Jamie Hill Triple Threat (14 page)

He grinned and reached over to nuzzle her neck lightly. “I think you’ll like my pancakes, too. If I could prevail upon you to set the table, pour some milk and such, we’ll be ready here soon.”

“You’re the boss,” she told him, and did as he asked.

He snorted at that. “You should call Moe,” he reminded. She took his cell phone to the bedroom to make the call. When she returned, the boys were at the table and Jack was pouring syrup on their pancakes.

“Everything cool?” He glanced at her.

“Cool enough.” She shrugged and sat down. “These do look good. Is there anything you
can’t
do, Jack? Anything you’re just really cruddy at?”

He chuckled as they ate. “Plenty of things, like skiing. I just can’t manage to get up on water skis, and I just can’t manage to
stay
up on snow skis. Gravity is cruel thing.”

“Don’t I know it.”
Crystal
rolled her eyes at him and glanced at the boys. “Wipe your chin, Dev. You’re dripping syrup.” She looked at Jack. “That’s one of the first things every woman learns.”

He laughed. “What, about dripping syrup?”

She rolled her eyes again.

He continued, “And what would you know about how cruel gravity is? You’re what, twenty-three?”

She grinned. “You don’t have to sweet-talk me, baby, I’m ready to seal the deal. But for the record, I’m twenty-eight.”

“You lie.” He shook his head as he finished eating.

She grinned again. “What about you?” She guessed low. “Thirty-three, thirty-four?”

He laughed. “Now who’s flattering…and doing such a poor job of it, by the way? I’m thirty-seven and look every minute of it.”

“Really?” She looked at him with purposely wide eyes.

He stacked their plates on top of his and stood up. “I like that you’re such a lousy liar, Crys. For some reason, it makes me feel good.”

“I’m six,”
Devon
looked at Jack seriously. “And I’m not lying.”

“Good boy,” Jack said with a smile. “I like that, too.”

* * * *

He cleaned the kitchen and loaded the dishwasher while
Crystal
washed the boys up and helped them get dressed. They met again in the hallway and Jack told her, “I’m going to hop in the shower. I need to head over to the apartment this morning and get the crime scene techs in there. I know whose fingerprints they’re going to find.
Again.
”

She nodded. “Yours, mine and ours.”

“Yep. But we have to check, just in case. We really need a break here.”

“Yep,” she agreed. “Go shower. I’m going to go smoke and watch the snow.”

He smiled and thought how pretty she looked in her robe, with her hair tousled and black plastic glasses sliding down her nose. He leaned in to kiss her cheek. She responded with the most beautiful smile he thought he’d ever seen. He grinned back as he watched her walk away.

Jack closed the door to his room and glanced at his rumpled bed. He thought about
Crystal
, wondering if he'd been crazy to turn her away. He'd told her the truth. He wanted her more than he'd ever wanted any woman. But he was walking a fine line, and he had to be sure before he took the leap to her side.

He pulled his shirt over his head and slipped out of his jeans and briefs. His erection jutted forth. Just thinking about
Crystal
brought him to full attention. He turned on the shower and stepped inside when the water felt warm. He allowed himself to think of her again—the way her hair spread out over her shoulders, the way her breasts looked in that damn sweater with the v-neck...Who was he kidding? Now that
Crystal
was living under his roof, he was not going to be able to resist her for long. His groin throbbed and he admitted he didn’t
want
to resist her.

But his damn sense of duty nagged at him.

Jack put his hands up on the wall of the shower and groaned. Steam and hot water were not making his situation any better. He cursed himself and turned the water handle to cold.

Chapter Seven

The lieutenant threw his report on his desk and looked at Jack. “The only fingerprints we can identify are yours,
again,
Dunlevy. Got an explanation for that?”

“Of course.” Jack stretched out his legs and looked at his supervisor. He despised Hank Reeder. The very look of the short, squat, balding and extremely arrogant man irritated him. Currently there was nothing Jack could do about it. He daydreamed about the day he could pour a cup of coffee over Reeder’s head and walk out. But right now it was time to come clean with a few facts, because Jack needed help on this case. He decided to throw some information out there and test the waters, so to speak.

“The occupant of the apartment is a woman I’ve been seeing.”
I met her while working on this case
. “She has a couple kids with the man who used to live next door.”
They’re not really hers, but I have a feeling they belong together.
“Dave Erickson. He wound up a John Doe in the Hutch morgue. We helped ID him. Erickson’s place was the first one ransacked. Yet someone continues break into it, so obviously they’re looking for something he has, or they believe he has.”

“Cause of death on Erickson?”

“Gunshot wound through the heart, after someone beat the crap out of him.”

“You’d think he would have given up whatever information at some point during the beating, unless he was a hell of a strong man.”

“I don’t get the impression he was, but that’s hearsay. I really don’t think he told them anything, or they wouldn’t have to return to his place to keep looking. Which brings me to a couple possible conclusions: one, he doesn’t have it. Whatever the hell they’re looking for, he just doesn’t have it. Or two, he didn’t tell them anything because he was afraid his kids might be there when they went looking. They’re nice kids. Maybe he cared about his family.”

“Here’s a three for you: Maybe he was a cocky son-of-a-bitch who thought he was going to weasel out of the tight spot, and wanted to keep it for himself—whatever 'it' is.”

Jack thought about that and nodded. “My guess is money, or drugs he could sell for money. I know he used. I’m talking to some people at the loading dock where he worked, because I suspect he dealt but no one has verified that yet. They will, once they find out he’s dead. I’m heading back there tomorrow.”

