CHAPTER 4
CHASE AIMED HIS remote at his TV, all too aware of the time and fighting to stay put when he ached to jump up and pace. It was almost eight and not a word from Ashley. He almost lunged at his cell phone when it started vibrating and then chirping on his coffee table.
“Reed here,” he growled, after glaring at the words “unknown caller” on his phone.
“How would you like to take me bowling?” Ashley’s soft purr in his ear sent his heart racing in his chest.
Jumping off the couch, he forced himself to take a slow breath and then stretched, scratching his bare chest. “Why did you block your number?” he demanded.
Her alluring tone didn’t change. “You blocked your number when you called me.”
“My number is always blocked, company policy,” he explained.
“Would you like to take me bowling?” she repeated.
“Why do you want to go bowling?” He’d take her anywhere she wanted to go, and realized that as he bounded through to his bedroom, ready to change clothes.
“It’s a weak hunch at best.”
“I’m listening.” He put the phone on speaker and set it next to his computer in his bedroom as he searched for a shirt.
“I spoke with one of our narcotic cops today,” she began. “I need to know where someone could buy ISIS.”
He opened his mouth to ask why she hadn’t come to him asking for help with that. Ashley sounded pumped up when she continued talking, her voice animated. Chase didn’t want to interrupt her; just listening to her soft, sultry tone did a mean number to his equilibrium. He was getting semihard in spite of the despicable subject matter she was discussing.
“He couldn’t really help me,” she added.
He could have told her that. ISIS wasn’t sold by the average street drug dealer. It was hard-core stuff, moved in circles that went beyond what most city cops dealt with.
“He told me the last really big dealer he took down, less than a year ago, did some of his work out of the bowling alley.”
“Now, Mindy Simpson was on a league,” she added. “My ex was spending some time with her and told me that’s how they met.”
Chase pulled a shirt over his head and stopped, facing the phone, his interest piqued. If Ashley’s ex was dating Mindy, that made him suspect.
“There’s something else, and it’s nothing. Seriously nothing. I shouldn’t even mention it because I know it’s just coincidence.”
“What?” he asked, grabbing the phone and taking it off speaker.
“When you first mentioned the jewelry each victim wore, I remembered Mary Harcourt wore a pair of diamond earrings. I specifically remembered them because they reminded me of the diamond earrings my grandmother gave me when I turned sixteen. They are an old family heirloom and have been passed down from daughter to daughter in my family for several generations.”
“Why did your grandmother give them to you and not your mother?” Chase doubted it had anything to do with their case, but he wanted to know everything about Ashley. She’d been under his skin since he first watched her go over the crime scene at Club Toro. After kissing her at her house, she’d singed his system, leaving him hot and hard. Anything about her mattered to him.
“My grandmother and mother didn’t get along with each other very well,” she said quietly, without elaborating. “But Chase, when I got home tonight I was looking through my jewelry, and my diamond earrings are gone.”
“When’s the last time you wore them?” He headed into his bathroom, glancing at his reflection in the mirror as he applied deodorant and opted for a small amount of a cologne he couldn’t remember when he’d last applied.
“Yes, I would have asked someone that question, too. I told you it was a weak hunch. The fact is, I’ve never worn them. I didn’t appreciate my grandmother giving them to me and skipping my mother. It really hurt my mother and my wearing them would have hurt her, too. They’ve always been right here in my jewelry box. More than once I’ve thought about giving them to my mother now that my grandmother is dead. She wears jewelry like that more than I do.”
“So do you look at them often?” He headed back to his room, grabbing socks out of his top drawer and then reaching for his boots.
“No. I don’t have a clue how long they’ve been missing,” she snapped.
Chase smiled. She was right. It was a weak hunch. He wanted to see her and wanted to talk about this more with her in person. It was a hell of a case, and one he’d jump on the opportunity to work, because there were no clues. Chase wasn’t a glory seeker, though. Hell, if he were, he wouldn’t have fallen knee deep in shit with the FBI. He knew how to be a ghost, though. He didn’t have a problem helping Ash with the case and allowing her to take all the credit for solving it.
“I’ll be over there in thirty minutes and we’ll head to the bowling alley,” he told her.
“I’ll meet you there,” she said without hesitating.