Drawing The Line, page 3
“I didn’t think you getting on the nurse’s bad side would help either of our causes,” Jason said, shocking himself at the straight answer.
Her brow popped high enough to disappear under the dark fringe of her bangs, and even though she made a good effort to cover the resulting wince, he caught it. “And what causes would those be?”
“You want to get out of here against medical advice pretty badly, Ms. Gallagher. And I don’t want to let you.”
CHAPTER THREE
A wash of heat rode high on Serenity’s cheeks, although whether it was from having been stone cold busted in her underwear or from the piercing ocean-blue stare of the detective standing across from her, she couldn’t be sure. Of all the cops who could’ve caught this case, fate just had to dish up the one who ate lunch at her diner once a week and could probably charm the chalk out of the world’s stodgiest schoolmarm.
But Serenity didn’t do anything on a whim, ever. And she wasn’t about to buck tradition with a fast-talking detective, no matter how many nurses he flirted into submission.
“I’m not sure what you mean, Detective Morgan.” Serenity pasted an ill-fitting smile over her face, and ugh, even that made her head throb. Okay, so the chances that he hadn’t figured out her bungled escape plan were pretty nonexistent, but no one had told her the police would come talk to her here. And while Serenity had finally gotten in touch with Jules and convinced her to go to the diner instead of coming to the hospital, Mac’s was still her responsibility. She needed to make sure the place was taken care of so she could go upstairs to get an update on Colin. He wasn’t just her friend, he was her employee, which made him her responsibility too.
No matter how charismatically Detective McHot-Hot was looking at her.
“Jason,” Detective Morgan corrected, pointing to the front of his gray and white striped dress shirt, and even though his expression was totally relaxed, Serenity felt him studying her nonetheless. “And I think you know exactly what I mean.”
Okay, so he was as sharp as he looked. “I’m sorry. I wanted to check on my cook and my restaurant, and Dr. Fisher said I’m fine.” She left off the pretty much part, dropping her eyes to pick at a loose stitch in the blanket pooled around her legs. “I know Mac’s is just a small-time diner, but I take my job seriously.”
“You took a pretty nasty hit to the head.” He slid his hands into his pockets, and even though it wasn’t a question, she answered anyway.
“Yes, but I still have people to take care of and a business to run.” Serenity’s throat triple-knotted over the words, and God, she would give anything to be up to her eye teeth in kitchen prep, slicing crisp apples for turnovers and working through the comfortable routine of feeding people.
“I understand,” Jason said, and the words, coupled with the sincerity of his expression, snared every ounce of her attention. “My partner just went upstairs to get an update on Mr. Worth and talk to his wife, but all I know is that he’s in surgery. Would you feel better if I checked the status on the diner?”
Serenity’s chin popped up. “You can do that?”
“Sure.” He removed one hand from the pocket of his charcoal-colored pants to reveal his cell phone, keying in a number with a smile so nothing-doing, she’d have sworn he was ordering pizzas rather than dialing up a crime scene. “Hey, it’s Morgan. Can I get an update on Mac’s Diner over on Fourth Street? Yeah. Okay. Who’s on-site?” Jason nodded, his blond hair glinting under the over-bright fluorescents. “Great. Let’s make sure that goes down as soon as possible, yeah? Thanks.”
“Well?” Serenity tried to sound nonchalant even though her body thrummed with the urge to throw back the covers and carve a hot path to the door. She couldn’t take care of anything just sitting here.
“Well, the bad news is that our techs are still there, and nothing can happen until they’re done, including opening to customers.”
“Nothing at all?” Disappointment and unease whooshed from her lungs like steam from a pressure cooker, but Jason countered it with a quick step toward the edge of the mattress.
“The good news is there doesn’t appear to be a lot of property damage, so cleanup and repairs should be pretty straightforward. Your restaurant manager, Julianna Shaw, is there. We can’t let her in the building yet, but she’s in contact with our guys. So Mac’s is in good hands.”
