Hide Out
Authors: Katie Allen
Hide Out
When Officer Peter Giordano is assigned to keep Trevor Haas safe until he can testify against his murderous father, he expects the hardest part of his job will be keeping his hands off the gorgeous witness. The two men hide out in the small, sleepy town of Honeysuckle, fixing up their dilapidated safe house by day…exploring each other’s bodies by night.
Their small-town neighbors have some secrets of their own, however, including one that someone is willing to kill to protect. Soon, a neighbor is dead and Pete and Trevor are thrown into the middle of a murder investigation. The two men struggle to keep Trevor’s true identity a secret, knowing his father will stop at nothing to silence the star witness against him—even if that means killing his own son.
Note: Pete and Trevor won’t have to go it alone. Wash and Rhodes, the crush-worthy heroes
from
Private Dicks,
are along for the ride once again.
An Ellora’s Cave Romantica Publication
Hide Out
ISBN 9781419927393
Hide Out Copyright 2010 Katie Allen
Edited by Kelli Collins
Cover art by Syneca
Electronic book publication March 2010
The terms Romantica® and Quickies® are registered trademarks of Ellora’s Cave Publishing. With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.
Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the publisher’s permission. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. (http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/). Please purchase only authorized electronic or print editions and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted material. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.
HIDE OUT
Katie Allen
Trademarks Acknowledgments
The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:
Boy Scout: Boy Scouts of America Corporation
Buick: General Motors Corporation
Care Bears: Those Characters From Cleveland, Inc.
Chippendales: Chippendales USA, LLC
Gap: Gap (Apparel), Inc.
IHOP: IHOP IC, LLC
Jell-O: Kraft Foods Holdings, Inc.
Pop-Tart: Kellogg Company
Robocop: Orion Pictures Corporation
Scooby-Doo: Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc.
Target: Target Brands, Inc.
The Brady Bunch: Paramount Pictures Corporation
Uno: Mattel Inc.
Katie Allen
Chapter One
Officer Peter Giordano stared at his lieutenant’s office door. The blinds had been rolled tight, hiding the view within, and that made Pete’s stomach clamp in on itself. He deserved this reprimand, deserved it for being stupid. He should have known better than to let down his guard but the new guy had been so open and friendly, and it had been such a relief to tease and laugh as if he was just one of the guys. Someone must have filled the newbie in right quick. When Pete had come on shift today, the new guy hadn’t even looked up. Instead, he’d flinched away from Pete’s friendly bump on the shoulder and hurried out, almost running. And now Lee wanted to see him. This was going to be humiliating at best and, at worst… Blowing out a short, hard breath, he forced his fist to knock.
“Come in!” Lieutenant Lee barked. Closing his eyes for a second, Pete took another bracing breath before twisting the knob and stepping into his superior’s office. He stopped just inside the door, startled to see three other people already standing in the room with Lee.
“You wanted to see me, ma’am?” Pete’s quick glance took in the two detectives and stalled on the man slouching between them, his hands jammed into the front pockets of his jeans and his mouth twisted sulkily. His gaze caught on that full bottom lip for a fragment of a second before Pete forced his eyes back on his lieutenant.
“Officer Giordano,” Lee greeted. “Come in and shut the door behind you.”
Pete obeyed as his brain tried to switch gears. This didn’t look like a sexual harassment reprimand. This looked like… Actually, he had no idea what this looked like.
“Have a seat,” the lieutenant offered.
“I’ll stand.” Pete glanced at the other three again before looking back at Lee.
“Thanks,” he tagged on belatedly.
Lee shrugged. “You know detectives McDonald and Salas, don’t you?”
With a slow nod, Pete said, “Homicide, right?”
“Right,” McDonald confirmed. “You found that witness in the Curtis Park stabbing—nice work.”
“Thanks.” Pete accepted the compliment warily. He still wasn’t sure what was going on. Salas gave him a nod. She was small and serious, and had a habit of speaking as if each word were of utmost importance. From what he’d seen of Salas’ police work, Pete thought she was a good detective, although he did wonder if it was hard to be so
earnest
all the time.
6
Hide Out
McDonald was burly and balding. The hair that remained was wild and his clothes always looked unkempt, but he was straightforward and smart. Pete hadn’t had much contact with McDonald but the little he knew, he respected.
“The detectives have asked for our help,” Lee began. “Before they explain the situation, I need your assurance everything said in this room will remain confidential.”
Pete almost laughed. Whom would he tell? “Of course.”
“Good.” Lee held his gaze. “The detectives requested my most discreet officer and you immediately came to mind. Due to the…unorthodox situation, you may opt out if you don’t feel comfortable accepting the assignment.”
