Crime in the Club (The Bound Detective) by Ashley Thompson Page B

natural and nice and for once Jane felt like she could relax.
    “ It’s such a beautiful day,” Franklin stated.
    “Sure is.  I haven’t seen a day this nice in a long time,” Jane replied.
    “Same here.   So I have to ask you something Jane.  It’s been on my mind for a little bit and I don’t know how to approach it but I feel like you might be able to answer it,” he stated.
    Jane turned to him and looked at him.  She studied his face, but Jane couldn’t read it.  Jane wanted to know, and it worried her that she couldn’t read it.
    “What’s up?”
    Franklin blushed a little bit when he thought about it, but after a second, he knew that he could venture to ask her.
    “Remember when Thomas said that you understand this line of work?  What did he mean by that?” Franklin asked.
    “ Nothing.  I told you it’s none of your business,” she replied.
    “But I want it to be my business.  I want to be a trustworthy partner and help you out, and I feel like this could help us grow closer,” he said.
    Jane blushed thinking about it, but she knew that she couldn’t tell him yet.  They had just met and Jane didn’t know what to think.
    “I’m sorry Franklin but it’s a very personal thing to me and I don’t like talking about it.  I want to keep it to myself for now.  We can talk about it later maybe.  I just have some demons in the past that I don’t want to talk about just yet,” Jane explained.
    “What kind of demons?”
    “The kind that will make you feel surprised and wonder if this is the real Jane you’re talking to.  The kind that will immediately make you judge me,” she replied.  Jane hated talking about her past.  The pain seemed to make her sick even to this day.  She had a hard life before then, and although she did walk into her job here as a detective with no debt it came with a price.
    Franklin thought about badgering her more but it didn’t seem to be the right thing to do.  He knew that it was going to make things worse and he could tell from the pain in her eyes.  Franklin instead smiled at her with his trademark warm and adorable grin. 
    “ It’s all right Jane.  I’m not going to bother you about it.  When you’re ready to talk about it you can tell me,” he replied.  Before Jane could say anything, he pressed his lips to hers in a very quick and chaste kiss.
    Jane immediately felt the blood rush to her face.  Franklin had just kissed her and he understood why she wanted to keep it to herself.  She felt happy that this man did understand, and she felt excitement and desire rush through her.  Jane liked this man a lot, and even though she didn’t want to take things further, just yet she felt a connection with Franklin she had never felt before.
    “ Thanks Franklin.  I appreciate it,” Jane said.
    “Not a problem.  Anyways we should get ready.  We have to go see Alice,” he said.
    Jane nodded and got up.  They walked back to their respective cars and drove to the club.  They took another car because the killer would recognize their vehicles.  They still drove separately too and would come back together later on.  Jane was thinking about a different thing however, and that was the emotion that seemed to course through her body, which made her want Franklin even more.

Chapter Eight
    When they got to the club, they immediately saw the “closed” sign on there.  Jane ran up there and knocked on the door.  The doorman was gone but instead Scarlet stood there and looked at Jane with a wary glance.
    “What do you want?” she asked.
    “I want to see Alice,” Jane replied.
    “You can’t do that.  She’s sick right now and headed home.  Do you want to see any of the other girls?” Scarlet asked in a professional manner.
    “No that’s fine.  Think you though,” Jane said.  She ran back to the car and got in.  Franklin turned to her with a worried glance.
    “What’s the deal?”
    “Alice isn’t here.  Let’s head to the