Triumph (17 page)

The concrete floors were littered with trash. A crumpled wrapper blew past and tumbled into the deep pit for the elevator shafts. The same musty smell of damp earth still emanated from it. Deke coughed.

“Last time we were here, these floors were clean,” Kelly murmured.

“The maintenance contract was paid up months ahead. Before the owners defaulted.”

Kelly shot him a curious look. “How do you know that?”

“I snoop. Same as you.”

She laughed and walked on, heading for the back of the structure and looking out into the parking lot. There were no cars at all. A truck rolled down the street that led into it, then went through an intersection, driving away toward the dwindling sun.

“This is where we first met,” she murmured.

“Feeling sentimental?”

Kelly ignored the comment. But she turned around to look at him. The warm, late-day light hit him straight on, tracing golden lines over his rugged body. He stood there, legs apart, hands in the pockets of that battered jacket. Lit up, the folds of heavy leather looked even more battered, but he didn’t. The word for him was
invincible
. It wasn’t an illusion or her imagination. The more she knew him, the more she craved the strength he radiated.

She had to get a grip. Think of something else, keep it light.

“Let’s see. You were there and I was here—” Kelly stopped, taking a moment to drink him in. She couldn’t help it.

“Actually, you were closer. A lot closer.” His deep voice echoed softly in the emptiness.

Kelly’s heart skipped a beat. She had been. Without thinking, without wanting to think, she went to him again.

Deke opened his arms to embrace her and pull her against his muscular length. Something melted inside her as she pressed against him, her body supple and warm, yearning for the connection that meant so much.

Big hands slid around her waist. The heat of his touch made her tremble, longing for more. She stood on tiptoe, arched against him, tilting her face up and looking into the dark eyes that roved over her face. Gently, his lips brushed over her burning cheek, seeking her mouth. Her lips parted eagerly, desiring only his kiss.

Deke’s hands slid lower. With her hips firmly cradled against his, the kiss got hotter. She never wanted it to stop.

K
elly needed that kiss. She almost moaned when Deke broke it off—but he wasn’t done. His lips moved along her cheekbone to her earlobe, and from there to the sensitive cord of her neck. With tantalizing expertise, he traced it with the tip of his tongue, then nipped. It was like being made love to by a wonderfully wild animal. But he was pure man. The powerful length of him was all the proof she needed of that.

Kelly leaned her head back, closing her eyes as he swept up her hair, pushing it away to press more kisses to the skin bared by her loose knit top. Their heated embrace made the top slip off one shoulder. He put his other hand over it in an unsuccessful attempt to preserve her modesty. The soft friction of the material between her skin and his palm was gently stimulating. Deke caressed both shoulders before he let his hands slide down her back—and inside the top at her waist.

Kelly drew in a breath. They couldn’t go further than that. Not here. She put her hands over his and made him stop. Deke sighed, his jaw against her cheek and his breath stirring warmly in her hair.

“You’re something else, Kelly Johns,” he murmured.

“I shouldn’t—we can’t do this, Deke.”

“We just did.”

The faint sound of footsteps on the concrete floor snapped her back to reality. Kelly stiffened in Deke’s arms, trying to see over his shoulder. There was a rasping cough—a smoker’s cough.

“It’s that cop,” she whispered. Reluctantly, she stepped back. Deke’s hands lingered on her for a fraction of a second and then he let her go, turning to look.

The undercover officer was alternately hidden and revealed by the rows of concrete columns as he approached.

Kelly quickly pulled herself together, adjusting her clothes and running both hands over her hair to smooth it. She knew her face was flushed. The lengthening shadows offered some concealment.

Deke smiled down at her. He didn’t need fixing. But he didn’t look quite the same. His gaze was thoughtful and his lips were tender. She didn’t know he could get that romantic.

It doesn’t mean anything
, she told herself.
It won’t go anywhere
. The kiss had—just happened.

They were standing a few feet apart when the other man reached them. If he thought there was anything going on, his expressionless face didn’t betray it. He no longer was wearing sunglasses.

“Hope I didn’t startle you,” he said, extending a hand to Deke. “I’m Raf Simmons. Detective, Zone Six. My shift ends at sunset. Just thought I’d say hello and introduce you to the next guy.”

“Thanks,” Deke said. “I guess me and Kelly are about done wandering around. Not much to see, right?”

The question was addressed to her.

“No,” she said. “It’s hard to believe that there was a shootout.”

“The crime scene techs searched the site and the parking lot several times over. They picked it clean,” Simmons said. “It actually looks worse now.”

“Did any of your officers go into the neighborhood?” Deke asked. “Someone might have seen something.”

