n again, off again ever since.”
“So were you on again, or off again as of last night?”
“We were going to go out last night but got into an argument. Hell, Ash, some of her stuff is at my house right now.”
“You were supposed to go out last night but got into a fight? Did you know she was at Club Toro?”
“She went there to spite me,” he growled.
“Goddamn, Danny. You get in a fight with your girlfriend who then goes to one of the largest meat markets in town to spite you and ends up dead— murdered,” she stressed.
“Wait a minute.” His anguished look disappeared and Danny straightened, narrowing his gaze on her. “Don’t you start playing cop with me, sweetheart.”
“I’m not playing cop. I am a cop,” she stressed. “And I told you I was too tired to fight.” Regardless of what he might have thought coming over here, what he had just done made him a stronger suspect than anyone they had right now. Pointing that out to him would start one hell of a fight, and one she was most definitely not in the mood for. “Why are you here, Danny?”
“I want you to tell me what happened. Who the hell did this to her?” he demanded.
“If I knew I wouldn’t tell you.” She glanced at her phone, ready to hear her voice-mail message but needing Danny to leave so she could do so. “But I don’t know who did it. I’m sorry for your loss, but Danny, I’ve had a hell of a day, and night. Will contact you tomorrow and take your statement.” If she said “question him,” he’d clam up and not talk about Mindy.
“Mindy didn’t do drugs. No one will tell me shit since I’m not a relative. How could she just have died?” he demanded, ignoring Ash’s suggestion to discuss this tomorrow.
There wasn’t any getting rid of him until she appeased his tortured curiosity to some extent.
“I tell you what, once the reports are in on her death, I’ll tell you what I can, okay?” She nodded toward her living room. “Let me walk you out. I haven’t had any sleep in over twenty hours and I can’t think straight to help you now anyway.”
They got as far as her front door. Ash opened it, but then Danny turned on her, his expression fierce. “I want to know what motherfucker drugged her. You got that, Ash? I have a right to know who did this to her.”
There wasn’t any point telling him he didn’t have a right to know shit. Ash nodded, opening her screen, and willing him out of her home. Tomorrow, once her head was clear from much-needed sleep, she’d question Danny further, see if possibly her dunce of an ex-husband had any connection to Mindy Simpson’s death, or not.
After locking the front door, Ash didn’t bother making sure Danny left. She hurried into the kitchen and plopped down in the chair at the table then pulled up her voice-mail messages. Her hunch was right and her gut twisted while a warm feeling swelled inside her as she listened to Chase Reed’s rough baritone.
“I’ll be at your house at nine tonight, unless that is too off the record for you.” If there was a challenge in his tone, she ached to know what it meant. “If it is I’ll meet you out somewhere, but my guess is you’re too exhausted to drive.” He rattled off his number and Ash wrote it down, repeating the message to make sure she got it right.
She glanced at the wall clock as she laid her phone down on the small note pad where she’d written Reed’s number. “Lovely,” she moaned. It was going on eight. Barely enough time to shower before her FBI man showed up, and one with a mystery wrapped around him. The funny feeling in her gut swelled and became an annoying pressure between her legs as she hurried upstairs to find clean clothes and hop into the shower.
It was going on nine when she rushed back downstairs, her hair still damp. Exhaustion was replaced with trepidation and something else she didn’t want to put a label on when she reached the kitchen and there was a firm knock on the front door.
There wasn’t any point asking how he’d figured out where she lived. She’d only talked to Chase Reed for a few minutes but already she guessed he was the kind of guy who didn’t reveal his secrets.
Ash hurried to the front door, opening it just as Chase raised his fist to knock again. “Impatient, are you?” she half teased. Anything else she might have said dissipated as she stared at the incredibly sexy man filling her doorway.
“Care if I come in?” Chase didn’t move, but stood facing her wearing faded blue jeans and a black, plain T-shirt that hugged his muscular torso. A perfect six-pack, long powerful-looking legs, and well-defined biceps were only part of his sex appeal.
“Sure. That’s fine.” Ash managed to speak in spite of how dry her mouth suddenly was. She stepped back without tripping over her own feet as she allowed him to enter.
His hair was a shiny, coarse black with slight waves that covered his ears and almost made it to his shirt collar. But it was those intense blue eyes, a sharp, focused gaze, that made her feel he looked past her face and saw deep into her soul, and immediately knew all her darkest secrets. Chase walked past her, allowing her a moment to drool over buns of steel, and wipe her palms against her jeans.
“You got my voice-mail message.” He didn’t make it a question. When he turned and faced her, making no qualms about giving her a slow once-over, his dark, brooding expression gave her the chills.
“Yes, I got it.” At the same time, heat swelled inside her to distraction. She told herself it would be impossible not to react physically to a man who redefined the definition of the perfect male. “I take it there is something you want to tell me?”
Keep it professional. If all they did was discuss the murder last night, she might be able to keep her mind from wondering what he looked like without his clothes on.
“Several things, actually.” He glanced around her home, taking his time inspecting the living room.
When he walked farther into her home, pausing in the doorway that led to the kitchen, she stayed a few paces behind him, trying to keep her focus on the way his black hair curled under at his neck. She could find no faults. His shoulders were broad and muscular. Her fingers itched, and she knew if she touched him he would be as hard as a brick wall. He wouldn’t catch her staring at that hard ass of his though.
“Do you have anything to drink?” he asked, disappearing around the corner.