Part 5 (1/2)

Or he had at one time.

Like Gabe had saida”everything had changed in twelve years.

aItas good to have you home again,a Gabe said.

aItas good to be home.a He was surprised to discover he actually meant it.

Anna was armpit deep in the thing she hated mosta”paperworka”when Dante strolled into the squad room and made a beeline for her desk.

She frowned. aWho let you in?a aSome guy named McClaren.a aRemind me to withhold his donuts.a aFunny.a He made himself at home by sliding into the chair next to her desk, extending his long, lean legs out in front of him. He wore a dark gray T-s.h.i.+rt that stretched tight across a very well-developed chest, his muscled biceps peeking out from the hem of the short sleeves.

And just like before, the stupid s.e.x chemicals in her body roared to life. G.o.d, now that head grown up he was devastating, which she would have already been well aware of if he hadnat left her twelve years ago.

She refused to be attracted to him. She intended to stay angry. His reappearance had brought unpleasant things, just like the last time shead seen him.

He might even be considered a suspect. She wasnat about to be attracted to a suspect.

She turned her attention on him, determined to remain cool and aloof.

aSomething you want?a He gave her a half-lidded look that made her squirm in her chair, so she chose to ignore him and concentrated on her paperwork instead.

aI take it youare busy?a aMaster of the obvious, arenat you?a she replied while not really studying the file in front of her.

aWant me to help?a She lifted her gaze to his. aYou a cop?a He smiled at her. Shead always loved his smile. Head made promises to her with that smile. Promises he hadnat kept.

aNot a cop, no.a aThen you should leave and let me be one.a aI thought Iad hang out with you awhile and we could catch up. Maybe we could go grab something to eat.a aIam on duty, Dante.a aYouare doing paperwork, Anna. Unless your captain thinks itas a bad idea for me to be here and throws me out.a She wished. As far as her captain knew she could be interviewing a witness or an informant at her desk. And he wasnat even at the precinct at the moment, so the likelihood of him throwing Dante out were as remote as James Patterson strolling into the squad room to interview her for his next book.

She should be so lucky.

aCatch any bad guys tonight?a aI think they stayed inside out of the heat.a aSmart of them.a aWhat about you?a aDid I catch any, or was I one of them?a He was a mind reader. Her lips curved while she made some notes in the file and closed it. aYou said it, I didnat.a aIam not a bad guy, Anna.a aSo you say.a aAnything on George yet?a aIam not discussing a case with you, especially one youare directly involved in.a aIndirectly.a aWhatever.a And no, she hadnat found a thing, something she noted in the file she opened next. Unfortunately, she had no suspects. There were no prints at the scene and no witnesses. The only reason George Clemons was dead was a direct link to that night twelve years ago. And because of all of them.

Because of her.

Then there was Dante conveniently showing up at the same time a murder was committed. A murder of someone he was tied to.

And she knew nothing about Dante or where head been. No record, no priors, he showed up in no criminal databases, which she supposed should have relieved her, but the odd thing was he showed up nowhere. At all. It was as if he didnat exist after he left here. Which made her more suspicious, not less.

She knew a lot of guys worked odd jobs for cash, so they never reported income, but for twelve years? Come on.

It made her wonder even more what the h.e.l.l head been doing for the past twelve years. And why he was suddenly back. He said he was back for George and Ellenas anniversary party. But then George turned up dead. She didnat like it. Not at all.

As much as she wanted to keep the past where it belonged, as much as she didnat want to encourage Dante, especially after last night, maybe it wouldnat be a bad idea to get close to him, to find out where head been and what head been doing while he was gone. Because if he was connected in any way to Georgeas murdera aAnything on the flowers and note?a She shook her head. aForensics got no prints, which doesnat surprise me. The scene around my house came up clear, too. Itas just like the alley.a aWhat about the alley?a Dammit. aNothing. Never mind.a aTalk to me, Anna.a aNo. Iam not discussing this investigation with you.a She laid her head in her hands.

aTired?a aLike you wouldnat believe.a aDid you sleep?a aI got a little.a Mainly what she got was a whole load of frustration, staring at the ceiling and fantasizing about Dante.

Hot, steamy fantasies. Naked ones.

Ugh.

As if late June wasnat already hot enougha Cool fingers swept across her neck, pressing in and ma.s.saging the tight muscles there. For a split second she forgot she was at work, that there were other cops there.

Then she jerked her head up and shrugged his hand off. aStop that.a His lips curled. aYou donat want me to stop.a aYou said that yesterday.a aYou didnat want me to stop then, either.a She looked around, expecting to find the entire squad room of cops staring at her.

No one was even in the room.

s.h.i.+t.

aYou canat do that here.a aWhere would you like to do it?a She sighed. aYouave been back in town for a little more than one day. We hardly know each other anymore. Why the hard press to get in my pants?a He took a seat in the chair. aIs that what Iam doing? I was just asking you out for a meal.a She slanted him a look. aYouare asking for a lot more than a meal.a aWhat if I want to get to know you again, figure out what youave been up to all this time.a aWe arenat going to find out any more about each other over a meal today than we did yesterday.a He laughed. aOne short conversation? You think thatas all we have left?a aI donat have time for relations.h.i.+ps in my life, Dante. Iam busy.a aI didnat ask you for a relations.h.i.+p, Anna. There are things we need to talk about, and you know it. We all need to talk, not just you and me.a He wanted more from her than talking. She knew it and he knew it. She hadnat been a cop for seven yearsa”a d.a.m.n good copa”by ignoring signals and body language. Danteas body language told her a lot about his intentions.

Intentions she had no desire to act on.

Okay, maybe she had desires, but she knew nothing about him.

aYou want to talk, how about you start by telling me the truth about you?a He leaned back, a look of wariness on his face. aWhat truth?a aAbout where youave been for the past twelve years.a And why he left in the first place.

That shut him up.

aAnd why you show up here and suddenly someone close to you is dead.a Now he looked p.i.s.sed. A sure sign of something to hide. aCirc.u.mstance. I had nothing to do with Georgeas death.a aSo you say. But it sure is a coincidence that George is murdereda”a she looked around to make sure no one had wandered into the squad room aa”in a place very familiar to you, that no one knows about, on the same night you come back after being gone for twelve years. Iad like an explanation for that one, Dante.a aSo would I. Iad also like an explanation why after the murder someone left you a love note and flowers showing off about the murder. And it couldnat have been me since I was with you on the scene.a She opened her mouth to argue the point, but instead clamped it shut.

aWe do have a lot to talk about, Anna. You, me, Gabe, Roman and Jeff. Our past has suddenly been dumped right into our laps again. And like it or not, we have to deal with it.a She didnat like it.

aIall think about it.a aYou do that.a Great. A get-together with the same people shead been with twelve years ago.

A reunion she didnat want to have.

Dante sat in his car and stared at the nondescript brick building that housed the metropolitan police station. Cops wandered in and out as he pondered what his next step would be.

Why hadnat he just told Anna where head been and what head been doing for the past twelve years?

Because his life was a big giant secret and he never knew from one minute to the next where it would take him or what his ident.i.ty would be when he got there. And he knew better than to just start spilling his guts.

He didnat exist, not officially, and the fewer people who knew that the better.

If he was lucky he could get in and out of town without anyone knowing who he was and what he did.

His superiors would like that a lot.

Head done the right thing by not saying anything, even if the end result had been the mistrustful look in Annaas eyes.

Head been the one who put that look there in the first place, so he was going to have to own it.

Which didnat mean head have to like it.

He started up the car and drove away.

Six.