“No one lives around here, if that’s what you mean,” the detective said. “The developers convinced the city to condemn the remaining houses before the building started.”

He turned at the sound of a car horn.

“That’s Terhune. He’s probably wondering where the hell I am.”

“We won’t keep you,” Kelly said.

The three of them walked back to the front of the building and through the open gate. Kelly locked it and kept the key. Raf Simmons didn’t seem to notice.

The introductions were made, but the relief, Joe Terhune, didn’t get out of his car. Kelly and Deke moved to one side as the officers talked in low voices.

“Want to walk the streets?” he asked her.

Kelly looked back. The abandoned building loomed over them. This late in the day, the area seemed lonely and foreboding. Simmons was right. It really wasn’t a neighborhood.

“You have a gun and they can cover you,” she said slowly. “So long as they can see you, that is.”

He nodded. “We don’t have to go far. And there isn’t that much to see. I was kind of curious about that old factory over there.”

She looked in the direction he indicated. A weathered brick structure that took up half a block was within sight of both undercover vehicles. The side without windows was covered with a huge, ghostly sign that had faded away, half-paint and half-brick. Kelly made out a few letters here and there, but she couldn’t read what it said.

“All right. Tell them where we’re going, okay?”

Raf Simmons was already in his SUV and rolling out when Deke went to talk to Terhune. Kelly pulled her top tightly around her shoulders against the cool of the evening, rubbing her arms.

“He says teenagers hang out there sometimes,” Deke told her when he came back. “There was a party there last week. They didn’t set the place on fire and no one fell through the floor. So I guess we’re safe.”

“Good to know,” Kelly said sarcastically.

“It’s empty,” Deke reassured her. “The cops did a drive-by and a walk-through just before we arrived.”

Side by side, they headed away from the undercover cars and walked toward the factory. The skeletal shadow of the building behind them stretched nearly that far. Kelly felt better when they were clear of it.

Close up, the factory seemed solid. The high, large windows were grimy, but only a few panes were broken. Kelly realized she could make out part of the original sign, give or take a few missing letters. F
INE
S
HOES FOR
L
ADIES
AND
G
ENTLEMEN.
A high-buttoned shoe was just visible below that. Other painted signs had been added over the years. Tattered flyers for auto repair shops and check-cashing offices were pasted over those.

The factory had seen better days, but it was still standing. Kelly had a soft spot for places like this. She noticed that a side door was ajar. Deke looked at her. “Want to take a look inside?”

“Sure.”

He took her hand. The warmth of his skin brought every second of that totally amazing kiss back in force. Kelly fought a rush of feeling she didn’t know what to do with. They went up a short flight of exterior stairs and stopped at the door. A longer flight continued up the side of the building and doubled back before it reached the roof high above.

Looking into the cavernous interior, Kelly couldn’t see the end of the space, even with light still coming through the windows. She looked up when Deke did. The vaulted ceiling was two or three stories high. It too was hard to see in the gloom.

“Looks like there used to be a second floor,” he commented.

“Maybe so. I can’t imagine having a party in here.”

“That’s because you’re not eighteen.” He laughed.

“Thank God for that,” she said fervently. She peered into the shadowy space again. “There’s a draft coming from somewhere. Feel it?”

“Probably the cellar. There could be a broken window we don’t see.” Deke stepped back, wrapping his arms lightly around her. “You cold?”

“Not when you do that.”

“Wear my jacket,” he offered.

She hesitated, then accepted with a nod. There was no knowing when she would get the chance again. He slipped it off and draped it over her shoulders, flipping up the collar around her neck. The heavy leather had retained his body heat. It felt great. “Thanks.”

The holster he wore didn’t show much next to his dark thermal top. Kelly knew he could draw his weapon without fumbling for it.

“Let’s go up to the roof,” he suggested.

She wouldn’t mind getting a bird’s-eye view. The missing woman could have escaped down an alley they wouldn’t be able to see any other way. But it was bound to be windy up there.

“I’m putting this all the way on.” Kelly slipped her arms into the roomy sleeves and fastened the snap tab at the collar so the jacket wouldn’t slip off. Eagerly, she followed him up the longer staircase.

Deke pulled himself up and over using the iron frame at the top. He looked back down at Kelly. “You’re going to love the view.”

“I bet it’s very scenic.”

She took the strong hand that reached to assist her and made it over the building edge without any trouble. The view actually was interesting, although it was anything but beautiful.

The Atlanta skyline in the distance glittered against the glowing sunset sky. The abandoned building didn’t look as lonely with that as a backdrop. She could guess at the extent of the largely vanished neighborhood below from their high vantage point.

