Harlequin Romantic Suspense April 2021 by Karen Whiddon (interesting books to read for teens TXT) 📕

he’d lost in a family game of Thanksgiving Day football. Which, to be fair, some of the cousins had cheated at to win. “I wouldn’t expect this from you.” His anger was all for Stanton.

“Hey, the door was wide-open. We all know that Randall Bowe is on the loose. You’ve got WANTED posters up all over Grave Gulch. You can’t tell us anything about your internal investigation, and yet you expect innocent citizens to report if they’ve seen him. That’s putting civilians at risk, Troy. And the longer you keep us from the truth, you keep Dominique at risk, too.”

Troy had the integrity to admit the truth. “I’m sorry. We’re as worried as you are about the cartel’s next move. Who they’ll target next.”

“You think Bowe was paid off by the cartel, by Jimenez, don’t you?” Dominique never missed a chance to get an answer. But he didn’t agree with her on this. In fact, he doubted Bowe had any tie-in with the cartel. Whatever Randall Bowe was up to was his own insanity. The cartel didn’t need someone in GGPD to help out their cases, anyhow. They preferred to handle everything with threats and death.

“What I think is immaterial. My objective is to capture Bowe and you’re both in my way.” Troy looked at the floor, in deep thought. When he glanced up again he looked at Dominique. “You can have the news scoop that Bowe’s been spotted in the park. Go ahead and release the description of his disguise—blue ski cap, mustache. We’ve already got a sketch coming in from Desiree within minutes. Feel free to publish it. Now, let’s both get some work done.” Troy strode off, and Dominique quickly punched in a number on her phone. He listened as she reported what she knew to her editor. When she disconnected, she smiled.

“What’s so funny?”

“Not funny. Happy. We’re this much closer to getting to the bottom of all this.”

“Okay.”

She playfully punched his upper arm. “Come on, you’re excited. I can tell. Your first big scoop.”

He grunted, unwilling to give her the broad smile that tugged at his lips. This was dangerous territory for him. If he allowed himself to let go and enjoy the sunshine that was Dominique, he faced certain extinction when she again disappeared from his life.

Stanton didn’t have another heart to shatter.

CHAPTER 9

It took no more than ten minutes to make certain the operations team had all the pertinent details from her interview with the Lubinskis. Dominique was relieved to leave the station because she wanted to get to the Gazette and finish filing her article, as well as brief her editor on what she’d found out to date. Stanton was waiting for her in the break room and she walked toward it, eager to be near him. Or the sense of safety he gave her.

Stop hiding from it. You’re loving spending time with him again.

She was, but had to constantly remind herself that they weren’t a couple, there was no chance of a reconciliation and Stanton would be gone from her life as quickly as she could say, “Pablo Jimenez is under arrest.”

“Dominique.” Melissa called to her from inside her office and dread filled her stomach. Here it comes. First Troy had chewed her out for eavesdropping earlier; now Melissa was going to have her turn.

“Chief Colton.” She entered the room.

“Stop it. I’m always Melissa to you. Where’s my brother?”

“He’s waiting for me in the break room.”

Melissa nodded. “Please don’t feel you need to call me ‘chief’ when we’re alone. In front of the officers, sure, but you’ll always be family to me, Dominique.”

“I appreciate that. I’ve missed our girl talks.”

“As have I. Any chance that you and Stanton are going to make a go of it again?”

“Absolutely not. This is all business. My father hired him to protect me.”

Melissa laughed. “I’ll bet you were thrilled by that.”

Dominique felt a knot of tension in her shoulders go. “Yes, it was a surprise. Let’s leave it at that.”

“I trust that Troy steered you clear of going to Grave Gulch Park with him. It’s too dangerous.”

“He did, but he was generous enough to give me the scoop on Bowe’s sighting.”

Melissa nodded. “I’ve no problem with that. While I still can’t give you any information about our internal investigation, I want you to know that it’s perfectly okay for you to interview one of Bowe’s lab assistants who still works here. I can’t let you interview Bonnie Stadler, yet.” Dominique knew that Stadler was fired during the Everleigh Emerson case, and now wondered if she’d been let go over the wrongdoings of Bowe. “Also, one of our rookies, CSI Jillian Colton, wants to talk to you about her misgivings over Bowe.”

“I thought GGPD can’t tell me anything about the investigation?”

“We can’t, but an individual cop can tell you about their personal experiences. Is that clear?” Melissa wasn’t going to spoon-feed her any further. Dominique got it.

“Gotcha. I’ll find both of them before I leave the station, if that’s all right.”

“Absolutely. Jillian’s down in the bullpen. Her desk is smack-dab in the middle. You’ll find the lab assistant in Forensics, probably at his desk this time of day as he’s got reports to file.”

“Thank you.”

Finally, a chance to get some answers.

* * *

Bowe’s most junior lab assistant expressed concern about his boss’s erratic behavior over the past several months. But he couldn’t give Dominique any more information yet, not until the GGPD’s internal investigation was finished. Plus it was clear that Bonnie Stadler, the assistant who’d been fired, would know more. This assistant was barely a step above intern. It was as if Melissa had sent her on a wild-goose chase to keep her busy, to prevent her from digging too deeply into GGPD workings. Frustrated, she trudged over to Jillian’s desk.

Jillian’s demeanor was professional and she seemed eager to talk to Dominique, but again, her loyalty was to GGPD.

“I don’t have a ton of information to give you, because as I’m sure Chief Colton told