Free Taming Jesse James by RaeAnne Thayne

suspect and get on with the investigation. I just wanted some advice on the best tack to take with him. You seem to have a rapport with him.”
    â€œI don’t know about that.” She thought about the boy’s surliness since he had come into her class. He had begun to unbend a little, but she knew she still had a long way to go before earning his trust.
    â€œIs there some time during the day I could talk to him without the rest of the class around?” Jesse asked.
    She thought a moment. “Yes, actually, there is. Around twelve-thirty, during lunch recess. You could talk to him then. He has to stay in because he didn’t turn in his homework folder last week. It’s, um, one of our classroom rules.” Why did she suddenly feel so defensive, as if she were the strictest teacher in the school?
    Jesse didn’t seem to notice. “Sounds like a plan. And I’ll bring you lunch so I have an excuse for being here. That way he’ll think I’m only here to see you.”
    She wasn’t at all sure she wanted her students to think she and Chief Harte had something going. They didn’t. Of course they didn’t. Two people couldn’t possibly be more mismatched—he caught criminals for a living and she was afraid of her own shadow.
    â€œMurphy’s got a special on fettuccine Alfredo this week,” Jesse went on. “How does that sound?”
    â€œLunch is really not necessary, Chief Harte. I’m sure you can come up with another excuse for dropping in to the classroom.”
    â€œIt’s the least I can do for your help.” He gave her another one of those devastating smiles, the ones that made her feel as if her legs had no more substance to them than Mr. Murphy’s fettuccine.
    Arguing with him would make her sound even more like an idiot. Besides, she had a sneaking suspicion Jesse Harte was fairly used to getting his own way.
    Lunch wouldn’t hurt her. Hadn’t she just been thinking how tired she was of eating alone? Here was her chance for a little conversation.
    But as she watched him walk away down the hall with that purposeful stride, she had the sudden, terrifying certainty that she had just agreed to dine with the devil.

Chapter 6
    H e couldn’t remember when he’d ever looked forward so eagerly to taking a statement. But then again, few of his interviews had the fringe benefit of including lunch with a sweet, pretty schoolteacher who blushed like a rose in full bloom.
    Whistling in anticipation, Jesse reached into the back seat of his vehicle and grabbed the bag of takeout he had just picked up from the diner. As a rule, Murphy didn’t normally fix takeout, but Jesse had had no qualms about cashing in some favors the café owner owed him. He now had two servings of Murphy’s world-famous fettuccine Alfredo and all the trimmings in his possession.
    He just hoped he could convince Sarah to eat it with him.
    He wanted to talk to Corey about the missing money, but he also wanted to get to the bottom of the mysterythat was Sarah McKenzie. This seemed like a golden opportunity to do it.
    For the second time that day he walked through the front doors of Salt River Elementary. Through the glass walls of the office he could see Chuck wagging his finger at some hapless student slumped in one of the hard plastic chairs.
    The principal spied Jesse as soon as he walked inside. Chuck froze in midwag, then changed the gesture to a crooked-finger demand for Jesse to come into his office. Pretending he didn’t notice, he continued down the hall toward Sarah’s room. Let Up-Chuck come find him if he was itching to have a chat so badly.
    The school was much more quiet now than it had been earlier in the morning, probably because all the kids were either at lunch or out on the playground for recess.
    At Sarah’s classroom he peeked around the corner, through the open doorway. She was the only one in the room, bent over her