Chapter 11

• Reid walked back into the office and stopped as soon as he’d seen the expression on Jacinda’s face. She was standing behind his desk. He hadn’t closed the file on his desktop.
• Brent walked over to him wincing and quickly took the one mug from him. “I’ll, uh—be back.”
• He watched him almost run from the room. Coward, he thought with a smirk.
• “I’m researching, trying to find a lead—for you, and you’re researching my past?”
• Okay, so it sounded bad when she put it like that. “I like to know who I’m working with.” He set the cups down on the table, safely away from the angry woman. She was definitely angry, no guarding that emotion from showing.
• She stepped around his desk. “Then ask!” She hissed at him.
• She stood there glaring at him with her hands on her hips, almost daring him to push her further. And the part he had trouble swallowing was she looked so appealing, he wanted to go over and hug her. His own thoughts jolted him into action. He walked with long strides over behind his desk. Appealing? Where had that insane thought come from? She looked like she was going to rip his head off and hand it to him. “Why did you move away?”
• She flung a hand towards this computer monitor. “Can’t you read? I’d helped convict the son of a very powerful man and didn’t want to spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder.”
• He frowned at the article on his screen and then looked over at her. Asking was making her angrier. “Is that why you changed your last name?”
• She put her hands back on her hips and dropped her head down to look at the floor. “Partially, Brown is a very common name and looks much neater on a business card than Brown-Straton.”
• Every word she spoke came out in a clipped controlled voice. He was sinking here. “Why do you avoid people?” Her head popped up and brown eyes burned into him.
• “I do what?”
• “Avoid people; you walk through a room making sure you’re close to no one.”
• Her eyebrows shot up. “Do you like being close to strangers, Detective?”
• He jammed both hands into his pockets and shook his head.
• “Are we finished?” When he nodded, she spun and grabbed her purse heading towards the door. Brent was just stepping through it. “I’m going to get some air.” She snapped as she moved past him.
• Brent rolled his head towards his stupefied looking partner. “That went well.”
• Reid blew out a breath. “Yeah.”
• Brent looked back out the door she’d stormed through. “Maybe, you should go try to fix it?”
• Reid shrugged.
• Brent grinned and walked over to stand in front of him. “Okay, setting aside that whole pride thing, which you seem to have gotten more than anyone’s share of, she has gotten us further with this case in two days then we’ve gotten in a month.” Reid just stood there and looked at him. “And the Captain will hit the ceiling if she walks out when the Chief, Mayor and all those other big guys find out she quit because you’re an ass.”
• Reid grinned to that. “Well, they all know that, so that shouldn’t be too shocking.” He let out a deep breath. “I’ll go talk to her.” He unclipped his gun and set it on the desk.
• Brent smirked. “Is that so you don’t shoot her or so she doesn’t beat you with it?” Reid gave him an annoyed look and walked out. “Bit of both,” he mumbled to himself.
• Jac stood there leaning against the wall with her hands tucked in her pockets. That’s wonderful, having a little tantrum. Stupid man. The part that would bother her the most would be that she’d lied again. Okay, there was truth in her answers, but she was so tired of having to lie to hide what she could do.
• She remembered the strange looks people gave her when they realized. They ranged from complete disbelief to looking at her like she was some sort of mutated monster. She almost preferred those that thought she was insane and needed to be medicated.
• She sighed and pulled her phone from her pocket. Times like this called for one thing. She quickly sent a message to her favorite head doctor and waited for a reply. She grinned as the message came immediately. ‘session with unorthodox method of alcoholic beverages, tonight, my place’
• Where would she be without Sandy?
• Reid strolled to the side of the building; hoping she was still close by. An apology would be harder if he had to chase her down. Apology? That was something he didn’t do often. Why had he been in such an off mood lately? Was it the endless dead ends in the case? No, cases didn’t affect him like this. He stopped walking suddenly. It started from the moment he walked into her office to see her surfing on a chair. He smirked, watching her twist and wiggle her curvy little body hadn’t been too difficult to take. Things turned rocky the moment she had opened her mouth to speak. Since when did a female affect him like this? Shaking his head, he walked to the corner of the building.
• She was leaning against the back corner smiling at her phone. He hoped this was a good sign he wouldn’t get kicked when he invaded her moment. It was hard to tell with most women though, so he approached her with caution.
• Stuffing the phone in her pocket she watched him walk towards her with a cautious look on her face.
• When he got close enough, she straightened. “Don’t apologize please.” He slowed his pace and studied her. “I know you’d somehow turn it around to blaming your profession and make me appear like an overreacting twit, so an apology you don’t mean is just going to upset the balance more.”
• He stopped and looked down at her. “Technically, it does lead back to my profession, not to mention how rare, if not strange it is, to have someone without a list of degrees a mile long tacked onto their name working so closely with us.”
• She smirked. “I’m almost positive you’d check out the degree holders’ backgrounds too.” He offered her a shrug. “I’m really trying not to invade your space detective.” She took her phone back out of her pocket and looked at it before putting it back. “This is just as far out of my comfort zone as it is yours.”
• He frowned. That was it right there. His comfort zone. He actually felt uncomfortable and awkward in her presence. He ran a hand over his scruffy face, and then looked down at her somberly. “I am sorry I dredged up your past.” He let out a long breath. “I get why you’re upset by it.” He held up a hand when she started to speak. “But in self-defense, people in my profession end up dead if they’re not suspicious of others.”
• She bit her lip giving him a thoughtful moment. “I’m sorry I flipped out.” She looked in his eyes. “I’ve had to do a lot of explaining and defending my every step and you happened to hit a real sore spot.”
• He pulled the phone from his pocket when it buzzed but didn’t answer it. “I really didn’t intend to stir anything up.” He watched a breeze blow the dark hair she’d freed across her face. He completely forgot what he was planning to say next as he watched her pull the long hair to one side and look back up at him. He grinned. “So, are we good now?”
• She smiled. “You’re still buying dinner.”
• He laughed.
• “Don’t either of you answer your phones?”
• Both turned to look at an exasperated Brent.
• He waved a piece of paper at them. “We’ve got the name.” He stopped and looked at Jac then grinned at his partner. “And dinner is on you.”
• Jac grabbed the page from his hand. “I was right?” She looked at them. “I was right. Internet dating site, Love Quest Dating.” She smirked.
• Reid dropped a hand down on her shoulder. “Keep this up and the Captain is going to be giving you a badge.”
• She stepped back and grinned. “Or your job.” With that she quickly headed back toward the front of the building.
• Brent pursed his lips together and turned to him. “Ha!” He started walking in the direction she’d gone. “She just keeps getting better all the time.”
• Despite the smile on his face, Reid growled at the other man. “Shut up. We have work to do.”