Hostile Desires (6 page)

“McGregor, is there something wrong?”

He shook his head. “Why don’t you call me by my first name?”

She shrugged. “Everyone calls you McGregor.”

“But you call others by their first names on the team. Even the boss. You call him Del.”

She sighed. “I guess it was one way to keep my distance.”

“So, if you finally call me Graeme, I know you don’t want to keep your distance?”

She sucked in a breath, then her lower lip quivered. If he hadn’t been concentrating on her so closely, he would have missed it.

“No, I just—”

“Say my name, Eleanora.” He liked the way her formal name sounded on his tongue.

Her eyes softened. “Okay, Graeme—”

He bent his head then and kissed her. Just a brush of his mouth against hers. The simple touch sent a wave of fire through his body. He never took his hands out of his pockets. When he pulled back, she said nothing for a moment.

She looked as shocked as he did.

“What was that for?” she asked.

He shrugged. “I’m not really sure.”

“Don’t do it again.”

“Why not?”

“Why not?”

“Yes. Why not?” Her voice had risen, and he fought a smile. That reaction told him he wasn’t alone in his feelings.

“Because we work together, and we are working this case together. Add in the age difference—”

“How old are you?”

She blinked. He knew she used that to gather her thoughts. “Excuse me?”

“How old are you? Thirty? Two years is no big deal.”

“I’m almost forty.”

“Really? You don’t look that much older than I am.”

“Either way, I am much older, so with that in mind, it just doesn’t work.”

“Is it because I’m a cop like your ex?”

“No. It’s not that.”

“You know the one thing you didn’t mention in that list of things?”

“What?”

“That you aren’t attracted to me.”

She frowned. “If there’s a heterosexual woman who says you aren’t attractive, she’s blind as a bloody bat.”

Delighted by her answer, he rocked back on his heels. “Is that a fact?”

She sighed. “I will not let you use that as a way to trip me up. You know you’re attractive.”

“Just as you are.”

“And I will not let you use flattery to try to gain my acceptance. This just isn’t a good idea.”

“It was just a kiss, Eleanora.”

She straightened her shoulders. “And that is all it will be.”

He slid his hands out of his pockets and held them up. “Hey, I won’t pressure you. I just wanted to let you know how I feel. What we do about it is up to you.”

She opened her mouth, but her mobile rang. “Yes?”

Her frown turned darker.

“I understand. I’ll be there in just a few minutes. I’m still in Honolulu. Graeme is with me.”

She hung up and looked up at him. “That was Del. Katsu was attacked by someone at the hospital. He’s in a coma.”

T
he moment
they stepped into the TFH conference area, Elle realized their mistake. Walking into headquarters together after working hours was sure to raise a few eyebrows. Still, there had been no way around it, unless one of them had stood outside, and that seemed silly. Elle hadn’t planned it that way, but they had driven in separate cars, with him right behind her, all the way. Del, Marcus, Drew, Cat, and Emma were there. They all turned to face them both.

“Out on a date?” Del joked.

“They don’t date,” Emma said. “Don’t you remember how much they hate each other?”

Cat snorted, but said nothing. Emma had gotten better at picking up on sarcasm, but she still had issues with it. The team called her Beautiful Mind for a reason, and they all tried to protect her feelings.

“We were going over the case. I was talking to Doc Keahi about the case, and met up with Graeme at McPherson’s to talk it over,” Elle said.

Emma gave her a sharp look, but said nothing else.

“Other than that, you didn’t say anything to anyone else, did you?” Del asked.

She shook her head, then looked at Graeme. He was shaking his head too.

“Once a Marine, always a Marine. I follow orders,” he said.

“Well, somehow they figured out the connection,” Del said. “The mayor and governor knew also, so I am assuming it came from their people. They leak like a freaking sieve when it comes to secrets.”

“You didn’t have a choice, Del,” Marcus said. “If you didn’t tell them and it leaked, there would have been hell to pay for it.”

“So, can we talk about this in the open now?” Cat asked.

“I think we still need to go with our
no comment
. The one person I want to bring in on this is Rome. He will have some questions, and I’m sure he’s going to be pissed,” Del said.

“I’m going to call the hospital and see if I can talk to the doctor about Katsu’s condition,” Elle said.

“Leave the report here, so we can go over it,” Del said.

“Do you want to scan them?” she asked. “I thought it might be easier to get it out to everyone. I know that we have to be careful with digital copies, and I know that everyone is really busy. Still, someone might see something in it I missed.”

