Seductive Reasoning (TASK FORCE HAWAII Book 1) (4 page)

“I’m going to have to take a rain check. I need to get back to my place and clean up.”

“The case?” Sean asked.

She nodded as she brushed a kiss over his cheek. “Maybe we could all do dinner tomorrow night?”

Sean agreed, then Randy frowned.

Good lord, he was worse than a five-year-old. If he didn’t get attention, he sulked. She leaned over and gave him a kiss.

He was smiling when she pulled back. Since they had settled in Hawaii, Randy and Jaime really had become like another brother and an older sister she had never had. Most people would find it weird, but for someone who had lost her entire family in one blinding moment on Boxing Day, she loved it. Over ten years without a real connection, and now she had three.

“I’ll call you later.”

“Be careful,” Sean said.

“Always, brother dear.”

“Hey, watch it,” he said with a laugh.

She waved behind her as she stepped out onto the driveway. She needed a shower, and she needed to talk to Elle about the case. After slipping on her helmet, she started the short drive from her brother’s Kailua mansion to her condo in Honolulu. As the sweet Hawaiian air whipped by her, Emma tried her best not to worry about why she felt so happy now. She would just assume it was the job. Being infatuated with a man like Martin Delano was just going to lead to trouble.

A
dam stepped
up to the coffee stand when he felt someone beside him. He didn’t have to look to know who it was. He could smell her perfume. Worse, he could smell
her
. Lilies with a dash of spice. He remembered getting drunk on it, as he licked his way over every inch of her body.

“Howzit, Lt. Lee,” Jin said with a smile. Her flirtatious tone told Adam she wanted more than just a simple conversation.

“No,” he said. Then he looked at the clerk. “Mahalo.”

The cute woman smiled, and he wanted to curse himself. She had been dropping hints for weeks that she wanted a date, and he had thought about it. But, now that Jin was there, he couldn’t think of a reason why he would even want to talk to another woman.

He was a schmuck.

Stepping away from the coffee cart and Jin, he started walking back to headquarters. He had come outside after dealing with Grace Singh’s parents, needing some fresh air. Their grief had almost been too much for him. They had known, definitely, but seeing their daughter laid out on a slab eked away any remaining hope they had.

Unfortunately, Jin didn’t give up easily. Her heels clattered on the sidewalk behind him.

“Adam,” she called out. “Wait up.”

He stopped and faced her. Half African American and half Japanese, she was a unique beauty. It was what drew him to her to begin with. She’d cut her hair short recently, allowing the natural curl to take over. Today, she was dressed in a white top with splashes of red flowers all over it. The short little red skirt and heels to match completed the outfit.

She pulled off the designer sunglasses. Damn, those eyes. Dark brown with little flecks of gold in them. They mesmerized him every time he saw her.

“I’m not about to comment on an ongoing investigation.”

For a second, something close to hurt came and went in her gaze. She didn’t truly have feelings though. He had learned that a long time ago.

“I’m not here for a comment.”

He snorted and turned around to start back to the office. With the situation they were in right now, he did not need to get tangled up with the woman again.

“Well, either way, no comment.”

“Adam.”

He stopped and looked over his shoulder.

She walked around and stood in front of him. “I just knew you were probably the one who had to handle her parents.”

He sighed. “I did, and it wasn’t pleasant. So, I’m not in the mood to deal with you right now.”

“I just wanted to say hello. I know you never liked this part of the job.”

“Who would?”

She shrugged. “Delano makes you do the notification a lot of times.”

“I didn’t do the notification. I just accompanied them. But I volunteer. You know how locals are. They would rather deal with
Kamaʻāina
.”

She nodded. “Why don’t we get a drink after work tonight?”

He wanted to. He wanted nothing more than to have that drink, then talk her back into bed. The memory of their weekend together was still seared on his brain. But, in the end, she’d disappeared sometime on Monday morning and refused his calls for weeks. And he
had
called for weeks.

Schmuck.

He shook his head.

“Oh, come on, Adam, you’re still not mad at me, are you?”

He hated when she put that tone in her voice. He knew she dated a lot of policemen, and if she hadn’t been a reporter, Jin would definitely get the label of badge bunny.

But she always had a motive, just like now. It hurt just to look at her.

