I’d rather hear the painful truth than the false comfort of beautiful lies.”

His broad shoulders dipped. “You don’t pull any punches.”

“Not usually. Medical detective, remember?”

He reached for his phone, holding it for a few seconds. “I’ve been getting annoying texts from someone. I don’t know the number or who’s sending them. And before you get all bent out of shape, I’m not seeing anyone but
you
. Just so we’re clear on that.”

Adam stopped at a red light and then entered his password in. “Here, detective. I got nothing to hide.”

I was surprised he handed it over. “You have to turn left at the next street.” I put my cell on my thigh and looked at his.

“Was u gunna?”
This person is about as smart as a box of rocks.

Adam rolled his eyes. I scrolled down his screen.

“This is pretty alarming, actually, not to mention their blatant butchering of the English language. Did you text her back?”

Adam was negotiating cross traffic. “No.”

“Why not?” My arm squished into the door when he hit the gas.

“I don’t have time for stupid shit like that.”

“How will you know who they’re from then? Did you use your cop superpowers?”

“My superpowers?” His lips wrinkled. “I checked. It’s a burner.”

“A what?”

“One of those cheap throwaway phones. No way to trace it.”

So he did have super-sleuthing powers. “Do you think Tampon Girl would text you this?”

“I don’t know,” he mumbled.

“Do you want me to text her back?”

“Erin,” he groaned.

“I won’t say anything weird. I know a few doctors who treat mental disorders. I might even be able to get coupons.”

“Ignore it.” He leveled his “look” on me before finding me to be somewhat amusing. “I’m serious. If you’re done calling me out on my shit maybe you can tell me which road I’m supposed to turn on. I’m blaming you if we’re late.”

As soon as it delivered, I deleted them, seeing the only texts he had saved were from me, his “Hot Doc.”

OFFICER JOHN TURK
was busy showing me surveillance footage they’d filmed of a warehouse that was suspected of being used to modify stolen cars, but I couldn’t help stealing a few glances over at Erin while he was talking.

She was sitting at the other end of the long wooden dining table in their kitchen, being sweet and social and engaged in her own conversation with John’s wife, Joanne. I should have been paying closer attention to what Turk was explaining but watching Erin lick the lunch off her fingers was more intriguing.

“We think they’re changing the VINs, making them virtually untraceable as stolen,” Turk said, taking a swig off his bottle of beer.

Beer
. Just the smell alone was making my mouth water, causing me to do that internal negotiation that I’d be able to stop after just one. Even one sip would satisfy my taste buds.
Cold, crisp, the bite of hops on the back of my tongue. Just chillin’ on a lazy Saturday with new friends
. I’d already turned down his offer of a cold one but I was reconsidering it now. The want was thick in my throat, dry and parched as the craving felt like sand mixed with my failing resilience.

Erin glanced my way, silently telling me that she was enjoying our company but concerned about the frosty bottle with that enticing condensation dripping down its sides being so close to my hand.

I moved my hand away and gave her a nod, letting her know that “just one” and I would not be meeting up, no matter how tempting the idea was. I’d already fucked up too many things in my life because of it; I wouldn’t let Erin become a casualty of my weakness. Besides, she’d probably smack the bottle out of my hand before it got anywhere near my lips. She sure as hell wouldn’t drink one in front of me while running her mouth around other people either, publicly humiliating me and making me feel less than a man for not being able to control myself like Nikki often did.

Erin came from good stock. Parts of the conversation I had with her dad after the funeral drifted back to my memory, and I was glad that we had such a long talk when I met him. She and I had agreed not to tell her parents the real way we’d met, opting for simple lie of “mutual friends” instead. Her dad was a car guy through and through and letting him think there was a “stolen” issue with his daughter’s car was not the way to go about getting on his good side. “We’d have to check VINs coded on the chassis and within the computer systems, but we’ll need different diagnostics.”

