MULTIPLE MOTIVES (The Kate Huntington mystery series Book 1) by Kassandra Lamb Page A

door. She scrambled into the driver’s seat, started the car and raced through the garage.
    At the cashier’s booth, she stomped on the brakes and threw the ticket along with a twenty-dollar bill at the attendant. Without waiting for change, she shot out into the street, barely missing a car that swerved into the next lane to avoid her.
    A few blocks away, the after-shocks hit her. She was trembling so badly she had to pull over to the curb. Too late, she realized she should have been concerned about another car bomb. But she’d felt so vulnerable in the parking garage, all she could think about was getting out of there.
    Digging her phone out of her purse, she tried to call Rob’s cell. Shaky fingers hit the wrong numbers. She had to start again. It went straight to voicemail. He must still be in court.
    “Hi, it’s me. Somebody broke my window. In my car. Actually the whole back window.” Realizing how inane this message was sounding, she ended with, “Call me when you get a chance.”
    Knuckles rapped against her side window. She jumped, hitting her head on the ceiling of the car.
    A thirty-something Baltimore City police officer was standing there, a combination of concern and suspicion on his brown face. She realized she’d pulled into and was blocking a bus-stop area. She lowered the window.
    The officer asked for her license, then got a better look at her pale face. “Are you all right, lady?”
    Halfway through an incoherent attempt at an explanation, Kate gave up and asked the officer to contact Detective Phillips in Baltimore County and ask him to meet her at her house.
    The officer nodded, his eyes still worried. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but I’ve got to give you an inspection notice on that busted taillight. You’ve got thirty days to get the repairs done. I’ll give you the number of the vandalism report, for your insurance company.”
    While he went back to his cruiser to write the inspection notice, Kate took several deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself. By the time the officer returned and handed her the notice, she was able to shift the car into gear and steer carefully back into traffic.
    ~~~~~~~~
    Rob returned Kate’s call as he was walking across the courthouse parking lot. She was telling him what had happened to her car when he heard her doorbell ring in the background.
    “Hold on,” Kate said. “Someone’s at the door.” His lawyer instincts kicked in when he heard her say, “Detective Phillips. Wow, the officer actually called you.”
    Shit!
    “Don’t say anything, Kate! I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
    When he arrived, Kate and Phillips were already in full-blown argument. The detective kept referring to her “little stalker story.” She was waving the inspection notice in his face.
    In response to the detective’s what-does-that-prove shrug, Kate said, “Go to the garage. You’ll see the glass there.”
    “Where were you parked?”
    She froze.
    Rob realized she didn’t remember. Under the best of circumstances, it was the kind of information one only committed to memory temporarily.
    “I’m not sure,” she said.
    Phillips smirked. “How convenient.”
    “Look, Detective , when are you going to give up your little pet theory and actually start doing some detecting?”
    They had a staring match for several seconds, then the detective said in a flat voice, “If I can find a uniform with nothing better to do, I’ll send him down to look around that garage.”
    Phillips turned to Rob. “Ah, and here is the knight in shining armor, always ready to rescue damsel Huntington when she’s in distress.”
    Rob fought the urge to bust the man in his chops. He clenched his fists and ground his teeth. “Phillips, I think you need to leave now before one officer of the court is forced to deck another.”
    Phillips smirked at him, but there was a flash of fear in his eyes. Rob was half a foot taller and at least thirty pounds heavier. The detective gave an elaborate