“Oh, thank you.” Relief splashed through Serenity’s chest. Jules could run their busiest lunch service with a short staff and a full house. If anyone could handle a room full of cops, it was her. Hopefully Jules would be able to make them breakfast once they were done, too. At the very least, she’d keep things under control until Serenity could get there to feed them herself.
Jason replaced his phone in his pocket, but he didn’t budge from his spot at her bedside. “You’re welcome.” He flashed her with the full force of his All-American smile. “Now that we’ve gotten that taken care of, why don’t we get down to business?”
The twin sting of realization and chagrin hit Serenity just a beat too late. “You only made that phone call so I wouldn’t leave,” she said, and God, how could she have been such an idiot? Of course his sweet talk had been all talk, just like it had been with the nurse.
“I made that phone call to get a progress report on your diner,” Jason said, and hell if that didn’t state a fact without confirming or denying a thing. “And you and your cook were assaulted during a break-in. I’d like to catch the guy who did it so he doesn’t hurt anyone else. I take my job pretty seriously, too.”
Serenity hesitated. As badly as she wanted to get out of the helpless confines of her hospital room, she didn’t want some criminal hurting other shop owners, either. Even if it did mean she had to chat it up with Inspector Gadget. “Fine. What do you need to know?”
If he was put off by the blunt edge on the question, he didn’t show it. “Why don’t you start at the beginning and tell me what happened when you arrived at the diner this morning?”
“I got there at about five, just like I always do on Fridays. I went in through the front.”
Jason nodded, and even though he didn’t write anything down, his expression said he’d remember every syllable. “And did you see anything unusual? Anything out of place at all?”
“No, but it was dark.” A shiver sifted up her spine, vibrating at the base of her neck before disappearing. “When I got to the kitchen, I saw Colin on the ground. That’s when I called 911.”
“What happened then?” Jason’s question came so easily and without weight that in spite of the ugliness of revisiting the scene in her head, Serenity closed her eyes to try and capture every detail.
“The back door was open, and the doorknob was all screwed up, but I thought…” She paused, swallowing hard at the memory of the intruder’s dark, soulless eyes. “I didn’t see anybody at first, so I thought whoever had broken in was gone. I wanted to help Colin, but then I heard the man behind me.”
“You’re sure it was a man?”
“Yes. He was big, muscular. He had on a baseball hat, and boots that made a heavy noise on the floor.” Serenity’s pulse fluttered through her, quickening along with her breath, and she squeezed her eyes even tighter.
“Did he have a weapon?” Jason’s voice scraped just slightly over the last word, but his calm expression didn’t budge.
The dull metallic glint that had flashed at the man’s side spring-boarded into Serenity’s mind, and realization gathered, low and thick in her belly. “Yes. I saw a knife.”
“Did you get a good look at the man before he assaulted you?” Jason asked, and when she nodded, he tacked on, “Do you think you’d be able to identify him in a lineup?”
She fought the shudder clawing its way up from her memory as she thought of the man’s cold, dead stare. “Absolutely. I won’t ever forget his face.”
An image popped into her brain, a sudden slice of clarity pushing up from the churning background of her thoughts. “Oh! He also had a tattoo on his arm! Some kind of skeleton.”
Her eyes flew wide at the excitement of the recognition, but the sudden rush of light, coupled with her involuntary movement forward, made her vision wobble and flicker.
“Whoa!” Jason moved so fast, he caught the hand she’d thrown out to steady herself, planting one hip on the bed next to hers to do the job instead. “You okay?”
A heated shot of embarrassment clung to her cheeks, but Serenity managed to push a yes past her lips as she tried to regain her focus. The purely masculine scent of fresh cedar and coriander filled her nose, and she looked down to see Jason’s forearm twined around hers, his palm cupping her elbow and his body only inches from her own.
“Just a little dizzy, that’s all.”
He dropped his gaze over hers, and wow, eyes that stunningly blue were just unfair on a man. “Do you want me to call the nurse?”
Serenity blinked up at him, his suit jacket soft under the curl of her fingers, his body even warmer beneath that. “No,” she whispered. “I—”
“How are we doing in here?”
