Love at First Sight - By B. J. Daniels Page 0,15
as a compliment as they walked to her car. “Got that kind of face, I guess.”
No, actually, few men had such a classically handsome face and she was sure he knew it. She shook her head. “No, I know you from somewhere. You look very familiar.”
His grin faded a little. He shot a look at Jack.
Jack put her bag in her car and looked over at her, his expression dark as if he suspected it was some kind of pickup line.
Right. She told herself Jack would be singing a different tune when she remembered where she’d seen Denny before. “Don’t worry. It will come to me,” she assured both detectives. “I’m good with faces. I always remember.” Eventually.
JACK DROVE KAREN to Denny’s favorite bar in her Honda, while Denny took the Jeep and a different route. Jack picked up the tail a couple of blocks from Karen’s apartment. With relief, he didn’t notice anyone else following them.
Denny led them through the back entrance and down a set of stairs to a small conference room in the basement. Jack took a seat across the table from Karen, wondering what he was still doing here. Denny could definitely handle it from here on out. In fact, the best thing Jack could do, careerwise, was to clear out now.
“Interesting place to interrogate witnesses,” Karen noted.
“It’s a safe place.” Denny set the tape recorder on the table but didn’t turn it on. “And right now the fewer people who know about you the better.”
She nodded. “I understand the situation I’m in. The killer must be worried about me or he wouldn’t have called my number from the murder scene.”
Smart woman, Jack thought.
“How did he get your number?” Denny asked.
“I figure he either overheard Liz leaving a message on Karen’s answering machine or he found the number on the napkin beside the hotel phone or a combination of the two,” Jack said.
“You think he’s afraid she told me something?” Karen asked.
Who knows what the man was hiding, Jack thought. “Possibly.”
“I would imagine he wants to tie up any loose ends,” Denny said. “You’re a loose end.” He reached over and turned on the tape recorder.
Jack sat listening to Karen retell her story, realizing he wasn’t going anywhere until he knew she was safe.
When she’d finished, she asked, “What now?”
“You go somewhere safe while the department tries to find the guy,” Denny told her.
“For how long?” she asked anxiously.
Denny shook his head.
“What if you don’t find him?” she asked, sitting up a little straighter. “I have work. I have responsibilities.”
Denny reached over and turned off the tape recorder. “There might be another way.”
Jack had a feeling he wasn’t going to like this.
“What?” Karen asked, sounding interested and making Jack all that more leery.
“You say Liz met this guy through a newspaper personals ad,” Denny began. “It’s a long shot, but what if you were to put—”
“An ad in the personals,” she said, jumping on it. “That’s a great idea.”
“It’s a stupid idea,” Jack interrupted but neither of them seemed to be listening.
“It would have to be something that he’d recognize, maybe might even be looking for,” Denny said. “Such as, ‘I saw you at the Hotel Carlton Saturday night. You saw me. I know everything. I think we’d better talk, don’t you?’”
“Right,” Karen agreed. “Bluff.”
“Run an ad for a murderer?” Jack demanded, loud enough he got their attention. Just when he thought the woman might have some sense. “Great idea,” he said getting to his feet. “Right up there with chasing the killer in your Honda.”
“Excuse me, but if you have a better idea, let’s hear it,” she snapped back.
“Give the police a chance to find him?” Jack suggested.
“I’m not stopping the police from finding him,” she said. “I’m just not going to sit around waiting for the killer to find me first. I have to do something.”
“She’s right, Jack.”
“Stay out of this, Denny,” Jack warned. It might be Denny’s case, but he and Jack both knew he had no business suggesting this to Karen. Cops didn’t put their witnesses in danger. Not good cops, anyway. What was Denny thinking?
Jack leaned toward her, his palms on the table. “You can’t even be sure that the killer is the mystery man or even the man you saw with Liz.”
“Then what would it hurt to run the ad?” she said.
Her logic scared him. “But if you’re right and he’s the killer, then you’re talking about threatening a man who has already killed once. Even a woman with your