Crossing the Line (25 page)

“Don’t you think it’s a little late for that? Or are you regretting last night?”

He softened his voice. “No. I don’t regret it. If anything, I want to drag you back upstairs and stay there with you for the next three weeks.”

“So what’s the problem?” She really wasn’t understanding. If he wanted to be with her, and she wanted to be with him, what was the issue?

“In three weeks, Chloe will be back home. And she’s going to realize things have changed between us.”

“Of course she will. She’s a smart little girl.” Megan still felt as if she were missing something—something big.

Paul sighed and ran both hands over his face before letting them fall to his sides. “What I’m saying is that once Chloe finds out about us, her imagination is going to take off. She’s . . .”

“She’s what?”

“She’s going to start thinking that we’re going to get married and that . . . that you’re going to be her new mommy.”

Megan tried to keep the anxiety out of her voice. “And that’s not what you want.”

“Argh. Why does this have to be so difficult?”

“I don’t know.” Maybe she’d read Paul all wrong. Maybe all he was looking for was someone to warm his bed every now and then. How could she have misread him so badly?

Something akin to a growl rumbled deep in Paul’s chest, and he crossed the room in two long strides to where she was sitting. He hoisted her up by her arms to stand in front of him. “Please don’t look at me like that.”

“Like what?”

He framed her face with his hands, and she closed her eyes. “Like I’ve just killed your puppy.”

She opened her eyes. “I don’t have a puppy.”

Paul ignored her comment. “I’m going to be honest, Megan. I don’t know what I want. This thing between us—how I feel about you—it’s new. And shocking. And I don’t know what to make of it. But if it did work between us, then yes, I would want a future with you. A permanent one.”

Megan smiled and leaned into his touch. “Me, too.”

“You’d be willing to accept a ready-made family and everything that goes with it?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“How can you know that?”

Megan placed her hands over the top of Paul’s, and brought their faces closer together. “Do you trust me?”

It was his turn to look offended. “Of course I do.” 

“Then trust me to make my own decisions. I know what I’m getting myself into.”

“How—”

She covered his mouth with her right hand. “Paul, I’ve known what I want for a while now. And I know everything that comes with it—Chloe, Cindy and George, your family. I want to see where it takes us. See if what I’ve been imagining—you and me—is possible. It doesn’t scare me.”

“It scares me,” he mumbled under her fingers.

Megan smiled and leaned in to give him a kiss. “Don’t be scared. It’s just me.”

He groaned and hugged her against him. “That’s what scares me.”

She laughed and kissed him again. Paul didn’t make it to work early that morning.

Two hours later, Paul sat at his desk going over paperwork. Not only had he not made it to work early, he’d been almost an hour late. Granted, with all the weird hours he’d been working, he doubted any of the other officers would even notice the anomaly. Of course, his partner was the one exception. 

“About time you showed up, Daniels.”

He didn’t bother looking up. “Overslept.”

Janey rested her hip on the edge of his desk. “Didn’t your nanny come home yesterday?”

“Yes, I picked Megan up from the airport yesterday afternoon. Which you know perfectly well, because I told you that’s what I was going to do.” This time, he shot her a piercing glare before returning to the file. Janey was a good partner, but she could be incredibly nosy. Maybe it was because she was a cop, but he didn’t remember having the same problem with his previous partner, Doug. Then again, Paul and Melissa were already married by the time he and Doug had been partnered up. Maybe that was the difference. 

“Uh-huh. And you’re trying to tell me she had nothing at all to do with you being late this morning?”

“I was late. That’s all. Can we drop it and get to work?”

She chuckled and sauntered over to her desk. “So tell me what you’ve got, Oh Great One.”

Paul rolled his eyes. “I was thinking we could canvass the campus area again. Drive around. Talk to some of the pedestrians.”

Janey groaned. “Do you really think spending another day driving around is going to garner any new information?”

“Do you have a better suggestion?”

“What about that list of employees and students the college was supposed to send over?” Janey asked.

Paul leaned back in his chair. “Still waiting on them.”

She shook her head. “There’s got to be something. Maybe we should talk to the families again.”

“All right. That might be a good idea. Since we’re fairly sure the campus area is where our killer is choosing his victims, they might help us narrow our search area.” 

He stood and grabbed his jacket off the back of his chair. They made their way to his vehicle, and headed toward the first victim’s parents’ home. Jessica Chase was single, living alone, so her parents and her best friend were their closest connection. 

Less than a minute after they left the station, his phone beeped letting him know he had a message. Since he was driving, he ignored it. Janey, however, did not. She snatched the phone from the center console where he’d placed it.

“What are you doing?”

“Being inquisitive. You never get texts. Maybe it’s important.”

“I’m sure it’s not.” Paul said, hoping Janey would take the hint and return his phone to the console.

She didn’t.

With a few swipes across the touch pad, his partner pulled up his text message. “I knew it!”

Paul glanced in her direction and frowned. It didn’t take a genius to figure out the text was from Megan. She and Gage were the only two people who ever sent him text messages, and the last message Gage sent him had been months ago. But what did Megan text him that had Janey looking so smug?

“Care to change your story, Detective Daniels?”

Janey turned the phone so that he could see the screen. His heart skipped a beat, and he had to concentrate to keep from losing control of his car. There, on his phone, was a picture of a woman in her bra and panties—a bra and panty set he recognized. 

His partner laughed at his reaction. “No comment, Detective?”

He swallowed, and tried his best to focus on the road. “Fine. We’re . . . exploring our options.”

She laughed. “From the looks of it, you’ll be exploring a lot when you get home tonight. I guess that means you won’t be working late anymore.”

