Free L.A.P.D. Special Investigations Series, Boxed Set: The Deceived, The Taken & The Silent by LINDA STYLE Page A

inadvertently or otherwise.
    But it wouldn’t do him any good to make an enemy of her, either. “Okay. Look…I’m just doing my job, following procedure, which doesn’t always make me Mr. Nice Guy. For that I apologize, but in the end, I have a job to do.”
    “I thought you were on vacation.”
    “Would you like something to drink?” It was the flight attendant again, making another run with the drink cart.
    He ordered a beer and she ordered wine, and they sat in silence until she said, “I apologize for reading your mail. When the contents of your briefcase spilled out and I saw the photos, all I really wanted was to take another look at them, but then the letter dropped out of the envelope, too…and—” She drew a breath and shrugged. “And I know that’s no excuse. It was wrong and I’m sorry.”
    He caught her gaze. “Apology accepted, but not necessary. I understand. And to answer your question, I thought as long as I’m on vacation, I might as well follow up on the lead. Unofficially.”
    She held up her glass. “Truce.”
    He clicked his beer can against her small wine glass. “Truce.” For however long it would last. He still didn’t understand her reasons for not wanting her husband’s body to be exhumed, and he wasn’t one-hundred-percent certain she wasn’t involved in some way. Why hadn’t she told him she was going to Mirador when she’d phoned him?
    The most obvious answer was that she wanted to warn Sullivan. Yet that didn’t really make sense, because if she was involved, she could have made contact from Chicago; she wouldn’t have needed to make the journey. Besides, his gut told him she hated leaving Chicago, was loath to be so far from her daughter.
    If he could still trust his gut. His sixth sense had failed him far too many times lately, specifically when it came to his ex. He would’ve given the world to Kate if he could have, and then he found she’d been cheating on him. And if that wasn’t enough, she’d taken him to the cleaners in court, as if she was the wronged party.
    No, he didn’t have a whole lot of faith in his gut anymore. At least not where women were concerned.
    And he sure as hell wasn’t going to let his gut have any say in his mission this time.
    “So, when we arrive, what’s your plan, Detec… Adam?”
    “Since it’ll be too late tonight after we arrive to do much of anything, dinner and a good night’s sleep are in order. Then in the morning I’m off for Mirador.” He angled his head toward her. “The invitation still stands. You’re welcome to come along if you’d like.”
    She smiled. She had a great smile, one that reached her eyes. Nice eyes, too. Bluer than a perfect sky—and whenever he met her gaze, he couldn’t seem to look away.
    “What?” She raised a hand to her face.
    “Are you wearing contacts?”
    She pulled back. “No. I don’t have a vision problem. Why?”
    “I’ve never seen eyes quite that color before. Blue, yes, but never such a…blue blue.”
    “Chloe’s are the same color.”
    He nodded. “Yeah, now that I think about it, I remember that. She seems like a great kid.”
    Her expression warmed at the mention of her daughter. “She is. Most of the time. Right now, though, it’s a little hard to tell. Adolescence seems to turn sweet little girls into drama queens.” A wistful look flickered in her eyes. “With her father gone, it’s even harder for her. I think having a father around at her age is so important.”
    “What about relatives, or friends?”
    “Well, my neighbor, my best friend’s husband, Logan, is kind of a surrogate father for Chloe. In fact, Chloe’s with Dana and Logan and their two kids at their cabin right now. They’ll be there until a couple of days before school starts.” She paused, appearing thoughtful. “Logan is wonderful, but that’s still not the same as having her own father around to guide her.”
    Yeah, he could understand that. He couldn’t imagine what his own