Reeder nodded. “So we’re left with fingerprints we doubt will help, but we need to make sure. I assume you know how to reach this woman you’ve been seeing?”

He said it with thinly veiled sarcasm, and Jack wanted to tell Reeder what he could do to himself and then slam the door loudly on his way out. Instead he said, “Yeah, I do. Can I get their prints myself, so I don’t have to drag them down here?”

Reeder studied him for a moment. “It’s not like you to get mixed up with someone who’s involved in this kind of crap.”

Jack stared back at him. Reeder was right. It wasn’t as though he was the department Lothario. Maybe his involvement this once wouldn’t be such a bad thing. He felt a weight lift from his shoulders, and had to force himself to keep from grinning like an idiot. He shrugged. “Sometimes bad things happen to good people.”

Reeder eyed him suspiciously and muttered, “Just get their prints, and turn them over to the techs. Follow up with the coworkers. If we can prove Erickson was dealing, maybe we can tie him to a local outfit and go at things that way.”

“You got it.” Jack stood, anxious to be off.

“I haven’t seen your reports on the Carson or Hooper homicides. I assume they’ll be on my desk ASAP.”

“Hooper’s connected to this case, so I’m holding off on that report.”

“And your excuse on
Carson
would be…?”

Jack smiled and offered his boss another shrug. “I’m an inept asshole, and I don’t have a partner? Everything takes me twice as long.”

“You’re right about the asshole part, Dunlevy. And I’m starting to believe you about the ineptitude. You want a partner? I got a newbie riding on the heels of nepotism, just busting to get a crack at homicide. How about I stick her with you?”

Jack took a step back out of the office and assured, “I’ll have that report to you by day’s end.”

He heard Reeder’s laugh behind him, and hoped the lieutenant thought him incompetent enough that he wouldn't stick a trainee with him—especially a female who was riding on her daddy’s coattails. Jack knew he was still sharp as hell, but he was far too cynical. He had seen too much, put up with too much, been through too much, and was frankly sick and tired of it. He was seriously considering wrapping up this case and getting out. He'd intended to put in his twenty before retiring, but things were changing in his life. Now he wasn’t sure he wanted to do this job two more years. He tried to tell himself that Crystal and the boys didn’t have anything to do with this new feeling, but he knew that was a line of bull.

He dropped into his chair and booted his computer. “
Carson
report,” he muttered, and swallowed two aspirin with a gulp of really bad cop shop coffee.

* * * *

Crystal
wandered though Jack’s house. She'd warned him she was going to snoop and he laughed. He was going over to her apartment to do the same thing. She asked him to look for her grandmother’s pearl earrings, which she kept in a black velvet box in her dresser. He was sure they would be gone, but he agreed to look.

She felt restless. Was it only a week ago she'd been wishing for more time to herself, to watch TV or do nothing at all, whatever she felt like? Now she had that time, but was on edge and didn’t think she could enjoy it. Jack left her with a lengthy list of don’ts: don’t answer the door, don’t go outside, don’t let the kids outside, don’t answer the phone unless she can hear on the answering machine that it’s him, don’t leave the door open for more than a second to let Zeus in and out, don’t worry, don’t let the kids see her worry, don’t be scared…
Yeah, right
.

She could handle the top section of the list, as claustrophobic as it made her feel, but that last part, no way. She was scared, and she would remain scared until Jack walked back through the door.

He made her feel safe. He made her feel lots of things, but safe was her priority at the moment. She didn’t let her mind dwell on the other feelings he stirred inside her. He was helping her and the boys. When they were safe again, their flirtation would be over. She couldn’t let herself get too attached to him. It would only hurt that much worse when he let her go.

She peered into his closet and a couple drawers, but her heart really wasn’t into snooping. She finally pulled a book off the shelf in his closet and sat in the living room with the kids as they played with Zeus and watched TV.

She made them lunch and had them do some homework afterward. She wanted to keep things as normal as possible for them, but it was hard when they weren’t in school. They were itching to go out and play in the snow, which had accumulated to about three inches. She told them when Jack got home, they could go outdoors. She hoped he agreed.

His phone didn’t ring all morning. Then in the afternoon it rang twice in a row. She walked over to the answering machine and listened as his message played. “This is Dunlevy. Leave a message.” Beep.
Crystal
chuckled at his brevity. She had never owned an answering machine. What kind of message would she leave? ‘This is Crys, Jack and I can’t come to the phone right now.’
Stupid, stupid, stupid!
She shook her head. Why did she do that to herself?

The caller hung up without leaving a message. She stood staring at the machine, wondering if there was any significance to that, when the phone rang again it startled her. “Hey Crys, it’s me, pick up, okay?”

Warmth filled her chest when she heard Jack’s voice. She lifted the phone and pushed the on button. “Hi,” she said softly.

“Well hello. How is your day going?”

“Quiet. You know, I was recently wishing for some down time to sit around and do nothing. But now that I’ve got it, I figured out, it’s really boring!”

He chuckled. “Sorry you’re so bored, but I don’t have a hell of a lot of sympathy for you. I’m still wishing for that down time to sit around and do nothing.”

“It would definitely be more fun if you were here,” she teased.

“God, would I ever love to explore the possibilities in that statement! For the time being, though, I’m stuck at my desk filling out a report. I figure I can cut out around four. Are the boys itching to get outside?”

“Oh yeah. I hope you’re going to let them. They really want to play in the snow.”

“Let them? Hell, I plan to join them.”

She chuckled. “I should have known. Okay, I’ll come up with something for dinner, and see you in a little while, then.”

“Sounds good. See you.”