Free Cavanaugh's Surrender by Marie Ferrarella

Or at the very least, a killer with an agenda.”
    Logan studied the last screen she’d pulled up. The details there were very close to matching the ones that had come up last night. Very slowly, he nodded.
    “It looks like you might have something there.” And then he smiled at her. “Nice work, Richardson. I’ll take it from here.”
    The nascent smile vanished. “No, you won’t,” she countered with feeling.
    “Look, I don’t want any of the credit, but you know you’re not supposed to be involved in this. It’s a conflict of interest.”
    The hell it was. “I don’t have any ‘interest’ to conflict,” she shot back. “All I want is to help find Paula’s killer—and apparently the killer of a lot of other innocent women, as well,” she added, pointing to the monitor. “I don’t have anyone to ‘pin’ this on, so it’s not like I have an agenda or anything. The only agenda I have is to solve this.”
    He wasn’t going to leave her office without agreeing to let her work the case. She didn’t care if she had to bodily restrain him. The thought brought an unexpected flash of heat with it that she quickly dismissed.
    “Look,” she argued, “I’ve already been a help. I found out that the prescription wasn’t filled under my sister’s name despite what the label said and I found all these other so-called suicides that match Paula’s killer’s M.O. Who knows what else I can find out if I go on working this?” she pushed.
    “You don’t have to convince me,” he told her.
    It was the brass she would be going up against, not him. After talking to her, after seeing her at work, he wasn’t about to be a stickler about rules and regulations. He fully sympathized with what she was going through right now. In his opinion, finding her sister like that was an absolute living nightmare. Solving the case might actually give her sweet dreams. At the very least, it would give her the night back.
    Besides, the woman was damn easy on the eyes, and she did keep him up on his toes. It would definitely be simpler to join forces than have to fight her.
    “Well, then my working the case is a go, because you’re the only one I care about right now.” When she saw the grin slip over his lips, she knew she hadn’t worded her answer to him correctly. A bright pink hue took her cheeks prisoner. Just in time for him to see.
    “Wait,” she cried, determined to straighten this out. “That didn’t come out right.”
    “Came out fine from where I’m standing,” Logan told her. And then he sighed. He wasn’t going to even pretend to stand in her way. He didn’t belong with the establishment, only the rebels. “Okay, keep at it. I know my dad’s not about to come down on you. He completely understands the idea of family loyalty—”
    “Do you?” she heard herself asking, realizing that she wanted to hear a positive answer out of him.
    He watched her for a long moment, green eyes meeting blue. And, for the briefest of seconds, soul touching soul. “Yeah,” he heard himself saying quietly, “I do.”
    “Good,” she said so softly he read the words on her lips more than heard them. “Then I’ll just get back to work and touch base with you later.”
    “Later,” he echoed as he walked away.
    Part of him had an uneasy feeling that he was getting in over his head here, but there was nothing he could do about it.
    The other part was damn well looking forward to it.

Chapter 6
    “D amn it!” Lieutenant Bailey’s disgruntled voice greeted Logan even before he crossed the threshold into the squad room.
    This, Logan thought, did not sound good.
    Usually it took a few hours before the day began to look as if it was going to hell. Having it begin in hell guaranteed a slow, unmerciful torture for him. When Lieutenant Bailey wasn’t happy, no one in his squad was happy.
    Walking in, Logan saw the reason why the lieutenant’s voice had carried so well. The man was not in his office. Right now, he was