Page 45 of Jina

Splashing cold water on her face helped wash away her bone-weary fatigue. Her night of practically no sleep, combined with the various aches and pains from her workout, followed by rolling the Jeep were catching up with her.

Emerging from the bathroom, she nodded at Cole. “Your turn.”

As he disappeared inside, she pulled her laptop from her bag and began searching for rental properties. But all too soon, the words blurred on the screen. With a sigh, she set the computer aside and pulled the blanket up to her chin.

And despite her concerns about being stuck in a small space with Cole, she fell instantly to sleep.

Cole awoke to the scent of coffee. Blinking, he looked around until the small motel room came into focus.

Freshly showered and wearing clean clothes, Jina looked amazing. He still found it difficult to mesh the tough MMA fighter to the stunning beauty staring at the coffee maker as if willing it to hurry up and brew.

“Good morning.” He swung out of bed and stretched. “Hope you slept okay.”

“Surprisingly, I did.” She glanced at him, then looked away. “I’m glad you’re up. I found a couple of places that are worth checking out.”

“Already?” He frowned, checking his watch. It was barely seven. “How long have you been up?”

“About an hour.” She shrugged and reached for her coffee. “This thing only brews one cup at a time. Do you want one?”

“Sure.” He leaned over to look at her computer screen as she filled the coffee maker with a fresh cup of water.

“It’s not great coffee, but it will work in a pinch.”

“I need a few minutes to shower and change.” He grabbed his overnight bag and edged past her. “We need to discuss those locations you found before we call the rest of your team.”

She arched a brow without saying anything. He sighed, knowing it wouldn’t be easy to come up with some sort of compromise. As much as he understood and shared her frustration with the series of events, he wasn’t sure that setting herself up at bait was the best solution.

Not that he had a better idea.

When he emerged from the bathroom, he found Jina back at her computer. She was right about the coffee, but he’d had worse, so he didn’t hesitate to drink it. “Show me what you’ve found.”

“Okay.” She scooted off the bed and set the laptop on the small table. “I’m looking for a place that’s far enough away from other homes yet isn’t hours from here. Also a place that provides some coverage for the team.”

“Sounds reasonable,” he agreed.

“Yeah, well, there aren’t a lot of options.” She used the track pad to pull up the first property. “This is my top pick, although it’s in Timberland Falls, and the cops there aren’t big fans of ours.”

Setting aside his coffee, he turned the screen to review the property details. Ignoring the interior of the home, which was probably what most renters would care about the most, he went through the outside photos. “I can see why you like it. The home sits on a full acre of land, and there are plenty of trees.”

“Exactly.” Her blue eyes gleamed with anticipation. “The only downside is that there are homes on either side. Not close, but not that far either.”

“What about something near our current location?” he asked.

“I’ve looked at a few, but they have farmland surrounding them.” She shrugged. “Too flat and open for what we need.”

Her mention of farmland was a stark reminder of his cold case murder. He needed to give his lieutenant an update sometime today but wasn’t sure how to broach the subject of Jina being a possible suspect.

Normally, he ran his cases by the book, but in this instance, he was tempted to keep Jina out of the case summary. At least for now.

Not that her involvement would be viewed in a positive light if he brought her into the conversation later. Just the opposite.

Lieutenant Karl Bell would yank him off the case before he could blink.

“There’s one other place that might work,” Jina said, oblivious to his internal struggle. She turned the computer back toward her and brought up the second image. “This one is in Surrey. There’s a lot of construction going in on the other side of the nature preserve, which is why I bumped it down on the list.”

He forced himself to concentrate on the screen. “I see what you mean. The weather is still nice enough that people could be walking through the nature preserve too.”

“Hopefully not after dark, but yes, the new homes going in makes this one risky as far as innocent people being in danger.” She grimaced. “I’ll keep searching. I have a bad feeling the Timberland Falls PD won’t be very understanding if there’s another shootout involving MPD officers in their jurisdiction.”

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