Plain Jane (7 page)

Not so much to obey her now that his job was done, Kent let the uterus slip from his hands, snapped his gloves off, and tossed them into the red-lined medical waste receptacle for three points, but strangely no one cheered.

“Hands behind your back.”

Playing along, Harbinger turned and was mildly surprised when he felt Nicole’s knee in his back, pressing him up against the gurney. She was getting into this role-playing gig a little too enthusiastically.

“Do you think… Do you think he’s Plain Jane?” the attendant asked.

Efficiently, Nicole slapped the cuffs on his wrist, tightening them more than Kent would have liked. “No. The creep only gets up close and personal after they’re dead.”

“Oh, so he’s a necro…” The attendant stared at him with a new sense of revulsion and wonder. “Cool. I never met one face to face before.”

Nicole urged Kent toward the door. “Let’s go. You have the right to remain silent—”

Joshua looked to the bloody mess.

“This is the best job ever.”

CHAPTER 22

Once they were out in the parking lot, Kent tried to pull free of her grip. “You can take the cuffs off now.”

“I could…” Nicole shoved him toward her car. He was going to know who was in charge, at least for now.

“You have to,” Kent demanded.

Even though she tried to keep him facing forward, the profiler slipped from her grasp and turned around. For a guy who had never lifted a dumbbell, Kent was deceptively strong.

His entire posture changed, and even though he leaned against the car with his hands cuffed behind him, one would never know he was the one restrained. Who needed to actually be in control, when you could just act like you were?

“I interrupted him. He’ll be out again.” Kent implored. “Soon. Maybe even tonight. Maybe
now
.”

Nicole did her best to keep up. “He’s never struck so close. He’s gone at least a week between kills.” But she only ended up playing his foil.

“He’s never been denied his prize before. He
needs
it.”

“As much as you needed to stick your damned hands in Joann’s belly?”

“
More
,” Kent emphasized.

That damned hungry tone. A palpable need that radiated from the profiler like an irresistible pheromone. Even though she intellectually knew that the hunger was not for her, there was no telling her body that. Kent was never as charismatic as when he was honing in on a killer.

But she had walked this path before with him. One that lead to pain, self-destruction, and abandonment. If not for his sake, then for her own Nicole needed to find a way to work this case differently. She wouldn’t repeat the mistakes of the past.

“If I uncuff you, you’re going to ditch me, aren’t you? Not even bothering to come to tomorrow’s briefing, are you?”

CHAPTER 23

It was Kent’s turn to study Nicole. He had cranked up his rogue, lone wolf vibe to high, and still she resisted him.

There had to be a reason.

“What’s so important about this briefing?”

Nicole met his stare full on. “Every once in a while, you do need to
participate
with the department. With your colleagues. With me.”

“You’re not very good at lying, you know?” Her valiant effort to fool him amused Kent.

“Whatever,” she said as she pulled out the handcuffs’ keys.

He rebuffed her attempt to turn him around. The one thing he knew how to do for certain was make Nicole squirm.

Her face flushed. “Don’t you want to be uncuffed?”

Kent did not oblige an answer. Instead he locked eyes with her.

There could be only one winner of this little power struggle, and he certainly was not going out on the prowl for Plain Jane after being a loser.

Finally Nicole shrugged. “Fine. We’ll do it your way.”

Round one. Kent.

He pressed his advantage as she reached behind him to get to the cuffs’ lock, forcing her into close proximity.

Round two. Kent.

Their body heat mingled as the air around them cooled. The storm did not seem quite over. Kent bent his neck to bring his lips ever so close to her ear. “I repeat. What’s so important about tomorrow’s meeting?”

His breath upon her neck had the desired effect as she fumbled the keys. The only way she could unlock the cuffs now was to lean into him. Force their bodies together. His lips turned up into a smile as he felt the points of her breasts rub against his chest as she fished for the cuffs’ lock.

Round three. Kent.

He moved her hair back from her face with his chin, rubbing stubble across her cheek. “You always were better at putting them on than taking them off, weren’t you?” he said huskily.

The top of Nicole’s ear turned a bright red as her breath came at a quicker and quicker pace. Obviously she remembered the nights he referred to as well as he.

