chief, the attack at the beginning of his watch was a personal and professional spit-in-the-eye.
Especially if his own department was implicated.
He met her gaze steadily. “No point in being uncomfortable. You want to give the station house coffee a shot?”
The memory of her words trembled between them. Offering you coffee is what got me into trouble in the first place.
Tess hugged her arms across her waist. Lifted her chin. “Maybe I’ll let you buy me a drink instead.”
“It’s a little early for that.”
“Why don’t we see how long this takes? I’ll just get my butt back on the other side of your police tape until you’re ready for me.”
Jarek watched as she walked away and bent back under the yellow crime scene tape. Her butt. Yes.
Sweet coughed. “Looks like you’ve got yourself a hot one, Chief.”
Jarek stiffened. “Excuse me?”
“Hot lead,” the lieutenant said. “If DeLucca really knows anything worthwhile, that is.”
Sweet was a jackass. Tess was a complication. And Jarek had never felt more like an outsider in his life.
“We won’t know that until I take her statement,” he said calmly, and turned back to the scene of the crime.
Chapter 4
Tess slid into the dark booth at the back of the Blue Moon and pushed a coffee mug toward Jarek Denko. Her own stomach cramped with hunger and nerves. She should never have skipped breakfast.
“We’ve got to stop meeting like this,” she said.
The creases deepened on either side of his hard mouth. “Over coffee?”
“In bars.”
Denko looked around at the empty tables. Sunlight slanted through the shutters, gleaming on the bottles, dimming the neon beer signs along the walls. “I didn’t know this place even opened at ten.”
“Depends on who you know,” Tess said smugly.
He blew on his coffee before sipping it. Cautious, she thought.
“And you know everybody,” he said.
“Pretty much.”
“Convenient,” he remarked.
She shrugged. “As long as you don’t mind everybody thinking that they know you.”
“Is that a problem for you?”
Tess wondered if the gloomy booth was dark enough to hide her wince. She flashed him a smile, in case it wasn’t. “It’s a problem for anyone growing up in a small town.”
“Don’t tell me that,” he complained mildly. “I just moved here.”
“I think you’ll be okay. You look pretty grown-up to me.”
Grown-up. Yes. Hard and assured and competent. Tess had enjoyed watching him take command away from Bud Sweet, admired his immediate concern for poor Carolyn Logan.
Jarek set down his mug. “Honey, I’m past the age of worrying what other people think of me. But I’m planning on raising my daughter in this town.”
Tess toyed with objecting to the “honey” and then gave it up. Three days ago, she’d swapped saliva with this man in front of his brother and a bar full of cops. She supposed that kiss created a bond, of sorts.
“Is she coming to stay with you soon? Your daughter?”
“For the weekend. Next weekend.” He glanced at the bare table in front of her. “Aren’t you getting anything?”
Okay, not much of a bond, she thought wryly. He still wouldn’t discuss his family with her. “Tim’s bringing me orange juice.”
On cue, the bar owner appeared, a well-built, closely shaven man in his forties.
He offered her a tall, cold glass and a smile. “Here you go, Tess. You get home all right last night?”
Tess thought of Carolyn Logan and shivered. “I… Yes, I did.”
“Just wanted to be sure. It was pretty late when you left.” He turned to Jarek. “How’s the coffee?”
“Fine. Thanks. You Tim Brown? The owner?”
Tim looked surprised. “That’s right.”
“Jarek Denko.”
“The new police chief,” Tess contributed.
“Yeah, I heard,” Tim said. He stuck out his hand. The two men shook.
“Well…” Tim hesitated. “Can I get you folks anything else?”
“We’re good, thanks,” Jarek said.
Tim went back to the register. Tess waited for Jarek to say, “Nice guy,” which is what everybody always said when they met Tim. When he didn’t, she said it for him.
“Tim’s a nice guy.”
Jarek took another sip of coffee. “He grow up here, too?”
“No. He moved here from Chicago. He did something for the city. Sanitation? Firefighter? But he married a local girl. A cheerleader, even.” Jarek raised his brows slightly. Tess explained. “Heather Brown went to school with my brother.”
“Wouldn’t that make her a little young for him?”
Tess thought so. But she said, “Not really. Tim had the looks to attract her and the money to keep her. The bar does very well during the season.”
“And the rest of the year?”
“It pulls in enough locals to stay open. The after-shift crowd from the paper mill, mostly. There’s not much to do in Eden on a Friday or Saturday night. Except the Algonquin lounge, and most people can’t afford to drink there. I can’t, anyway.”
“Is that what you were doing here last night? Drinking?”
Tess suppressed a flash of annoyance. “No. I was meeting someone.” When Jarek didn’t react, didn’t say anything at all, she sighed. “My brother. I was meeting my brother. He’s a bartender here.”
“What’s his name?”
“Mark.” Tess scowled. Jarek had actually taken out a little notebook and was writing stuff down. “But he doesn’t have anything to do with this.”
“Was he here?”
“Yes. He was working.”
“Did
