When Twilight Comes - By B. J. Daniels Page 0,29

startled reaction.

She didn’t date a lot. She never went home with a man on the first date. Mike had been the exception, and at the time she’d had her reasons.

That was three months ago. Destiny or not, she’d been trying to put it behind her ever since. Which would have been easy if that night hadn’t been wonderful. More than wonderful. And if Mike Flannigan hadn’t kept calling, trying to get her to go out with him.

Their one night together, she’d left right after he’d fallen asleep. Had called a cab from outside and gone home to her own bed. He’d phoned the next day. She’d thanked him, but made it clear it had been a one-night thing. He’d called again a few times, asked her to dinner, suggested maybe they could date, suggested the one night together had meant more than she wanted to admit. She’d been tempted. Oh God, had she been tempted.

“It’s been awhile,” he said now, tossing the wrap into its plastic container and leaning back in his chair.

She had the feeling she’d just ruined his lunch. “I need to know why Jenna Dante hired you.” It was a shot in the dark, but she saw she’d hit her target.

One brow shot up. Part of Mike Flannigan’s appeal was his sense of humor. That and his blond good looks.

“You really think I’m going to tell you?” he asked with a disbelieving grin as she stepped into the room and closed the door behind her.

“Jenna’s in trouble. Her ex paid me a visit this morning. It seems his plan was to take me for a ride. Judging by the gun he was holding, I don’t think he planned to bring me back. He mentioned that he’d see both me and his ex in hell. She might already be dead for all I know. I’m hoping not. If she is still alive, I have to find her. Warn her.”

“Warn her?” Mike studied Rose for a moment, his expression serious. He let out a curse. “You tried to get her to turn state’s evidence and you think Lorenzo found out.” It wasn’t a question.

“She didn’t know enough about Lorenzo’s business, so I cut her loose.” Rose glanced away, unable to meet his eyes. If Lorenzo had found out, then he’d gotten the information from someone in the department. It was no secret that Lorenzo had some pull down there.

Mike swore again. “As if Jenna Dante wasn’t in enough trouble.” He sounded angry with Rose. No more than she was with herself. But it had been her job to get close to Jenna Dante, find out if she could help put Lorenzo away. Rose should have known the department would pull off the officer keeping tabs on Jenna.

Rose met Mike’s gaze, her chin going up as she straightened into her tough-gal cop persona. “We could do this the hard way. I could subpoena her file, have you thrown in jail if you don’t give it up….” She stepped closer and placed both hands on his desk, leaning toward him. She could smell the wrap. Turkey and Swiss with cream cheese, avocado, sprouts. She would never have taken Mike for a sprouts man. “If she’s still alive, I’m going to find her and help her. You going to make this easy for me?”

“I thought you were on medical leave,” he said. “Something about a stab wound?”

He’d been keeping track of her? “It healed. My official leave unofficially ended this morning with Lorenzo’s visit.”

Mike shook his head and leaned back, studying her. “Lorenzo took the kid. There’d been other times when he’d ‘forgotten’ to return her after visitations. The police department gave him a warning. The court ordered that all visitations be supervised. So he swiped the kid from her bed in the middle of the night. He didn’t even bother to hide. Just took the girl back to that estate where he and Jenna had lived together. He knew Jenna’s hands were tied. The cops had backed off. The courts really couldn’t protect her or her daughter. Not from a man like Lorenzo Dante. I offered to help her, but she wanted to do it on her own—”

It was Rose’s turn to shake her head. “On her own against a man like Lorenzo?” What the hell had Jenna been thinking? Did she really believe she was any kind of match for a man like him? “Have you heard from her?”

Mike frowned. “She told me she’d send me a check. That was