“Marines, right?”
“Yeah.” He didn’t say he was a special operator. A lot of women were impressed by that, but he wanted Kate to like the man he was now, not the guy he was back then. Though there were times it was hard to tell the difference.
“I want to go with you,” Kate said.
He nodded. “All right.” So far they were just asking questions, gathering information. The danger revved when they started getting answers. They checked the contact info Tina’s Facebook page and found the same phone number, then Jase traded places with Kate and sat down in front of the screen.
He typed inCraigslist Personals, looking for any ads that might link to Tina’s webpage.
“Are you kidding me?” Kate said, shock clear in her voice. “Twenty-five hundred pages of advertisements for different kinds of kinky sex?”
“Sex sells, darlin’. Always has.” He scrolled backward by date, going to the days before Chrissy was killed. They both studied the ads, but nothing jumped out.
He typed inErotic Services Dallas, and dozens of sites popped up—links to erotic escorts, strip clubs, exotic massage, sex shops. He followed a few of them. He didn’t think Tina would be linked to any kind of escort service. She was too ravaged by the drugs she was using.
“Look at this one,” Kate said. “‘Don’t pay for services. Date a married woman instead.’” She looked up at him. “I didn’t know this kind of stuff existed.”
Jase felt a trace of pity. “Still not too late to change your mind.”
She just shook her head.
He returned to the Craigslist pages.
“You think Tina Galen could be listed in one of those ads?” Kate asked.
“It’s a good place to look but with this many listings, we’re going to need some help.” He closed down the screen. “It’s getting late.” He rose from the chair. “We can work on it again tomorrow.”
Kate led him back to the front door. She looked tired and beautiful, and he wanted to lean down and kiss her, sink into those plump pink lips. But they had a deal. He wouldn’t break it.
“I’ll pick you up at ten,” he said. “Black Spider Ink should be open by then.”
“Black Spider Ink. I’ve seen the sign. It’s next door to the place I went with my friend Cece.”
“You got a tattoo?”
Her face flushed. “Cece dared me. It was after Andrew and I broke up.”
Jase’s mind slid straight into the gutter. He hadn’t noticed a tat in the parking lot when he’d stripped off her top, but it was dark in the Yukon. Maybe it was someplace even more intriguing. “You gonna show me?”
She shook her head. “No way. Seeing my tat isn’t part of the deal.”
The corner of his mouth kicked up. “Yeah, well, we may have to renegotiate. I’ll pick you up at ten.” Trying not to imagine Kate Gallagher’s tattoo—or where he might find it—Jase left the apartment.
Forcing his mind back to business, he mentally went over the info they had so far and what they could do to add to it.
Tomorrow night, he would hit the streets of Old East Dallas, see what he could find out about Tina Galen. He’d make a stop at Mean Jack’s, see if he could find a connection between the bar and the body that had been dumped in the alley behind it.
In the meantime, he’d try not to remember how good Kate looked in a pair of tight-fitting jeans.
CHAPTER SIX
Kate awoke at the first gray light of dawn. As she tossed back the covers, she realized the sheets were damp, her body hot and tingling all over. She wasn’t sure what she’d been dreaming about, but she had a hunch it had something to do with Jason Maddox.
The man was sex personified, from the top of his thick dark hair, cut not-quite military short, to the soles of his size thirteen cowboy boots. She would never forget the look on Andrew’s face when Jason had walked through the door.
She owed Maddox for the favor, even though he had clearly enjoyed every moment of Andrew’s discomfort. Counting the night in the parking lot when she had cried on his shoulder, it was the second time he had come to her aide.
She sighed as she rolled out of bed. If they didn’t have a business relationship, she might consider sleeping with him, just see if it was as good as she imagined. She’d never been interested in one-night hookups. If it hadn’t been for Chrissy’s murder, she wouldn’t have come close that night at the Sagebrush Saloon.
