* * *
B
EFORE
EITHER
OF
THEM
could move, Pepper bolted. Being slender and fast, she easily ducked through the
chaos of the drunks who’d come in and the additional officers who’d shown up to
help straighten out the confusion. They were close enough to the front door that
she’d exited the station in seconds, her long legs covering a lot of ground.
Both Logan and Reese gave chase, but they hit the front walk
and…true enough, she was nowhere in sight.
Logan turned a circle, looking up and down the street,
searching over the parking lot, toward the garage. He saw pedestrians, he saw
traffic, parked cars and a bus.
But he didn’t see Pepper.
Humid night air enveloped him, adding to his heat of annoyance
and rage.
She could have gone in any direction: behind a parked car, up
and over the retaining wall to the lots beyond, down the street, up the street.
Hell, she could be in a car right now, watching him as he floundered.
“To have disappeared so fast,” Reese mused aloud, “she had a
plan. She came here with it all laid out. How long to stay inside, when to leave
and exactly where to hide when the time came.”
Logan locked his hands behind his neck and turned again,
searching, trying to decide—
“You can’t start looking for her,” Reese said before Logan
headed off to do just that. “You made the lady a promise about her brother. But
the longer Rowdy Yates is here unattended, the less likely it is that you can
keep that promise.”
Irritation boiled over. From the get-go, this whole sting had
gone upside down on him. Logan headed back in with a purposeful stride. The
worry on Pepper’s face had been something he couldn’t ignore. “She thinks
someone here will hurt Rowdy.”
“That’s what I got from it, yeah.” Keeping pace beside him,
Reese said, “We both know there are dirty cops. Who, that’s the question.”
Logan cut his gaze over Reese. “She doesn’t trust you.” And
neither did Lieutenant Peterson.
“She doesn’t know me,” Reese reasoned. “But you do, and that’s
what matters. Besides, I get the feeling the only person she does trust is her
brother.”
“She trusts me.” No, she didn’t want to. Logan got that. But
she did. Otherwise she wouldn’t have asked him to ensure Rowdy’s safety. “She’s
furious, but she’s smart enough to understand why I—”
Reese clapped him on the back. “Yeah, keep telling yourself
that if it makes you feel better.”
Without slowing his pace, Logan thought of how Pepper had
looked. Not shy. Not withdrawn. Definitely not plain.
Bold. Sexy. Living, breathing temptation.
Yes, he knew what she’d been hiding:
herself.
“Now what?” Reese asked.
Logan rumbled low, “Did you see her?”
“No man would miss her—including the cutthroat bastards who
murdered Jack.”
Jesus. Was that her intent? To draw attention? He just didn’t
know. “This whole thing is fucked three different ways.”
“It occurs to me that we have those few years where Pepper was
entirely off the radar.”
Logan had assumed her timid personality explained that. He had
so easily pictured her staying behind while Rowdy took the lead.
Now? He didn’t know what to think. “Your point?”
“I don’t really have one,” Reese said. “It’s just that maybe
you don’t know her at all. Maybe you should scrap any and all assumptions and
start over at ground zero.”
Though he’d already had that thought, Logan dismissed the
possibility. He had to believe that some part of her was real.
The vulnerable woman who talked of her painful past.
The messy housekeeper who liked late-night movies and
pizza.
The runner. The cook.
The incredibly inventive lover…
“Why did she risk coming here when she obviously didn’t want to
stay?” Reese asked. “She could have called you with that message for her
brother.”
Logan saw the officer standing outside the interrogation room
where he’d left Rowdy. “Part of her motive was to make me suffer.” He’d felt it,
witnessed it in her light brown eyes. “She wants to hurt me like I hurt
her.”
“By showing you that she’s smoking hot?” Reese snorted. “That
was a gift and you know it.”
Actually, her appearance had shocked him, but it didn’t make
him want her any more than he already had. Such a thing wasn’t even
possible.
He shook his head at Reese. “After I talk to Rowdy, I’ll know
more.” He stopped in front of the officer. “Did he give you any trouble?”
“Hasn’t made a sound.”
“Anyone else come by?”
“No.”
Logan thanked him, then asked Reese to take up the guard duty.
“I don’t want to be interrupted again.”
“Sure thing. But let’s not take this too late, okay? I’m now a
responsible pet owner. I can’t be out all night.”
Seriously? Reese was worried about his dog when they finally
had Rowdy Yates in custody, and when Pepper was out doing God-knew-what?
Or maybe there was more to Reese’s impatience.
Reese shook his head in resignation. “I’m here as long as you
need me. You know that. But let’s not drag it out, okay?”