Leveraging her flustered state, Kent made his move. He grabbed her hands and with a shift of his weight, pulled Nicole around, forcing her back against the car. He stood over her, pressing the entire length of their bodies together.

Round four. Kent.

He could feel the heat of Nicole’s body through her thin silk blouse. Unbidden, his loins stirred.
That
was definitely not supposed to happen.

Round five. Nicole.

Worse, she had the presence of mind to continue working on the cuffs. It would not do to have Nicole less rattled than he by their close proximity. He had to keep his mind focused on why he had cornered her in the first place.

“Tomorrow’s brainstem-storming session, why is it so important that I attend?”

Nicole would not be deterred, though. She not only ignored his question but finally got the key in the lock. There was an audible click. When she tried to pull her arms from around him, Kent resolved not to be outdone this night.

Flicking the metal from his wrist, he grabbed Nicole’s soft hands before she could squirm free. With practice only gotten from a certain amount of illegal activities, Kent closed the cuffs around her wrists.

With a click, Nicole was now his prisoner.

TKO. Kent.

CHAPTER 24

Nicole tugged and tugged. Not only had Kent somehow cuffed her hands, he had locked them to her Mustang’s door handle.

“What in the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“You don’t like?” Kent asked, seduction warm in his voice. “Have you changed that much in two years?”

Desperate to ignore the pulse pounding in her ears, Nicole tried to free herself, but knew it was futile. There was no reason to scratch her chrome door handle.

Kent smiled. “Mellowed out to please Zorro?”

Nicole frowned. Kent had reached new heights of exasperation. She refused to play this game.

“Why do you want me at the meeting?” he asked.

Setting her jaw, Nicole mimicked Kent’s earlier behavior, staring ahead, as if this whole scenario just bored her. However, the strategy backfired as Kent’s eyes lit up. She forgot how much he liked a challenge.

“Well, if you won’t talk, then…” Kent’s finger traced her neck, along the edge of her blouse to the top button. “I’ll have to increase the stakes.”

Nicole could not keep her chest from heaving. Could not keep gooseflesh from rising in response to his touch. She could keep from speaking, though. Kent would be forced to stop before he got too far by morgue security. She was not worried. Was she?

Still, his fingers played with the top button of her blouse. Nicole stared defiantly into his eyes, but Kent did not hesitate to unbutton it. A gasp escaped before she could stifle it. The defiant stare was forgotten as she looked down at what Kent was doing. His fingers ever so tenderly opened the blouse to reveal the curve of cleavage.

“I’ll undo them all,” the profiler threatened softly.

Still she held strong.

Kent unbuttoned another, revealing the lace edge of her bra. “Let that Conquistador of yours find you like this.”

“You wouldn’t,” her voice trembled despite all effort to steady it.

Obviously he would, as he tugged the third button open.

Nicole’s will broke, and the words spilled out over one another. “If you can’t prove yourself at the briefing, Glick is pulling you off the case.”

Kent’s expression was unreadable as his finger traced down the edge of her bra. “See, that was not so hard after all.” Despite her acquiescence, he still unbuttoned another, exposing her front-loading bra. “Still trying to protect me, Nic? Just like old times? Hmmm?”

He pressed his thumb against her bra’s clasp.

She could scream, but did she really want someone interrupting him?

“Bored with your pedicured boy?” His index finger leveraged against the other side of the clasp. Just a little more pressure and the bra would spring open.

All this one-handed. She couldn’t do that, and there was no way Ruben would even attempt it.

He rubbed his rough cheek against hers. “Miss our old times, Nic?” Kent waited for a response, but Nicole no longer possessed language skills. It did not matter that she could not answer him, as she did not really know. What were their old times but a blur of passion and pain?

His thumb and forefinger worked the latch, straining the fabric, pulling it across her nipples, hardening them.

Nicole did not think it possible, but Kent leaned in even closer, bringing his lips next to her ear. Another millimeter and he would be kissing her. Telling her that he loved her, just like he used to. Only heightening the romanticism of the gesture, a light rain began to fall.