“No, thanks. I like to date women who are after me for my body. Not what I know about a case.”

Again there was a flash of hurt in her dark brown eyes, but it disappeared so fast, he knew he had been wrong. She didn’t have feelings or morals when it came to the job. She always wanted a story and damn anyone who got in the way.

“Nice try, Phillips,” he said, then walked away.

The sooner he got away, the better chance he had of resisting her. Even now, he wanted to turn around and take her up on her offer. He didn’t understand, never would. Adam knew he always wanted the damaged ones. Somewhere inside of him, he felt a need to fix them, to kiss all their hurts away. Meanwhile, they were figuring out ways to stomp on his heart.

Schmuck.

“
A
re
you going to eat that malasada?” Charity asked, as Emma looked over the information. She shook her head and absent-mindedly handed the last one over to her friend.

“I can’t believe you found nothing.”

Charity bit into the treat and hummed. “I owe you. I was in such a rush to get here this morning, I’ve had nothing to eat.”

“That’s not a good idea. You need to keep your energy up.”

She sighed. “They forgot to call me again.”

Emma sighed. “I can’t believe the swabs brought back nothing.”

Charity nodded. As the resident geeks of Task Force Hawaii, Emma and Charity had hit it off right away when she’d arrived. Being geeks were about the only thing they had in common. Their love of anything dealing with Doctor Who had sealed the friendship. But that was where the similarities had ended.

While Emma could be quiet, Charity was loud and Southern. She’d explained that it was a whole other level of noise if you were from the south. Emma rarely worried about what her hair looked like—or if she was in fashion. Charity changed her fashion with the days. Today, Charity was wearing hot pink and black...although, Emma had no idea why she had worn red shoes with it. Maybe she had been overwhelmed. Emma would have a meltdown on a daily basis if she had to choose from Charity’s wardrobe. Emma was convinced the woman had more pairs of shoes than Emma had ever had in her entire lifetime.

“Nothing. Even the scrapings under the fingernails. Elle told me she thought the bastard cleaned them. And now, seeing what I have, I would say she’s right. It takes a particularly dedicated person to get every fiber or bit of dust cleaned out. You have to be one sick fuck to do that.”

“You have to be sick to do
any
of this. Leaving her like that was bad enough, but just reading some of this makes my head hurt.”

Needing to collect her thoughts, Emma closed her eyes and leaned her head back.

“Praying to the gods?” Elle said.

Emma opened her eyes and smiled at the doctor. “No. Trying to get my brain clear. It seems to be all bungled about at the moment. I can’t think straight.”

“Why is that?” Elle said.

Emma shrugged. “Probably overwhelmed by all the information. Plus, Sean made me go work out this morning. I was sweating.”

Charity snorted.

Emma frowned at her friend. “What?”

“I have a feeling it has to do with the very delicious Delano,” Charity said.

“It does not.”

Which was a big fib. Of course it was. Just thinking about being in the same room with him had her pulse pounding. She thought by now she would have learned to control herself around him.

“He’s been grumpy since you left,” Charity said. “In the last few weeks, he’s been all fire and brimstone. No one could get him out of the funk he was in.”

“Del is grumpy all the time,” Emma said, ignoring the way her heart danced at the sound of his name. Bloody hell, this wasn’t good. She was going to embarrass herself. But she didn’t want to rain on Charity’s parade. She knew that part of the gossiping nature of the team served to relieve the stress they were all under.

“I have to agree with Charity,” Elle said. “Del has been a real bugger to deal with since you haven’t been in. He even yelled at Adam one day, and you know how those two are. Like brothers. He’s just been in a right funk.”

“Well, let’s hope it doesn’t get worse.” Emma looked at the clock and noticed it was almost four. “We need to get upstairs. Are you coming?” she asked Charity.

Charity shook her head. “I have some more video to watch. I need to see if I can catch this bastard. Say hi to Del for me.”

Emma didn’t respond to that. She picked up her messenger bag and followed Elle out of the room. The sooner the meeting was over, the sooner she could get to work.

And the sooner she was far away from the man who made her think stupid things.

D
el hung
up on another reporter as he grabbed up his cell and headed into the squad room again. He was sick to fucking death of the calls. Vultures, every single one of them. To make matters worse, it was five minutes to four and Emma still hadn’t arrived.

