“HEARD YOU DITCHEDmy daughter for some gal with a nose ring,” Hank said two days later.
Jack’s jaw clamped. He’d kissed Jane one time at Matt Fletcher’s wedding four months ago. Maybe he’d thought about doing more, but the chemistry had never been there. On either side, he admitted.
Defending himself to Hank, though, would only make him sound like a jerk.Never mix sex and the job.
“Lauren Patterson.” Luke looked up from typing a list of items stolen from Lois Howell’s clothesline. “And if you ask me, Jack’s the one with the ring in his nose.”
Hank snorted. “If a woman’s leading him around, it’s not by the nose.”
A police department was like a locker room, the same smell of sweat and pine cleaner, the same playground hierarchy. Ribbing was good, a sign of acceptance, evidence that they were playing as a team. But he was the coach. Time to get everybody’s head back in the game.
“How’s Jane?” he asked.
Hank scowled. “She doesn’t talk to me. I figured you’d know. You’re the one at the bakery all the time.”
“The bakery was closed until this morning,” he reminded Hank. “I went out yesterday to take a look at the new security system.”
He’d met up with the crime scene tech from the sheriff’s department. He’d seen Jane and the repairman fixing the air conditioner unit. He’d looked for Lauren.
But she wasn’t there.
Of course. She had work to do. And so did he.
His disappointment at her absence was strong enough to make him uneasy. He wanted her. He didn’t deny it. A good detective didn’t ignore the facts to suit his own theories. Or in this case, his life.
But he didn’t want to need her. So after leaving the bakery, he hadn’t gone to the inn to see her. He held back, just to prove to himself that he could, like a smoker going a whole day without a cigarette.
Her dark gaze met his, her perception lightened with humor.If I invite you in for a drink, would that violate your professional or personal boundaries?
He almost shuddered. You couldn’t put yourself out there like that. You couldn’t let people in. Because if you did, they would mess you up.
But somehow she did it. Invited him in, left herself all raw and naked and open and vulnerable.
She was incredibly brave.
And dangerous.
“What about that piece of shit Tillett?” Hank asked.
Jack dragged his mind off Lauren. “Is that what you called him when he was your son-in-law?”
“Worse than that. Not that Jane ever listened,” Hank said. “You find him?”
Reluctantly, Jack shook his head. Beneath Hank’s gruff manner, he was obviously concerned. “Not yet.”
“He could’ve left the island,” Luke said.
Maybe. The locals looked out for their own. No one remembered seeing Tillett in the last two days. But at the height of the tourist season, one scruffy, long-haired guy could easily blend in with the fishermen, surfers, and campers on vacation. Without a warrant, there was no way to track the guy’s movements, especially if he drove across the bridge instead of taking the ferry.
“I’ll take his photo around again when we’re done here. Grab the other side of this desk,” Jack said to Luke. “I want to move it by the entrance.”
Luke pushed back his chair to comply.
“Why do we need another desk?” Hank said. “We’re crowded enough already.”
Jack wedged the desk beside a bank of file cabinets. “Town council finally approved the new budget. We’ve got ourselves a dispatcher, someone to take over the permits and filing and handle calls.”
Luke whistled. “What did you do, twist their arms?”
