DEAD SEXY (11 page)

“Take a breath,” Blake advised, “And start at the beginning.”

“My name is Louis Atmore. I came all the way up here from Alabama to find my granddaughter. She…well she came up here because this fella blew through town; it was one of those modeling outfits you see all the time on TV.

“They showed up at the mall, looking for talent, and Kelly, well she was wild to see if she could do it. We got custody of her on account of her folks being…my son was never that responsible. That is a shame but anyway, ever since my wife died Kelly has been a little wild, and so I said no. I could not really stop her though, she is nineteen.

“I was worried about it because she got into some trouble a while back—drugs but just pot, not the hard stuff, but I was afraid she might let a bad influence get her into more trouble and that man, he was a bad influence if you catch my drift. Anyway no matter what I said off she went to the mall and next thing you know she is gone. Her suitcase and all the money I had in the house were all she took with her…”

“Mr. Atmore, your money has probably long been spent,” Blake advised.

“You want Kelly back,” Jenna said.

“Yes, Ma’am. She called me yesterday afternoon crying. She’s in trouble, that man has an agency all right but it ain’t for models, least not the kind she thought he meant. He got the phone from her before she could tell me anything else and honestly, the police are not much help.”

Blake looked at Jenna. “I quit my job,” she said evenly.

Mister Atmore said, “Does that mean you won’t help me?”

Blake began to smile. This was what he really wanted to do with his life, he did not want to work cases like the one he had just sent out of his office in tears—a Park Avenue wife looking to get higher alimony by proving her husband had been unfaithful—he wanted to do some good in the world. “I think that means we can help you.’

“I got a thousand bucks. I know that ain’t much. I heard you are really expensive…”

“I think two hundred will cover it,” Blake said gently. “Now why don’t you start telling us about Kelly and her phone call to you?”

* * * *

A few hours later the couple walked into a police station, Blake wanted to talk to a friend there and when he spotted the man he knew something was wrong. “Blake, just the man I wanted to see. Is this Jenna Holt?”

“Yes, I’m Jenna Holt.” What was going on? Fear fluttered in her belly, had Dunning decided to press charges against her for some reason after all?

“Blake, do you still have a permit to carry?”

What was he talking about? Jenna stared at Blake, whose face had grown dark. “Yes, but you know I don’t.”

“You might want to.”

“What is it, Bates?”

“Kevin Dean has still not been captured, and Yancey escaped from lockup. We figure someone got him out by bailing out a name on the roster and having that guy trade off with him. He has a vendetta, Blake, and we all know how Dean can be when he feels like he has been crossed. Internal Affairs is after him and Yancey, but they are together and they are a deadly team.”

Blake hated guns but he knew he had to get one. He had Jenna to protect. “I have my old pistol. I’ll carry it. I need to know what you know about this modeling agency that bills itself as Jeweled Style.”

“That gang? They practically kidnap small town girls and feed them to the pimps here in the city.” Bates gave them some more information and when they left, instead of walking, Blake hailed a cab. Jenna saw the way he looked around him, scanning the area before he helped her into it.

Jenna said. “Tell me why it is my life is in danger. I am helping you to look for a girl who may have been taken in by a pimp’s hustle and yet I feel safer and more alive than I ever have in my entire life. And in love with my job.”

He smiled down at her, his eyes twinkling and a lock of his raven hair tumbling across his high forehead. “Just the job?” he teased. “I’m hurt, really I am.”

“No, not just the job,” Jenna said. “I am madly in love with you too.”

“And I am in love with you,” he said before bestowing a fiery kiss on her mouth. Jenna closed her eyes and let that kiss take her with him. Who would have thought an encounter with a sexy stranger in an elevator would have turned her whole life so upside down in such wonderful and exciting ways?