Besides the alleys, there were faint, very faint, trails through dusty lots that had once been lawns. Young children had run over them, back when kids played outside. She could imagine clotheslines hung with washing, and mothers making small talk from one yard to another, visiting with each other before the fathers came home from this factory and others. Bygone days had left their marks before they vanished forever.

She smiled to herself. Human interest. Every newshound learned what it could do for a story. By this point, she did it automatically.

Deke was thinking along more practical lines, judging by his expression. His dark brows were drawn together and his gaze was intent, almost as if he were studying a map.

“She could have come down that alley,” he muttered, talking more to himself than to Kelly. “It’s the only one that connects directly to the parking lot. And it’s so narrow she had a chance of not being seen.”

He straightened and looked at Kelly. “You know, Kelly, you’re the only actual eyewitness. Everyone else at the scene saw her through a lens or on tape.”

“I only caught a glimpse of her.”

“No one else did,” Deke argued.

“So what? Your team analyzed the tape frame by frame. The drawing they came up with has to be better than my memory.”

He shrugged, looking out over the desolate blocks below. His gaze stopped on a boarded-up house not far from the abandoned building. “She could have gotten that far and hidden for a while.”

“Let the cops get a search warrant and do the looking,” Kelly said firmly. She knew what could turn up behind doors nailed shut.

“I could still do ground tracking. There have to be clues all over this area. It hasn’t been that long.”

“There’s nothing to see.” She undid the snap tab at the jacket collar, enjoying the feel of the wind on her body. Being up on a roof and above it all was liberating.

“Sometimes that depends on how hard you search, Kelly.” He studied her for a moment. “You look good in that.”

“It’s too big. But I love it.” She grinned at him, hoping he wouldn’t ask for it back right away.

“Keep it on until we get to the car.” He chucked her under the chin. “Ready to head home?”

For a second, looking into his dark eyes, Kelly forgot that she didn’t have one.

“Yes,” she said. “Let’s go.”

 

Kelly took a mirror out of her desk drawer and glanced at her reflection, then winced. Her sleepless night showed. She put the mirror away so fast she thought she’d cracked it. Like she needed any more bad luck. The card and the mutilated photos were with Deke, but a faceless image of herself had appeared in her dreams.

A soft knock on her open door made her whirl around.

“Good morning,” Coral said. “I was wondering if this was a good time to talk.”

“Is it about the building?” Kelly asked.

“No.” Coral seemed reluctant to say more.

“Close the door and come in,” Kelly said. “Have a seat.”

Coral looked up and down the hall, and then clicked the door shut. She settled next to Kelly in the chair by the desk. “I was talking to Laura last night,” she began.

“Oh. And what did she say?” Kelly had a feeling she knew what this was about.

“There’s a lot going on, and you’re right in the middle of it. Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“That would be today’s big question. I guess she told you about the shootout.”

Coral nodded. “She just blurted it out. That’s why she’s quitting, right?”

“Yeah. And I won’t.” Kelly reached into her desk and held up the bagged press pass. “Check this out. My souvenir of the shooting.”

“Is that you? But it—” Coral looked pale when she saw the bullet hole. “Oh my God.”

Kelly put the pass back in its hiding place. “And I got photos of myself from a benefit ball in Dallas, also shot through the face. Not suitable for framing.”

“What’s going on?” Coral said. “You should tell the police.”

“I have.” Kelly wasn’t going to get into her relationship with Deke. “There’s a limit to what they can do, and I haven’t actually seen whoever is trying to intimidate me. Let’s hope that’s all they want to do.” She kept her voice steady. There was no sense in scaring a junior reporter half to death.

“I had no idea.” Coral left it at that.

“Laura didn’t know about the pass. Can we talk about something else?”

Coral collected herself. “Sure. If you have the time.”

“I could use a distraction.” Not the most flattering answer, but it was the truth.

The junior reporter took a deep breath. “I also wanted to ask you—I mean, I heard talk, you know how it is in the newsroom—about Gunther Bach.”

Kelly frowned. She wondered who’d seen her in the restaurant and cranked up the gossip machine. It could have been anyone from a former colleague she hadn’t spotted in time to a busboy with dreams of tabloid glory. No doubt there was a smartphone snap of Gunther leering at her somewhere on the web.

Sometimes she wished she wasn’t so well-known. Of course, she took full advantage of it when she needed to.

“He’s a financier,” Kelly said. “Super successful.”

“Sounds like there’s a story there.”

Coral’s interest put Kelly on the spot, but she didn’t actually mind that much. The junior reporter was a natural—and Kelly could use some help.