Veiled Intentions Page 5

  Katelyn opened her mouth, probably to respond to that, but she’d obviously not seen Donovan and his spying eyes. Just in case the man was eavesdropping, Joe did a quick maneuver and put his mouth right against her ear.

  “Save your questions,” he mumbled. “We have company.”

  She groaned softly.

  So with this latest round of surveillance, things weren’t going exactly as planned. Joe had hoped to establish the pretense of the reunited couple, leave Katelyn in the reception area and have a look around while she covered for him. He’d only managed the first of those and would likely have to save that search for another day. They would have to return anyway in two days, on Thursday, to announce their engagement. By then, he’d figure out a way to do the search.

  “Fiona Shipley’s about to drive away,” Joe heard the backup officer announce into the communicator.

  “Go after her.” And that meant with the heavy scrutinization from Merrick and Donovan, it was a good time for him to get Katelyn out of there, as well. He caught her arm. “Let’s say our goodbyes. We’ll come back later for your car.”

  “Wait.” She held her ground. “We still haven’t looked around the place.”

  “And it won’t happen tonight.” Joe had to pull her closer to him so he could whisper. “You heard—things aren’t exactly routine around here, and now we’re without backup because they have to go after Fiona Shipley.”

  She wanted to argue. He could see it in the depth of those slightly narrowed eyes. Heck, he wanted to argue, too. And he really wanted to stay and see what he could find. But he wouldn’t do that at the expense of further risking her life. There were already enough risks without him bending the rules.

  Since there was no way to make this sound better, Joe just came out with it. “It’s time to act as if we’re ready to drag each other off to bed.”

  Which wouldn’t be much of a stretch for him.

  A few mumbled words of profanity from her, but she cooperated by sliding her arm inside his coat and around his waist. She even added a sultry chuckle and nudged him playfully with her hip.

  Nope.

  The pretense of dragging her off to bed wouldn’t be much of a stretch at all.

  Bruce Donovan stepped in front of them when they started across the reception area. “Hey, you’re not leaving already, huh?” he asked, seemingly shocked.

  “Kate and I have some, uh, catching up to do.” Joe made sure there were enough undertones in that remark.

  Too bad Donovan didn’t pick up on those undertones. He placed his hand on Katelyn’s arm and gave her an almost intimate rub with his fingers. His fingers even strayed a bit in the direction of Katelyn’s breast.

  “But you haven’t even checked out the other matches on your list,” Donovan reminded her. “And here I selected them just for you.”

  She chuckled again, a low sexy purr, and lifted her equally sexy gaze to Joe. “I’ve already found all the matches I need. Now it’s time to play with a little fire.”

  With that naughty double entendre, she pushed Donovan’s hand aside, tightened her grip on Joe’s waist and got them moving toward the door.

  “Man, I hope he’s the killer,” she grumbled under her breath. “Because I would so enjoy kicking his ass.”

  Joe forced himself not to smile, which was easy, since they’d hardly made it a step before Addison Merrick stopped them.

  “Bruce tells me you’re thinking of leaving?” Merrick asked.

  Katelyn did her part with yet another sultry smile and a sensual snuggle against him.

  “Yes. Thanks for arranging this,” Joe added, hoping that would be the end of it.

  It wasn’t.

  “But you can’t go. Not yet. I need the two of you to sign release forms.”

  Since this was the first he’d heard mentioned of release forms, and since Merrick was a murder suspect, Joe was automatically suspicious. “We’re in a bit of a hurry. Can’t this wait?”

  “Afraid not. It’s a legal requirement. Normally, I put out the forms a little later in the evening, but if you’ll come with me, I’ll have you sign them in my office.”

  There wasn’t a lot of time for Joe to debate the issue, but what a heck of an issue it was. If he declined, it could very well blow the undercover operation when it’d barely gotten started. If he said yes, it would be a meeting away from witnesses, away from the safety of being in a public place. Besides, standard procedure required—

  “Let’s make this quick,” Katelyn insisted.

