The Cop Read online

  “A gyro,” Drew said. “It’s the specialty of the house. And Kit recommended the fries.”

  “Eat some,” J.C. said. “You’ll feel better. There’s nothing like French fries or chocolate to lighten your mood.”

  NIK AND KIT kept their eyes on the TV screen over the bar as Nik punched the number of Rossi Investigations into his cell phone. When he was told that Cole was on another line, he said, “I’ll hold.”

  Above them, Angelo Carlucci was still talking to TV Five’s star reporter, Carla Mitchell. Angelo had just informed all of San Francisco that Roman Oliver was the prime suspect in the killing of his son Paulo’s bodyguard, and that he was sure Roman had also kidnapped Paulo.

  Nik thoroughly agreed with his brother’s summation of the situation. The shit had indeed hit the fan.

  Carla Mitchell was milking the drama for all it was worth. She had dated Kit for a time, and when his brother had broken it off, she’d turned her attention to him.

  It had only taken one date, a few drinks at a bar, for Nik to peg her as an ambitious woman who had her eye on a coanchor job on the evening news. And while he was all for ambition, he didn’t want to be involved with a woman who was only interested in what inside police information he could provide to advance her career goals. Though they’d never discussed it, he assumed Kit had broken up with Carla for the same reason.

  Nik had already filled Kit in on what he’d learned at the station that morning about the ransom notes being delivered to the two families and that there was an APB out on Sadie Oliver.

  Kit had been the bearer of one piece of good news. The Oliver family had hired Theo to act as Roman’s attorney. That was when Nik had decided to call Cole Buchanan at Rossi Investigations. The police would be under great pressure to move swiftly to close the case. The ten-million-dollar ransom was a powerful motivator. And so far, they seemed to be focusing all their attention on Roman Oliver and Sadie. That would only intensify as a result of Angelo Carlucci’s interview.

  So another suspect was needed—fast. Rossi Investigations could dig into the land deal the two families were competing over. No one in the city was better at following the money trail than they were. The way Nik figured it, the Rossi brothers could charge their usual fee to J.C.’s father.

  “Detective Angelis,” a voice spoke in his ear. “Mr. Buchanan will be tied up for a time. He’ll get back to you.”

  After pocketing his cell phone, Nik brought up the subject Kit hadn’t mentioned so far. And he figured that meant the news wasn’t good. “How’s Roman?”

  Turning away from the TV screen, Kit glanced at his watch. “Last time I checked, he was still in surgery.” He met Nik’s eyes. “Even if the operation is successful and the swelling goes down, they might not know for a while if he’ll be paralyzed.”

  “Yeah.” Nik placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder.

  “Besides you and Theo, there’s no one I’m closer to, and I feel so helpless.”

  “You’re doing what you can to see that he doesn’t get railroaded for murder and now this double kidnapping. And so am I.”

  “I don’t feel like I’m making any progress on either score.”

  “Join the club.” Nik nabbed a French fry off his brother’s plate. “You know, J.C. says that it’s like a recipe. Once we get all the ingredients, we’ll know what happened. Rossi Investigations will dig up a few of those ingredients, and then we’ll be cooking.” Nik winced at his own pun and was surprised when Kit made no comment. He stole another French fry. “Actually, now that we know the bride and groom have been kidnapped, I think things are looking up for Roman. I could see him coming to the church, trying to stop the wedding and losing his temper. But this whole scenario of kidnapping his sister and holding her for ransom? There isn’t a land deal in the world that would make Roman do that.”

  When his cell rang, he told Cole Buchanan what they needed, hung up and swiped another French fry. “How well do you know Sadie Oliver?”

  Kit shook his head. “I only met her once very briefly, a year ago when her father got married. Both she and Juliana went to school in the east, and they were never at home when I visited the house. She’s tall with dark hair, good-looking. She’s twenty-six, four years younger than Roman and eight years older than Juliana. And she’s smart. Roman is always saying that she’s the brains in the family. She graduated from Harvard and blitzed through its law school in two years. Then she came home to join the family business.”

