To Trust a Cop

“Not everyone worships money. I don’t need material things, Annie. They’re not important.”

“Please.” She held up her hand. “You talk like some wigged-out new age guru when I know what you really like is to watch grown men bash each other’s heads in on Sunday afternoons. But that’s only if you’re not at work trying to arrest felons and bash heads yourself.”

“I’m sorry you think so little of police work,” Cody said in his most wounded tone.

“It’s not that.” She sighed. “Cody, you don’t have anything to prove. No one thinks you’re going to end up like Dad. And buying a few nice things wouldn’t mean you’re greedy.”

“I’m happy with what I’ve got.”

“Hey, it’s me, your sister. I know how badly you want kids. If you don’t settle down and get married, you’ll never have them.”

“I’m twenty-nine. I’ve got plenty of time.” He closed his eyes. He’d had this conversation with his sister too many times. Hell, yes, he wanted kids, but she didn’t get how hard his job was on a relationship. Or how important his job was to him.

“Did you at least give her my soup?”

“Yes, I gave her your soup. She enjoyed every drop.” An image of Merlene placing her delightful lips around a spoon loaded with veggies flashed into his mind. He’d enjoyed every drop right along with her.

Annie nodded. “Good. Now call her up and ask her out.” She tugged on her thin, straight blond locks. “I’d give anything for hair like that.”

He stood, now pushing away a mental image of Merlene wrapping dark hair around a long, graceful finger. Annie wasn’t providing a distraction. She was making him think about Merlene even more.

Call her up and ask her out? If he did, would she accept?

He stood. “It’s been a rough day, Annie. I’m sorry, but I’ve got to get some shut-eye.”

Annie rose beside him. “I hate that we’ve thrown you out of your bed. Are you sure?”

“I’m sure. Go to sleep.”

She grinned at him. “You don’t fool me, Cody. You just don’t want to listen to me nag anymore.”

“You got that right. See you in the morning, Annie.”

“I hope you don’t have one of your horrible nightmares tonight.”

“Good night, Annie.”

“You should buy a condo,” she said, moving to the bedroom. “You can’t rent forever.”

* * *

MERLENE REACHED FOR her video camera when a dark-colored sedan pulled into Doc Johnson’s driveway. She glanced at her watch. Almost midnight.

Definitely not Linda’s BMW, but she’d record the license plate for Cody. She zoomed in on the rear of the car until she got a good image of the numbers as the car doors opened.

Two men dressed in dark slacks and casual jackets exited the vehicle and moved toward the front door. Merlene lost them when they moved behind a hibiscus hedge.

She lowered the camera. Strange. Who would visit Doc Johnson in the middle of the night? She’d planned to leave in another few minutes.

She jotted the plate number and a description of the vehicle in her notebook. Tomorrow she’d call Cody with the information.

He’d still be furious with her for throwing him out of the car last night, but that was tough. The man knocked her rational brain patterns out of whack. She needed to stay away from him.

Why did she find Cody so bone-meltingly sexy? She doodled his name on the side of her notebook, then scratched it out. She’d be fine as long as she didn’t see him. Or think of him.

Her head jerked up when a loud crack sounded from the Johnson house. Then another, and another.

She froze, recognizing the noise. Gunshots.

Her heart pounded inside her chest. When she remembered to breathe, her inhalation sounded shaky in the quiet of the car. What the hell was going on inside that house?

She picked up the video camera and refocused on the car in the Johnsons’ driveway. The same two men rushed toward the vehicle as Merlene hit the record button.

One carried a gun.

Her mind racing, she continued to record as the sedan careened out of the driveway and raced north on Granada Avenue. The car skidded while making a sharp left turn, bounced off a street marker, then disappeared.

Merlene lowered the camera, took a deep, painful breath, then exhaled with a whoosh. She glanced back at the house.

She had to call the police. This was one time when she had no choice. Still...she hesitated. Every time the cops got involved in her life, disaster followed.

If she called the police, it would blow her surveillance of Dr. Johnson clear to Missouri...but she had to do something. She couldn’t just sit here and ignore what she heard and saw.

One of the men had waved a pistol. What if he’d shot somebody? Like Dr. Johnson.

She dug in her console for Cody’s card.

He answered on the third ring with a groggy “Hello.”

“Cody, wake up. Something’s happened.”

“Merlene?”

“Yes,” she whispered. “I—”

“What’s wrong? Where the hell are you?”

“I’m in front of Doc Johnson’s house and—”

Merlene paused as she heard a female voice questioning him in the background. Cody told the woman to go back to sleep.

Damn, a woman was with him. She shut her eyes. What the hell was she thinking to call Cody? She knew better.

“What’s going on?” Now Cody sounded wide-awake.

“Never mind,” she said. “I shouldn’t have—”

“Talk to me, Merlene.”

“I think someone just shot Dr. Johnson.”

* * *

CODY RACED FROM his apartment in West Miami to Coral Gables, barely slowing down as he sped through intersections. Merlene had sounded terrified, the first time he’d ever heard anything but bravado in her voice.

All he could think about was getting to her.

Johnson’s neighborhood remained quiet as he pulled up beside her Toyota. He’d monitored the Gables police frequency, and no one else had called in a disturbance.

He eased himself into the tiny seat beside her.

“Thanks for coming,” she said, eyes wide, cellular phone in her right hand.

“Let me hear it again,” Cody said.

She related the story exactly the same way the second time.

“What if he’s in there bleeding to death?” She closed her eyes. “I should have called 911.”

Cody placed his hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “Hey, take it easy.”

Her chest rose as she inhaled deeply. “You didn’t hear that loud crack. You didn’t see those men run away.”

He released her and opened the car door. “I’ll check it out. Wait here.”

Exiting the car, he wondered why the hell he was bending the rules for Merlene. He’d known her...what? Less than a week and he was about to peer in the front window of Dr. Richard Johnson’s house, a man that two days ago was the subject of an investigation he’d been abruptly ordered to terminate. He’d played it strictly by the book for years and now—

A car door closed behind him. Cody whirled around.

“I told you to wait in the car,” he growled as Merlene moved close. A flicker of distrust flashed through her eyes, an expression he’d analyze later.

“I’ll make a better witness if I see what’s going on. Besides, you might need me.” She clutched her cell phone as if it were a lifeline.

He stared into her stubborn face and couldn’t think of how to dissuade her.

“This is my client’s house. I have her permission,” Merlene insisted. She dug in her pocket and held up a key. “I’ve never used it, but Pat gave me this just in case.”

“You have a key to this house?”

“So it’s not trespassing, is it?”

He shook his head. “I don’t even want to think about that.”

He turned and moved through the front yard. Merlene stayed with him.

“Do you think we’ll be able to see anything through the front window?” she whispered near his ear. “There’s a light on in the foyer.”

He held up his hand to slow her down, then edged forward. “We won’t need your key. The door is wide-open.”

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