  And then there was that angle. His partner making a decision without even consulting him.

  Joe hoped Merrick didn’t notice how much his jaw tightened.

  Merrick smiled, that too-artificial smile that Joe didn’t even try to interpret, and the man motioned for the guard before he turned toward the hall. It didn’t surprise Joe when the guard followed. Basically, Merrick was leading them to a location where they’d be out of sight from the others, and he was taking his hired gun along with him.

  And they had no backup.

  Maybe he wouldn’t regret Katelyn’s let’s make this quick in the next couple of minutes.

  “Is this guy a friend of yours?” he asked Merrick. Joe tipped his head to the guard stalking along behind them.

  “An employee,” Merrick answered without even looking back. “I need someone to witness your signatures.”

  Of course he did.

  Well, at least there was one consolation in all of this. If by some long shot Merrick wanted to do them some harm, then it’d almost certainly mean he was their sniper. Katelyn and he could perhaps end this right here, right now. Of course, that would mean a gun battle in a confined space with innocent people nearby. Not his first choice of ways to bring this to a close.

  Obviously Katelyn had figured that out, as well. She kept her arm around him as they followed Merrick, but using Joe’s coat as cover, she eased her hand into his slide holster located just inside the back waist of his pants. To a casual observer or the guard behind them, it probably appeared that she was copping a feel. But what she was doing was removing his reserve weapon with her left hand. It made sense because she could easily have been spotted if she’d gone after the gun in her purse.

  She didn’t stop there. While still keeping her left hand beneath his coat, Katelyn inched just enough away from him that things still looked intimate, but it wouldn’t hinder him if he had to draw his primary.

  “You’re still in hot water,” Joe mumbled. Good preparation after the fact didn’t void the brash decision she’d made on her own.

  “Promise?” she tossed back in that same mock purr.

  He simply kept his attention on Merrick. Not easy to do, either. Why did it always feel as if he’d been smacked with a two-by-four whenever he was around Katelyn O’Malley?

  Just as Joe suspected, Merrick’s office was practically at the end of the hall. And also as he’d expected, the guard posted himself in the doorway behind them after they’d entered.

  Other than the guard, the rest of the office looked normal. A slick thin-screen computer. Assorted files and papers. Tasteful watercolor paintings on the walls. There was also a rather large Rolodex on the corner of the glossy executive-size desk. Merrick had obviously made a lot of contacts in his line of work.

  “This is a formality,” Merrick explained. He rifled through his desk, presumably looking for that formality. Joe angled Katelyn so if necessary they could return fire in either direction, at Merrick or the guard.

  But it wasn’t a gun that Merrick pulled out from the drawer but two very official-looking forms.

  That didn’t cause Joe, however, to relax.

  Keeping a grip on his weapon, Katelyn picked up a pen off Merrick’s desk and scrawled her alias signature. She passed the pen to Joe, but he waited until he was certain she had good visual and position before he risked occupying his shooting hand with the pen.

  “All done,” she announced.

  Joe agreed, and he di
dn’t give Merrick time to say otherwise. He turned and met the guard’s gaze head-on. Joe made sure that the guy understood that one way or another, they would get past him.

  The guard stepped aside.

  Joe didn’t have to tell Katelyn to watch their backs. She did it on her own. So that she could look over his shoulder, she automatically slid herself against him under the pretense of whispering in his ear. The pretense continued to a nip of his earlobe.

  “Are you purposely trying to rile me by not following regulations?” he mumbled as they went out the front door.

  “Not really. It just comes natural after being a kid sister to two brothers.”

  Her gaze darted around the area, as well. Joe had gotten lucky with the parking space. He was almost directly in front of the building, and he got her to the car. Fast. He didn’t want anyone taking shots at them, and the bullet-resistant windows gave them at least some safety.

