Page 28 of Jina

Cole joined her in the kitchen. He grabbed the laptop from the table and stuck that into his duffel bag. “Ready?”

“Yes.” She grimaced. “I hate to say it, but your vehicle has been compromised. We need a rental.”

“I agree.” He tossed his bag into the back seat beside hers. “I’d like to know how he found us here.”

She shared his concern. “There’s a car rental place in Brookland that Rhy has used on several occasions.”

He shot her a curious look. “Why would a police captain need to rent cars?”

“Oh, for some reason our team seems to attract trouble, and our vehicles often sustain damage.” She slid into the passenger seat. “It’s almost funny if you think about it.”

Cole shot her a look that clearly said he wasn’t laughing. Understandable since she was the target of this mess. One he’d inadvertently gotten himself mixed up in.

“You know, you can drop me off at the car rental. No need for you to be involved moving forward.” She should have cut him loose before now. “I’ll get my teammates to help me out. You should return to your cold case investigation.”

“No.” His blunt response surprised her. “I’ve been fired upon too. He knows where I live. I’m part of this whether you like it or not.”

“I’m sorry. I know this is my fault.” She felt bad for dragging him into her—whatever this was. “All the more reason we need to set up a sting operation using me as bait to draw this guy out.”

“Give it up, Jina.” He sounded weary. “Let’s focus on getting a rental. After that, we need to find a place to stay and get something to eat. Not necessarily in that order.”

Her stomach was rumbling, so she wasn’t going to argue about grabbing something for dinner. And she knew of a few places where they could stay.

“Can you call your fellow Peabody police officers to have them swing by to keep an eye on your place?”

He shrugged. “I could, but that’s not a good use of resources. We don’t know the shooter will return.”

“I know, but I’ll feel bad if he sets your house on fire.”

“He won’t.” He shot her a quick glance. “The only reason he did that at the duplex was because he thought you were home.”

That was probably true. Yet it didn’t make her feel any better. “The longer you stick with me, the more likely you’ll get hurt.” Oddly, she didn’t like the idea of Cole being in danger because of her. Normally, she considered cops as equals, perfectly capable of holding their own in tight spots and keeping themselves safe.

So why this strange desire to protect Cole? He didn’t need her protection, and vice versa.

Too much togetherness. They’d spent most of the day together, and that was highly unusual for her. She gave herself a mental shake as he pulled into the parking lot of the car rental facility.

They were working a case, not dating.

Fifteen minutes later, they were in a black Ford Bronco. She’d been able to use Rhy’s name to get a discount, but the fee was still staggering.

“There’s a motel in Brookland called the American Lodge,” she said as Cole pulled out of the parking lot. “Gary, the owner, is a former firefighter who gives discounts to police and firefighters. They don’t have room service, though, so we’ll need to stop to pick up a pizza on the way.”

“Sounds good.” He glanced at her, then said, “You’ve stayed at the American Lodge before?”

“Not me, but just about everyone else on the team has.” That wasn’t entirely true, but the place had seen more than its fair share of action from the group over the past year. “Gary put in security cameras a while back, so that gives us an added advantage. Not that we should need to watch for the Honda now that we have new wheels.”

“One motel is as good as another,” he said with a shrug.

“The American Lodge is nice.” She gestured to the right. “Head that way.”

He followed her instructions. “There’s a pizza place along the way, if that works.”

“Perfect.” She thumbed through her contacts to find Gary Campbell’s number. Thankfully, he answered right away. “Hi, Gary, it’s Jina from Rhy’s tactical team.”

“Hey, Jina, what’s up? You need a room?”

“Yes, connecting rooms if you have them.” She felt Cole’s curious gaze but ignored it. She wasn’t afraid he’d try anything hinky, Cole had been nothing but professional and was likely still in love with his dead wife, but she valued her privacy.

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