Erin’s adorable smile had me thinking I’d need to check her chassis soon too. I’d been inside her no less than five times since we’d arrived in the city yesterday, making good use out of the room Melissa had provided, although after our showdown I was sure I’d be getting a bill for it. I could still taste Erin’s flavor on my lips, flashing back to holding her hips above me while she ate me for breakfast. I started counting all the different positions I’d had her in since we started fooling around, categorizing them to see if we’d missed any.

I’d like to see her orgasm face when I have her suspended. Hear her scream when she comes. That would take special knots and the hook in my ceiling. She’d probably give me a hard time at first until I got her up off the ground but then she’d love it—

“…barges and then they’d have to… You even listening to me?”

I felt Turk’s nudge. “Huh? Yeah. Barges.”

He smiled at me and then flashed his attention down the table. “You got it bad, bro.”

I sat up a bit, trying to figure out what I was looking at on his computer screen. “Where did you say this warehouse was again?”

Turk shifted in his chair. “Corner of you’re and in love, outside of Hoboken.”

Now he was just fucking with me.

Turk waggled his eyebrows, grinning like an ass.

The baby monitor on the counter crackled and the little one who was babbling to himself started huffing, until he broke into an extended wail.

“Excuse me,” Joanne said, standing. “I’d hoped he’d sleep longer but Colton is nosy, just like his dad.”

“Hey,” Turk snipped. “We’re inquisitive. Nothing wrong with that.”

I studied the information on his computer screen; what Erin’s father had told me made sense. “Canada.”

Turk pulled the laptop closer, squinting. “What?”

“This ring… they have a spotter collecting VINs, they replace US registration for Canadian, and then the car is clean.”

“You shitting me?” Turk asked.

“Border patrol doesn’t check registrations. They only ID occupants. No barges, no bill of ladings or any cargo paperwork. It’s clean. Car disappears and reappears on a foreign lot to an unsuspected buyer.”

“They’d have to reprogram the on-board computer,” Erin added. “You’d have to add in someone who has access to the make and manufacturer software to override it.”

God, I loved her. This bit of info wasn’t news to me but hearing the words come out of her mouth was surprising. “And how do you know this?”

She shrugged nonchalantly. “My dad owns two dealerships? There was a problem with the system in my SHO when it arrived. It kept giving false tire pressure readings. One of the guys in my dad’s shop showed me how he could plug in and reset stuff. It seemed pretty simple, but you’d need the right authorized dealer software to do it.”

“Did your woman just blow a huge hole in our case?” Turk asked, gaping at me in disbelief.

Proud was an understatement. “Or added a major component that we need to pursue. Either way, I don’t think these cars are going overseas.”

“Hey little man,” Turk crooned at his child.

“Here’s everybody, nosy boy,” Joanne said, bouncing a wide awake baby just a few months old in her arms. “Now you can see what’s going on.” She stood next to where Erin sat. “You want to hold him?”

“We’ve got several hours of surveillance video,” Turk continued.

“What? Um, no. That’s okay,” Erin said, edging away.

“Just for a minute?” Joanne prodded “You can feed him if you want.”

Erin backed up as if a bomb had just been set on the table instead of a baby bottle. “No. I can’t. Fingerprints. Er, I mean my dirty hands.”

Her hands looked clean to me.

“I don’t want to get any germs on the bottle. I should wash them. It’s cold and flu season and…” She stood and stumbled aside, her wooden chair scraping across the floor. “May I please use your bathroom?”

I held my hands out. “Pass him over. I’ll hold him.”

Joanne placed the little guy in my arms. “Got him?”

I settled him in, watching his little features scrunch up at me. “Hey little dude. What’s up?” He didn’t know who the hell I was, so I tried to set him at ease with some guy babble.

Erin stood stock-still, slightly gaping at me. Maybe I should have washed my hands, too? I didn’t touch anything and I sure as hell had no plans of sticking my fingers in his mouth.

Turk was talking, but it was hard to be in two conversations at one time. Something was wrong… the way she ran off like that.

Turk and I scanned through weeks of video surveillance, stopping only when there was activity. And then it happened. “Rewind it.”

Erin sucked in a breath behind me. “Is that…?”

The two men on the screen were unmistakable.

And one of them was already dead.

The other was wanted for his murder.