  “Sorry about that impromptu decision I made back there,” she continued. “But I didn’t want to tip Merrick—”

  “I know what you were doing.” Joe couldn’t help it, he huffed. God knows why. Huffing only made him sound like an idiot, and it obviously wouldn’t change his partner’s approach to this case. Still, he tried. “Should I go back over the rules of chain of command?”

  Now it was her time to huff. “Don’t give me that. You were about to decide the same thing. There’s no way you would have blown this because of the slight additional risk of going into that office.”

  “Maybe. But we’ll never know, will we?” And so that Katelyn wouldn’t continue to argue, he leaned slightly closer to her neck. “Situation report?” Joe snarled into the communicator.

  “We’re still following Fiona Shipley. She appears to be just driving around but in the opposite direction of her last known residence.”

  Bloody hell. He hated unpredictable people and their unpredictable patterns. “Don’t lose her.”

  The moment Joe got his assurance that they wouldn’t, Katelyn turned off the audio feed function of the communicator.

  “You know what you said back there about keeping the kissing to a minimum?” She didn’t wait for him to answer. “Well, I know we can’t avoid it, but when we’re doing these phony make-out sessions, steer clear of that little place just below my ear. It’s a big-time erogenous zone for me.”

  Joe eyed the spot and was in such an ornery mood, he considered kissing it just so he could prove that he was the one in charge here. Unfortunately, kissing any of her erogenous zones at this point would be just plain unprofessional and would likely end up giving him an erection.

  Hardly a bargaining tool in this game of jockeying for control.

  “Any place in particular I should avoid kissing you?” she asked.

  And she was serious.

  “Let’s just say I’d be attentive to just about anything and leave it at that.” He glanced back at the doorway of Perfect Match. Not an empty doorway, either. Addison Merrick was there, and he was staring at them.

  Cursing, Joe latched on to a handful of that flame-red hair and hauled her to him. He kissed her all right, but he kept an eye on their voyeuristic host. When he was satisfied that he’d done all he could to preserve their cover, Joe started the car and drove away.

  The next step was to go to Katelyn’s fake apartment so they could begin the next phase of the pretense. That meant spending the next four days, and nights, together.

  Alone.

  “I thought you said unnecessary kissing wasn’t a good idea?” she complained.

  “Trust me, it was necessary.”

  Besides, it was too late to undo it. And it sure as heck was too late to stop what they’d put into motion. They’d either succeed together.

  Or maybe die trying.

  Either was possible.

  Chapter Six

  “I think I might have found something,” she heard Joe announce from the other room.

  Katelyn leaned back a little so she could glance at him through the bedroom door. For security reasons they had turned off most of the lights, but it wasn’t difficult to see Joe working on his laptop at the tiny kitchen table in the equally tiny kitchen. There were no windows in that particular area so he was using the dim light over the stove to read through the latest background info on their suspects.

  “Addison Merrick’s longtime fiancée broke up with him last month. A bad break, too. Very messy,” Joe went on. He positioned one of the other kitchen chairs in front of him and propped up his feet. “And according to his very chatty personal trainer, he’s been under psychiatric care since he was a teenager. He suffers from manic-depression coupled with something called radical impulsive tendencies.”

  “What the heck is that last part?” She opened the suitcase that Garrett had packed for her and plundered through it for something she could wear to bed. Hopefully, it’d be something that covered a lot of skin because the apartment only had one small bedroom. The sleeping bag in the corner let her know that she’d be sharing that limited space with Joe.

  Katelyn took a deep, steadying breath.

  “Beats me. Maybe it means Merrick’s just an irrational ticked-off killer, as opposed to all those other nonticked-off rational killers we deal with every day.”

  “Yeah, that’d be a nice change, huh?” she joked.

  Katelyn studied the garments and realized she’d gotten her something to cover a lot of skin wish. There was an enormous pair of cartoon superhero pj’s, no makeup whatsoever, only a toothbrush for toiletries, jeans and a T-shirt. Her underwear choices were limited to cotton and were the worst ones possible Garrett could have found in her lingerie drawer. If that’s where he indeed got them. They looked like Salvation Army rejects.

