Zach sat on the edge of Grace’s bed. He reached out a hand to brush away some hair. His molten gaze saw through to her core.
A rakish grin creased his face. “It’s just me.”
As if she’d been scared. She wasn’t. Her heart fluttered as desire streaked through her.
“Grace.”
Her name tripped off his tongue as if he’d said it a thousand times.
“Zach.”
Her breath hitched as his hand traveled from her face to the top of her t-shirt. A finger dipped below the neckline, but couldn’t reach anything.
She flipped off the shirt, eager for his hands to touch every part of her.
“Ah.”
His gaze poured over her, his grin broadening. He stood and in one practiced motion he dropped his pants and underwear.
She reached out to him and he came into her embrace. Home was the word she thought of.
He must have felt it, too. “Oh, God, Grace.”
He rained kissed down her neck then a small bite. She arched into him. Nothing had ever felt so right to her. Nothing had ever been so right. Nothing.
The room spun. She clung to the sheets as his mouth worked its magic down he stomach then back to her mouth Her breath left as his lips took possession of hers.
Their murmurings and moans mingled as their bodies did the same. Skin to skin she couldn’t touch enough of him.
His hands traveled all over her, igniting fires as they went.
Her breath came in pants and she bit her lip stifling her urge to stop him.
What was she doing?
What was he doing?
Here?
Just when she thought she would shatter the alarm clock shouted with the traffic report. Her body ached as if from ecstasy.
“Damn.”
Grace had never reacted to anyone this way. Certainly not after having known him a short time.
She rose and washed away the dreams with a shower. A sense of anticipation lingered after she turned off the faucet.
Her shift didn’t start for four hours and she planned to use that time getting to know Dolores’ ex-boyfriend. Her most recent one at least.
Kent Winger worked in the Centre County Prosecutor’s Office, but today was his day off.
Masculine legs protruded out of a vintage pony car that looked halfway restored. Grace parked her car on the street, then walked up the short driveway.
With kids in school, the neighborhood resembled a ghost town, with only the drone a distant lawn mower to indicate humans lived here.
The neighborhood had identical ranch houses up and down the street, each painted a different color. Some had flowers planted. This one had the Spartan look of a man’s space. Two shrubs adorned the pathway and nothing more.
“Nice car,” Grace said.
Kent wheeled himself out from under the vehicle. “Thanks.”
He stood, raising himself to be only a handful of inches taller than her. His build was stocky, but solid, like a fireplug. His buzzed hair made her think of the military and he looked older that she expected. “You an admirer?”
His steel blue eyes twinkled as if his words meant more than their superficial meaning. A grin surfaced accentuating more lines on his face.
She waved a hand towards her car. “I like them.”
His face scrunched into a grimace. “That’s too new.”
“Sorry. Can’t afford the vintage ones.”
“Do I know you?”
“No. We have a mutual acquaintance.”
“Oh?”
“Dolores Holten.”
His spine stiffened. His gaze raced to the house as if he didn’t want someone there to hear their conversation. “Did she send you?”
“She has no idea I’m here.”
“Tell her that I don’t believe the baby’s mine. It’s that snake charmer of an ex-husband. She ain’t getting a dime from me.”
Grace blinked. Dolores’ baby could be this guy’s? “Like I said she doesn’t know I’m here.”
“Why’d you come? I’ve got a new life and I don’t wanna screw it up.”
“I think she’s in danger, but I don’t know who from.”
Kent laughed. “I was only the last in the long line of cop lovers she had. Badge bunny through and through that lady. Glad to be rid of her.”
He wasn’t describing the Dolores she knew. “Can you name any others?”
“I can hand you the employee list of every PD around here. Okay, she didn’t date the dispatchers.”
“How long did you date?”
“A month. One hellish thirty days. Who are you anyway?”
“Grace Harmony.”
“You friends with her?” He shook his head. “No she’d consider you competition. Whatever you are to her, stay away.”
“Why?”
He leaned closer to her, his coffee breath wafting across her face. “Because she’s a vampire.”
Grace didn’t know how to take his advice. “Can you at least tell me some of her recent boyfriends? Any she had trouble with?”
“Trouble getting rid of?”
“Yeah.”
Stalkers ended up killing their target. This was the only place Grace could figure to begin. If Dolores had a lot of ex-lovers, she must have pissed off at least one.
Kent wiped his hands on an already filthy, red rag. “Lance Antonio.”
“You have an address?”
“Nope, but he hangs out at the Robber Baron. I’m sure he’ll be there tonight. She had to get a restraining order on him.”
Grace left her faith in police officers not any stronger.
Dolores dialed the number she knew in her sleep. She’d been calling it a lot lately. She had hoped he would be her rock. That he’d be happy about her baby. Their baby.
“What now?” he said.
“Hello to you to. I’m fine, thanks.”
“Dolores, stop.”
“Stop what?”
She sighed. “Stop this. You need to come take your responsibility.”
“I think my responsibility ended with your blackmail.”
“Look, I’m desperate. I don’t have as much money as I’d like to raise this kid. Either come here and marry me or keep those checks coming.”
