“Uh-huh.” Chase wasn’t listening. He locked up his house and headed to his car. Ashley’s car was still there, further proof she hadn’t disclosed to anyone who he was. The longer she protected him, the deeper she incriminated herself. Both of them couldn’t lose their jobs.
He got off the phone with Doc, not sure if he had agreed to anything or not, and not really caring. After knowing Ashley a few days he already saw what he hadn’t seen in any other woman he’d ever met. Her feisty nature, her craving to solve a crime— and obviously at any expense since she hadn’t narked him out yet— were characteristics he’d never imagined finding in a woman. Add to that her sex appeal, her distracting good looks, her commanding nature that turned submissive when he pushed her to a certain point sexually, and he knew he’d found the woman for him.
Chase flipped his cell phone open and called Ashley.
“Hello,” she said slowly, the wariness in her tone obvious.
“My supervisor just told me a known drug dealer, Big Al Crete, was arrested in Wichita recently,” he began, keeping his voice low in case anyone was near her who might overhear before he could say what needed to be said. “He was arrested for selling ISIS.”
“Oh really?” she interrupted, matching his calm, quiet tone. “Where are you headed?”
It didn’t surprise him she wanted to know about him. Ashley wanted him as much as he wanted her.
“Your house.”
“I don’t think so,” she told him, her slow drawl giving anyone around her listening the indication she could be talking about the weather.
“I already know your captain is there. Tell him I’m on my way and I’ll show my credentials when I get there. You’re not covering for me anymore, sweetheart. And you’re not getting a bad rap because of me.”
Ashley sighed in his ear and his dick immediately responded. “I’m feeling better, thank you. I guess I’m doing things backward today. Most people work all day and then sleep, I slept all day and am now going to work.”
“Where are you going?” he demanded, and at the same time heard a man speak in the background.
“Don’t worry. I won’t overdo it. It’s really rather scary but there was a bottle of water in my refrigerator. I took a sip of it last night and thought it was sour. Thank God I spit it out. We took it down to the lab and it was heavily laced with ISIS. Danny was in my house last night and he’s agreed to meet me down at the station and be fingerprinted, just to eliminate him as a suspect,” she said, laughing. “He’s seriously grouchy with me for even suggesting he could do som
ething so terrible as murder women with a date rape drug. But he’s the only one who was in my house.”
Again the man in the background said something. Ashley mumbled a response. “And yes, I know,” she continued, speaking to Chase. “I wasn’t alone last night. So I guess if my ex comes away clean than I’ll have to seek out the guy I was with last night.”
Chase wouldn’t even consider the possibility that Ashley might think him guilty. “Ash,” he growled. “Your ex is going to run. You tell your captain right this minute who I am or I’ll call the police station and demand to be put through to him myself.”
“That really is a very bad idea,” she whispered. “Thanks for calling, though. If I have time I’m heading to that store where Chris and the others bought those bracelets.”
“I’ll head over there now.” More than anything he wanted to see Ashley. There was something she wasn’t telling him, though. Chase hated not being in the loop, but for some reason she didn’t want him coming over and she didn’t want her captain, who he was sure was the man in the background, knowing he was on the phone. “Quit covering for me, Ash,” he added.
“You’ll have to trust me. But I promise not to work too hard.” Again she laughed.
“And you have to trust me,” he growled, his insides tensing at the thought something else might have happened that she couldn’t tell him about right now.
“I do. Believe me, I do,” she said quietly. “Well, I better get going.”
“Ashley,” he growled, but she’d hung up on him. “Damn it,” he howled and almost threw his phone at his wind-shield.
He had parked downtown in a stall not too far from the Crossing when his cell rang again. The moment he saw the number he flipped it open, ready to snap.
“Don’t ever hang up on me again,” he growled.
“Calm down,” Ashley said. “Captain Sullivan is convinced you’re a very likely suspect and I don’t have time to waste chasing false leads.”
It was nice hearing Ashley didn’t suspect him. “And he wouldn’t think that if you didn’t try to protect me. I should have called you sooner, or told you not to keep my identity a secret.”
“I did it as much for my own pride as anything else, but we can fight about this later,” she said, sounding tense. “I’m supposed to be on my way to the station.”
“Supposed to be, where are you headed?” Chase reached the Crossing and pushed a heavy wooden door open, getting a powerful whiff of incense the moment he set foot in the eclectic store.
“Over to Danny’s. Remember I told you about those earrings? I think Danny took them. Those earrings on Mary Harcourt were mine. He showed up at my house after Mindy’s death to make sure I knew how distraught he was about it, but he also admitted he’d been dating her. I know he knew Chris and now she’s dead. And she was too close-mouthed about that bracelet.”
“You think Danny gave the bracelets to all the victims?” he asked, spotting a gray-haired woman behind the counter and lowering his voice. “Don’t head over to his house without backup. He’s already tried to kill you once.”