“What makes you so sure?”
“If there was a trafficking ring in the area, we would have heard something by now, seen some kind of evidence. The girl was working the streets and one of her johns killed her, which means we’ve got one less hooker to worry about. Maybe we’ll come up with something that’ll lead us to the guy who offed her, maybe not. Either way, the only one who cares is Kathryn Gallagher.”
“You’re a real piece of work, Benson. You know that, right?”
The detective just smiled. “I’ll let you know if we get a break in the case.”
“You do that.” Jase walked out of the bull pen. He liked Roger Benson even less now than he had before he walked in, but he wasn’t surprised at the detective’s lack of interest. The homicide division had a shit ton of cases to solve. A prostitute’s death wasn’t a high priority.
If Kate wanted answers, she had made the right decision in coming to The Max. An even better decision when she had hired him for the job.
Now all he had to do was stay focused, think with his big head instead of his little one. At least until he had solved Chrissy Gallagher’s murder.
CHAPTER FIVE
The intercom buzzed in Kate’s apartment at eight o’clock that evening. After the stress of the day, she was beyond bone-tired. For an instant she wondered if Maddox would show up without calling.Surely not.
She hit the button and heard the voice of the security guard in the lobby. “Good evening, Ms. Gallagher. Mr. Bradley is here to see you.” The guard knew Andrew Bradley. Kate had dated him for nearly a year.
Her stomach knotted. She and Andrew had “taken a break from each other” six months ago. They needed a little time apart, he had said. Kate had taken the breakup badly. He had dumped her, no matter what he called it.
At the time, Kate had been hurt and upset. But two weeks after the breakup, she’d been amazed to discover the emotion she was mostly feeling was relief. She hadn’t realized how controlling Andrew had been, how restricted her life had become.
The only parties they attended were those Andrew deemed important to their careers. He carefully chose which couples they spent time with, who was invited over for dinner, which charity benefits they attended. Kate had to be careful, he said, to protect her business image. It was understood she was not to drink more than a glass or two of wine when they went out, and they had never gone dancing.
After Andrew left, she felt as if she’d been let out of a cage, that her life was once more filled with unlimited possibilities. She felt free as she hadn’t since before she had met him.
When her two best friends, Cece Jacobs and Lani Renton, asked her to go to the Sagebrush Saloon, she agreed. She had always loved country-western music, but according to Andrew, it wasn’t good for her to be seen in those kinds of places. The first time she joined them, she drank tequila and danced till midnight. It was the best time she’d had in years.
The three of them began to meet regularly on Friday nights. Kate had even gone to the bar by herself a couple of times—as she had at the end of the worst day of her life. The night she’d met Jason Maddox.
Her body flushed with heat just thinking about him and what they had done.
“Ms. Gallagher?” the guard repeated over the intercom, jerking her back to the present.
Kate took a deep breath. She had said goodbye to Andrew six months ago. She had no interest in seeing him again. But Andrew Bradley was CFO of Capital Management, a company that sent her a good deal of business.
“Send him up,” Kate said.
Her nerves stretched taut as she awaited his arrival. When his knock sounded, she took a deep breath, pasted on a smile and pulled the door open. “Hello, Andrew.”
“Kate, it’s so good to see you.” He leaned over and brushed a kiss on her cheek, closed the door behind him. “I’ve missed you.” He was six foot two—tall, she’d thought, until she’d met Jason.
“Have you?”
“Of course I have.” With his black hair and brown eyes, he was handsome, with a trim, athletic build, a smart man, and always perfectly groomed. “You look even more beautiful than the last time I saw you.”
In a pair of stretch jeans and a Dallas Cowboys T-shirt? Hardly. Andrew always expected her to be as well groomed as he was. “If there was something you needed, Andrew, you could have called.”
“Actually, I called your office this afternoon. Your assistant said you were taking some time off. She said your sister had passed away. I wanted to be sure you were okay.”
There was something more. She could see it in his calculating dark eyes. “That was kind of you, Andrew.”
“I know you and your sister were never close, but losing a family member is always painful.”
“Yes, it is. I appreciate your stopping by.” She didn’t move away from the door. She had no intention of spending the evening with him.
“I could use a drink. Considering the circumstances, you could probably use one, too.”
