Free You Belong to Me by Karen Rose Page A

the three weeks they’d worked together. Lucy Trask didn’t stand a chance against that smile.
    ‘He lives here,’ the doorman conceded grudgingly.
    Stevie took a notebook from her pocket. ‘Your name, sir?’
    ‘Herrigan. Dennis Herrigan. What d’ya want with Dr Bennett?’
    ‘We just need to talk to him,’ JD said smoothly. ‘It’s with regard to an ongoing investigation. We can’t say more than that. You know how that is.’
    ‘Yeah, I know,’ Herrigan said with a big sigh. ‘But he’s not here. He’s on vacation.’
    ‘Oh.’ JD looked disappointed. ‘Do you know when he’ll be back?’
    ‘Should be soon. He’s been gone for two weeks.’
    ‘That’s some vacation,’ JD said with a shake of his head. ‘Wish I had two weeks to go off and party.’
    ‘Don’t we all,’ Herrigan said. ‘But he needed it. The doc works hard.’
    JD frowned. ‘We’re going to catch . . . you know, from our boss if we come back empty-handed. Is there a Mrs Bennett? Could we maybe talk to her?’
    Herrigan’s expression went dark. ‘Haven’t seen her in weeks.’
    ‘You don’t like her,’ JD said, his voice gone quietly conspiratorial.
    Herrigan darted an apprehensive look Stevie’s way. ‘It’s not my place to say.’
    Which, of course, said it all. JD was in the zone with this witness and Stevie knew the man would speak more freely if she weren’t there. She held up her phone. ‘I’m getting a call. Wait till I get back.’
    She stepped away and put her phone to her ear, pretending to take a call when she was really listening to JD, who blew out a breath. ‘Sorry, man,’ he whispered. ‘She’s . . . you know how it is. But she’s senior and I gotta keep my nose clean.’
    ‘I know,’ Herrigan muttered. ‘Got one at home.’
    ‘So what about Mrs Bennett?’ JD clicked his tongue lasciviously. ‘I heard she was a looker.’
    Stevie bit back a smile. JD had been a top narcotics detective, going undercover from time to time. He was almost too good at this.
    ‘Bennett don’t date the ugly ones,’ Herrigan whispered loudly.
    ‘I heard he . . . you know, supplemented her figure, if you know what I mean.’
    Herrigan’s laugh was raunchy. ‘That he did. Not that she appreciated it. Bitch. She’s trying to take him for every cent he’s got. Luckily the doc had a pre-nup. I stopped her from going up last month when he wasn’t home. The doc had to get a court order keeping her out because she was stealing all the artwork he’d collected.’
    ‘She hasn’t tried to come up while he was on vacation?’
    ‘Not that I’ve seen.’
    ‘When did he leave?’
    ‘Let me think. Two weeks ago Sunday. I don’t normally work Sundays but I’d traded with one of the guys who had Orioles tickets. Third base line.’
    ‘Sweet. Wish I could take the time off for a game, but boss-lady over there won’t let me. So you saw the doctor in the afternoon?’
    ‘Yeah. I called him a cab.’
    ‘To the airport?’
    Herrigan hesitated and Stevie turned enough so that she could see him from the corner of her eye, the phone still at her ear. He was frowning. ‘No. I can’t remember where, but it wasn’t to the airport.’
    ‘Did he tell you where he was going on vacation?’ JD asked.
    ‘No. Well, yes, but not me directly. He called the desk the next morning. I wasn’t on duty yet. Said he’d gone down to the Virgins and to make sure we stopped the paper and the mail. So we did.’
    ‘When you put him in the cab, did he have a suitcase?’
    ‘A briefcase. He must’ve come back for the suitcase when I was off duty.’ Herrigan straightened, his eyes narrowing suspiciously once again. ‘Why?’
    JD smiled again, but Herrigan had caught on. ‘We’re just looking to talk to him.’
    Stevie walked back to where the men stood. ‘Sorry that took so long.’
    ‘Not a problem,’ JD said, then took a card from his pocket and wrote his cell on the back. ‘Mr Herrigan, please call me if you see him or if you