Man Of Action. Janie Crouch

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      Okay, not afraid of her own femininity and didn’t feel that every situation needed to be a struggle of power.

      “You’ve met Andrea Gordon?” Steve asked, glancing at them.

      “Yes, a couple of times. Good to see you again.”

      “Yes, you too,” she murmured, voice soft. Sweet, even.

      “We’ve got a serial killer working in the Phoenix area. Three dead so far.” Steve handed them both a file.

      “Confirmed serial?” Brandon asked, glancing through the file.

      “Pretty much as confirmed as these things can get. All three were women in their early twenties. All were found covered in some sort of white cloth and holding a lotus flower.”

      “Purity,” Andrea muttered.

      “What?” Steve asked.

      Andrea shrugged. “Lotus flowers are the symbol of purity in some cultures.”

      “She’s right,” Brandon said. “And so is the white cloth. Almost like a cleansing ritual.”

      “Okay, that’s something to go on. I’ll need you two to leave tonight. The local police department is expecting you.”

      “Steve, since David...” Died. Brandon found it difficult to say the word even now a year later, so he just didn’t. “Since David, I’ve been working alone. That’s been going pretty well for me. I think I’m more productive that way.”

      Brandon turned to Andrea. “I mean that as no offense to you whatsoever.”

      Some emotion passed across her face but was gone before he—even with all his training—could read it. Frustrating.

      “I understand,” she said, nodding.

      “Brandon, the last murder took place inside the town limits of Buckeye, on the outskirts of Phoenix. That’s where Andrea is from. With ritual killings like this, we both know it’s usually someone from the area.”

      Brandon grimaced. He couldn’t deny that. Having someone familiar with the area—especially someone with a stellar skill set like Andrea’s—would be invaluable.

      But still, Brandon didn’t want to work with her. Didn’t want to be in forced proximity with her for an extended length of time. He glanced over at her but she wasn’t looking at him, again. She was studying the pictures in the file, as if she couldn’t care less about the conversation going on around her.

      Brandon’s eyes narrowed. No, he did not want to partner with this woman for a case. He’d discovered over the past year that he liked working alone, but it was more than that.

      He didn’t trust Andrea. The woman had secrets. Secrets tended to blow up in everyone’s faces at the most inopportune moments.

      David had kept his illness a secret from everyone for as long as he could. Brandon didn’t want to be around secrets anymore.

      He especially didn’t want to be around a stunningly beautiful woman with secrets. The kind of woman who made him want to toss out his never-mix-business-with-pleasure rule. The kind that made him want to find out all her secrets.

      He didn’t trust her and she was distracting. She damn well had distracted him every time he’d seen her the past few months. Including today. Her perfect legs in her perfect suit with her perfect hair and makeup. It all distracted him.

      He was not a man who liked to be distracted.

      Brandon could kill a man a dozen ways with his bare hands, but it wasn’t his strength or speed he relied on to get ahead of criminals. He relied on his intellect, his education, his experience to stop the worst of the worst bad guys.

      Having Andrea Gordon’s distracting presence around him during a serial-killer case was just not going to work.

      He leaned back in his chair and feigned a casualness he didn’t have. “I just think it’s better for me to work alone on this case.”

      Because he wasn’t sure he’d be able to work at all otherwise.

Chapter Two

      “She has secrets, Steve. Something she’s not telling people.”

      Steve had already excused Andrea from his office and had told her—much to Brandon’s vexation—to go pack for the trip to Buckeye.

      “We all have secrets.” Steve had moved himself back behind his desk. Evidently time for neutral ground was over. Steve was reaffirming that he was in charge.

      “Do you know what they call her around here?”

      Steve raised one eyebrow.

      “‘The ice queen.’ She never talks to anyone, never engages anyone. Nobody knows anything about her.”

      “Just because she’s not the life of the party makes her an ice queen? I thought better of you, Han.”

      Brandon didn’t know why he felt the need to so quickly defend himself, but he did. “Not me. I didn’t say that or think it, nor any of our inner group. It’s just what I’ve heard some other people say.”

      “She’s damn good at what she does. Next time someone wants to talk trash about her because she’s not all touchy-feely, you be sure to tell them that.”

      “We all know she’s good. She’s a natural reader. I’ve never seen anything like it.” Brandon held a PhD in interpersonal communication and still couldn’t read people’s expressions and body language to the extent Andrea could.

      “But?”

      “No buts about that. All I’m saying is she has secrets.”

      “She has a past, Brandon. We all do. Hers is a little more bleak than most of ours. If she’s got secrets it’s because she wants to not live in that past.”

      Brandon had to admit there was nothing wrong with that.

      “I know it hurt you when David didn’t tell you about his cancer. To find out then lose him so quickly was tough. It was for all of us.”

      Brandon got up out of his chair and walked over to the window. “I want to say this isn’t about David, but of course that’s not true.”

      “I know he was your best friend too, Brandon.”

      Brandon nodded without turning around. David had been his best friend since long before they worked together at Omega. David had been his anchor when the darkness of wandering inside the minds of killers had become too much.

      “Andrea’s the top person for this case, just like you’re the top person for this case. There’s somebody out there murdering young women and he needs to be stopped before he kills again.”

      Brandon knew Steve was right.

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