  “How’s that going for her?”

  He shrugged. “Roman says she’s determined to run the company at his side one day. In her spare time, she volunteers to take pro bono cases from the public defender’s office. She wants the trial experience. Why are you so interested in Sadie?”

  “There’s always the possibility that she acted alone.”

  Kit shot him a glare. “No way. How in hell did you come up with that ridiculous idea?”

  Nik raised both hands, palms out. “Just trying to be objective.” And it was clear to him that his brother wasn’t. So he tried another tack. “If you don’t like Sadie as the mastermind, how about Mario Oliver?”

  “He’s ruthless enough,” Kit said. “But I don’t think he would have botched it.”

  “If Roman wasn’t in on it, maybe he interfered with his father’s plan.”

  “Yeah, I can see that.”

  Nik took a sip of his beer. “What about this Michael Dano? What do you know about him?”

  “He heads up the legal department. Roman has a lot of respect for him and depends on him a lot. I think he’s hoping that Michael and Sadie will make a match of it.”

  “You said Sadie was smart. Could she be working with Dano? Could they have set this whole thing up together?”

  Kit whirled and grabbed Nik by the lapels of his jacket. “You’re saying she planned to kidnap her younger sister and frame her brother?”

  “Easy,” Nik said. “Somebody has to be objective enough to ask these questions.”

  “Right. You’re right.” Kit dropped his hands and leaned back against the bar. “Sorry. And the answer is yes, she’s smart enough. But they’re a close-knit family, as close as we are. Besides, if she or Roman were behind this, they wouldn’t have made such a mess of it. And Sadie would never have run out on Roman. If she’s missing, I think she’s in trouble.”

  Nik took a swallow of beer. He’d thought about that possibility himself. He grabbed another fry and then frowned at his brother. This was the fourth time he’d swiped food, and Kit had yet to bat an eye. Probably because during the whole time they’d talked, Kit’s eyes seldom had left his pretty blond friend.

  Nik shifted his own gaze to J.C., who was deep in conversation with Drew. When she wasn’t eating. She seemed to be enjoying Greek food with the same enthusiasm she brought to everything she did. He thought of the way she’d come into his office the night before and settled right into helping him think through the evidence they had so far. They might have been working together for years.

  Watching her now as she laughed at something Drew said, he realized that he was letting his own fears turn him into a fool. It might be happening fast between them, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t right. They’d just have to make the time to see where things would lead between them. Bottom line, he was not going to let J.C. Riley walk out of his life.

  Period. Even as he made the decision, his thumbs began to prick, and the fear that had settled rock-hard in his stomach melted. With a smile, he grabbed another French fry.

  Once again, Kit didn’t even notice. There was definitely something bothering his kid brother. Something besides Roman? This time when Nik shifted his gaze to the two women, he studied Drew more closely. She was small, she was blond and hadn’t Philly said that Kit had been with her in the restaurant the night before?

  “I just gave you a boatload of information, bro,” Nik said. “Turnabout’s fair play.”

  “What?” Kit asked.

  “There’s something
you’re not telling me and it has to do with Drew doesn’t it?”

  “No…I—”

  “Dammit,” he said as he turned on his brother. “She’s part of it, isn’t she? She’s the mystery blonde, the woman that J.C. saw come into the church with Juliana.”

  11

  J.C. WAVED A HAND in the direction of the bar. “They’re about to get into a fight.”

  Drew glanced over and started to rise, but J.C. clamped a hand down on her arm. “Leave them be. I have four brothers, and they fight all the time. My stepmother boots them out of the house so that they don’t break the furniture. Men. There’s a basic genetic difference between them and us.”

  When Drew said nothing in reply, merely kept her gaze riveted on the two brothers, J.C. took another bite of the gyro, chewing thoughtfully. She had to figure out some kind of a game plan to handle Nik—and what she was beginning to feel for him. She glanced at the woman sitting across from her. If she didn’t miss her guess, Drew was pretty much smitten with Kit. Luckily, she wasn’t that far gone.