“I will find a way out of this,” he said.
She flipped her hair over her shoulder and snorted. “What? Burn me down.”
“Shit. Don’t say it out loud.”
“And blow your cover? You don’t think someone will figure you out. How about that best friend of yours? She might want to know. Bet she already does.”
“Leave her out of this,” he hissed.
She’d touched a nerve. Good. Maybe his checks would be on time. “Fine. Just remember. I have an envelope with her name on it. Anything happens to me.”
“Dolores, you are not that clever.”
“You want to find out for sure? Try me.”
“Okay, I get it. I’ll write another check. Make sure it doesn’t go up your nose.”
“I’m clean. Can’t be anything else with a kid inside of me.”
“Whose fault is that?”
“Yours and you’ll keep paying for it.”
“No, I won’t Dolores. I’ll find a way out.”
She cackled as she hung up the phone. No he wouldn’t.
“It was set and we think for hire,” Ed Bauer told Zach.
He sat on the only other chair in the office besides Zach’s.
“For hire?”
“Owner had financial trouble. Gambling debts. He won’t tell us who he hired. Said the guy is long gone.”
“You believe him?”
Zach sipped his coffee. Part of him missed being on the front line of these things. Arson had been his specialty.
“We’ll keep looking, but the usual arson guys have all been accounted for. We’re going through the owner’s phone records and e-mail to see if we can track down anyone. He must have contacted him some way. Not telepathy.”
Zach laughed. “Cell phone?”
“Got that, too, though he insisted it belonged to his business.”
“You can get around that.”
Ed nodded. He stood. “I have to say I really miss not having you on this case.”
Zach shook his friend’s hand. “Part of me misses, it too. On the other hand, I make my own hours.”
“Something to be said for that. Gotta go.”
Zach watched him leave, but didn’t feel the regret he expected.
Grace’s shift started with a potential suicide victim who moved the gun at the last second and only managed to shoot off his ear.
Cleanly.
While her partner stemmed the bleeding, she and a cop searched for the missing body part.
“What are the chances that this guy’s ear would blow out the window?” Officer Henry said.
“If he’d had screens we wouldn’t be doing this.”
“Dumpster diving on a Spring day.”
Grace didn’t chuckle, her mind ruminating on Jared’s attitude “You know a Lance Antonio?”
“Yeah. Used to be my partner. Why? He giving you trouble?”
“Why would you think that?”
“He does that. Latches onto a woman and doesn’t let go. He has at least one restraining order out against him.”
“So I’d heard. You know Zach Holten?”
The officer moved around some rotting garbage. To Grace’s relief her nose stopped working. She couldn’t smell anymore.
“By reputation.”
“Which is?” she asked.
“He’s a cop at all times and would ticket his grandmother for jaywalking. Even if he isn’t a cop anymore.”
“Why’d he quit?”
Officer Henry stopped and looked over his mirrored sunglasses at her. “He believed a psychic and she was wrong. They arrested the wrong guy.”
Grace digested that information. Her abilities would not be welcome in Zach’s eyes. “No temper?”
The officer stopped and studied her. “Why do you want to know about all of these people?”
“I think a friend of mine is in trouble and I’m just trying to get to know the cast of characters in her life.”
“Anyone I know?”
“Dolores Holten?”
He snorted. “She brings trouble on herself.”
“You know her?”
“We dated several years ago before I met my wife. She lives life on the wild side.”
His picture of her didn’t fit with the Dolores Holten Grace knew. Maybe the pregnancy slowed her down. Who knew? Grace’s job wasn’t to judge, but to save her from being killed.
Just because the victim made it hard to narrow down subjects didn’t mean it couldn’t be done. “You think you could show me around the Robber Baron tonight?”
“Hey, I’m a married man.”
She punched his arm lightly. “This isn’t a date. I just need you to introduce me to Lance Antonio. Then you can leave. It’ll take five minutes.”
“Sure. Wait I found something.”
Officer Henry’s grin creased his face as he held up an ear.
“There’s been another one,” Ed Bauer said while sitting in Zach’s office.
“Beer? It’s quitting time.”
“I’m off. Please don’t tell me it’s an import.”
Zach reaching into a small refrigerator behind his desk. “I stocked some beer for you.”
“Good.” His friend looked around his new office and Zach realized just how shabby it appeared. He hadn’t had time or even the inclination to decorate. Maybe some part of him had hoped this was temporary.
Opening the bottle he said, “I know I haven’t done much with the place.”
“Martha Stewart, you are not.”
The clinked bottles. Zach took a sip, savoring the amber brew. Nothing like a cold beer at the end of the day. “So tell me about this new case.”
“Set. Arson for hire. I’d bet my balls it is the same person as last time.”
“That sure?”
“The worst is that is looks like the guy we sent away.”
“Mm.”
That case would haunt Zach forever. On a psychic’s tip and some circumstantial evidence he arrested someone. The wrong person and that ended Zach’s career because the person had good lawyers.
“But that guy is in jail. Or twelve jurors thought he was the right guy.”
