Fossen Delores - Veiled Intentions стр 4.

a little profanity of her own. She flipped open the too-familiar leather case and read the name aloud.

Joseph Rico.

Sergeant Joe Rico, he clarified. And with that announcement, he turned back around to face her. Homicide. S.A.P.D.

Her breath landed somewhere around that knot in her stomach.

Katelyn shook her head. The badge had to be a fake. Except it wasnt. She scratched it with her thumbnail, or rather tried to. It was as real as the one in her purse. Still, there was something off here. Impossible. I work Homicide, and Ive never seen you before in my life.

Because I was just assigned there. He enunciated each word as if she were mentally deficient. By the chief of police.

Judas Priest. That bit of information cleared the buzz in her head. Katelyn wasnt sure exactly where this was leading, but she knew for a fact that she wouldnt like its final destination.

Joe Rico calmly picked up his gun from the floor and reholstered it. Somehow, he managed to look cocky even while doing that little chore. No hurried moves. No overt display of emotion.

Well, Detective Katelyn OMalley, Id say we have a problem. A problem with you being here because this isnt your case. Why am I so certain of that? He aimed his thumb at his chest. Because its mine.

Katelyn hadnt thought this moment could possibly get more frustratingor embarrassingbut she was obviously wrong.

Yours? she demanded.

Mine. Sergeant Rico muscled her out of the doorway and turned to leave, delivering the rest of his news from over his shoulder. Oh, and by the way, Im your new boss.

Chapter Two

He was sorry to say the frisking had been more enjoyable than it should have been.

Far more.

The chief assigned you this case? Katelyn OMalley asked, following him.

Since hed already made that perfectly clear, and since he detected some resentment in her voice, he surmised that shed heard him correctly but wasnt in agreement with the chiefs decision.

Joe stopped at the edge of the narthex and pressed the transmitter of the communication device hidden in his jacket. Did anyone come in the church in the past three minutes? he asked the backup officer who was positioned in an office building directly across the street.

No.

So theyd been lucky. Katelyn OMalleys stunt hadnt allowed the sniper to walk in unchallenged. Of course, if the killer followed the method of operation of the last shooting, he or she wouldnt burst into the church until the I dos had been said. Thered be a frenzied battery of gunfire from a ski-mask-wearing shooter who wouldnt actually enter the sanctuary but would stay in the narthex and then make an easy getaway. Just the way itd happened to the victims, Gail Prescott and Raul Hernandez.

Joe clicked off the transmitter and glanced back at Detective OMalley.

She was staring at him as if he were a member of the fungus family.

Too bad he couldnt say the same for her.

She was attractive. Damn attractive. Not like a beauty queen either, but in a strong, athletic, kick-butt sort of way. The girl-next-door meets Buffy type.

The type he found attractive.

And no amount of denial would make his body think otherwise. Fortunately, the parts of his body that noticed her attractive looks didnt have any say in the decisions he made.

Theres been some kind of mistake. She jammed her gun back into her holster. After the initial investigator dropped out because of family illness, I requested this case, and I was told my request was under consideration.

It was, Joe calmly assured her. But the considering part is finished now, and Im the lead investigator. End of discussion.

There was nothing calm about her response. He saw some fire dance through ultraclear, cool green eyes. Hed obviously stepped on her toes, toes encased very nicely in a pair of sex-against-the-wall stilettos.

Something else about her that he truly wished he hadnt noticed.

Joe quickly pushed that, her physical attributes and the remnants of the frisking aside. What the devil was wrong with him anyway? Even if hed been looking to spice up his love life, he darn sure wouldnt have been looking in Katelyn OMalleys direction.

I knew the woman who was killed last week, she added.

As if that would help her cause.

Gail Prescott, Joe supplied. You

went to high school with her and youve maintained occasional contact with her and her family. You probably would have attended her wedding even if you hadnt been on a stakeout. Your relationship with the victim, however, doesnt give you priority in this investigation. In fact, it does just the opposite. I dont care to work with an officer who comes into a case with a personal chip on his or her shoulder.

She unclenched her teeth before she could speak. Theres no personal chip, Sergeant. Just my desire to bring a killer to justice.

Good. Then, were in agreement. I have that same desire, but that doesnt mean Ill allow you to be part of this case. But the moment the words left his mouth, Joe remembered a vital point that had come to mind. By the way, whyd you stake out this particular church?