And somehow, while Seth was focused on protecting Rebecca and making his case against the Wolfes, Sarah Cartwright had wandered into the mess. Shed been paying several visits to the casino over the past couple of weeks. Seth had monitored her comings and goings as best he could without drawing attention to the personal
connection between them. But tonight, with evidence falling into place, a killer to subdue and a crime scene to secure, Seth had lost track of his sister.
It could be nothing, Seth continued. But I dont want to take any chances. I have to get to the hospital.
You hurt?
Nah.
Rebecca?
Not as badly as the other woman. But I want to make sure Bec has a doctor look at her injuries. You should have seen her, Coop. You should have heard her telling him where to stick it. Remind me never to pick a fight with her. There was an uncharacteristic catch in his voice. It was part admiration, part fear. I just need to know shes okay.
As much as he needed to know his sister was okay, too.
Go. Coop wasnt about to fail him now. You take care of Rebecca. Ill track down Sarah for you.
Keep her safe.
Ill keep her safe, Coop promised.
He hung up and merged into the light traffic on I-70 that would take him into the heart of downtown Kansas City, just a few blocks south of Sarahs restored loft in the City Market district. It was the most sensible place to start. If he discovered anything more sinister than Sarahs phone being left off the hook so she could get a good nights sleep, then hed be at the starting point to retrace her steps for the night.
Cooper Bellamys job was to ghost his partner. If that backup meant standing in as big brother while Seth dealt with trouble at the casino, then so be it.
He made it to Sarahs neighborhood in twenty minutes. It took him another five to locate the converted warehouse and connected parking garage Seth had described. Coop circled the garage until he found her car, then pulled up beside it and got out. He laid a hand on the hood of her sporty Ford Focus. Still warm. So the prodigal sister had been out on the town until the wee hours of the morning.
Good for you, kid. She deserved to have a little fun without reporting every move to Seth. Chances were shed gone straight to bed, and checking on her now would only wake her. Still, a promise was a promise. For Seths peace of mindand, therefore, his ownCoop needed to see Sarah Cartwright with his own eyes so he could report that she was okay. He crossed through the glassed-in walkway over the street to the former warehouse-turned-apartment building.
The lobby here on the second floor was just as empty and quiet as the closed architectural firm on the first floor below him. Bypassing the noise of the 1930s-era elevator, Coop hit the stairs and climbed the two flights to Sarahs floor.
By the time he reached the tomblike silence of the fourth floor, Coop felt the first measure of suspicion. Why was it so quiet in Sarahs building? There were plenty of vehicles in the parking garage to account for several of the apartments in this block. Shouldnt he at least hear boards settling? A loud snore from a neighbor? Water running through the pipes or central air kicking on and off? Or was the top floor so well-insulatedso isolatedthat sound didnt carry up here?
Coop scraped his palm over the late-night stubble shading his jaw. What was a single woman doing, living alone in this big empty place where there were no neighbors to run to for help, no one to hear her in the middle of a night like this, even if she screamed?
Hurrying his pace, Coop quickly reached the single, sliding steel door marked 400. He raised his fist and knocked. Sarah? He pushed the buzzer, then knocked a little harder, hating how his random observations about the building had spooked him into this wary state. Why the hell wasnt she answering the door? Maybe Seth had been right to be concerned. Despite the apartments fortresslike design, he wouldnt want one of his own sisters to be so cut off from the rest of the world. He pounded. Sarah!
The door slid open beneath his fist.
Coop? What are you doing here?
Dropping his hand to his side, he swept his gaze over all five feet and not much more of Sarah Cartwright.
Ah, hell. The summery scents of peaches and mango drifted up to his nose, igniting a decidedly nonbrotherly awareness of the woman standing in the doorway. She wore a modest pair of pajamas, with one of those strappy knit tops, and plaid pants that were rolled up at the ankle.
But it was the damp spots clinging to the tops of her small breasts and the flat of her stomach that made the whole package so unexpectedly sexy. Shed come straight from the shower, looking fresh-scrubbed and fragile and utterly femininefrom the damp, darkened strands of her towel-dried hair to the pink painted nails on her tiny bare feet.
For a couple of heartbeats, Cooper forgot why he was standing at this door in the shadows before dawn. It was always like this for him, and
it always took him a second to come up with the right teasing line to remind him that this was his partners sister he was lusting after.