Deadly Relations (2 page)

From the car, she glanced back at the crowd of people leaving the gravesite. County prosecutor Michael Brandt and his wife, Anne, each held the hand of one of their five-year-old twins, Melissa and Michael, Jr., and headed toward their car.

The entire county sheriff’s department attended the ceremony in force and stood near a line of trees nearby. Each of the deputies was wearing his or her dress uniform out of respect for Jennifer Brennan, who was now a detective on their team, and for their sheriff, Tim Brennan. A black band stretched across their badges. Like most law enforcement agencies, they were a family who supported their own.

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Blake Stone stood in the distance and gazed at Jennifer as she lingered near the casket. Watching Jennifer was not a new thing for Blake, he’d been watching her from a distance since the first moment he saw her five years before. Jennifer had been missing. Her father, his sheriff, beside himself with worry and fear, had summoned Blake and his scuba-diving team to search Monroe Lake near Bloomington. Monroe Lake was the cell tower area where Jennifer’s cell phone had pinged for the last time. They’d hoped to find evidence of what had happened to her in the lake.

Blake remembered gazing at Jennifer’s photo and praying they would not find the beautiful young woman at the bottom of the lake. His prayers were answered. Her car was discovered, but there were no signs of Jennifer. He was telling a teammate how glad he was she was not in the lake when he heard a woman’s voice behind him. He’d turned to find himself face-to-face with one of the most beautiful women he’d ever seen. A blast of desire had hit him so strong it nearly knocked him off his feet. Jennifer Brennan stood before him, in the flesh, very pregnant and very much alive. Though he’d never acted on it, he’d fallen hard for Jennifer that day.

He watched as Jennifer, her hand shaking, slowly laid a rose on the casket. Even from a distance, Blake could see the tears that stained her pale face. It was all he could do to just stand there and not run to her. He wanted to enclose her in his arms and kiss her until she forgot any pain Paul Vance had ever caused her.

But that was the last thing he could do. Jennifer was a detective on the sheriff’s investigations team, as was he. He couldn’t have a relationship with a peer, especially if the peer was his sheriff’s daughter.

He clenched his jaw as he thought about Paul Vance. If there were ever a man who did not appreciate what he had, it was Paul Fucking Vance. How in the hell could the bastard have allowed Jennifer to go through her pregnancy alone? The prick was nowhere to be found when they’d buried Timmy. Big football star, Paul Vance, had plenty of time for the many women it was rumored he was involved with, but he was too busy to attend the burial of his baby? Though he’d never met the man, Blake hated Paul Vance.

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Seven Months Later

Sweat beaded on Jennifer’s forehead as she tossed and turned. The nightmare had returned. She was locked in a small room, walls lined with royal-blue foam soundproofing. She jumped to reach the window, but it was too high. Trying the door again, Jennifer discovered it was locked. Icy fear twisted around her heart as she began to shake. The walls were moving in closer; the room shrinking so small it was suffocating her. There wasn’t enough air and her lungs squeezed with pain.

Suddenly there was the sound of a key turning in the lock of the door. The doctor monster was coming to take her baby. She couldn’t let that happen. He entered the room with a scalpel in his hand. It was her own scream that jolted her from sleep.

Jennifer awoke, panting in terror with the sheets bunched in her hands. It had happened again. The damn nightmare was back. Turning on the lamp on her bedside table, she looked around the room. No blue foam covered the walls. She wasn’t abducted. Jennifer was in her own bedroom that she’d decorated in pale yellow and white. Everything was okay. At least that’s what Jennifer told her family. Her kidnapping had happened a long time ago, so why did the nightmares continue? Why couldn’t she let it go? She got out of bed and opened a window. A surge of freezing March air filled the room and she slammed the window down.

Jennifer looked at her alarm clock. It was almost four in the morning. She didn’t have to be at work at the sheriff’s office for hours, but she got out of bed and headed for the shower. She didn’t want to risk having another nightmare.