Logan accepted that and went into the room.
Calmer now, he pulled out his chair opposite Rowdy.
The man’s enigmatic gaze bored into him. “How long are we going
to do this?”
“Why?” Logan asked. “You have somewhere to be?”
Rowdy shrugged. “I’m getting hungry, I need to take a piss, and
I left a warm woman waiting in my bed.”
“Did you tell her you were leaving to break into my
apartment?”
“Actually, I wasn’t really breaking in since I own the
building.”
At Logan’s pause, Rowdy laughed.
“Yeah, you gotta wonder who the bigger fraud is, right? You
undercover as a tenant, or me as an absentee property owner.”
“You own the building?”
“That’s right.”
“Why?”
“I needed a safe place for Pepper. A place where I could touch
base with her, where she could be easily overlooked.” Rowdy leaned forward. “But
you can get that look out of your eyes. She’s long gone from there now, and she
won’t be back.”
If Rowdy spoke the truth, he’d gone above and beyond to keep
Pepper off the grid. “She’ll have to go back there eventually.”
“No.”
“She left with nothing. All of her belongings are still
there.”
For a short beat of silence, Rowdy considered things, then he
shrugged. “There’s nothing there that she needs, believe me. I didn’t count on
someone like you tracking her down, but I didn’t leave it to chance,
either.”
“Meaning?” In order to figure out where she might be now, Logan
needed to learn more about how she and Rowdy had operated.
“I had contingency plans in place. Pepper has already covered
her tracks.”
That sounded far too final, so Logan pressed him. “Your tracks,
too?”
“Yeah, mine, too.” Slowly, Rowdy grinned. “I just thought of
something.”
Hopefully a clue he could use. “Let’s hear it.”
Rowdy actually laughed. “I was staying at a dump motel for a
few days, and I really did leave a naked woman in my bed.”
“Who?”
“I don’t remember her name, but she had a world-class
rack.”
Logan’s temper ratcheted up another notch. This was the man
closest to Pepper, and it made him sick. “I don’t give a shit about—”
“Odds are, Pepper went there first.”
It took all Logan’s concentration not to show his rage. “To
cover your tracks?”
“That’s right.” He shook his head, still amused. “Pepper would
have found her there, and knowing my sister, she probably tossed her out.”
An image Logan couldn’t quite fathom. “When the hell did she
have time for a makeover?”
The humor fled Rowdy in a heartbeat. “What are you talking
about?”
“She’s only had a few hours, and if she spent part of that time
cleaning up your messes—” The ringing of Logan’s cell phone kept him from
finishing that question.
“What do you mean, a makeover?”
It was curious how Rowdy’s tone dropped, how his entire
demeanor darkened.
After giving him a long look, Logan glanced at the phone. A
private call, without a number or name listed. The entire night had been filled
with disturbances. He flipped open the phone. “Hello?”
“Did you tell him yet?”
Pepper.
Hearing her voice reassured
him. For this instant, at least, she was still safe. “Where are you?”
“None of your business. So did you tell him or not?”
“He’s been so talkative, I haven’t had a chance to say anything
yet.”
Rowdy went perfectly still, listening in with interest.
“Yeah, right,” Pepper said. “So tell him now.”
“Soon.” She’d said she would check in. How often? If she called
every half hour, he might be able to track her cell. “If you’d stop running off,
I could tell you a few things that you might find interesting.” Like how he
hadn’t been pretending to care about her, and he definitely hadn’t pretended to
want her.
What he felt for her was as real as it could get, and it ate
him up to think of her out on her own, playing hide-and-seek with a ruthless
murderer like Morton Andrews.
“You want to talk about interesting tidbits, Logan? Here’s one
for you—you arrested the wrong person.”
His heartbeat slowed. “That’s as confusing as your
transformation. After all, he did break in.”
Rowdy sat forward. “Let me talk to her.”
Logan ignored him.
“My brother is a
saint,
” Pepper
said. “Everything he’s done, he’s done for me. He’s protected me when no one
else could. He’s cared for me when no one else did.”
That truth hurt. “Pepper…”
“I have to talk to her,” Rowdy insisted. He reached for the
cell, but the restraints held him back. “Damn you!”
Logan stood to move out of range. “Come back to the station,
honey. You can help me to figure this out.”
And this time I
won’t let you get away.
“She was
here?
” Rowdy came to his
feet so fast, he half lifted the heavy table.
Reese stepped in, but Logan waved him back out. Reluctantly,
Reese withdrew.
“In an hour I’ll call again. One hour, Logan, you got
that?”
