other twenty-nine-year-old women. She’d been too busy raising her brother.
For the first time, he felt better about what had happened at Liz and Sawyer’s wedding. Maybe it hadn’t been him that Carmen had objected to? Maybe it had just been her lack of experience and her generally shy demeanor that had sent her scurrying into the ladies’ room.
This was going to require very careful handling.
If it made her happy to think the kiss had been about comfort, so be it. “Did it work?” he asked.
“I’m fine,” she said. “Really, I just needed a minute.”
“No problem. I’ll call you tomorrow once I’ve talked to the cops at Raoul’s school.” He got up, gave her a little wave and opened the door. “Thanks again for dinner. It was great.”
When he got to his car, he didn’t even turn on the heat. He was plenty hot enough. One kiss and he’d been about to implode.
Very careful handling indeed.
Chapter Five
Friday
As Robert walked past Tasha’s desk, she extended a long arm. Her fingernails were bright purple. “I found the name of the cop who is pulling regular duty at Mahoney High School. Horton Davis.”
He took the pink message slip from her. “Thanks,” Robert said. After leaving Carmen’s last night, he’d left a message for Tasha, hoping that she’d work on it first thing in the morning. He pulled his cell phone off his belt.
He got the man’s voice mail and he left a brief message, asking for a return call. He hoped that Raoul wasn’t involved in something bad at school. He sure as hell didn’t want to break that kind of news to Carmen.
Hot, hot Carmen Jimenez. Some women worked hard at being sexy. They wore the right clothes, the right makeup, had the look. He’d dated women like that and had appreciated their efforts and the end result.
But Carmen didn’t seem to work at it at all. She just was.
Didn’t matter if she was wearing a turtleneck and a skirt that almost reached her knees. It was the way she moved. Her natural grace. The effortless way she tossed her long, dark hair when it got in her way.
She smelled sexy.
She laughed sexy.
Damn. He was in trouble. Had known it last night when he’d gotten to his car and had sat in the cold for five minutes, letting his body temperature return to normal. After one kiss.
He fingered the pink message slips on his desk, the ones Tasha had handed him the day before. Mandy and Janine. Hell, maybe he should give one of them a call. Get things back into perspective.
He didn’t pick up his phone.
Instead, he nodded at Sawyer, who was standing across the room, in conversation with Charlene Blaze.
In the morning report, there’d been the usual litany. Two gang shootings. A couple home invasions, one with injuries to the invader. Jewelry store robbery. A bank located in a grocery store had been held up. The feds were taking that one.
Just another day. More files for the desk. Especially now because, like most every detective in the city, he and Sawyer had been told to put their own cases on the back burner if possible and help Wasimole and Blaze on the serial killer case.
Their neighborhood search had turned up nothing yesterday. Nobody had seen anything. It had been cold, frustrating work, all the more so because everybody knew the clock was ticking. Another Wednesday was just around the corner. And with that came the good probability of another dead kid.
It had kept them moving even when they could no longer feel their toes and their faces were chapped from the brisk wind. They’d covered a six-block radius and had talked to countless people.
He saw that Sawyer had finished his conversation with Blaze. “What’s the plan?” Robert asked when his partner approached.
“Friends and family detail,” Sawyer said.
Robert had figured as much. As each of the dead boys had been discovered, Blaze and Wasimole had interviewed family and friends at great length, trying to find some thread that might tie the deceased together.
For the first time, he felt better about what had happened at Liz and Sawyer’s wedding. Maybe it hadn’t been him that Carmen had objected to? Maybe it had just been her lack of experience and her generally shy demeanor that had sent her scurrying into the ladies’ room.
This was going to require very careful handling.
If it made her happy to think the kiss had been about comfort, so be it. “Did it work?” he asked.
“I’m fine,” she said. “Really, I just needed a minute.”
“No problem. I’ll call you tomorrow once I’ve talked to the cops at Raoul’s school.” He got up, gave her a little wave and opened the door. “Thanks again for dinner. It was great.”
When he got to his car, he didn’t even turn on the heat. He was plenty hot enough. One kiss and he’d been about to implode.
Very careful handling indeed.
Chapter Five
Friday
As Robert walked past Tasha’s desk, she extended a long arm. Her fingernails were bright purple. “I found the name of the cop who is pulling regular duty at Mahoney High School. Horton Davis.”
He took the pink message slip from her. “Thanks,” Robert said. After leaving Carmen’s last night, he’d left a message for Tasha, hoping that she’d work on it first thing in the morning. He pulled his cell phone off his belt.
He got the man’s voice mail and he left a brief message, asking for a return call. He hoped that Raoul wasn’t involved in something bad at school. He sure as hell didn’t want to break that kind of news to Carmen.
Hot, hot Carmen Jimenez. Some women worked hard at being sexy. They wore the right clothes, the right makeup, had the look. He’d dated women like that and had appreciated their efforts and the end result.
But Carmen didn’t seem to work at it at all. She just was.
Didn’t matter if she was wearing a turtleneck and a skirt that almost reached her knees. It was the way she moved. Her natural grace. The effortless way she tossed her long, dark hair when it got in her way.
She smelled sexy.
She laughed sexy.
Damn. He was in trouble. Had known it last night when he’d gotten to his car and had sat in the cold for five minutes, letting his body temperature return to normal. After one kiss.
He fingered the pink message slips on his desk, the ones Tasha had handed him the day before. Mandy and Janine. Hell, maybe he should give one of them a call. Get things back into perspective.
He didn’t pick up his phone.
Instead, he nodded at Sawyer, who was standing across the room, in conversation with Charlene Blaze.
In the morning report, there’d been the usual litany. Two gang shootings. A couple home invasions, one with injuries to the invader. Jewelry store robbery. A bank located in a grocery store had been held up. The feds were taking that one.
Just another day. More files for the desk. Especially now because, like most every detective in the city, he and Sawyer had been told to put their own cases on the back burner if possible and help Wasimole and Blaze on the serial killer case.
Their neighborhood search had turned up nothing yesterday. Nobody had seen anything. It had been cold, frustrating work, all the more so because everybody knew the clock was ticking. Another Wednesday was just around the corner. And with that came the good probability of another dead kid.
It had kept them moving even when they could no longer feel their toes and their faces were chapped from the brisk wind. They’d covered a six-block radius and had talked to countless people.
He saw that Sawyer had finished his conversation with Blaze. “What’s the plan?” Robert asked when his partner approached.
“Friends and family detail,” Sawyer said.
Robert had figured as much. As each of the dead boys had been discovered, Blaze and Wasimole had interviewed family and friends at great length, trying to find some thread that might tie the deceased together.
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