Page 28 of Chasing a Kidnapper

EIGHT

Get a grip!West silently chided himself for coming within a nanosecond of pulling Trisha into his arms and kissing her.

What was wrong with him? He wasn’t interested!

Okay, that was a lie. Any guy would be interested in a beautiful woman like Trish. She was funny, smart, strong, courageous and off-limits in a big way.

His role here was to protect her and Gabriel.

Not kiss her.

It was all this forced togetherness that was doing him in. He had never shared his personal space with a woman before. It would help to keep busy. Work had always been his salvation, and that was something he desperately needed now.

His gaze landed on the paperwork he’d brought in. He took a seat at the table and set the lists side by side. Thankfully, they had both been generated by computers and therefore had all the names in alphabetical order.

There were two names that overlapped. Alan Hines and Greg Zillow. He turned to let Trisha know what he’d found, but his breath caught in his throat when he saw her rocking Gabriel, whispering soothing sounds to settle the fussy baby.

Since when did he find motherhood alluring?

Since never. But there was no denying how arresting Trisha looked while caring for her son. The love reflected on her face made him wish for something he’d never had.

Something he hadn’t even known he’d longed for, until now.

As if feeling his gaze, she glanced up. “Did you find something?”

“Yeah.” He had to clear his throat, forcing himself to stay on track. “Do you recognize either of these names? Greg Zillow or Alan Hines?”

“No, they don’t ring a bell.” She frowned. “You found their names on both lists? Pizzeria employees and members of the Fitness Guru Gym?”

“Yeah. Greg Zillow is a current gym member, and former pizzeria employee. Alan Hines is the opposite, a current employee at the pizza place but no longer a member of the gym.”

“That’s interesting. Do either of them have criminal records?”

“I’m about to check.” He bent to retrieve the laptop. A minute later, he had it plugged in, booted up and connected to the hotel internet. “Zillow did time for possession of pot a year ago, but it was a small amount so it’s nothing more than a misdemeanor.” He quickly checked Alan Hines. “Hines also has a drug possession charge.”

“Small-time drugs, but not guns.” Her expression turned thoughtful. “I guess it’s not a stretch to believe one or both of them has moved up in the criminal world to gun trafficking.”

“Maybe.” He’d been hoping for something more. He jotted down the last known address for each of them. “Makes me wonder if one of these two left the Glock for the other.”

“That’s one possible scenario.” She shrugged. “Based on what we saw at the gym, I don’t think it would be difficult for a nonmember to slip into the locker room.”

“True, I didn’t get the impression that Stewie runs a tight ship,” he agreed. “He claims guns aren’t allowed, but we still found one. And I suspect Alan Hines could have slipped by without drawing attention, left the item in the locker, then sneaked out again.” He tapped the paperwork on the desk. “Although it could be that Greg Zillow, who is a current member of the gym, left the Glock for someone else. For all we know, Alan is an innocent bystander.” They had something to go on, but it wasn’t much.

“Greg Zillow is a member of the gym, which gives him easy access to the locker room, and he worked at the pizzeria, so he would know the layout of that place,” she mused. “Which means he knew very well the storage room was never locked.”

“Exactly. Knowing that puts Zillow at the top of the suspect list.” He wanted nothing more than to check Greg Zillow out for himself, but forced himself to call Gracie Fitzpatrick, instead. She and Bane would be the perfect duo to head over with another member of the team to have a little heart-to-heart with Zillow. After the attempted break in at his house, he wasn’t going to leave Trisha and Gabriel alone.

“Hey, West, is everything okay?” Gracie asked by way of greeting.

“Yes, thanks for asking. I have a potential suspect that I’d like you to interview. Greg Zillow.” He explained about the guy being a member of the gym and a former employee of the pizzeria. “He could have left the Glock in the locker room for some buyer and would know about the supply room always being left unlocked.”

“Very true,” she said, with a hint of enthusiasm in her tone. They all wanted to bring this gun trafficking enterprise down as soon as possible. “I’ll gladly talk to him.”

“I think you should take someone else from the task force along with you,” he went on. “Bane is a great protector, and will bring this perp down if needed, but anyone involved with the gun trafficking is likely armed and should be considered dangerous.”

“I’ll see if Dan Slater has someone available from the task force,” she agreed. “Maybe Deputy Zack Kelcey has time to ride along. Nice work on digging into Greg Zillow. I’ll keep you updated on what we find.”

“Great, thanks.” He ended the call, doing his best to hide his disappointment at not being able to interview their potential suspect himself.

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