Strong, Sleek and Sinful - By Lorie O'Clare Page 0,62
a bad guy, though. He’ll simmer down quickly.”
“I’ve got a temper, too,” she said, not apologizing. “And I don’t like being told how to do my job.”
She turned from Paul, unlocking her car, and threw her purse over to the passenger seat.
Paul held her car door when she slid behind the wheel. “I’ve got the live feed running surveillance on your home,” he began, suddenly sounding awkward.
Kylie remembered Perry telling her he wanted to see her surveillance equipment. “Yeah? And?” she said, knowing where this was heading.
Paul sighed. “If it’s any consolation, when John questioned Chief Radisson about Perry Flynn the Chief got all hot under the collar, too. If there’s a bad seed in his department, the Chief is putting his neck on the line swearing it’s not Flynn. Apparently he gave him the Kathleen Long case today.”
“Okay,” Kylie said, managing to sound indifferent. If Perry was assigned the same case she was, though, they were going to start crossing paths a lot more often. She hated not being able to come forth with him. “If he did that, why is John all bent out of shape about him? You’d think if the police trusted one of their men enough to put him on this case, we could work together.”
“You could suggest it to John. He seems hell-bent and determined not to trust anyone down at the station, though. He damn near got into a screaming match over the phone earlier with the Chief for putting Flynn on the case.” Paul shook his head, letting go of her car door and taking a step backward. “If it’s any consolation, from what I’m seeing, Flynn seems to be more in your corner than out of it.”
When she looked up at Paul, he looked away, apparently unwilling to admit he’d seen her kiss Flynn. She needed to find out if every room in her home was bugged. “I’ve got a criminal to catch. Is there anything else?”
“Actually, there is. What are you doing now?”
“I thought I’d get online and see if I can’t get Mr. Pete to give me a rain check.”
“Good. When you get him online, call me. I’m going to run a check through all city office computers and find out who is online when he’s talking to you.”
“Good idea.”
“Some advice?”
“What?” She glanced up his slender body, not built up at all like Perry was, although Paul wasn’t a bad-looking guy. She smiled, still feeling irked over her lecture from John, but seeing Paul was doing his best to be diplomatic.
“Go somewhere other than your house so that you aren’t . . .” He hesitated, staring down at his shoes. “So you aren’t interrupted.”
She fought not to smile when Paul blushed. “Maybe I’ll find a good coffee shop and set up camp there for a while and work off my laptop. But I’ll call you once I’m online.”
Kylie leaned back in the black metal chair while nursing a damn good mocha latte. The richly flavored aroma drifted around her face as she licked her lips. She stared at her laptop and her buddy list. PeteTakesU wasn’t online.
In spite of the years she had behind her on the job, sitting and waiting and doing nothing was damn hard. More than likely John also viewed the live feed from her house. He saw her kissing Perry. And it was more than just a kiss. She raised her gaze to the street in front of the coffeehouse Paul had suggested. Kylie was the only one sitting on the brick patio in front of the small café. Across the street, a new-wave bookstore seemed to do a decent amount of business. There was a buy, sell, and trade record and game store next to it. On the corner, cars drove in and out of a gas station. Business as usual for a growing, progressive town and suburb of an even larger city.
Where were the cameras in her house? She knew there was one in the living room and two out front. But she wasn’t aware of any that were installed in the back end of her home. It actually surprised her that she didn’t pay closer attention to where Paul had installed them. In her defense, she’d been busy as well that evening, working to get her computer going and setting up passwords and screen names. It had been a normal day preparing for undercover work, and one she would do exactly the same if she were to do it again. But then