Latent Danger (On the Line #2)(52)

Shauna forgot the others were in the room. She took in the shaved spot at the back of his head where he had a neat row of stitches and would likely have a pretty crazy cowlick as a result.

“You’re not in surgery,” she said.

“I’m not,” he said, and she could hear the humor in his voice, as though he was surprised she thought he would be. “Was I supposed to be?”

“No one would tell me anything, but one nurse finally said she thought you were in surgery.”

Shauna looked over to see her partner, Hutch, and her whole family watching her with the attention they might usually pay a football game. She raised a brow.

Not a damned one of them moved.

She tried another tact. “Ma? Maybe you could clear the room?”

That did it. Her brothers were groaning before her mother so much as spoke. They knew they couldn’t fight their mother.

Hutch remained.

“Really, Hutch?” She asked.

“Hey, she’s not my mother.”

Shauna’s mother stuck her head back in the room. “Get out here Jackson Peter Hutchison.”

Zach laughed as Hutch threw him a look but did as Shauna’s mother told him to.

“They let you go? Shouldn’t you be staying for observation? Is your leg okay? There was a really big piece of that fireplace on your leg,” Shauna had too many questions to let him answer any of them.

He just grinned at her while she threw them all out there, then spoke when she paused. “Checked out AMA. No way am I missing this interrogation. Leg is fine. Bruised and going to be sore as hell for a while.” He held up his palms to her, showing her the scrapes and cuts. “I have some booboos you need to kiss later, though.”

He was confident and cocksure and so damned good-looking sitting there, she wanted to wrap herself—arms and legs—around him and hold tight.

He must have seen it in her eyes, because he grew serious. He took her hands and leaned in. “Please tell me you’re going to give me another chance after this. That you’ll let me show you I’m not the ass I used to be, because I gotta tell you, Shaun, I fell for you hard this time. And not in the sweaty, hot sex way from before. I mean, yeah the sex is going to be hot. Don’t get me wrong. It’s going to be epic.”

Shauna had to bite down on her cheeks to keep from laughing. Or maybe crying. She wouldn’t cry.

He went on. “This time, I want more. I want to prove to you that I can give you more. Because you’re worth it Shauna. You’re so damned worth it.”

“I know,” she said, not at all bashful about the fact she was confident in her worth.

He lifted her hand and kissed it. “Do I get another chance?”

“We’ll see,” was all she said. “Now get me out of here. We need to get a confession.”





Chapter Forty-two





“Really? Are you serious with this shit?” Ronan asked over the applause that came when Shauna and Zach entered the squad room.

Zach was back to business, and he could feel the same intensity thrumming through Shauna beside him.

Hutch raised his hands, as if in surrender, behind them. “I tried but these two wouldn’t hear it. They were coming in whether the docs said they could or not.”

Ronan rolled his eyes. He didn’t have time to answer before the captain called out. “Reynolds! O’Rourke, my office!”

They followed Captain Calhoun into the office, but not before he yelled to Ronan that he owed a dollar for swearing in the building.

“You want to tell me what you’re doing here?” The captain didn’t even bother to sit, which told Zach this was a courtesy chewing out. He had to bitch and moan about them being here when they should be in the hospital but he would make it quick and let them get back to work.

“We still need a confession,” Shauna said and Zach was proud of the calm edge to her voice.

“And if you pass out in the middle of that interrogation? What then?”

Zach clamped down on the urge to jump to Shauna’s defense. She’d come up in the ranks dealing with the brass, same as him. In fact, she had more experience than he did. He wouldn’t try to cut in and defend her in front of the captain.

“Then, I’m sure we’ll have backup,” Shauna said calmly.

The captain snorted and went to sink into his seat behind his desk. “I’m going to suggest,” he said, carefully, with a long look at Shauna, “that you let Zach start the questioning and you stay out of sight. Let her wonder if you made it out of the chimney.”

“Why do you say that?” Zach asked.

“I saw them bring her in. She looked proud. My guess is she was still there when the chimney came down. She would have heard it. Let her think maybe she achieved more than she did. Shauna can come in and surprise her if she gives you trouble.”

Shauna nodded and looked at Zach. “Works for me.”

They had to give Liz time to talk to her lawyer, but they let her do that in the interrogation room where they could watch the exchange. This wasn’t the one with the sofa and chairs. She wouldn’t be treated to that one anytime soon.

They didn’t get much out of the observation. Lawyers knew detectives watched through the glass and they did their best to cover what was being said. It looked like Liz Gordon didn’t have much to say to her lawyer. She turned to the glass and spoke, even though she couldn’t see Shauna, Zach, or Ronan from her side.