Despite trying to keep his face expressionless, Pete felt his eyebrows shoot up. Lee’s orders were always just that—orders. “Opting out” had never been an option before. What kind of dangerous shit was this?
“However,” the lieutenant continued, “your cooperation will definitely be a consideration when you come up for advancement.”
Pete’s eyebrows came back down and he swallowed back a smirk.
There
was the Lee he knew—big words, carrot, stick and all. Hiding his amusement, Pete just nodded.
“Have you heard of Harold Haas?” McDonald asked.
A little surprised at the sudden change of subject, Pete asked, “Big Hal Haas? Has a bunch of those organic food stores he does the dumbass commercials for?”
The stranger between the two detectives shifted, drawing Pete’s attention. The man was staring at the wall over Lee’s shoulder, his sulky mouth curled up in a sardonic smile.
Christ, he’s hot
, Pete thought, before catching himself and looking back at McDonald, who was nodding.
“That’s him,” the detective confirmed. “He also dabbles in some land development, as well as drugs, money laundering and knocking off any poor asshole who gets in his way.”
Pete blinked, absorbing the information.
“This,” Salas tipped her head, indicating the surly stranger next to her, “is Trevor Haas, Harold’s son.”
“Courtland,” Trevor snapped.
McDonald grimaced. “Yeah, Trevor Courtland now. Changed his name. Took us almost ten months to find him again.”
Jamming his hands into his jeans pockets, Trevor hunched and scowled. “Seemed better to hide than, you know,
die
,” he muttered at the floor.
“Die?” Pete asked. “Who was after you?”
Trevor looked up, his eyes narrow and so, so blue. Pete swallowed. “Dear ol’ Dad,”
Trevor said with a humorless curve of his lips.
“He has threatened Mr. Haas’— I mean, Mr. Courtland’s life,” Salas explained. 7
Katie Allen
Ouch.
That was rough. Pete stole a quick glance at Trevor. If his own father was trying to kill him, it was no wonder Trevor was a little surly.
“Sonny here’s our witness,” McDonald said, jerking a thumb at Trevor. “We’ve been after Haas for years. Just got an indictment from a Grand Jury yesterday, thanks to his testimony.”
Salas nodded. “The trial will be in seven months, unless there are any delays.”
“Doubt I’ll be alive to see it,” Trevor muttered.
Salas’ lips tightened and McDonald, his face reddening, looked at Trevor sideways. The detective’s fists opened and closed, as if he were resisting the urge to smack the younger man.
“Unfortunately,” McDonald said, sounding as if he were talking with gritted teeth,
“Haas made bail. I tried to explain it’d put our witness in danger but the judge offered it anyway.”
Meeting Pete’s eyes, Trevor elaborated, “Same as last time when these assholes almost got me killed.”
One of Pete’s eyebrows shot up.
“We put Mr. Courtland into protective custody,” Salas explained tightly.
“However, we were unaware one of the officers assigned to protect Mr. Courtland…”
“Had his hand in Dad’s pocket?” Trevor suggested when Salas paused. McDonald grunted an assent. “The asshole gave Courtland’s location to Haas. Let him in the fucking motel room door.”
Looking back and forth between Trevor and McDonald, Pete asked, “So what happened? Since you’re obviously not…you know.”
“Dead?” Trevor offered with a smirk. “I climbed out the bathroom window.”
“Yeah,” McDonald growled. “Then you disappeared.”
Trevor shrugged. “What d’you expect? Couldn’t trust anyone else to keep me safe so I took care of it myself.”
The lieutenant cleared her throat. “These recriminations aren’t helping the problem at hand. Why don’t you explain to Officer Giordano what his part in this would be?”
“Of course, Lieutenant.” Salas turned to Pete. “What we need, Officer, is a trustworthy cop, someone who can provide security for Mr. Courtland and not reveal his location to anyone.”
Shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot, Pete summarized, “So you need a babysitter.”
McDonald gave a crack of laughter. “Pretty much.”
“Fuck off.” Trevor was scowling at Pete. “I told you, I can take care of myself a hell of a lot better than the shit job these morons managed.”
“Watch yourself,” McDonald ordered, his smile dropping away. He gave Trevor a stern glare. “What good’ll it do if you disappear again?”
8
Hide Out
Trevor shrugged. “Staying alive is good.”
“And not testify?” McDonald scowled when the other man shrugged again, this time with less certainty. “You gonna run away from your dad all your life then? Why not just give up a few months of your life and get this done? Then you’ll be free.”
Although he didn’t answer, Trevor’s scowl had lightened a little. McDonald looked at Pete. “What d’you say, Giordano? He can sleep on my couch for a couple days while you get your shit in order, then you can take him and go wherever. It’d be a cream job—seven months of nanny duty and the possibility of getting your shield at the end of it.”