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Because she didn’t feel like making breakfast, Jennifer grabbed her coat to ward off the chill of the March morning and headed for the Sugar Creek Cafe. The place was a favorite for the police and firefighter crowd, and was so packed, she was lucky to find a table. After a few minutes, she noticed her favorite waitress, Catherine Thomas, bearing down on her with a full pot of hot coffee.

“
Catherine, you’re a lifesaver. I need my caffeine fix.”

“
I hear ya,” the waitress said as she filled Jennifer’s cup to the brim. “Are you eating alone this morning?”

“
Yes, and I’m starved. I’ll have your “Country Special” with the eggs scrambled, along with a glass of orange juice. And keep the coffee coming.”

Catherine nodded and took off for the kitchen, as Jennifer unfolded her newspaper. She’d barely finished the front page when Blake Stone plopped down in the chair across from her, making himself at home at her table.

“
Good morning, Jennifer,” he said as he grinned mischievously. “Thanks for saving me a place at your table.” He removed his black leather jacket and placed it on the chair next to him.

Blake shot her one of his devastating smiles and she didn’t blink, but her stupid heart skipped a beat. He needed to focus his gorgeous self on someone who had more appreciation of his ripped body and natural good looks. It wasn’t that she hadn’t noticed him. How could she
not
notice the hottest detective on her team? It was just that he was forbidden fruit. It was career suicide for a female cop to date at work, not that she dated at all these days.

Besides, her dad was the county sheriff, and he definitely wouldn’t approve of her dating a man on her team. Hell, her dad didn’t approve of her being a detective. He’d made it very clear that police work was the last thing he wanted for his only daughter. But Jennifer’s abduction had changed her. She wanted to make sure that what happened to her didn’t happen to others. Jennifer completed the police academy training after her college graduation, then joined the sheriff’s department, first as a deputy, and after a promotion, a detective.

“
Oh, but that’s the curious thing. I didn’t.” She aimed a glare at Blake that he ignored as he studied the menu.

“
I’m starving. Where’s our waitress?” asked Blake.

Magically, Catherine appeared and chastised, “Jennifer, you told me you were eating alone. I didn’t know you were expecting Mr. Hotness, here.”

Jennifer rolled her eyes as Catherine poured Blake’s coffee and took his order. She glanced at Blake. He was wearing his detective “uniform” of a starched white shirt, tie and dark pants. The shirt stretched across his chest and arms, revealing the hard muscles beneath. To most people, he was damned intimidating, but she’d never felt that way about him. She still remembered the day she saw him at the lake where his scuba team was searching for her car. Her first thought was that he was the most gorgeous man she’d ever seen with his hard-muscled body, dark hair and eyes the color of espresso. But it was his smile that impressed her the most; it was brilliant and filled with warmth. Jennifer was sure he melted a lot of hearts with that smile. But she’d pledged hers wouldn’t be one of them.

“
Catherine, when do you start classes at the Police Academy?” Blake asked, and then sipped his coffee.

“
January 10! Eleven more months and I can’t wait.” The young woman glowed with excitement.

Before Blake could respond, his cell phone vibrated on the table. He picked it up, looked at the display and said, “Excuse me, ladies, I need to take this.” Grabbing his jacket, he maneuvered through the breakfast crowd, so he could go outside to take the call.

“
I don’t blame you for being excited about going to the academy. I loved it,” said Jennifer. “How’s your boyfriend going to feel about you being away all that time?”

“
Nicholas is just going to have to get used to it.” Catherine paused for a moment then continued. “If I thought for a second that I had a chance with the hot Italian hunk you’re having breakfast with, Nicholas would be history. Are you dating him, Jennifer?”

“
No. Of course not.” As soon as the words left her lips, she realized she had said them too loud and too empathically. A couple of deputies nearby turned to look at her. Damn it. The last thing she wanted to do was to add to the rumor mill.

