Truth & Lies: A Queen City Justice Novel (13 page)

Ryan picked up Deck’s foot and pressed until Deck’s knee met his chest. “You need to stretch it slowly and take all the joints through a full range of motion. Deck will tell you if you’re hurting him. And if he doesn’t tell you, he has a terrible poker face, so just watch for him to do that.” He flexed Deck’s foot a little harder, and Deck winced.

Ryan showed her a few more stretches.

Finally, he let Deck up off the table. “Deck is almost to the point where he can exchange his forearm crutch for a regular cane.”

“That’s good, no?”

“I think it’s great. However, before he can do that, he needs to get a little better balance.” He helped Deck up onto a tiny half yoga ball. “These are kind of fun, but having him stand on a couple of pillows would work almost as well.”

After a number of balancing exercises, it was time for the resistance training. It wasn’t long before sweat rolled in streams from Deck’s hair and down into his collar. He whipped his shirt off over his head and tossed it to the mat next to her.

Dana’s mouth went completely dry. In clothes, the man was beautiful, but his body was calendar worthy. One of the really beefcake ones.

His muscles were so well defined, he could be a dictionary.

As he moved through Ryan’s exercises, he arched his body toward her, and she caught sight of the tattoo that covered his right shoulder, biceps, and right pec. It was done entirely in black and was comprised of a number of rounded blocks and thick swirls, and in the middle of his shoulder, the words “Death Before Dishonor” just above “Semper Fi” was written in the tribal design. Even against his tan complexion, the ink stood out in sharp contrast.

“Come on. Just five more.”

Lines of pain bracketed his mouth. She hated to see him hurting this much.

“Last one…”

Deck groaned as he finished it. Flat on his back, he rolled his head to the side to look up at her. “Time for that reward?” he asked.

Before he could ask a second time, she crawled across the mat to him, the curtain of her hair shielding them as she leaned down and brushed her lips lightly across his. For all the incinerating heat of their previous kisses, this one was tender.

Sweet.

Emotional.

It tightened her throat and burned the back of her eyes, but she didn’t pull away, for at that moment, Deck slid his fingers into the hair at the nape of her neck and drew her a bit closer.

She forgot that Ryan was probably watching, that they were in the middle of a gym with easily twenty other men and women working out. She almost even forgot the case, though it was still there at the back of her mind. There was just him and her, and the soft mingling of their breaths, and the tender passion between them.



Monday, December 1—10:00 p.m.

Near Indianapolis, Indiana

“Special Agent Rey Rodriguez. This is my partner, Special Agent Jack Falcon.” Jack and Rey flipped open their badges for the sleepy hotel night clerk’s inspection.

“We’re looking for a man named Michael Milton.” Rey withdrew the now-battered picture of Milton. It was battered because they’d been through this routine at every hotel in a twenty-five-mile radius. Milton’s habit was to take enough cash out of an ATM with his mother’s card that he could exist for about three days. Then he’d move to another city. He’d cashed out three hours ago less than ten miles from here.

“Have you seen this man?”

The clerk studied the photograph. He started to shake his head, then squinted harder, and Rey felt a little hope that they might have finally run him down. “Nope. Don’t recognize him.”

“Have you had any men paying cash rather than by credit card?” Jack asked.

“We don’t allow that,” the clerk said.

Rey sighed. “Thanks for your help,” he said.

“What now? We’ve checked every hotel on the north side of town. He could have headed north, to Chicago or south, back to Cincinnati. Or anywhere in between.”

“There’s got to be a better way to do this,” Jack said.

“Let’s head south of town and keep looking until twelve and then call it a night.”

“Do you think he might be taking money out right before he leaves town?”

Jack shrugged. “If that’s the case and he knows where he’s going, there’s no way we’re going to catch him.”

Rey pulled his phone off the holster on his belt, praying for a miracle that would lead them to Milton. “Fuck. My battery’s dead.” He scrubbed a hand across his aching eyes. “Let’s call and see if Emilie found out anything.”