The Prosecutor’s office had nabbed someone else and he’d been convicted. “I’m cringing as I say this. Celia said the first fire was a copycat. Could the same person have done it again? A second time?”
“But who could this be? They’d have to know about the first one or be the true person who set those other fires.”
Zach frowned. “Are you suggesting the wrong man was convicted?”
Ed took a healthy swig of his beer. “Happens at times.”
“I don’t have any other ideas,” Zach said.
He loathed the idea that some innocent man had been convicted. The Prosecutor had been pretty sure of his case.
“Enough about this. Just mull it over for me and if you have anything you can add, let me know.”
“Sure, buddy.”
“Now how is that love life?”
Ed laughed as Zach’s mind went to Grace.
The Robber Baron, a cop hangout in the small burg of Mill Hall, blasted Conway Twitty when Grace arrived. She spotted Officer Henry or Hank as he wanted her to call him. Hank Henry, quite a name she’d told him. He just smiled and reminded her that she had no room to talk.
“He walked in five minutes ago. He’s at the end of the bar.”
Grace slid onto the stool that Hank gave up for her. Glancing down the smoke-free bar, she saw a talk, lanky man with a cowboy hat. He was talking to the man next to him and glancing at one of the waitresses. Not glancing, undressing her with his eyes.
She expected the conversation was lewd and resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She was on his territory. “Is he really a cowboy?”
“A legend in his own mind.”
“Why are you ratting him out? What about the cop brotherhood?”
Hank shook his head. “He doesn’t feel that way about any other cops so why should I feel that way about him?”
“I see.”
“What’ll you have?” Hank asked.
Grace surveyed the beer bottles in front of the many bar patrons. “I’ll take the favorite of the blue collar set to blend in.”
“We’d have to throw you out if you ordered white wine, though they do serve it. And a great meatloaf.”
“I’ll remember that. They do takeout?”
“Yep. I ate here a lot when I was a bachelor. I don’t miss those days.”
“You ever see Dolores in here?”
“Oh, Dolores loves this place though I haven’t seen her in a month or so. Rumor is that she was back with Zach.”
Grace shrugged. She didn’t know the answer to that one. And maybe she didn’t want to. Her mind turned briefly to her dream about Zach. A shudder went through her.
Dolores was turning out to be a harder person to pin down with her many amours. Who wouldn’t have a motive?
Her beer landed in front of her and she took a swig trying not to look dainty. Not that she was, but sometimes being small didn’t help.
Lance looked her way, but she figured her chest was too tiny for him. Maybe she’d sidle up to him anyway. She tipped her beer at him and flashed a million dollar smile. Well her mother only paid three thousand dollars to the orthodontist for it.
“I may try this by myself,” she said.
“What?”
“Use my feminine wiles on him. That way you don’t have to be involved.”
“You going to confront him with something?”
“Maybe. Thanks for your help, Hank. Kiss your wife for me and thank her for letting me borrow you.”
“Good luck, Grace.”
Grace ambled past a collection of the county’s law enforcement officers. Even out of uniform, she would have spotted that they were cops. Each looked her over as she passed them in her flowered shirt and blue jeans. Maybe they were too snug to be legal, but she figured she could use all of her assets.
Pun intended, she thought with a smile.
Some of the cops gave her a cursory look while others openly gaped. Please, I’m not that good-looking.
She shifted her startling blond hair over her shoulder and smiled at Lance when she reached him. “Hey.”
His gaze ricocheted from her face to her toes then back to her face. “Yeah? You’re a little lacking in the chest area for me.”
Her gaze went south. “You’re a little lacking elsewhere for me, but I’ll buy you a beer if you’ll answer some questions for me.”
“Oh? What about?”
“Dolores Holten.”
He spat on the floor. “I don’t want to hear nothing about that slut. Heard she got knocked up.”
Grace wouldn’t deny or confirm that to this jerk. “Yeah? You cause that?”
He laughed his little paunch, the only fat on his body, wiggling ever so slightly. “Honey can’t get someone pregnant from 200 yards and I haven’t been that close for three months.”
“Does that make you mad?”
He tipped up his bottle of beer, never taking his eyes off of her. The bar had quieted for a moment then another mournful song about mom and trucks came on the jukebox. Guess it was a favorite since three people near her joined in an off-key accompaniment.
“You some investigator?”
“Nope. I think she’s in danger and I wondered if it was from you.”
“Nope. I’ve moved on as they say and this lady has more class. And more tits.”
If she had that much class why would she be with him? Grace cleared her throat. “Okay. Just checking.”
“I’d look into that ex-husband of hers. He was pretty jealous of me when I dated her. Has quite a temper.”
Grace paid for his beer then left him with his buddies. Amazingly her feet didn’t stick to the floor, but she felt Lance’s gaze all the way out the door. She’d have to shower again to get it off.
A new picture of Zach was emerging, too and she needed to reconcile this with what he’d been like with her. She also needed to find out for sure who the father of Dolores’ baby was. She couldn’t ask her unless she wanted to seem rude.
Zach might know and she’d found out where he lived.