“Why an hour?” he asked her, hoping to keep her on the
phone.
“Everything should be done by then. If you haven’t yet told
Rowdy, I won’t call you again. And you’ll never get the answers you want.”
“Don’t let her hang up,” Rowdy shouted. He thrashed against the
cuffs. “Pepper! Goddammit, Pepper, don’t you dare—”
“She’s gone.”
“Gone?”
“Hung up.” Closing the phone, Logan leaned on the table toward
him. “You will stop shouting at her, do you understand me?”
“Do you know where she is?” Fear colored Rowdy’s face, filled
his tone. “You have to stop her!”
“I’d love to.” His urgency became Logan’s. “Why don’t you tell
me what it is she intends to do? Something else in your contingency plans?”
“You have no clue.” Rowdy leaned across the table to speak to
Logan in a harsh whisper. “You want answers about that city commissioner that
was killed? You want to rein in the fucks who shot him in cold blood? You want
to know why he was shot?”
Ice filled Logan’s veins. “Yes.” Yes to everything.
“Well, I’m not the one who saw it all go down.”
“Bullshit. The reporter said—”
“It was Pepper.”
The ramifications of that couldn’t sink in. Logan shook his
head. “No.”
Watching the door, still pulled taut against his restraints,
Rowdy said softly, “Understand this, you bastard. If I had any other choice, I
wouldn’t tell you shit. But if Pepper was here, then she’s not following the
procedure we laid out. And that means her life is on the line.”
No, and no again.
“Make up your mind and fast, Detective. Shit’s about to get
ugly. Whose side are you on here?”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
F
OR
AN
ANSWER
, Logan stepped to the door and locked it. He doubled-checked
that the intercom was off, too.
Reese heard the lock click, tried the knob, then looked in the
window with a dark scowl. He pounded on the door, demanding entrance.
Of course Reese didn’t like being cut out, and the lieutenant
would be livid, but he’d deal with them both later.
Close to Rowdy again, he said, “Tell me.”
“It’s…complicated. Convoluted.”
“So give me the short version. Fast.” If Pepper was in direct
jeopardy, the sooner he knew the details, the better he could help her.
Rowdy waffled only a second. “Pepper and I both worked at
Checkers. I was a bouncer, guard, doorman, you name it. Pepper was an evening
maid.”
“A maid?”
“Cleaning the offices, the bathrooms, that sort of thing. It
was a great-paying job for me, and Pepper made a decent wage. Working nights,
downplaying her looks, and keeping a low profile left her mostly off the radar
of the boss. She was…insignificant to the operation. That’s how she and I both
wanted it. If she’d been a waitress or something…” Rowdy shook his head.
Hatred burned like acid in his stomach. “Andrews would have hit
on her.”
“Hit on her?” Rowdy snorted. “He thought women were his for the
asking. No one dared say no to Morton.”
“Not even a city commissioner?”
Rowdy rubbed a hand over his face. “You knew him?”
“Jack Carmin was my best friend.”
Rowdy looked down at his hands. “Morton had cops in and out all
the time, helping him with his business. I saw more bad cops than I ever saw
good.”
“Jack wasn’t a cop, but he was definitely one of the good
guys.”
Rowdy accepted that without question. “The cops…they were well
paid to look the other way when Morton did deals around town.”
“What type of deals?”
“Drugs, guns, muscle…whatever was needed. You name it, he did
it.”
“You know this how?”
“Not the way you’re thinking. Morton trusted me only so far as
the door. As the bouncer, I let in the guys on the payroll and stalled the cops
who came to snoop. When I couldn’t stall them, I hit an alarm that sounded only
on the third floor to let Morton know they were around. That gave him time to
clear out the upstairs rooms. By the time the cops got through all the locked
doors, there was nothing to see.”
“You interfered with justice.”
He made a rude sound. “Hard to know when justice came calling.
You guys all look the same.”
“Meaning you couldn’t tell the good from the bad?”
“I knew who to let in and who to block. But I didn’t have
details on what, when or where. I wasn’t kept in the loop on arrangements. Far
as I knew, creeps fed off creeps. If one died, another just as bad took his
place. I didn’t have firsthand knowledge of any of the corruption, but I didn’t
see any angels in the mix.”
“You said you were muscle?”
“Not to beat down Morton’s adversaries. The muscle I supplied
was in restraint and booting out the guys who got too unruly, or too drunk. I
never killed anyone, although I sent a few home with blood and bruises.”
That didn’t make Rowdy a saint, as Pepper claimed, but it
didn’t really taint him with the same corruption as Andrews, either.
