Disarming Detective. Elizabeth Heiter

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СКАЧАТЬ her. “I tried to call you,” the man said.

      He was tall, with a sharp, intent look that pegged him as law enforcement or military. He seemed to buzz with energy, and everything about him screamed his readiness for a vacation. Logan could read his type instantly—lady killer. Ella had called him a friend, but was that all?

      The woman with him was dark-haired and muscular, with pretty blue eyes. She looked exhausted, frazzled and slightly jumpy.

      “You’re at the wrong gate.” The man’s eyes flicked speculatively to him, then back to Ella. “We’re at the end of the terminal.”

      Ella bit her lip. “I can’t make it.”

      “What?” The man’s eyebrows shot up. “What do you mean?”

      Logan got to his feet, which made her friends glance his way.

      Ella’s words suddenly doubled in speed. “This is Logan Greer. I have to help him with a case.” She slowed down to add, “Logan, these are my friends, Maggie and Scott Delacorte.”

      Logan smiled. Well, that answered his question about Ella’s relationship with Scott, if he was married to her friend Maggie. “Nice to meet you.”

      Maggie gave him a nod while Scott studied him with narrowed eyes before saying, “You, too.”

      “The three of us grew up together,” Ella continued, still talking fast, as if trying to keep her friends from returning to the previous subject. “Maggie and Scott lived down the street from me. I probably spent as much time at their house as my own.”

      It took Logan a few seconds too long to deconstruct her words and realize Maggie and Scott weren’t married, but brother and sister. By the time he’d figured out a response, Scott had turned to Ella again.

      “You have a case?” Scott pushed. “You’re supposed to have two weeks of vacation. We planned this months ago.”

      Ella’s whole face twitched as she told them, “I don’t have a choice. My boss made me cancel. If I can wrap it up fast, I’ll fly out and join you.”

      Logan tried not to let his surprise at her lie show on his face, but from the way Scott squinted at first Ella, then him, he was pretty sure he’d failed.

      Maggie, though, must not have noticed. Bloodshot eyes full of disappointment locked on Ella’s. “There has to be someone else who can take the case.”

      Ella couldn’t seem to hold Maggie’s gaze as she said, “I’m sorry.”

      Just as boarding for their flight was announced, Scott’s hand closed around Ella’s arm, pulling her off to the side. It was probably to keep him from overhearing, but Scott’s voice was too loud when he asked, “Can’t you get your boss to reassign it? Did you tell him...”

      Scott glanced back and Logan figured it was at him until Maggie sighed. “Let it go, Scott. She’ll fly out if she can.”

      The scowl lurking on Scott’s face shifted to resignation as he gave Ella a quick hug. “Okay. I guess you can’t refuse orders. Good luck with the case. Wrap it up fast and join us, all right?”

      Maggie hugged Ella with a barely audible, “Don’t worry about it,” and then she was shaking Logan’s hand with surprising strength. “Which field office are you out of, Logan?”

      “I’m—”

      Ella jumped in. “Logan’s not Bureau. And he’s got a case down South I’m going to help him with. Hopefully, it’ll be quick and then I’ll grab a flight to California.”

      Her answer brought more questioning looks from Scott, but then final boarding for their flight was called and Ella grabbed her bag, looking relieved.

      Logan waited until they were belted into their seats in the last row of the small plane and the doors were closed. “Are you planning to let me in on the big secret?”

      “I don’t know what you mean.”

      “Okay. What I mean is, why did you tell your friends you were assigned the case and couldn’t get out of it?”

      She turned sideways to face him, her knee jabbing his thigh, and raised an eyebrow. “You want me to get out of it?”

      Logan grinned as the engines started up. “It’s a little late to change your mind now.”

      Ella leaned back in her seat. “This vacation was kind of a big deal. I didn’t want to tell them I’d taken the case unofficially.”

      She was extremely close to Maggie and Scott, that was easy to see. And from the way she’d twitched and changed the subject as fast as she could in the airport, it was clear she rarely lied to them. Which meant that whatever she’d seen in the case file, whatever had persuaded her to come to Florida, was big. “So, why did you take the case?”

      “Why? Because you were right about having a serial killer. Because you need a profile. And because it didn’t seem like you were about to get one from anyone else.”

      “That’s why you took the case?”

      She shot him a look full of exasperation, color rising high in her cheeks. “Yes.”

      “You want to try that again?”

      She looked sideways at him. “Okay, fine. There’s a chance it could be connected to something I’ve seen before.”

      She held up a hand to forestall any argument, but he’d been focused more on the movement of her lips than her words, so by the time his brain caught up, she’d moved on.

      “If it looks like it really is connected, I’ll tell you about it. Until then, we need to focus on this victim.”

      “If you’re here because it might be connected, shouldn’t we look at the old case, too, so we don’t miss anything?”

      “No.”

      Ella turned to face him, bringing her knee back into contact with his thigh and sending his mind way off track. Jeez, he either really needed a date other than the ones his well-meaning family set up for him, or Ella Cortez was going to be a distraction. One he’d better learn to ignore. And fast.

      “If it’s not the same perp, we could just go in the wrong direction,” Ella said.

      “So, what’s it going to take for you to decide if these cases are connected and let me in on the secret?”

      Her lips tightened but her tone was calm when she replied, “Trust me. I’m good at what I do. I’ll tell you if you need to know.”

      Any answer that included the words need to know sounded suspicious to him, but she was the expert. And since her consultation was unofficial and she could leave whenever she wanted, he decided he’d take what he could get. At least for now.

      The direction he was taking in the investigation wasn’t exactly sanctioned, so he couldn’t fault her for having her own motivation. Especially since she’d soon see just how far off the approved path he’d veered.

      He СКАЧАТЬ