Hit 'N' Run (Under Suspicion #1) (10 page)

“What time?”

“What time is it now?” he asked, and bent to nuzzle her neck.

Loving the tingles, but knowing her time with Mitch was at an end for the evening, she pushed playfully at his shoulders, trying to keep her knees from buckling. She had suffered a whirlwind of emotions in far too short a time frame. She needed a bit of distance and time. Perspective.
Perhaps
. “Come before lunch. We’ll all go for a picnic.”

He lifted his lips to hers, pulling her into his arms. He growled, close to her mouth. “This is too weird.”

“I know, I feel…”

A vibration against her leg notified her before she registered the sound of a slight buzz that he was getting a call. “Damn,” he said, drawing back, apology knotting his brows. “Impeccable timing…sorry”

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his phone and read the display. His features seemed to close down before her eyes. Where a moment prior he was an open book, now she could read nothing from his stern expression. Just before he raised his eyes from the display, he said. “I have to take this.” Without further explanation, he turned his back to her, walked down the three steps to the front lawn.

“Mitch Morgan here.” His voice dropped an octave from his usual when he answered.

She moved to the edge of the porch. There was a long pause when he seemed to be just listening.

“Mitch Morgan,” he repeated.

Another pause.

“No. This is Mitch Morgan. I don’t know anyone by the name of Michael Ward.”

And Lorna felt the hair on the nape of her neck stand up on end.

Chapter Nine

“No. Yours is a new phone.” Luke confirmed what Mitch suspected. “Standard protocol after a mission: new phone, new SIM card, everything. There has to be a mistake. How the hell would they get your number?”

On the beat, Luke was mentoring a rookie when Mitch tracked him down. Luke and the newbie stood outside the doughnut shop, about to go in. The late day sun glinted off silver threaded through his reddish hair. Mitch had called Luke as soon as he left Lorna’s place. He needed to talk to someone before taking his suspicions to the Chief.

Mitch accepted the cardboard cup from the female clerk with a nod of thanks. “All good questions, man. How did they know where to find me?” He declined the doughnut Luke offered.

Luke squinted at Mitch over the opened top of the plastic cover, breathing in the aroma, and shook his head. “You sick or something?”

“Huh?”

“A pretty blonde with big blue eyes is doing all she can to be noticed by you behind the counter…” Luke rolled his head back towards the shop they just exited. “And you don’t spare a glance. That’s not like you.”

Mitch didn’t have time for the teasing. He had other concerns on his mind. “Whatever,” he said with a shrug. “Can we stay on topic here?”

Luke leaned against his squad car’s hood. “Question really is, are you overreacting? You don’t even know if it was the Fongs.”

“C’mon.” Mitch raised his gaze from his steaming cup to Luke’s face. “I worked the case for more than a year. I know Veronique’s voice.”

“You know more than you should, I hear.”

Mitch ignored the barb and the smirk. “She called me Michael Ward.”

“No trace?”

“None. I called the first time when the line seemed dead. Then as soon as I hung up, I called it in again and no tracers.” Mitch lifted his cap to run his hand through his hair. “Jesus, fuck, how’d they find me. The rest are still in holding at remand; I checked. Just her and head cheese Chuck weren’t arrested…Oh man.”

Luke brushed his shoulder. “Listen, this could be nothing.” Luke pointed his cup at Mitch’s forearms. “Painting today? Over at your sister’s?”

Mitch blinked before cluing into what Luke referred to. He stared down at his arm, where traces of paint splattered just before his elbows. He allowed a small smile. “No. I was over at Lorna’s place. Helping with a fence.”

“Umm, Lorna?”

“We went to university together. We ran into each other recently.” He loved the irony of those words.

“She the one who ran into you?” Luke’s tone and manner took on a serious note and caused Mitch to sit up straighter. “With a truck?”

“I ran the stop sign,” Mitch returned slowly. “But yes, she rammed the hearse with the rental truck.”

“You say it was Vonnie who called,” Luke circled the conversation back to the beginning. “Say the Fongs have found you. Your cover’s blown. Don’t you think it’s a bit too convenient—Lorna being the one to run into you in a different city and all along she lives right here. Right where you work?”

“It’s weird, yes, but I told you, I ran the stop sign.”

“Think, man. There are not a lot of flukes in our line of work.” The older cop paused to take a noisy swig from his coffee cup. “Could it be this woman—this Lorna—who turned over your location to the Fongs?”