Jack pulled out his cell and punched in the numbers. “Hiya, darlin’. You have anything for us?” He listened for a moment. “That’s real interesting.” Jack looked up at Rey. “We found the car he rented. Different credit card still.”

“And where is he?”

“Emilie put an APB out on the car.”

“LoJack?” Rey asked.

“I wish.”

“God, that would’ve been so much more effective than going from motel to motel. So what now?”

“What do you say to a full night’s sleep?” Jack suggested.

“Sounds good.”

They turned in tandem back to the clerk. “Can we get rooms for the night?”

It didn’t take long for them to register and take the elevator upstairs.

Jack slipped his keycard in the door next to Rey’s and turned to him. “You going to be ready to leave at seven?”

Rey nodded. “Yeah. What’s the likelihood that the APB will lead us to this bastard?”

“As long as he didn’t ditch the car, I’d say better than average. Think positive. At least we don’t have to talk to any more late-shift hotel clerks tonight.”

Thank God, because Rey didn’t know how much more he could take. This had been nothing but a waste of time.



Tuesday, December 2—5:00 p.m.

Oakley Neighborhood, Cincinnati, Ohio

“Where are you going?” Deck asked.

Dana looked up at Deck from underneath the bill of a ball cap she’d found in the front closet, taking her eyes off her hands, which were trying to hook the leash to Hvala’s collar. “Take dog for walk. You come?” She suspected he wouldn’t want to slow her down. Frankly, she could do with a run, but if he was willing to come with her, she’d be happy to keep her pace slow enough for him.

He hesitated for a long moment. “You don’t mind?”

She shook her head. “Pretty day.” It was too. The temperature had spiked into the upper fifties, high for December.

“I guess.”

He snagged his jacket from the hook by the door as they left. She let the dog have as much leash as he wanted as long as he stayed on the sidewalk and there weren’t any other pedestrians with dogs. She’d learned that lesson early on. If she didn’t want Hvala to take
her
for a walk, then she needed to let him have his head. Hvala ran back and forth from the end of his line to them every minute or so, giving them the opportunity for a leisurely stroll.

Deck seemed to be moving pretty smoothly today. “Leg okay?” she asked.

He nodded. “Yeah. Stretching it last night seemed to help a lot. It’s not nearly as sore as usual.”

She smiled up at him, and he took her hand and laced their fingers together. She was going to miss him. She didn’t have more than a few days left here. And soon after, he’d find out the truth.

God, he was going to hate her.

His big palm felt warm against hers. Warm and strong, a little rough from the calluses. Yet her much smaller hand fit in his perfectly. Just like every part of them seemed to fit together perfectly. Their bodies when they embraced, their lips when they kissed, and their hands when they were twined together.

Dana saw someone coming up the street with a chocolate lab, and she ducked her head. It was a little nerve-racking to be out here with Deck when she could easily run into someone from her own neighborhood, which was less than a mile away. She ran on this street pretty regularly. The people in Oakley were friendly. Maybe even too friendly. They all said hi and seemed to remember one another. Which was
bad
when you were trying to maintain cover as someone from another country. She reeled in Hvala, who’d started barking his fool head off at the other dog.

Fortunately, she didn’t know the owner. He nodded at Deck and Dana as he and his dog passed.

She thought she’d gotten away with her incognito act until she saw Keith, the neighbor who lived in the house across the street from her apartment building. They’d attended the same block party over the summer and had had dinner together with another neighbor a couple of times.

Dammit.

Hvala yanked at the leash, and, after determining there were no cars coming, she let him pull it from her hands.

She made an alarmed sound, released Deck’s hand, then trotted after the dog. Fortunately, Keith grabbed him as she caught up. Deck was still half a block behind. Under her breath, she said, “I’m undercover. Don’t recognize me, okay?”

He nodded. “Better be careful, miss. Don’t want your dog to get hit by a car.”

“Thank you,” she whispered.

She shook her head. She
had
to tell Deck the truth. She didn’t want him to hear it from someone else.

If only that wouldn’t be such a career killer.

Chapter Ten

Later that night in the shower, Dana was still contemplating if and how to tell Deck the truth about who she was. Was she willing to disobey a direct order? She knew in her bones Deck couldn’t possibly be DCT’s inside man at the police department.