Kent’s tone was not altogether kind. “Don’t ever try to manipulate me, Nic.” He pulled back to look her in the eye. “You don’t have it in you.”

To complete his demonstration of power, Kent twisted the clasp until it almost opened, then let it fall back to her skin, still locked as he backed away. A mixture of relief and disappointment flooded through Nicole as she watched a man she once loved pull away from her.

Kent wasn’t just backing up, he was walking away.

Embarrassment replaced arousal. “You can’t leave me like this!”

The profiler kept walking as raindrops splashed on her face, making it hard to tell if she was crying or not. “Kent!”

He didn’t turn around. “The key’s up your sleeve.”

CHAPTER 25

Had any morgue attendant ever, ever, ever in the history of morgue attending gotten as lucky as he had tonight? Joshua wondered as he watched Detective Usher squirm to get out of her restraints.

First to have a Plain Jane victim come in on his shift. That put tonight on the map right out of the gate. Then some psycho broke into the morgue?

That was, like, the first time in over two years.

Joshua had thought the coup de grâce had been the perv sneaking back into the crypt and getting caught red-handed, literally, in the victim’s belly. Little did the attendant know that he would be treated to an off-the-hook peep show to boot!

For the seventeenth time, Joshua made sure the VCR recorded the parking lot camera’s feed. For once this antique electronic equipment came in handy. It provided a permanent recording of tonight’s parking lot action.

And it was not even over yet. Detective Usher still squirmed to unlock the cuffs. Her movements were kind of like a slow S&M go-go dance. Joshua could not have imagined a better scene. The unforgiving rain soaked through her shirt. And while he could not see them clearly, those dark nipples of hers stood out in stark contrast to the clinging bra.

How did he get so lucky? But he’d almost jinxed himself. When he first came back from the crypt after he cleaned up the mess, Joshua noticed the perv and Usher having a fight by the car. Being a generally good citizen, Joshua almost called O’Fallon to help her.

Then he realized that not only was the detective
not
putting up much of a fight when the perv made the cuff switch, he was pretty damn sure she was into it.

Hey, maybe that’s how cops blew off steam. Who was he to judge Usher’s lifestyle?

And did it get hot or what? Joshua was honestly surprised the rain did not turn to steam when it hit those two. Then the perv, right when it was getting good, walked off. Which simply confirmed the attendant’s opinion that the guy was cracked. Who walked away from a body like that?

Wet and hot?

Joshua watched Nicole struggle some more. He could hardly wait to get home and put some music to this show.

“Anything happen?”

The attendant jumped at the security guard’s voice. The old man should have been down until at least five.

Flicking off the monitor, Joshua answered, “Nope.”

“Thought I heard some clanging around.”

“You’ve been hearing things…again.”

O’Fallon’s face clouded. Joshua knew how it goaded the old man to think he might be going senile. Which usually accounted for most of the fun the attendant had on the graveyard shift. But not tonight.

Risking a glance to the VCR, Joshua made sure the red light still glowed brightly. Damn, wouldn’t the geezer go back to bed before Usher ended her live show?

O’Fallon yawned. “As long as everything is quiet.”

“Oh, yeah.”

The old man was not ten steps away before Joshua flipped back on the monitor, only to be disappointed that not only had Usher gotten out of the cuffs and re-buttoned her shirt, but she was already back in the car.

He could only hope that the tape caught the end of the show.

Hell, who needed Pay-Per-View porn when you got on-the-job-action like this?

CHAPTER 26

As a wan light shone through the bull pen window, Ruben tried to keep himself busy with his paperwork. After getting no sleep between Joann’s death and now, he had downed four extra-tall coffees in a row.

He had a caffeine buzz that urged him to pace in front of the packed house that had gathered for the briefing. Although nine-tenths of them weren’t here for his insights. They waited for Kent’s grand appearance.

Ruben glanced over at the near-to-bursting crowd. He had never seen so many cops, both uniforms and detectives, crammed into the bull pen.

Focusing on the board, he adjusted Joann’s autopsy report. Ruben wanted all the information to be perfectly in order. The backgrounds, original police reports, autopsy reports, and family interviews. Everything. The items needed to be assembled in the correct sequence so his talk went smoothly.