“No, of course not. Don’t be ridiculous.” Mitch stood up from the car, taking a few paces to the side of the brick building. “She doesn’t know anything about it. I haven’t even told her what I was doing there. Not about the case, nothing but that I worked as a cop.”

“Smart girl, no doubt she’ll likely have figured it out. Or knew ahead of time. How do you know she’s not a plant? Not involved? On the family payroll, so to speak.”

Mitch gritted his teeth. “I know.” He started to walk away, back towards his truck, defensive anger rising to the surface.

Luke trailed him. “You thought you knew Veronique,” his friends raised voice reached him, pulling him back towards his long-time mentor.

“That’s different and you know it. Vonnie was part of the job. She was key to getting inside the family.” Mitch pointed his finger at Luke. “Lorna’s not a job. She’s just a woman who was on her way to an appointment when I ran out in front of her.”

“Just a woman you have an obvious history with,” Luke persisted, pointing back. “I’ve never seen you react to a babe like this before, Mitch. And let’s face it, you’ve had your share. This Lorna, this blast from the past, could be using this to her favor.” He paused for breath, fisting his hand and pounding in back into the palm of his other. “And since when does
undercover
mean “under the covers?” I didn’t know it was part of the job to sleep with suspects?”

“Fuck you, man,” Mitch boiled over, slamming his coffee cup to the ground, the brown liquid splashing across his boots. “That’s low. Vonnie
was
the job. Leave Lorna out of this. She’s nothing to do with the Fongs.” He stomped to his truck, taking control of his temper and his tongue before saying something he would regret later.

Mitch sat in his truck, steaming. Luke pulled the patrol car out of the parking lot and into traffic, heading east, leaving Mitch to simmer in his own boiling thoughts. Turning over the big diesel engine, he ebbed against traffic in the opposite direction. Too agitated to go home, he rolled his window down, soaking in the night air, trying to focus.

Luke’s comments stung.
I already told him how the accident happened. How can he have jumped to the conclusion it was all planned?

And Veronique?
She was a stunner, willowy with her waist-length shiny, black hair, ebony eyes to match.
Complete with the Fong family dark heart
. Sleeping with Vonnie was not intentional or planned but did speed up his introduction to the heart of the family. She was the daughter of Gary Fong, older brother to kingpin Charlie Fong. Leaving Vonnie out of the arrests, their operation drew her brother Serge and ultimately her father, along with his six hired guns, into wanting to join their make-believe syndicate. The sting was based on the promise that Gary would finally be in charge, instead of always having to kowtow to a younger brother—as Gary had done for most of his life. Their operation manufactured a make-believe lifestyle, an opportunity too much for Gary’s crew to pass up. Mitch, posing as the daughter’s love interest, simply moved the process forward much faster.

“Fuck Luke.” He slammed the cuff of his hand against the steering wheel. This wasn’t the first time his mentor told him to keep hold of his loose ends. The reminder stung, and he felt the reprimand.

“It’s going to get you in trouble one day, boyo,” Luke had said with a smile and a knowing wink after his last undercover op.

“Well, this isn’t that day,” Mitch muttered, rubbing his temples and pinching his lips together in a determined line.

***

The Chief wasn’t happy. At all. Too early on a Sunday morning when, instead of being with his family having brunch, Boulet sat in his office across from Mitch, listening to how he suspected his cover had been blown, for the second time on the same operation.

“You’re sure it was her?”

“Yes,” Mitch confirmed, elbows on his knees, his hands falling loose in between his spread legs. “Not only does Veronique have a very distinctive voice, she called me by my alias.”

“How’d she get your number?”

“Damned if I know.” For once meeting with his superior was very informal. Mitch had hardly slept the night before and was weary from trying to puzzle out this new development.

The metal chair squeaked as Boulet turned in his seat to cross his feet at the ankles, perching them on the corner of his desk. “Could it be linked to the woman you hit?”

Had Luke said something? What’s with all eyes focusing on Lorna?
Mitch couldn’t lash out at his boss the same way he did with Luke.
There are no coincidences
. No matter which way he shook the canvas, Lorna did seem to be the link.
Certainly not intentionally
—of that he was sure
.
Mitch hung his head, exhausted. “I don’t know how.”