From the time she started working for him, Emma had tested his control. She had questioned his authority and refused to admit she worked for him.

“You told her four, right, Boss?” Cat Kalakaua asked, smiling at him.

A sharp shooter, and world-class black belt champion, she didn’t seem to be worried about giving him hell. They all did since he’d first brought Emma on board. Even before that. Being her keeper, when a terrorist had targeted her brother, had given them a glimpse at his attraction. Thankfully, the woman in question didn’t realize it. The team, though, they liked to mess with him. And Cat was one of the worst. It probably came from having four older brothers.

“Yes, I did.”

And he couldn’t check her cell again. Emma would definitely lose her temper if he did that. It
had
been creepy, but then, it was just the way it was with Emma. She disappeared for days…weeks. He’d have to start using her brother to keep tabs on her. Being the owner of some of the most valuable electronics patents in the world made her a target. She was worth several million at least, but after years of living on the street, making her way in the world by herself, Emma still didn’t understand.

The doors swung open and Emma, Elle, and Drew walked in. She had changed into cargo pants and a T-shirt. She had also pulled her long straight black hair back into a braid that hung down her back. He always liked her hair, the feel of it. During the mess with her brother earlier that year, he had taken her to his place for safekeeping. He’d had to carry her because she had passed out. He could still remember the feel of her fine, silky tresses sliding over his skin.

All of the sudden, Emma came to an abrupt halt, and Drew walked into the back of her.

“Oh, sorry, Emma,” he said.

“No worries, Drew.” She looked at him. “What?”

“Nothing. You were almost late,” Del said.

He thought he heard Cat snicker, but the warning glance he gave her was enough to shut her up. When he turned back to Emma, she was staring at him as if he had lost his mind. Which he had. It made sense, since all the blood had headed south, and every one of his brain cells seemed to go on permanent vacation around her.

“Almost late?” Emma shook her head. “No. I showed up early to talk to Charity about some of her findings. I didn’t think everyone wanted to hear it all over again.”

And now she made him look like an ass. It made sense, because she would have interrupted the meeting over and over asking questions. She was starting to learn how to work with a bigger team, and he should happy for it, but, for some reason, that wasn’t the case. If she already knew what they knew, the meeting would be short, and she would be on her way.

Adam came in on their heels. “Seems like I’m late to the party.”

The light comment didn’t hide the darkness in his gaze. He’d been with the Singhs for the identification. That was never easy, especially when they had been hoping for days that she would be found alive.

“Everything okay?” Del asked.

“Yeah. They took it better than I thought they would, but I think they were expecting it, thanks to Jin.”

Del nodded and marked off another complaint to lay at the feet of the reporter. Jin was pushing herself further and further into the story, and that meant she was going to be more and more trouble for them. There was a good chance that he would have to do something about the situation.

Sighing inwardly, Del took his seat to let Adam take over. His second-in-command was much better at electronics than he was. And truthfully, there was a very good chance that he would lose his train of thought with Emma in the room. That would not only be bad, but also embarrassing.

“So, we all know the story.” Adam punched a few buttons on the massive tabletop screen. A picture of Grace Singh appeared. “Fifteen days ago, Grace Singh went missing. She was at Ala Moana, just doing a little shopping, then she disappeared. All recorded traffic cams and security cameras yielded us nothing. Friends couldn’t understand her disappearing, since she was from a good family and adored her work with the students. Next week is the annual Science Fair, and it was her baby. Her colleagues all said she would never have missed that. From what Elle said, the tattoo was new—I confirmed that with her parents. They both said she didn’t approve of them.”

“The suspect did it himself,” Emma said. “What is that a picture of? Do you know that background?”

“Hina. In Hawaiian culture she is the goddess of the moon, but in several other Asian and Polynesian cultures, she is identified as the matriarch and/or linked to healing.”

Emma nodded as she continued to look at the picture of the smiling Grace. Adam punched a few more buttons, and it brought up the picture of the way Grace was posed. It was vulgar, her legs spread, naked…degrading.

It was totally irrational, but Del didn’t want Emma looking at this. Yes, he’d brought her onto the case, but there was a tiny piece of him that wanted to keep her from this, to shield her from the horror of the case. And that was why he needed Adam handling this. The woman made him do stupid things.

