Page 19 of Burning Justice

“No.” Sally shook her head. “He wanted to take my car, but I finally had to put my foot down and said no. How did you get her to stop crying?”

Only now did Gemma realize the baby hadn’t uttered a single cry in the last few minutes.

“Babies love me.” Brett winked. “I’m a baby magnet.”

Gemma rolled her eyes, recalling his reference to her saying she was a dog magnet. She pulled two business cards from her portfolio, handing Sally one of them. “This is my card. Please call us if you hear from your brother.”

“I—” A fresh flood of tears seeped from her eyes. She opened her mouth again, as if to say something, then closed it and nodded.

Gemma handed her the other card. “This is for Hands of Hope. It’s a place that might be able to help you. You should call them.”

“Thank you.” Sally took the card, then stood and allowed Brett to slide the infant into her arms.

Moments later, they were back in the stinky hallway. As Brett held open the staircase door, he momentarily rested a hand on Gemma’s shoulder and smiled. “Good job, partner.” When he removed his hand, the warm imprint of his long fingers on her bare skin sent a shiver of awareness through her, this one stronger than what she’d felt in Hicks’s office. Along with a surge of happiness.

Although she couldn’t be certain whether it was because he’d again referred to her as his partner, or whether it was because of the devastatingly charming smile he gave her as he said it. Or the stupid, silly little flutter that followed low in her belly.

Oh. No. Do not go down that dangerous path.

As much as she appreciated that he’d acknowledged her rapport with Sally Nash, they were only working together. That was it. It wasn’t as if he actually saw her as a woman. When this case was over, they’d part company. For good. That was the way she wanted things. Back to normal and back to working alone.

At the ground floor stairwell, Brett again held open the door. “Too bad Sally Nash just lied her ass off.”

…

An hour and a half later, Brett drove them back to the Frodo warehouse. After leaving Sally Nash’s apartment, they’d managed to track down Stavros Medukin and crossed him off their list of suspects.

For the last week, the man had been in a hospital following spinal surgery. Marissa Young’s landlord said she moved to Texas six months ago. To be thorough, Brett had Sammie Aikens run a residential check on Marissa Young that confirmed she’d moved to Dallas.

Meaning Johnny Nash was still their prime suspect.

“You really were good back there with Nash’s sister.” Good in ways Brett never could be. With his experience holding his nieces and nephews after they’d been born, the screaming infant he could handle. The distraught, crying woman… Well, let’s just say he’d been happy Gemma had stepped in and taken point. “You pegged her the second she opened the door.”

Gemma sighed. “Sometimes, all it takes is a little kindness to get through to people.”

“True that.” Brett grunted as the inevitable memories flashed before his eyes.

He’d been in two fires in his life. While he’d escaped from the first one unhurt physically, on the inside, he’d been left deeply scarred. Part of him always would be, and he’d since learned to accept that and live with it. Back then, however, only the support of his family and the kindness of a neighbor—a Marine recruiter—had kept him from throwing himself in front of a train.

Brett braked at a red light and turned to look at Gemma, seeing her in a new light and suspecting there was far more to the woman than just a hard-ass, tough-shelled investigator. “What’s your connection to Hands of Hope?”

“During college, my roommate, Bonnie, got pregnant. She didn’t have much family to speak of, and they weren’t very supportive. They wanted her to get an abortion. She refused. Hands of Hope was there for her. Now she manages the Denver branch. It’s green.”

Honking came from the car behind them, and Brett saw the light had changed. He headed them down the road again. “I’d say you’ve got some kick-ass interviewing skills.” Unlike what TV and the movies portrayed, interviewing was the most important thing in an investigator’s toolbox.

Gemma waved a hand in the air. “I don’t know about that. I help Bonnie out at Hands of Hope whenever I can. Between helping her through a difficult time and volunteering, I could understand what Sally was going through.”

Brett turned off the road and parked in the warehouse lot next to a red Explorer with the Colorado Springs Fire Department emblem on the door panel. The remains of the warehouse were nothing more than a twisted, burned-out mass of metal. “Sounds like you’ve got a soft, squishy interior, too.”

“Yeah, we’re two of a kind.” She grimaced, as if she hadn’t meant to say that. Or, more accurately, hadn’t meant to imply they had anything in common. “Don’t spread it around.”

“Scout’s honor.” There was a genuine softness tucked away beneath her tough exterior, and he wondered why she worked so hard to hide it.

Blaze woke with a snort, getting to his feet and sticking his head through the opening. The moment he caught sight of Gemma, he stretched his neck to sniff her ponytail.

“Hello, Blaze. Nice of you to wake up and join the party.” She scratched him behind his ears, and he yawned. “Nice teeth. Does he need to go out?”

“Yes, but wait.” Brett dialed the number for his contact at the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. “Kai,” he said when she answered. “It’s Brett Tanner. How’s your summer going?”