Page 24 of Jina

“Detective Irving?” she asked in a low voice.

“I assume so.” Cole put his arm around her waist in a gesture that normally would have gotten him flipped onto his back. Yet somehow, she didn’t mind as they approached the two detectives emerging from a dark-blue sedan.

“Are you Detective Cole Roberts?” The female detective looked pointedly at Cole.

“Yes. And this is Officer Wheeler.” Cole stepped forward to shake hands with both cops. She followed suit.

“I’m Detective Irving, and this is my partner, Detective Klem.” Irving was the female detective and appeared to be taking the lead. “We heard about the shooting last night and tried to reach out to Officer Wheeler this morning.” Detective Irving’s tone sounded accusatory. “I left two messages.”

“Don’t have my phone,” she said. “Sorry.”

“We’d like you to come with us to the Brookland PD,” Detective Klem said, his approach far more laid back. “We have several questions that we’d like to go over with you.”

Jina swallowed a groan, but of course, Cole nodded. “Fine, we can meet you there.”

“We’d rather you drove with us,” Irving said, her eyes narrowing.

“No.” Cole’s blunt refusal made her smile, but she coughed to hide it. “I’m not leaving my SUV here. And Jina is a victim, not a perp. We’ll drive on our own.”

The two Brookland detectives exchanged a long look, then Klem nodded. “Sure, we understand.”

Detective Irving scowled but turned to jump back into the car. Jina couldn’t help but wonder why the female detective had an attitude. It wasn’t as if she’d asked for some idiot to shoot at her. She glanced at Cole who was frowning at the two detectives who were waiting for them to get into the SUV.

“I hope this doesn’t take long,” she muttered, wrenching the passenger-side door open.

“I agree.” Cole started the engine and pulled out behind the sedan. “Do you get that a lot?”

“Get what?” She didn’t understand until he gestured to the sedan in front of them. “Oh, you mean Irving’s attitude? Not really. Usually, cops are decent to each other. I’m not sure who put a bug up her butt.”

“Jealousy,” Cole said. “She knows you’re a beautiful, smart, capable police officer.” He grinned. “And she hasn’t even seen you in action at the gym.”

His compliment shouldn’t have made her blush. She willed herself not to react. “I’m just trying to do a job, the same as she is.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“How come you don’t have a partner?” She had wondered about that last night when he’d mentioned coming to the gym to interview her. “Like those two, I thought all detectives worked in pairs.”

“My partner is out on paternity leave, so I’m working solo for a few weeks.”

“Oh, I see.” That may be why Cole was given the cold case that he’d had very little time to work on. She squelched a flash of guilt, reminding herself she hadn’t asked for this.

He glanced at his watch. “I’ll call Mike when we’re finished. I’m sure he’ll meet us at my place without a problem.”

“Your place?” She frowned. “Why would you ask him to come there? We can talk to him on the phone. Besides, we still have to check out the strip mall, remember?”

“Not happening, this perp could be waiting for us there.”

“Yes, all the more reason to head over as soon as possible.” She tried not to sound annoyed. “Besides, we won’t be caught off guard by his being there this time. Frankly, I’m anxious to meet with this guy, up close and personal.”

His jaw tightened, and he didn’t answer. She could tell he wasn’t happy but that didn’t matter.

She sat back in her seat, determined to keep moving forward with the case. They needed to find this jerk before he could hurt anyone else.

The meeting at the Brookland PD took far longer than it should have. Cole was losing his patience fast, especially with Detective Irving’s snotty attitude toward Jina.

“We’re done here.” He abruptly stood when Irving asked the same question she’d started with over an hour ago. “You have my contact information if something changes.”

“You’re not done until I say so,” Irving protested.

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