Jennifer studied the young woman and wondered if Catherine and her boyfriend were getting along. She’d seen them together and they seemed so much in love. Of course, if anyone knows that looks are deceiving, it’s a detective. Jennifer knew from experience that things aren’t always what they seem.

“
Just wondering,” Catherine said. “I’ve seen the way he looks at you when you’re not watching. I think he has a thing for you.”

“
Nope. There’s no ‘thing,’ Catherine. Just co-workers. That’s all.”

Jennifer felt her face heat as Catherine headed back toward the kitchen. The waitress returned a short time later with a huge tray balanced on her shoulder with both breakfast orders. Blake followed her toward the table.

Starving, the two detectives dug into their food. Blake was shoveling it in like it was the first meal he’d had in days.

“
Hungry?” she asked.

“
Worked out this morning and ran three miles, then lifted weights,” Blake said as he stole a biscuit from her plate, even though there was a basket of them on the table.

“
Hey!” She said, smacking his hand.

He grinned mischievously as he split the biscuit in two and put a dollop of apple butter on each slice. There was something intimate about the way he slid one half onto her plate and he took a bite out the other. “I heard you took down the kid who was robbing all the 7-Elevens.”

“
He’s not a kid. You make it sound like he was an elementary school student. He’s a twenty-two-year-old brute.”

“
I heard you flipped him on his stomach and had the cuffs on him before your partner could get out of the car.”

“
So what? Dick was calling for backup.” Jennifer’s partner was an older man, in his late fifties, and she got defensive when anyone questioned Dick’s abilities. He was a damn good cop and she was lucky to have him as her partner.

“
What’s up with Dick lately anyway? He seems distracted, like he’s got something on his mind.”

“
He’s private. I guess if he wants me or anyone else to know what’s going on with him, he’ll tell us.”

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He’d noticed her a week ago and had learned her name was Catherine Thomas. He’d visited the cafe every day since, purposely sitting at a table in her section. He watched her as she talked with another waitress at the coffee stand. She swiped a section of sun-lightened brown hair out of her eyes with the back of her hand and tightened her ponytail tie. She was young, in her twenties, and full of self-confidence, as was evident by the way she blatantly flirted with him and deliberately brushed against his body as she poured his coffee. His mama would have said the girl was a whore just asking for it.

Catherine Thomas was young, but not too young to be considered prey. Not too young for what he had in mind for her. He clenched his jaw at the thought. He was an idiot to think the urges would magically disappear just because he’d moved to a new town, new state. The impulses had returned so strong last week, when he noticed this girl, it nearly rocked him out of his chair. Shit! He could never resist the urges. Never.

Catherine headed toward him toting a full pot of hot coffee, her hips swaying seductively as she walked. His chest tightened as his blood pressure rose and a roiling heat filled his belly. Quickly wiped the sheen of sweat from his brow, he clenched his jaw as he fought for control. He moved his chair closer to the table in an effort to hide his burgeoning erection.

“
Hi, handsome. Coffee?” asked Catherine.

When he nodded, she reached across him for his cup and brushed her breast against his arm, sending a fresh shot of lust shooting through his body like a bullet.

“
Are you new to the area? You must be. With a face like yours, I’d have remembered you.” Catherine shot a wide grin at him.

He ignored her question, focused on the menu and said, “I’ll take the omelet with cheese, mushrooms and steak with an order of hash browns.” He closed the plastic menu and handed it to her as he reached for his coffee. As she moved back toward the kitchen, he noted her athletic build and firm ass. He became aroused anew as he thought of what he’d be doing to her soon — very soon.

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Jennifer grabbed a pillow to put over her head. Damn it. It was Saturday, her day off, the only chance to sleep in. Who in the hell was hammering? The pounding stopped for a moment, then started back up again. Shit! She threw her pillow across the room, giving up on sleeping in, but determined to find out who was being so loud, so early. Slipping on her white terrycloth bathrobe, she opened her bedroom door. It was then she realized, it wasn’t hammering she had heard. Someone was pounding frantically on her front door. Jennifer ran down the stairs and whipped open the door.