“I was already making plans to get us both out of there. But it
all went to hell before I could.”
“Jack?”
“I don’t really know that much about him. From what I could
figure, Morton wanted more influence, so he went to your friend. Being the city
commissioner, he could have reassigned Morton’s cops to certain areas so they
could be more effective.”
Areas they had since occupied, maybe because Jack was out of
the way. Without a single doubt, Logan said, “Jack refused.”
“I assume so. There’d have been no reason to make an example of
him otherwise.”
“Jack was the type of man who would have done what he could to
expose it all.” There was one thing that didn’t make sense to Logan. “He went
there to meet with Morton? Without backup?”
“I’m guessing they grabbed him off the street,” Rowdy said, his
expression dark, his hands fisted. “I was down on the main floor, and we had a
crowd that night, so I didn’t see any of it. Pepper had cleaned that area
earlier and was supposed to be working on the main floor with me. But she
realized she’d left the keys to the storage room upstairs.”
Shit. Thinking of what she’d blundered into, what she’d seen,
how close she’d been to danger, Logan went rigid.
Rowdy spoke in a quiet whisper that showed he felt the same as
Logan. “She stayed hidden in the boardroom and kept quiet. But she could hear
everything.”
“Jesus.”
Almost tortured, Rowdy looked away. “She said they dragged in
your buddy. He’d already been worked over and was in a bad way, not really
fighting back. Pepper heard Morton say that he’d use him as an example to
others.”
Knowing what his friend had gone through, how he’d been beaten,
Logan breathed deeper.
“The thing is…” Rowdy stared hard at Logan. “There were two
other cops there. One of them fired the gun.”
Though Logan already knew how it had ended—with a
bullet—knowing that Jack had died at the hand of a cop twisted him with
rage.
“You know the cops?”
He shook his head. “You all look the same to me—self-righteous
with a hard-on for exerting authority.”
Logan let that fly. “Male or female, black or white—”
“Men, white.” He shrugged. “At least, that’s what Pepper
assumed from what she heard.”
“She came to you?”
“Not right away. She sat in that room for over an hour, afraid
to move.” His mouth quirked in a sad smile. “She said she was afraid if they
found her, they’d kill me, too.”
“They knew you were related?”
“No, but Pepper’s always been like that. A real mother hen.
Protective.” Rowdy closed his eyes. “I try to keep her safe, but I’m all she
has, and—”
“She loves you.”
Rowdy looked him in the eyes and said again, “I’m all she
has.”
Sick, more scared for her than ever, Logan dropped back in his
seat. “When did you find out?”
“We were swamped that night. I had six hours overtime. I could
tell something was wrong, but I didn’t want to risk talking to her overlong, and
whenever I did catch her to ask, she said she was fine.”
“If they’d caught her that night…”
“She didn’t know who to trust,” Rowdy explained. “She knew the
cops were involved, so how could she go to them? She didn’t want them to just
get away with it, so she tried talking to a reporter, but that idiot talked to
the wrong person about his scoop—”
“A scoop he got from…Yates.” Not necessarily Rowdy Yates. Just
a last name.
All this time, it was Pepper. And here he’d thought in the long
run, he’d be helping her, freeing her from an inconsiderate brother.
Instead, he’d made her a target. Thanks to him, she was now in
more danger than ever.
* * *
R
EESE
PACED
OUTSIDE
the door. What the fuck? Logan had to be
slipping to get in cahoots with Rowdy. Even now they sat together at the table
in hushed conversation.
Sharing details.
Coming to conclusions.
Plotting…something.
Logan had actually locked him out!
Perturbed, Reese again looked in the small door window. The
surveillance cameras were off. Neither man paid him any mind. What did it
mean?
“Detective Bareden?”
Reese wanted to groan even as he turned to face Lieutenant
Peterson. “Ma’am?”
Her gaze was sharp enough to slice through his usual disregard.
She gestured at his stance outside the door. “Playing guard dog?”
Which would be better—to let her think that or to tell her the
truth, that Logan had excluded him? Choosing to be noncommittal, he
shrugged.
“I want to talk to Detective Riske.”
Reese smiled down at her—something he knew she disliked. She
had the attitude of an Amazon but the stature of a runt, and it bothered her
that he was so much bigger in every way. “I’m sure he’ll be right out.”
Her chin tucked in. “I’d like to talk to him
now.
”
Shit. Reese wanted to stall for Logan, to give him time
to…what? Come to his senses and include him again?
Well, yeah.
“The thing is, Logan hasn’t really had a chance to talk to
Yates uninterrupted.”
“Why not?”