  Yet.

  The one little word had her setting down her gyro. Yet? It never worked out well to hide from the truth. If she wasn’t already, she was certainly in danger of being smitten with Nik Angelis. She pressed a hand over her heart when she felt the little flutter. Maybe Nik was doing her a favor by backing off and returning their status to sex buddies. She certainly wasn’t ready to take that headlong plunge into love. Love? No. Smitten was one thing. Love was a different ball of wax entirely. She had to think about this.

  Sometimes it helped her if she talked out loud. “Of course, there’s the physical difference, too. I can handle that difference. In fact, I enjoy handling it.” Great sex. That’s what she had with Nik. The best sex she’d ever had in her life. She definitely didn’t want that to end—yet.

  When she realized that she once more had Drew’s attention, J.C. smiled at her, then jerked her head in the direction of Nik and Kit. “They certainly are magnificent specimens, aren’t they?”

  “They’re beautiful. The first time I saw Kit, he reminded me of a fallen angel.”

  “Good description. The first time I saw Nik I thought of Adonis, the mortal man who had two goddesses fighting over him.”

  “They’re certainly something to fight over.”

  Or for, J.C. thought. Drew had shifted her gaze to Kit again. J.C. purposely kept her eyes on the food. Looking at Nik didn’t help her think, and she needed every single one of her brain cells. She picked up a French fry and squeezed lemon on it the way she’d seen Drew just do.

  Truth told, whatever her feelings for Nik were, she’d be more than willing to fight for him. So what they had right now was great sex. Maybe the whole key was to approach the situation the way a man did. For them good sex was often enough. Perhaps that’s what Nik had been trying to tell her all morning. And that was fine. Wasn’t it?

  Pushing the question away, she concentrated on the food. “You should have some of this gyro. It’s excellent. I really have to get the recipe.”

  “But Kit is not an angel,” Drew said suddenly.

  J.C. met her eyes. “Neither is Nik.”

  “Kit’s a stubborn, determined man. He pretends to listen, and then he just goes and does exactly what he wants.”

  J.C. leaned forward. “I’d say it runs in the family because you could be talking about Nik.” Then she grinned. “They must get it from their dad. Looked like he was about to get his way when we walked in.”

  “It’s not fair. And I can’t let him make every decision for me. I think…I’m afraid I’m the kind of woman who does that—leans on a man, I mean.”

  J.C. lifted the wineglass and handed it to her. “You’re afraid of that? Don’t you know?”

  Drew shook her head. “I can’t remember anything about myself. I have amnesia.”

  J.C. almost spat out a mouthful of gyro. “Amnesia? Seriously? I can’t imagine.” She might have problems with her family, but she didn’t want to think what it would be like to not remember them. “Did you want to talk about it?”

  Drew did, everything from the moment she walked into Kit’s office and hired him until they’d come to the restaurant for lunch.

  When she was finished, J.C. said, “So you’re the mystery woman, the one I saw get out of the car with the bride.”

  “I guess. I can’t remember anything. I just get flashes now and then.”

  J.C. squeezed her hand. “You’ll remember.”

  Drew leaned closer to J.C. “I have to turn myself in. People are following Kit because of me, and he could probably lose his license for not turning me in to the police.”

  “You’re sloppy in love with him, aren’t you?”

  “No. Of course, not.” Drew glanced at J.C. and took a long swallow of wine. “And I’m not going to fall in love with him. He’s…we’re…that’s not going to happen. It can’t.”

  She looked at Kit again and then back at J.C. “I’m going to need your help. All you have to do is keep Kit distracted for a few minutes. Tell him I’ve gone to the ladies’ room. Can you do that? Please?”

  “If that’s what you want.” She gave Drew two thumbs up. “We women have to stick together, don’t we?”

  As Drew rose from the table, J.C. beamed a smile at Kit and mouthed, “Ladies’ room.” Then, because she didn’t want her gaze to stray to Nik, she returned her attention to the plate of food in front of her. She lifted the gyro, then set it back on the plate. It was delicious. She just wasn’t hungry, and she knew why.

