Love at First Sight - By B. J. Daniels Page 0,10
I think something had happened that worried her and that was one reason she needed someone to talk to.”
“So, how did you end up at the Hotel Carlton?”
She grimaced. “Blind date.”
“I’ve had a few of those myself,” he said with a chuckle. “Only I’m usually the one who spills the wine rather than wears it.”
She looked up, her eyes met his. Angry, her eyes had been electric blue. Now though, they reminded him of the waters of a high mountain lake filled with summer reflections. She smiled. Killer smile when she wasn’t trying to look innocent. Something hot arced across the table between them. Or maybe it was just the spring sunshine and her smile. She had a kind of sex appeal beyond the cute lightly freckled face, the perky full breasts, the shapely butt, the muscled legs. This was not your typical Girl Next Door. He had a feeling she wasn’t your typical anything.
She continued her story right up to the scene in the hotel hallway between the mystery man and Liz Jones.
“What did he look like?” Jack asked, excited that he’d have something to give to Denny. Not that Detective Kirkpatrick deserved anything after the trick he’d played on Jack that morning, getting him out of bed at daybreak.
“Average height, brown hair, medium build,” Karen said. “His face was shaded by a baseball cap.”
“You just described half the guys in the United States.”
“I know,” she groaned. “I just saw him for a second. Then later in silhouette.”
Jack took another shot at it. “What about the way he was dressed?”
“Blue jeans, jean jacket, baseball cap.”
Dressed like that, he’d be Joe Blow Invisible in Montana.
Jack tried not to let his disappointment show. She seemed so anxious to help. “Anything about him strike you as odd or unusual?”
She thought for a moment, then shook her head. “There must have been something or I wouldn’t have recognized him again this morning.”
Jack wished he could be sure about that. But he couldn’t even be sure she’d been chasing the right guy. There were always mug-shot books. Or a police artist. But he doubted either would be productive. She couldn’t provide enough for a good composite, let alone pick him out strictly from a more than likely outdated mug shot.
“You believe he was her secret lover?” Jack asked. “The one from the personals?”
Karen nodded. “I’d put money on it.”
A betting woman. Wouldn’t Denny love her? He clamped his jaw down on the thought.
“Why?” he asked, curious, since he suspected she didn’t take her bets lightly.
She proceeded to tell him about Liz’s message on her answering machine.
“What’s eerie about it is that at the same time Liz was calling me to tell me she’d found out who he really was, I was coming down the hallway. She was expecting him. On the tape, I heard a knock at the door and she said something like, ‘That’s him now.’
“Add to that the way she greeted him at the hotel, trying to slap him, and his reaction, pushing her into the room as if he didn’t want anyone to hear their conversation or to see them together,” she concluded.
“You think he’s married?”
“Seems likely, huh?”
He finished his coffee. It was time to turn all of this over to his partner. And time for Jack Adams to get on with his so-called vacation. Denny could handle it from here. So why was Jack dragging his feet? Did he even have to ask? He smiled to himself. At thirty-four he knew himself pretty well.
“We need to get you, your information and that message on your answering-machine tape to Detective Kirkpatrick at the police department,” Jack said finally.
She nodded. “You’re not on the case?”
He laughed and looked down at his clothing. “I’m actually on vacation.” Kind of.
She smiled. “You must be very dedicated, chasing speeders on your vacation.”
He almost told her about seeing her at the Hotel Carlton, about making a bet with himself about her, about thinking there was something interesting and suspicious about her, about picking up the coffee-stained napkin she’d dropped and following her. “Just a chance encounter,” he said.
“Just my luck.”
He wasn’t sure how to take that, but she was smiling.
He met her gaze and almost laughed at the tension that sparked between them. Sexual tension? It had been so long he almost didn’t recognize it. Almost.
“What now?” she asked, her eyes large and expectant.
Several thoughts leaped to mind. He wondered if she had plans for later tonight. Except later tonight, he’d be frying freshly caught fish