Serenity’s heart pitched against her breastbone as Dr. Fisher’s voice filtered into the room from the doorway. At least, she thought it was Dr. Fisher. With the way Jason had gone full-on human shield in front of her, it was impossible to see for sure.
Which was probably a good thing, since she was fairly certain the flush on her cheeks was visible from outer space. Had her face seriously been thiiiiis close to Jason’s?
And had she double seriously wanted him even closer?
“Great!” Serenity chirped, trying not to notice that Detective Morgan had taken three steps back from her bed in as many seconds. “How’s Colin? Have you heard anything?”
Dr. Fisher flicked an unreadable glance at Jason before transferring his gaze to hers. “There was a…bit of an issue stabilizing his blood pressure. He’s still up in surgery.”
Serenity’s breath stuck to her lungs for a split second before it left her on a sharp exhale. “But he’s going to be okay, right?”
“He’s got a great team of surgeons working on him, Ms. Gallagher.”
“And with all due respect, you’re giving me the runaround, Dr. Fisher.”
The edges of Jason’s mouth twitched with the slightest suggestion of being impressed, but it was gone before Serenity could be certain she’d seen it. The doctor paused, readjusting the stethoscope draped over the back of his neck before finally answering.
“The damage from the stab wound is fairly significant,” he said, his voice matching every ounce of the gravity in the words. “The last update I got listed him as stable, and we are doing our very best job to repair the damage.”
Serenity’s voice quavered despite her best attempt to wrap her response in calm strength. “But he’s not out of the woods, is he?”
Dr. Fisher shook his head, just once. “Not yet, no.”
Despite having taken a few steps back so she could talk with Dr. Fisher, Jason stood close enough by for her to easily pin him with a stare. “You need me to identify this guy, right? So you can figure out who he is and arrest him.”
Jason’s dark blond brows shot up, but it was the only sign of his surprise. “Yes. If you make a positive ID off a mug shot and a lineup, we’ll have enough for an arrest warrant.”
Anger and resolve swirled together in her chest, pushing the words past her lips without thought. “Dr. Fisher, I’d like my release papers, please. Detective Morgan and I are headed downtown.”
#
Jason watched Serenity click through screen after screen of digital mug shots, discarding each possibility with methodical conviction. She only paused to take phone calls from her restaurant manager, a friendly redhead Jason knew from his weekly lunches at Mac’s. But they’d been going hard at the database for nearly two hours, and judging by the way the back of Serenity’s neck was starting to bruise beneath the fall of her dark brown ponytail, she had to be in pain, not to mention exhausted.
Jason cleared his throat, his chair giving up a healthy creak as he pushed back from the desk next to hers. “I’m thinking of raiding the vending machine. It’s not as good as Mac’s apple turnovers, but I bet I can get my hands on some decent cheese Danish. You hungry?”
“Thanks, but I don’t need a break.” Her eyes never left the screen, and man, she was so serious.
“Dr. Fisher said you shouldn’t exert yourself,” he said, giving it another shot even though he was fairly certain his odds at moving her sucked. Christ, she even had a little crease of determination between her eyebrows now.
It was the hottest thing Jason had ever seen.
“I’m not exerting myself. I’m sitting perfectly still.” The even cadence of Serenity’s voice clapped him back to reality, and he shuffled the paperwork in front of him into an orderly pile.
“Ah, right.” Real smooth, jackass. Okay, so she was pretty. But she’d just been assaulted. He had no business thinking of anything other than making a collar on the guy who’d broken into her diner. “I didn’t mean literally. Just that the computer screen might hurt your eyes after a while.”
“I’d rather get this over with, if that’s okay. No offense,” she added swiftly, and great. Her blush was even hotter than the crease in her forehead. “I just want to help catch whoever did this so I can get back to normal.”
The last thing Jason could argue with was the desire for justice, especially when someone you cared about had been hurt. Or worse. “I’m glad Colin’s surgery was successful,” he said, hoping the reminder of the last update she’d gotten would at least put her at ease.
