Page 10 of Chasing a Kidnapper

“Thanks, this really hit the spot.” Trisha stood and carried her empty plate to the sink. “I should try to get some sleep. Good night.”

“Good night.” He stayed where he was, telling himself he was imagining the shimmering awareness between them.

He needed to stay focused on the threat of danger. Not on how pretty Trisha was. Relationships were not his strength, as his former girlfriend had pointed out. Besides, the last thing he wanted was a ready-made family.

He finished his pizza, then quickly cleaned up the kitchen. After letting Peanut out one more time, he led the beagle to his room. Despite his physical exhaustion, sleep did not come easily.

West’s phone chirped at the early hour of seven thirty. With a groan he rolled over to see his boss’s name on the screen. “Hey, Captain.”

“Cole. Can you be in this morning by nine thirty?” His boss got straight to the point. “The ATF will be here.”

He swallowed a groan, imagining the case flying out of his reach. Peanut lifted her head, her tail thumping in greeting. It made him smile. “Yeah. I’ll be there.” He swung into a sitting position, prying his eyes open. “By the way, there was a break-in at Trisha McCord’s home last night. Perp assaulted and tied up the babysitter to search the place.”

Ross let out a whistle. “That’s not good. You think it’s related to the gun trafficking?”

“I don’t see how.” The thought was intriguing but didn’t make sense. “Petey and his accomplice wouldn’t know where Trisha lives. And the attack was too soon after we chased them into the woods. This perp was searching for a key.”

“Okay, we’ll talk more about that later. See you in two hours.” Ross ended the call.

A quick shower made him feel slightly better. He dressed casually, feeling certain the case would be taken off his hands. “Ready to go out, Pea?” Living alone meant talking to the dog as if she could understand every word. He opened the door of his room, surprised to hear sounds from the kitchen.

“Such a good boy,” Trisha crooned. “You like your cereal and bananas, don’t you? Yes, you do.”

She was up and so was the baby. The scent of coffee was enticing. He headed down the hall toward the front door to let Peanut outside.

“Good morning,” Trisha said. “I hope we didn’t wake you.”

“You didn’t.” He gave her a nod. “Captain called, wants me to head to the precinct by nine thirty to meet with the ATF.”

“Okay. If you don’t mind, I’ll catch a ride with you. My car is at the precinct.” She filled a mug with coffee and set it on the breakfast bar. “I made scrambled eggs and toast.”

“Thanks.” He was glad she’d made herself at home, even if he wasn’t entirely comfortable with the arrangement. He let Peanut back inside, then filled her food and water dishes, his elbow brushing Trish’s at the sink.

“Bahwabubbah.” Gabriel waved his arms as he babbled nonsense.

He kept his distance, trying to stay out of the way as Trisha finished feeding her son and scooped scrambled eggs and toast onto a plate for him. Multitasking at its best.

The kitchen was crowded, but he couldn’t complain about being served breakfast. “This is great.”

She flashed a smile. “Figured it was the least I could do since we’re invading your personal space.”

“Much appreciated.” West hoped he hadn’t made her feel unwelcome, as that wasn’t his intent. He just wasn’t used to this sort of thing. He’d been alone for a long, long time.

She must have already eaten, because she wiped Gabriel’s hands and mouth, then lifted him out of the car seat. “I’ll change him, then we should be ready to go.”

They weren’t in a rush, so he finished his breakfast, then took the time to clean up the kitchen, listening as Trisha spoke to Gabriel. Much the way he spoke to Peanut, he thought with a wry smile. An hour later, they were settled in his SUV, Peanut in the back sniffing Gabriel through the grate with interest.

The drive to the precinct didn’t take long. He carried Gabriel inside, with Peanut trotting along at his side. He was a few minutes early, so he quickly wrote up his report on the break-in at Trish’s home. Trisha leaned over his shoulder, helpfully adding details. He tried not to be distracted by her alluring citrusy scent.

When that was finished, he and Trisha parted ways. He took Peanut with him to the conference room, surprised to see there were several people with K-9s, most of whom he didn’t recognize, along with ATF agent Daniel Slater and his K-9—a Great Dane called Dakota. The ATF was housed on the third floor of their police station, and he’d worked with the pair before. West nodded at Slater and Ross, wondering what was going on.

“Thanks for getting here so quickly,” Ross said. His captain swept his gaze over the room. “I’m sure you’re wondering why we’ve asked all of you to drop everything to get here. I’ll turn the meeting over to ATF Agent Slater.”

“Thanks, Captain.” Slater stood, his expression serious. “Last night, thanks to the great work of the PCPD—Detective West Cole, his K-9, Peanut, and Patrol Officer McCord, we have taken forty-eight weapons off the street. Unfortunately, the two armed perps escaped. Last night, I was granted permission to form a multiagency task force to track down these arms dealers once and for all.” Slater swept his gaze around the room. “And I’ve asked you all here because we would like each of you to play an active role in this mission.”

West hoped his jaw drop wasn’t too obvious. “That’s great news,” he managed, thrilled the case wasn’t flying out of his hands after all.

“I’d like to take a moment to introduce everyone,” Slater said. “Please know we handpicked the members of our new DGTF, Dakota Gun Task Force, based on areas of expertise, by both human and K-9 officers. I’ll be the team leader, with Ross as our captain, but I want everyone to feel as if they have input into how to accomplish this task.”

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