“Because there have been…interruptions.” He gave her a “duh”
look.
Exasperated, Peterson folded her arms and glared at him. “Your
attitude is bordering on insubordination, Detective.” She gave him
the
look, the one that made most in the police force
stop and reevaluate. “Maybe you need a little beach time to collect
yourself.”
Reese rubbed the back of his neck. He got that Peterson had to
be a strong woman. But did she also have to be such a pain in the ass?
He had no choice but to spit out a fact. “Rowdy’s sister came
to visit.”
After a blank stare, she dropped her arms. “His sister?”
“Yeah. I take it they’re close. She’s the one Logan was
schmoozing to get to Rowdy.”
“I know who she is, damn it!” She narrowed her eyes in thought.
“Why did she come here?”
“To see her brother?”
Her slim brows came down. “If you don’t know, just say so.”
“To see her brother.”
A long sigh of impatience left Peterson looking deflated. “And
did she?”
“What?”
Suddenly her temper snapped. “You’re doing it on purpose!”
Reese held back a smile. “Doing what?”
Jerking around, she paced a few steps away, then stormed back.
A cold facade now hid her irritation. “I’m a nanosecond away from disciplinary
action. In fact, few things would please me more.”
“That’s a pity.” To his way of thinking, women should have many
other pleasurable options. “I’m only trying to answer your questions.”
Her smile was mean. “Detective Bareden, you will either open
the door or get out of my way.
Now.
”
Gallant when it suited him, Reese moved to the side and
gestured for her to do as she pleased.
She reached for the knob, turned it and realized the door was
locked.
Once again on the edge of exploding, she said, “What,
exactly,
is going on here?”
“Since I’m on the same side of the door as you, I can’t really
say.” He lounged back against the wall. “But I assume Logan will fill us in the
moment he wraps it up.” God willing, that’d be soon.
* * *
S
QUEEZING
HIS
EYES
SHUT
,
Rowdy said, “The same people who murdered that commissioner when he wouldn’t
play ball also cut the reporter’s throat to keep the story from going public.
They’re the same people who would kill
anyone
who
knew the truth.”
Including Pepper.
The puzzle pieces fit together to create a complete picture for
Logan. “When the reporter got murdered, you stepped in as the snitch? You
encouraged everyone to think it was you.”
“It was more believable that I’d have been the witness, so it
wasn’t hard to get that idea circulating. All I had to do was take off and my
guilt was assumed. Pepper objected, of course, but I figured…better me than
her.”
Logan agreed. “All this time…”
“I’ve done what I could to keep her safe. As soon as she told
me, we booked. I used what cash we had to get alternate identities. With the
cops involved, I didn’t dare try catching a plane or even a train. I won the
apartment building in a card game from an old guy who’s since passed away. I got
Pepper set up there, and then I kept my distance so no one else would stumble on
the truth or try to use her to get me.”
“As I did.” Logan ran a rough hand through his hair. “You were
good at covering your tracks. I spent a lot of time looking for you, doggedly
chasing down every possibility.”
“I figured most would look for a brother and a sister together.
So I hid, and Pepper changed everything, her entire life.”
“Her appearance.” While Logan understood Rowdy’s intent and the
protectiveness that drove him, Pepper’s life had not been ideal. She deserved so
much more.
“I hate what this has done to her. I didn’t know which cops
were dirty or how high up the corruption might be. All I knew for sure was that
those involved were cold-blooded enough to murder one of their own without a
blink. Disappearing seemed to be the only option.”
“It probably was—then.”
“And now?”
It was actually smart for Rowdy to lay low while hiding Pepper
out in plain sight, not close to Morton, but not so far away, either. Even with
all his resources, it had still taken considerable time for Logan to catch up
with them.
“I can help.”
“You’ve blown her cover.”
Unable to deny it, Logan accepted that—and more. “She wanted me
to tell you that you’ve done enough. That now it’s her turn.”
Pained, Rowdy looked away. “She was back to her old self?”
“I have to assume.” Urgency drove Logan to his feet to pace. “I
tried to keep her here, but—”
“Unless you find her and stop her, she’ll move heaven and earth
to try to end this.”
“End it how?”
He rolled a tired shoulder, his expression ravaged. “She’ll
probably head to the nightclub to go after Morton. It’s the only way she knows
to protect me.” Rowdy narrowed his eyes. “The big question now is whether or not
she’ll actually trust you enough to let you help her.”
Logan could say with certainty that she wouldn’t. She was hurt,
angry and adamant that he needed to be kept at a distance. He deserved
that—especially after taking her brother, the most important person in the world
to her.