Assumed Identity(19)
There was no doubt that the two of them cared deeply for each other because Annie Hermann’s cheeks warmed with color at even that simple contact. She summoned a smile to ease his concern. “I’m okay.”
Robin wasn’t the only one in the room who’d noticed the trading of comforts between the stocky detective and the CSI.
“You two get back to work.” Spencer Montgomery excused his coworkers from the room before stopping across the desk from Robin and handing her one of his business cards. “If you think of anything else, give me a call.”
“Wait a minute, Detective. Everything I’ve read about your task force says that the Rose Red Rapist abducts his victims and rapes them at another location.”
“That’s right.”
“Then why did he...rip my clothes right there in the alley? Like he was going to hurt me there?”
“Maybe you foiled the initial attack by fighting back so hard. You messed with his routine. He lost his temper.” She could tell he was only speculating possible explanations.
“If that man was trying to rape me...” She breathed through that frightening possibility before voicing her real concern. “Then why endanger my daughter? Why bother cutting up my backseat? He said he didn’t want the car. What did he want?”
“I can’t answer that yet.” His cool gray eyes narrowed, as though assessing whether or not she could handle his response. She must look stronger than she was feeling at the moment because he continued. “After the Rose Red Rapist attacks this past year, our task force looks into any type of assault against a woman in this neighborhood. There’s an outside chance your attacker is the man we’ve been looking for, and something you did put him off his game. He could be copycat. He might have targeted you for some other reason. Any information we get that eliminates suspects helps us as much clues that point us to our unsub do.”
“Unsub?”
“Unknown suspect. Even without the mission of this task force, I’m a cop. We don’t like criminals hurting anyone here in Kansas City. Whether this attack is related to my investigation or not, I intend to look into it thoroughly.”
“Good. Because I like answers, too.” Answers to why her business was either missing money or keeping shoddy records in her absence. Answers to why that man had singled her out tonight—was she just a crime of opportunity because she’d stayed late? Or had she been targeted for more personal, more unsettling, reasons?
Seeming to appreciate that she was on the same page with him, the red-haired detective extended his hand across the desk. “Be safe, Ms. Carter. I’ll be in touch.”
Robin shook his hand. “Thank you.”
He left her office and turned down the hallway toward the workroom and back exit.
Robin picked up the wadded towels and wiped the lingering moisture from the corner of her desk. She tossed the ice pack into the freezer of her mini-fridge and started to gather her things to follow Hope and Emma to the apartment across the street.
But Robin didn’t get very far before the ache in her shoulder, the weight on her mind and the emptiness of her office suddenly overwhelmed her. She sank into the desk chair and hugged the towels to her chest, unsure whether she felt like cursing or crying. Her body was exhausted, her brain weary, and yet, she was too revved up to sleep. She couldn’t drop her guard like that again. She had Emma’s well-being to consider, not just her own. How could she make a selfish choice like working late, relying on a silly whistle to keep her safe? Only one thing had made her feel safe tonight. Only one thing had finally quieted Emma.
Lonergan. He looked more like the muscle-bound henchmen she’d seen in a dozen action-adventure movies than he did any Hollywood heartthrob.
And yet tonight, he’d been her hero.
She lifted the towels to her face and buried her nose in their cool dampness. The scent of her rescuer still lingered there, spicy and clean—dangerous, somehow. More dangerous than any threat lurking out there in the dark streets.
That was what she needed to feel safe and in control of her world again. What she needed to keep her daughter safe. He was what she needed. No one could make her afraid if he was around.
Except maybe the man himself.
Ignoring a twinge of common sense that warned her she was putting her hope in someone she didn’t completely understand, Robin dropped the towels and dashed into the hallway to catch up with Spencer Montgomery.
“Detective?” Montgomery turned as he shrugged into a dark blue KCPD raincoat at the shop’s back door. “If you find Mr. Lonergan, would you let me know? I’d like to thank him.”