Bingo. A tiny smile flickered over Serenity’s lips. “Me too. His wife said he’s still in recovery, and he’ll be in the hospital for a while, but the overall prognosis is hopeful.”
Jason matched her smile with one of his own before tipping his chin at the computer in front of her. “Well, if you need a break from faces, we can switch to trying to figure out the tattoo.” The city database had thousands of body art images in it, not a small number of which were of the skull and crossbones variety. “Just let me know.”
“I will. Thank you.” She returned her attention to the screen in front of her, the click of the mouse sounding off like a tiny plastic metronome against the pale green walls, and Jason looked at his stack of paperwork with renewed vigor. He had the power to solve this case, and that’s what he needed to do, plain and simple. No matter how cute Serenity’s forehead looked.
Pushing up his sleeves, he flipped open a case file from one of the robberies he’d investigated last month after Noah had been shot, cross-referencing the details with this morning’s assaults. They were close, but there was something just off enough about the alley, the way this morning’s assailant knew just how not to get caught, and the niggling feeling that had been pulling at him all day took another tug at his gut.
A skeleton tattoo…a crime with no evidence…not calculated, but cold-blooded…
“Oh my God.” Serenity’s voice was barely a whisper, but it gripped every ounce of his attention as if she’d stood on the desk and screamed. “That’s him. That’s the man who was in Mac’s.”
Jason stood, rounding the corner between their adjacent desks to look over her shoulder.
Oh shit. Shit.
“Are you sure?” Dread knifed through his gut, and he prayed for her to recant, to be mistaken, to say anything other than—
“Definitely. That’s him. I’m sure of it.”
Suddenly shit didn’t begin to cover it.
“I’m going to need you to sit tight while I talk to my Lieutenant,” Jason said, running off a quick printout of the mug shot on her screen. He hustled into the hallway before she could ask any questions, not breaking stride as he summoned Noah from their shared office a few doors down.
“We need to talk to Lieu, right now. This case just went from bad to nightmare.”
A frown bracketed Noah’s perpetual five o’clock shadow as he followed Jason toward the glass-walled office at the end of the hall, where Lieutenant Martin was clearly on the phone. “Come on, Jay. How bad could…ho-ly shit,” Noah said, staring at the printout Jason had just flashed in his direction. “Please tell me that’s not who Serenity Gallagher just put an ID to for this assault.”
“I could.” Oh man, he wanted to. The word no felt almost decadent in his mouth. “But it would make me a liar.”
“You think he’s getting opportunistic now that Sands is in jail?”
“I think the Black Skulls made a lot of money ripping people off with the smash and dash. This is just a slicker version of the same crime. Only this time, he left a witness.”
Having likely seen them coming, Lieutenant Martin waved Jason and Noah into his office, hanging up the phone as they crossed the threshold and shut the door. “Tell me we’re getting somewhere on the Gallagher case.”
Jason gripped the printout in his hand so hard it crumpled, and he forced himself to stand still on the carpet in front of Lieu’s desk. “We’re getting somewhere, alright. She just gave up a positive ID on a mug shot.”
“And why is it that we’re sitting here talking about it instead of bringing this guy in?”
“Because that tattoo she saw isn’t of a skeleton. It’s of a very distinct Grim Reaper.”
The lieutenant’s brows snapped together. “Are you telling me—”
“She ID’ed Dirk Brody.”
Lieutenant Martin’s shoulders hit the back of his desk chair with a thump and a hard curse, and yeah, that about summed things up. “Christ. Is she sure?”
The image of Serenity’s face, with the stubborn crease in her forehead and her balls-to-the-wall attitude, forced a humorless laugh past Jason’s lips. “One hundred percent. And now that Ernie Sands is in jail, it only makes sense that Brody would step in to expand his territory.” The guy might value brute force over brilliance, but he was slicker than a case and a half of Pennzoil. Copycatting the robberies with his own touch in order to make fast cash was just his speed.