Paul shot her a look. “Do you think we could stick to the case and not my love life?”

Janey smiled and returned his phone to the center console. “At least you admit that you do have a love life.”

He grunted.

“I’m happy for you. Really. And from everything I’ve seen, I think Megan is good for you.”

“Are you finished?” he asked.

“For now.” 

They arrived a few minutes later at Jessica Chase’s parents’ house. Her father was outside working in the yard. Paul and Janey exited the vehicle.

“Good morning, Mr. Chase.” Janey extended her hand to the older man.

“Detectives.” Devlin Chase removed his gloves and met them in the middle of his yard. “Have you found new information about our daughter’s killer?”

Paul shook the man’s hand. “We were wondering if you and your wife had a few minutes to talk to us.”

Mr. Chase was obviously curious, but he nodded. “Sure. My wife’s inside.”

Janey and Paul followed Mr. Chase inside the house. The closer they got to the kitchen, the stronger the scent of cinnamon and sugar became. It reminded Paul that he’d skipped breakfast in favor of other activities. Shaking his head, he did his best to dispel the memory of Megan’s legs wrapped around his head.

“Detectives.” Elaine Chase wiped her hands, and stepped around the counter.

To try and stay focused, Paul decided to take the lead. “Good morning, ma’am.”

Mrs. Chase reached for her husband. “Did you find something?”

For most families, the worst part of an investigation was the waiting. They wanted closure so the healing could begin. “We wanted to ask you a few more questions.”

“Of course.” Mr. Chase wrapped his arm around his wife. 

“Do you know if your daughter frequented the area near the local community college?” Paul asked.

The couple looked at each other before Mr. Chase answered. “I think she may have tutored someone there last year, but I don’t know who it was.”

“Trudi would probably know, wouldn’t she, Devlin? She’s probably at work.” Mrs. Chase clung to her husband.

They asked a few more questions, and Mrs. Chase remembered that they’d found a better picture of their daughter, if they wanted it. The one the family had originally provided was a profile shot. There wasn’t anything wrong with it, but sometimes profiles were harder for people to identify. 

With the picture in hand, Paul and Janey got back in his car and headed for the restaurant where Trudi Olsen worked. There was one big advantage to visiting Jessica’s best friend at her place of employment—he’d have the opportunity to get some much needed food.

By the time they were seated in Trudi’s section, Paul’s stomach was growling. 

“Didn’t you eat anything this morning?”

Paul didn’t bother to look up from the menu when he answered Janey. “No.”

She snorted. “I wonder why.”

“Hello. My name is—”

Janey smiled up at Trudi. “Hello, Ms. Olsen.”

“Um. Hello. What are you doing here? I mean, did you find something?” Trudi glanced over her shoulder.

Paul laid his menu on the table. “We were hoping to order some food, and maybe chat with you a bit if you have time.”

“Yeah. Sure. Um. Let me get your order in, and then I’ll let my manager know I need to take a break.”

The restaurant was still serving breakfast, so he ordered a stack of pancakes, three eggs, and some bacon. It was a lot of food, but he was starving. There was no telling how many calories he’d burned off in the last twenty-four hours.

Trudi disappeared into the kitchen, and then returned less than ten minutes later with his food and Janey’s coffee. As he dug into his breakfast, Trudi pulled up a chair, and sat down. “So what’s up? Did you find something?”

Since he was eating, Paul let Janey run with the questioning. “We were hoping you could tell us about any connections Jessica may have had to the local community college, or the area itself. Her mother thought she remembered Jessica tutoring someone there last year.”

“Yeah, she did. It was last summer.” Trudi’s eyes grew wide with concern. “You don’t think that was somehow related to her death, do you?”

Janey patted Trudi’s hands reassuringly where they lay clasped together on the table. “We’re just following some leads. No stone left unturned—that sort of thing.”

Trudi nodded.

Paul took a sip of his coffee. “Do you happen to remember the person’s name she was tutoring?”

“I think his name was Scott. He was in a fraternity, I remember that. He invited Jessica to a couple of parties.”

This could be the break they needed. Jessica had been the only victim they couldn’t positively link to the campus area within six months of her death. “Do you know if she ever went to any of them?”

Trudi thought about it for a long moment before answering him. “I don’t think so. To be honest, I think she was kinda glad when the tutoring was over.”

“And why is that?” Janey asked.

“I think he was hitting on her. She had a boyfriend at the time, so she told him no.”

Paul set his fork down on his plate. “He didn’t take the hint?” 

Trudi shrugged. “He was . . . persistent. Jessica said he never got physical with her or anything, but he was constantly flirting.”

They wrote down all the information Trudi could remember about the young man Jessica had tutored the previous summer, as well as the name of Jessica’s boyfriend at the time. This was the reason why one had to go over information dozens of times. Both he and Janey had specifically asked about boyfriends more than once, yet this was the first time they were hearing about Jessica’s.

Hoping they could speed things up, when they left the restaurant, they made their way to the campus admissions office. The dean was extremely helpful, especially since they’d already sent over a warrant for records. By the time they left, they had a list of all the fraternities and their members. All they had to do now was find the Scott they were looking for.

Chapter 20

Paul and Janey spent the rest of the day back at the station going through the list of fraternity brothers the dean had provided. The Internet allowed them to get background on the eight Scotts they had on their list. By the end of the day, they had pictures of each of the men, along with an idea of each one’s personality. It always amazed Paul how much information people shared on social media sites. On days like this, he was grateful. It made his job that much easier. 

At five o’clock, Paul shut down his computer, and slipped on his suit jacket. Janey smiled, but didn’t say anything.