  She’d seen her possible future in Drew’s eyes. She’d seen what it was like to be in love—the misery, the uncertainty, the fear. Wasn’t it lucky she’d decided that all she wanted was to be sex buddies with Nik? She pushed the plate of food away.

  “DON’T TELL ME you’re not hungry,” Nik said as he sat down in the chair that Drew had just vacated.

  “Okay.” J.C. folded her arms on the table and lifted her chin. “I won’t tell you I’m not hungry.”

  The combative look in her eyes told Nik that he hadn’t found the right approach. But that seemed to be his modus operandi where J.C. was concerned. He set his glass of beer down, then suddenly frowned. “Don’t you like Greek food? If you don’t like gyros, there are other things on the menu that you’d love.” He signaled the waitress.

  “I love Greek food. The gyro was delicious. I’m going to talk your father into giving me the recipe for the sauce he uses. It’s amazing. I’m just full.”

  Nik studied her as she grabbed the wineglass and drained it. “Something’s wrong.”

  “No. We should get back to the police station.”

  He put a hand on her arm to keep her in her chair. “We will.” He’d figured out what was bothering her while he’d been talking to his brother. She was a woman and they’d just spent the night together. She needed to talk about it, sort it out. Women always needed to talk. So they’d talk.

  “What can I get you?”

  “Hi, Mandy.” Nik beamed a smile at the waitress. “I’ll have coffee.”

  “I’ll have more wine,” J.C. said.

  “Make that two coffees,” Nik amended. “And forget the wine.”

  “No,” J.C. began, but Mandy had already hurried away. She glared at Nik. “I wanted more wine.”

  “You don’t need more wine. I need you to work with a sketch artist when we get back to the station, and I don’t want you seeing double.”

  She met his gaze squarely. “You don’t need more coffee. You drank about a gallon of it this morning. It isn’t good for you.”

  He smiled at her. “Relax. The stuff they serve up at the station isn’t coffee. It’s some kind of brown colored sludge.”

  “You’re a bully.”

  He cocked an eyebrow at her. “And you’re not.”

  “Only in self-defense. I have four brothers.”

  His smile widened. “I have two.”

  “But you’re the oldest.”

  “Touché.
” Nik had the pleasure of seeing her lips twitch, but she tried to hide it by taking a drink of water. He was almost getting used to the flutter of panic in his stomach every time he looked at her. But he wanted to put a stop to it. His brother was tied up in knots over Drew Merriweather. He didn’t intend for that to happen to him. He was going to talk to J.C. about their relationship and lay it out for her. Get it settled. But he’d interviewed enough perps and witnesses to know the value of an indirect approach. “Did Drew tell you that she’s the mystery blonde?”

  Her eyes flew to his. “Don’t you dare arrest her. She has amnesia. And she’s going to turn herself in.”

  “I’m not going to arrest her. Kit is sure she’s not involved in the kidnapping, and he asked for some time. He thinks she’s close to recovering her memory, and he’s promised to bring her to the station as soon as she does. So I don’t think that he’s going to let her turn herself in just yet.”

  J.C.’s chin lifted. “A girl’s got to do what a girl’s got to do.”

  “So does a man.” Over J.C.’s shoulder, Nik watched Kit enter the ladies’ room. He had a pretty good idea of just what his brother was thinking of doing, and he had to suppress a grin as he shifted his gaze back to J.C. He had her attention now, so he should go ahead and tell her what he’d decided.

  Mandy set coffee in front of them, and he took a sip of his. “Were you telling Philly the truth? Is your dream to run a restaurant like this?”

  She glanced up in surprise. “Yes. Not this big, of course. My plan was to start with the catering, build up a reputation, and then open a small place.” She glanced around. “I’d like it to have this kind of a welcoming feel.”

  “And it all started when you walked into the American Culinary Institute?”

  She sipped her coffee. “Just by chance.”