  She frowned.

  Garrett was either trying to establish a new fashion look for her or else he wanted to make sure there was nothing alluring about her appearance. Perhaps the contents of the suitcase were her brother’s version of a modern-day chastity belt.

  With her limited choices, she opted for the pj’s that were dotted with caped and winged crusaders. Katelyn stepped deeper into the dark bedroom, keeping the door open a crack between them so she could still hear Joe’s ongoing summary of the new reports.

  “I think some of the dots are starting to connect,” he continued. “Get this—Merrick’s shrink is a guy by the name of Dr. Allen Kent. Ring any bells?”

  The moment the name registered, Katelyn hurriedly put on the pj’s and walked back to the doorway. “He’s Gail’s ex-husband. Their divorce became final just a couple of weeks before her wedding to Raul.”

  Now that was an interesting connection. Their prime suspect, Addison Merrick, was in therapy with the ex-husband of their first murder victim.

  “Coincidence?” she suggested.

  “Maybe.” Joe tossed her a glance. And did a double take before he shook his head. “But because he’s an ex, he’s a suspect. I’ll have someone question Dr. Kent tomorrow. Too bad I can’t do it myself, but I can’t risk blowing our cover.”

  “It might be a risk no matter who does the questioning, especially since he’ll just roadblock us with doctor-patient confidentiality. He might even lawyer up. Wouldn’t it be a better idea just to have him followed?”

  “Then I wouldn’t be able to get his reaction when he’s asked about his connection to Merrick.”

  True. And maybe it was worth the risk just to shake things up a little. It might make the sniper think twice about launching another attack over the weekend.

  “What exactly are you wearing?” Joe asked.

  She glanced down at the pajamas and shrugged. “I think it belongs in the sleepwear category of garments. Garrett packed for me.”

  That seemed to be the only explanation Joe required. He mumbled something under his breath about brotherly love, minimized Merrick’s file on the computer screen and clicked on to the next one.

  While she waited for it to load, she glanced at Joe’s attire. He still wore the clot
hes he’d had on for the icebreaker. Well, minus the jacket. His hair was no longer perfect, however. Probably because he had a habit of scratching his head and running his hand through it while in deep thought.

  And then there was the stubble.

  No ordinary five o’clock shadow for this guy. Nope. It fell into the category of the desperado look. Very fashionable. Equally sexy. But what made it even more so was that he wore it as naturally as that contemplative cop’s look, which sadly for her was the greatest turn-on of all.

  “Fiona Shipley,” Joe read aloud.

  Good. Back to business. It was exactly where her mind needed to be. “Anything new on her?”

  “You mean other than the fact that she managed to shake the backup officers who were following her, and now no one knows where she is?”

  “Yes, other than that,” Katelyn grumbled.

  She made her way around him to get to the fridge. Ah, she had much better luck there than her suitcase. It was stocked with fruit and other snacks, but what immediately caught her eye was the six-pack of her favorite Irish beer. It must have been Garrett’s peace offering for the botched fashion choices.

  “Other than a knack for disappearing,” Joe said glancing over the report, “we don’t really have much. We already knew she was a frequent customer at Perfect Match and that the dead groom had been one of her fairly recent dream matches.”

  Katelyn opened a bottle of beer and took a long sip. “Which means nothing, of course. I had over a dozen dream matches so heaven knows how many she’s had over the past year.”

  There. She’d been trying to figure out a way to dismiss the fact that Joe had been her number one match. Not that it was important, but it’d been one of those little nagging thoughts in the back of her mind.

  When he didn’t respond, Katelyn glanced at him. No double take this time. Joe was staring at her. Well, he was staring at her beer, anyway.

  “Want one?” she asked, lifting the bottle. “It’s the good stuff. My favorite. I’ll have to thank Garrett for buying it.”

  “Actually, I asked him to pick it up when he wanted to know what to bring over.”