Bringing his feet down from the corner of the desk, the Chief grabbed up a pen and some paper. “Well, let’s see. There’s the car. Damaged from the accident. A very distinctive car, being a hearse and all. There’s the license being reported as a fake to the local cop shop. Then there’s a pile of arrests, you included, and now you’re nowhere to be found by the Fongs.”

“We took care of all those loose ends before we left.”

“I’d like to think so, but something’s unraveling here, and we have to follow the threads,” Boulet said, lowering his pen to steeple his fingers.

***

Parking his truck on the side of the residential street outside of Lorna’s two-storey house, Mitch’s stomach tightened in anticipation, forgetting his troubles with work. He wanted a reprieve. Last night had been a revelation. Nothing would convince him Lorna had anything to do with his cover being blown.

Nothing
.

Pulling out his phone, he checked for a solid strength signal and full charge. Dialing a number, he asked without preamble. “You ready—if they call?”

“Even if they don’t talk, keep the line open as long as you can,” Jordan, the IT tech replied, curtly. “Don’t be the first to hang up.”

“I got it,” Mitch said, pressing “end” on his phone without further explanation.

Exiting his truck, he scanned his watch to make sure he wasn’t too early. Quarter to twelve. Hopefully, not later than she expected.

The door opened before he reached the top step. “Hey,” she said, her smile wide, dressed sporty in just-above-the-knee black golfer shorts and a striped polo top.

“Hey,” he replied back, bending to kiss her cheek. “You smell great.” Just the sight of her seemed to take his worries away.
No way she’s involved.

Her hand lifted to his cheek, scratching across his stubble. “You okay?”

“Fine,” he answered, regretting he didn’t shave this morning when he finally returned to his place after wandering the roads most of the night.

“You look tired.” The concern in her tawny eyes melted the reflexive biting remark that rose to his lips.
Too many months surrounded by men.

“I am, a bit,” he conceded, aroused instantly, his vision being pulled in the direction of her mouth where she bit her lip nervously. “But I’m better—now I’m here.”

Her teeth released her lip and he was rewarded with a brilliant smile. “Good to hear. Hope you brought your appetite.”

“Never leave home without it.”

“Come on in then.” She stepped aside to allow him through the front door. “Ma, ah, Mariam and Kris are just in the backyard.”

“No, we’re right here,” Mariam said, coming through the kitchen entrance, purse in one hand, the little boy’s hand clasped in her other. “Just on our way out, Mitchell. I understand you and our Lorna here will be going for a picnic.”

“That is the plan, I think.” He glanced from the older lady to Lorna, who had her back to him, putting provisions into the picnic basket. “We’re going to do some more catching up.”

“Yes, indeed, catching up.” Mariam smiled warmly, quickly winking at Mitch. “Kris and I are off to the zoo today.”

“Wait a minute.” Lorna turned in one swift movement and walked over to stand before grandmother and son. “We were all going together?”

“Changed our minds. Didn’t we, kiddo?” Mariam glanced down at Kris with raised eyebrows.

“Zoo,” Kris said simply. “Lions and tigers. We’re going to the zoo.”

“When did you decide this?”

“About the time Mitchell parked out front.” Mariam laughed heartily. “How’s that for timing?”

Lorna flushed. “But we planned the day.”

“Yes, and so much for planning.” She patted Lorna on the arm before lifting her face to kiss her on the cheek. Turning to Mitch, Mariam said, “Do me a favor, Mitchell. Tell her she doesn’t always have to plan everything. It might be nice to just let things happen once in a while. It’s called ‘spontaneity.’”

“Ma!” Lorna moved to stand in front of Kris while she gave Mariam what Mitch’s family would term the hairy eyeball. “There’s nothing wrong with planning. Kris, honeybun, you sure you don’t want to have a picnic with Mama and Mitchell?”

“I going to zoo with Nana.”

“Okay then. Have fun, sweetie.” She kissed the top of his head while sharing a hug. “See you later.”

“Bye, bye, Mama,” he said, smiling as he grabbed up his favorite character ball cap from the hook at the back of the door. “Bye, bye, Mit-chell.”

Mitch tipped his cap to Mariam and beamed down at the little boy. “See ya later, little man.”

***

Lorna walked to the counter as the two left, a little awkward.
I should have waited for him to come to the door. Way too eager to open the door before he even knocked
. Swinging her hands to lie them flat on the counter, she turned her head in Mitch’s direction. “I have a lot of food for just two people.”