Unfortunately, Sherwood didn’t yet know her well enough to trust her bones. And he never would trust her if she blabbed the truth.

Dammit.

As she shampooed her hair, she tried to imagine what Deck’s reaction would be to discovering she’d lied to him, if not now, then after the case was over and she could reveal her identity. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that a guy who broke off all ties with his family over a lie would probably not be overwhelmed with warm feelings for her given the number of lies she told in the course of an average day.

The hot water had not had its intended effect of soothing her nerves.

She rinsed her hair, then turned off the water and grabbed for a towel. She was tired but had a feeling she wouldn’t be able to sleep.

A loud noise came from beyond the hallway. She stilled the towel against her head and draped it over her neck to better identify the noise. Was Deck talking to someone on the phone? It was definitely a voice. She waited for a long moment until she heard it again. It was definitely Deck. It sounded like he was yelling.

She opened the bathroom door.

“No!”

Something clattered against the wood floor in his room.

She quickly slipped into her robe and eased down the hall, not certain whether she should disturb him. She missed having her weapon close at hand at times like these.

Had he fallen, or was there an intruder?

She listened carefully and heard nothing for a long moment. Then he called out again. “Corpsman!” His voice sounded garbled.

Must be a nightmare. Her tension drained slightly as she opened the door a crack and peeked in. Two lamps with bright bulbs blazed so she could easily see the entire room clearly. Something about him having to sleep with the lights on tugged at her heart.

“Deck?” she said from the doorway. He didn’t answer but thrashed around in bed again. The sheet had slipped low on his hips, tangled around his legs. A small night table was on its side, a clock on the floor next to it. Deck’s chest was bare. If he kicked those covers much more, she’d soon be aware of whether he was a pajamas or birthday-suit kind of sleeper.

“Deck,” she said again, this time a little louder. “Wake up. You’re having a nightmare.”

She winced. That had been perfect mid-Western English.

He mumbled something she couldn’t understand, and she moved across the room to sit on the side of the bed. To wake him or not? The man
was
a professional soldier. Waking him could have very unpleasant results.

On the other hand, leaving him to be tortured by his nightmares didn’t seem right either.

“Deck. It’s Dana. Wake up.” Slowly she reached out to touch his shoulder, keeping her touch as gentle and nonthreatening as possible. “Deck. You have nightmare,” she said, this time in a much more convincing Croatian accent.

“Dana,” he mumbled.

“Yes, Deck. It’s Dana.” His skin was warm and a little damp from his dream. He didn’t have any chest hair to speak of. His skin was smooth and tan. She traced the pattern of his tattoo, almost without meaning to do so.

“Need you,” he said.

She suspected he was still talking in his sleep. He snagged her around the waist and dragged her to him. She couldn’t get away if she wanted to. Unfortunately, she couldn’t convince herself that she actually wanted to. Her nose was buried against his chest. He smelled impossibly good.

Just push away, Yenichek. This way lies danger.

He nuzzled into her neck, and his breath against her throat caused chills to shoot down every nerve ending from the top of her head to her ankles. His other arm came around her, pinning her to his chest.

“Uh—Deck?”

“Dana?” His eyes snapped open.

“Hello,” she said. “You awake now?”

“What are you doing here?”

“You were having nightmare,” she said.

He closed his eyes for a long moment.

“That happen a lot?” she asked.

His eyes opened, but he focused his gaze over her shoulder. “Sometimes.” He shrugged.

Dana stroked her fingertips down the deep lines at the sides of his mouth. “Okay now?” she asked.

“Stay?” he asked, not answering her earlier question. Or maybe he had.

She suspected he wouldn’t have let himself ask if his dream hadn’t been a doozy. She wanted to say yes.
Needed
to say yes. But she couldn’t. Not until she told him the truth. It just wouldn’t be right. Not that she thought he was inviting her to do anything more than sleep.

“I—”

Before she could turn him down, he dipped his head to brush his lips across hers. She started to feel her resolve weaken. She really,
really
shouldn’t do this.