Page 44 of Chasing a Kidnapper

“Not me, you.” He could barely push the words past his tight throat. His gaze dropped to her mouth. As if she knew exactly what he was thinking, she went up on her tiptoes and kissed him.

Not a chaste kiss on the cheek this time, but a real kiss. Their lips fused together, sending a zing of awareness down his spine. He couldn’t help but pull her closer still, enjoying their kiss far more than he should.

Somehow, he managed to pull away, abruptly conscious of how they were standing out in plain sight. The recent shooting outside Little’s apartment building had proven they were far from being out of harm’s way.

“I—uh, we need to get back.” He stepped back with a pang of regret. Peanut was standing in the back crate area, her nose pressed against the window. Almost like his partner was asking him what in the world he was doing. Wasn’t that a good question? “I—we still need to find this guy.”

“Yes, we do.” She held his gaze for a moment before pulling away. “I was thinking we should head over to that restaurant where Bryan’s body was found.”

She was? He had barely managed to form a coherent thought in his head after that intense kiss. He forced himself to focus on the case. “That’s a good idea. I’ve never been to the Wild Wild West Restaurant.”

“That will be a first for me, too.” She stepped up to the passenger side door. He shot Peanut one last look, before heading around to get in behind the wheel.

He took a moment to plug the restaurant name into his map app. “According to the GPS, it’s on the far east side of the city.”

“The opposite direction from where Bryan used to live,” she mused. “I wonder what he was doing there?”

“We can ask around, see if anyone recognizes him.” He frowned, realizing he had no idea which detective was assigned to Bryan Little’s case. “I better call Ross. He needs to know about this, too.”

She nodded. “He’s going to let you handle Bryan’s murder, right? I mean, it has to be connected to the masked intruder asking for a key and the kidnapping of Gabriel so he’d have a bargaining chip.”

“I agree. But Ross may have assigned it to someone else, not knowing about the connection.” He used his hands-free function to connect with the precinct. After asking to be transferred to Ross, his boss quickly answered. “Hey, Captain. Trish’s ex-husband was murdered. She has positively identified his body in the morgue. He came in as a John Doe. Which detective has the case?”

“Rory Jacobs. But I think you’re right about his death being connected. I’ll let him know to send whatever information he has over to you,” Ross said. “I doubt he’ll mind.”

“Thanks.” West knew Rory was easygoing about stuff like this. “Later.”

A minute after he ended the call with Ross, he heard from Jacobs. “You taking over my John Doe?” Jacobs asked.

“Yeah, sorry. Your vic is Bryan Little, ex-husband of Trisha McCord. We believe his murder is related to the break-in at Trish’s home and the attempted abduction of her son.” Not to mention the shooting outside the apartment building. “What do you know about what happened?”

“Not much,” Jacobs admitted. “Vic was found dead earlier this morning by the restaurant cook, a guy named Tim Vale. I asked uniforms to canvass the area, but no one claimed to see or hear anything. I figure he was killed elsewhere and dumped there. I was going to head back to the restaurant later to see if I could get anything more.”

“I’m heading there now,” West said. “I feel bad taking your case, but I’ve been working the assault and kidnapping for the past two days. We have reason to believe Little stole something valuable that his killer wants back in a big way.”

“No problem,” Rory assured him. “The case sounds interesting. Don’t hesitate to call if you need additional support.”

It was tempting to say that he already had Trisha as a partner but managed to hold back. Trisha wasn’t a detective, and Rory was. Yet her instinct to return to the Wild Wild West Restaurant was spot-on. “Thanks. I will.”

“I know Rory. He’s a nice guy,” Trisha said after he’d finished the call.

“Yeah.” The unwelcome pang of jealousy was completely out of line. Rory was happily married, and he was being ridiculous.

This was why he shouldn’t have kissed Trish. He was already starting to care for her. She was a single mother, a smart cop and absolutely off-limits.

The sooner his brain accepted that fact, the better.

Doing her best to ignore the heady impact of West’s kiss, Trisha tried to think of what Bryan might have stolen, where he’d stashed it and where on earth he’d hidden the key.

It didn’t make sense that he would have hidden the key at her house. Yet he wouldn’t have left it behind at his apartment, either.

And when had he gotten inside her home to hide it? Had he done that prior to their divorce? Or a few months afterward? He’d left his house key but could have made a duplicate.

“It’s getting close to lunchtime,” West said, interrupting her thoughts as they neared the Wild Wild West Restaurant. “I wouldn’t mind grabbing something to eat, although I can understand if you’re not interested.”

She shrugged, knowing he was concerned about her seeing her dead ex-husband’s body and about being at the scene of the crime. It was sweet of him to worry, but she was anxious to find this perp so that her life could get back to normal. “I’m fine with grabbing lunch. One thing I learned in five years on the job is to eat when you can.”

“That’s the golden rule,” West agreed. He tapped the GPS screen. “This place seems to be in a rather isolated part of town. Maybe that’s why his killer chose that location to dump his body.”

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