Solid as Steele by REBECCA YORK Page A

with someone else. Only both of them obviously thought otherwise. Could he get over his guilt about going after Craig’s wife? Could she stop thinking of herself as a married woman? He didn’t know if either one of them could handle the relationship, and he had another problem.
    Jamie had knowledge of a murder. She’d claimed to have gotten it through some kind of psychic dream. But could he believe it?
    He knew some pretty weird things had happened to some of the Light Street staff and also to the men and women who worked for their sister organization, Randolph Security. He’d never gotten involved in anything he’d call extrasensory. Now he was caught between doubting Jamie’s account and wondering if he could believe something that wasn’t grounded in any reality he understood. He’d like to consult someone at the office. Jamie had been trying to get in touch with Jo O’Malley, and he knew that something paranormal had happened to her and her husband, Cam Randolph, years ago. But talking to his boss about the woman who’d closed herself in the other room would make him feel like a snitch.
    He sighed. It seemed like he was caught in a trap. He didn’t love being forced to explore his own feelings. At the same time, he couldn’t simply walk away from a murder investigation. He could turn the problem over to someone else at Light Street, but that would mean he’d have to come up with a good reason for ducking out.
    Since he wasn’t prepared to do that, he was stuck for the moment. As he saw it, his only option was to investigate the murder the way he’d investigate any other case. Which made the expense account perfectly appropriate.
    He turned on the television, keeping the sound low as he scanned for local news. Apparently there wasn’t a station right in Gaptown, but there seemed to be two in a city about sixty miles away. And both of them had sent reporters here.
    As he watched, he noted that the police hadn’t released Lynn Vaughn’s name yet, but he knew they were going to be interviewing her colleagues at work and her neighbors. Could he duplicate their research? And would the people he talked to wonder why he wasn’t working with the cops? He’d started out on the Columbus, Ohio, police force. But he’d been caught in a personnel reduction. Since he had no seniority, he’d been let go. But Jo O’Malley, from Light Street, had been on a recruiting trip, and she’d offered him a job. He’d been with them for five years, and he loved the job.
    When he’d watched the same news report several times without learning anything more, he knew he was just spinning his wheels.
    After turning down the sound on the TV, he got out his laptop and checked his mail. There was nothing urgent, and nothing on the Net about the murder that he hadn’t already seen on TV.
    He closed the laptop and left it on the desk, then looked toward the bedroom. He’d given Jamie some space. Now it was time to get some dinner, turn in and start fresh in the morning.
    He crossed the room, hesitated for a moment, then knocked on her door.
    When she didn’t answer he knocked again. “Jamie?”
    Still no answer.
    He twisted the knob and pushed the door open. The light was off, and it took his eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness. When they did, he saw Jamie lying on thebed. Her eyes were closed, and her breathing was regular. He walked closer, seeing that her lips were slightly parted. They looked so damn kissable. Quickly he flicked his gaze away, where it landed on her breasts as they rose and fell. She was sleeping and totally vulnerable to him. He could look at her in a way he’d never done when she was awake.
    Only it wasn’t any fun because he felt an immediate sense of guilt at invading her privacy. He caught his breath, then backed out of the room, closing the door behind him.
    Obviously, she was worn out. She’d