“He hates women, that’s for sure,” Emma said. “I think we need to do some research on that goddess. More than likely, it has to do with her, or whatever the guy is trying to say. Can you send me this picture and the picture of the tattoo?”

Adam glanced at Del for approval. Del nodded. Emma missed the byplay, because she was focused on the picture of Grace Singh.

“Sure thing,” Adam said.

“We need to find him to make sure he doesn’t get another woman,” Graeme said.

“Too late,” Emma said.

Everyone looked at her as she walked toward the screen. He knew better than to question her, or her assumptions. She didn’t just make outlandish statements without something to back them up.

“What?” Del asked.

Emma jolted as if she’d forgotten all of them were there. “Oh, sorry, I was thinking out loud.”

“Why do you think it’s too late?” Adam asked.

She sighed. “This level of obsession…it’s unhealthy. He needs something to replace the rush he got this time around. It will grow each time he kills…that need. If he doesn’t have one already, he’s at least zeroed in on a victim.”

“And you think he has someone already,” Elle said nodding. “It actually makes sense.”

“What the bloody hell does that mean?” Graeme asked.

Elle opened her mouth to respond, but Emma stepped in and saved them from a drawn out argument.

“You have to think of it like he’s an addict. As a cop, I’m sure you have had your run in with an addict or two. Think about them. At first, they are just having a good time. Sure, they are spending too much money on their drug of choice, but it isn’t like it controls their lives. Then, before anyone knows it, they are selling anything to get that next fix. They’ll steal from family, sell their bodies, anything. Because nothing is as important as that next high they can get.

“Each fix is a woman he obsesses about. Sure, he might have had a high yesterday when he killed her, but now the low is setting in. He’s going to need another one. Since it appears Grace didn’t like tattoos, we know he gave it to her. He knew how long to keep her, and he knew their time was running out. He would have already been looking for a new woman. One to abduct. Or…he left this morning on a flight.”

Adam nodded. “I could check all out bound flights from this morning.”

Marcus stirred then. A veteran cop with fifteen years with the DC Metro, he had the most experience of his entire team. Tall, commanding, with a baritone voice and knowing dark cop eyes, he always gained attention from walking into the room.

“Waste of time. We have no description. Unless he’s wearing a big shirt that says
I killed a woman this morning
, I doubt we could find anything.”

Emma nodded in agreement. “Marcus is definitely right.”

“A waste of our resources,” Marcus continued. “What we should look for is someone who arrived in the last two to four months. Someone rich. And any rentals of houses off the beaten path. That would give you more direction. It can’t be too hard to find out long-term rentals or new purchases like that. Not that common around here, right?”

Adam nodded. “Yeah, and you would have to plunk down a large sum of money on this island to get some land around your house and find seclusion.”

Emma was still staring at the screen of the body of Grace, and Del gave Adam a look. He took it down. She blinked and turned her attention back to the team.

“Elle, you want to tell us everything?” Del asked.

Elle nodded. “As you saw from the previous picture, she was dumped nude, no remnants of what she wore that night. All of her jewelry was gone.”

“That was in the original report,” Adam said. “No word from any of the pawn shops about that, though.”

“You wouldn’t find it. This man has money, and he probably kept them as souvenirs,” Cat said. “I can go back around, see if we can find anyone who has tried to pawn anything in the last few days.”

Del nodded for to Elle to continue.

“So, as documented, she was bound for a lengthy bit of time. The bruising around her wrists and ankles tells me that. The impression tells me that it is a rope of some sort. I sent it up to Charity to analyze, and I hope she can find something with that.”

“Cause of death?” Del asked.

“As I suspected, manual asphyxiation, and from the bruising, it was probably his hands this last time.”

“What do you mean?” Cat asked.

“I think he used other devices throughout her incarceration to torture her.”

“So he strangled her with different implements until the end,” Emma murmured. He could see her working the issue out in her head. “The other times he was just toying with her. The last—that was personal. You have to get right up in her face to do that. It’s almost intimate.”

“Indeed. A true sociopath more than likely. Of course, I noted the burn marks earlier. She was definitely raped and sodomized. The contents of her stomach didn’t give me anything either. Nothing.”