made you move?”
He grinned. “The promise of sun and surf and women in bikinis.”
She eyed him intently. “Are you always so flippant?”
“Always. Life is too short to take anything too seriously.”
“Life is too short not to take everything seriously,” she countered.
She was gorgeous, and something about her filled him with a tension, but they obviously had nothing in common, he realized. All she was to him was a case that he wanted to see through to the end.
“Is there some way I can get in touch with you,” she asked, breaking into his thoughts. “I really need some time to think about all this.” She touched her lips with her napkin and placed the napkin next to her salad bowl.
“I’m staying at the Allis Plaza Hotel,” he replied and motioned to the waitress. “But I’ll walk you home.”
“That’s not necessary,” she replied, again a touch of wariness in her eyes.
“Phoebe, if you’re worried about me walking you home and discovering where you live, I already know where you live. Remember, I’m a private investigator.”
“So, what else do you know about me?” she asked, but at that moment the waitress returned to their table.
Phoebe fought with him over the check, but relented and let him pay when he reminded her he had an expense account. Then, together they left the café and stepped out into the deepening shadows of falling night.
“You didn’t answer my question,” she reminded him as they walked leisurely along the deserted sidewalk. “What else have you managed to dig up about me besides my address?”
“You don’t socialize with any co-workers. You’re highly respected for your skills as a surgeon, but nobody seems to know much about you as a person. As far as your neighbors are concerned, you never have visitors in your home.”
“You spoke with my neighbors?” she asked, a touch of outrage in her voice.
“It’s what I do,” he said without apology. “I use whatever means necessary to find out things about people. I speak to neighbors, go through garbage, stake out places. You were exceptionally easy to find out about because you are such a creature of habit.”
“And that’s bad?”
“That’s terrible if somebody is going to plan to perpetrate a crime against you. It makes you predictable.”
“Well, I like my life just fine, thank you,” she exclaimed with a touch of self-righteous anger. “And I would appreciate it if you didn’t talk to any more of my neighbors or co-workers and if you kept your nose out of my garbage. If you want or need to know something about me or my life, ask me.”
“It’s a deal,” he agreed easily as they came to her apartment building.
“Thank you for dinner,” she said.
“No problem.” He followed her through the door and into the lobby that held nothing but two elevators. He punched the up button on one of them, then smiled at her. “I’ll see you up. I always see ladies to their front doors.”
The elevator door opened and the two of them stepped inside. The scent that he’d noticed coming from her in the café was more pronounced in the small confines of the elevator and again Kevin felt an energy well up inside him.
This time he recognized it for what it was…an intense physical attraction. Although he didn’t know her at all, made it a habit never to get involved with any of his cases, something about her made him think of tangled sheets and hot kisses.
“So, are you going to call this Loucan and tell him you found me?” she asked.
“Yeah, but I figured I’d wait to contact him until you’ve decided what to do.” The elevator doors whooshed open and together they stepped out into a narrow hallway.
They walked down the hall and stopped in front of apartment 505. She fumbled in her purse and pulled out her keys and quickly unlocked the door, then turned back to him. “If I did agree to go to California, it would take a couple of days for me to arrange for somebody else to take care of my current patients and for me to clear my schedule.”
“Loucan has waited three years for me to find you. I’m sure he can wait a little while longer.” He fought the impulse to reach out and touch the smooth skin of her cheek, stroke a silky strand of her hair.
Instead he shoved his hands in his pockets. “Call me when you’ve made a decision,” he said. “Good night, Phoebe.”
“Good night, Kevin.”
He’d just turned to walk away when he heard her gasp. It wasn’t the gasp of a woman happy to be home, but rather it was a gasp rife with surprise…with fear.
He whirled around and flew through her apartment door. Immediately he saw what had made her gasp. The place was wrecked and she didn’t strike him as the kind of woman who would live in such utter chaos.
“You creep!” Without warning she picked up a sofa cushion from the floor and flung it at him. “Was this your plan? You meet me at Myrtle’s and while you’re buying my dinner your accomplice comes in here and robs me blind?” Her eyes flashed with temper and her chest rose and fell rapidly.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” he snapped as he pulled his gun from his ankle holster. “Call 911 and don’t leave this room.” He didn’t wait for her to reply, but moved deeper into the apartment, wanting to make certain no perpetrator was still inside.
He checked the cabinets and pantry in the kitchen, the closet and shower in the bathroom, then moved into the bedroom.
The room was a vision in blues and peaches, but the dresser drawers had been emptied on the floor and a jewelry box on the top of the dresser had been upended.
Confirming that there was nobody in any of the rooms, he returned to the living room, where Phoebe stood in the middle of the mess looking shell-shocked.
“Did you call the police?” he asked as he put his gun away.
She nodded. “They should be here any minute.”
“Phoebe, I swear I had absolutely nothing to do with this,” he said. He walked over to where she stood and placed his hands on her shoulders. He realized she was trembling. “You must believe me,” he said.
She stepped away from him and he dropped his hands to his sides. She sighed, her gaze darting around the room. “I’m not sure why, but I do believe you.”
Relief flooded through him. “While we wait for the police to arrive, you might want to look around and see if anything has been stolen. But try not to touch anything.”
He watched as she walked around the room, a frown marring her forehead. By the time the police arrived, she had discerned that nothing had been taken.
Kevin wasn’t surprised. His gut instinct told him this hadn’t been a random