“I highly doubt you miss anything, Elle,” Adam said.

“Still, if anyone sees anything, it might help.”

“You got it,” Adam said.

She nodded and pulled out the files, leaving them on the table, then she hurried toward the elevators.

“Elle, wait up,” Emma said, racing toward her. “Care for some company?”

“Sure. Come on.”

As they walked to the elevators, she had her mind on the case and nothing else, but once the doors opened and they stepped onto the lift, she realized that Emma wanted to talk. She was quiet, and when Emma was quiet, something was on her mind. She wasn’t working on this case, so Elle knew that she didn’t have work on her mind.

“Is there something wrong?”

“I’m...just the wedding is driving me nutters, and Del is trying to be sweet. But he makes it worse when he starts talking about forever and his mother coming here. I can’t seem to keep anything down, and I think I have anemia again. I’ve lost my appetite, and every now and then, the room spins when I stand up. I suffered this after the tsunami, but that was because good food was scarce, and then I was living on the street.”

Elle blinked. “Wow, that’s a lot of words.”

The doors opened to the basement and she stepped out. Emma looked a little green around the gills.

“Are you okay?” Elle asked.

“Yeah. I’ve been getting motion sickness. I get these things all separately, so I’m thinking the stress of the wedding is getting to me.”

Elle smiled. “That very well could be. I didn’t sleep for three nights before my wedding. Could barely keep anything down, in fact.”

“Oh, good, I thought it was just me. Or maybe I was dying.”

“You thought you were dying, but decided to keep it to yourself?”

“No. I came to see you, and I talked to my doctor, who said not to worry. I stress myself out, and this wedding is pushing me over the edge. Which is true. That was about a month ago, and it’s getting worse.”

“I can give you an exam, but not tonight.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Emma watched Elle as she washed her hands then dried them. Elle knew the younger woman had something on her mind, but it was always best to let Emma come around on her own.

“You called him Graeme.”

The statement came out of nowhere, and it took a moment for Elle to realize what Emma had said. Dammit, she hadn’t realized that she had done that.

“What?” Elle asked.

“Graeme. You called him by his first name.”

She turned to look at the younger woman. She seemed so young, or looked it at least. But the horrors she had seen as a young woman, after surviving the Boxing Day Tsunami, had matured her beyond her years. Still, she had a genius IQ and barely missed a thing.

“I call lots of people by their first names.”

“Not Graeme. You usually call him McGregor.”

She did not need to discuss this, not right now. She had too much going on. “Well, it seemed weird calling him by his last name since we are working together.”

Emma didn’t believe her. Elle could see it by her expression.

“Nope. Something happened,” Emma said, crossing her arms beneath her breasts.

“No.”

“Yes,” she said, jumping up off the chair, then suddenly swaying.

“Whoa, there, Emma,” Elle said, rushing forward. “You need to take it easy there.”

“Oh, that is not fun. Just like when I had anemia.”

“Tell you what. I’ll come by the house tomorrow and check you out.”

“Don’t tell Del.”

“You haven’t told him you aren’t feeling well?”

“You know how he would freak out about it. Since that incident earlier this year, Del has been overprotective. He knows I’ve been throwing up, but the dizziness I’ve been keeping to myself.”

“The
incident
was a serial killer trying to kill you, and Del saw you fall over your balcony. You act like it was just breaking your nail.”

Emma rolled her eyes. “If there is something wrong, then I’ll tell him. But I think it is just the anemia.”

Drew burst into the lab in his usual matter.

“I don’t think I can do this,” Emma said, her voice faint.

Elle patted her hand. “Have Del take you out and eat a high iron meal. Eggs, red meat, or scallops. Get some spinach.”

She nodded. “I guess I better let you go so you can call Tripler. Thanks, Elle.” She smiled at Drew, then left them alone, rushing out.

“What’s wrong with her?” Drew asked, as Elle looked through her contacts at Tripler.

“Bridal nerves. They have less than two weeks left.”

“I know,” Drew said, wiggling his eyebrows. “I’m going to make my move.”

She smiled. “You asked Cat to attend the wedding with you?”

“Well, we
are
driving there together. Then, I’ll sweep her off her feet.”

Elle smiled. “I hope you do.”

She brought up a contact’s name, and started dialing the number. When Dr. Myers answered on the first ring, she smiled and started talking fast.

G
raeme’s
mobile rang before they could even get to the report. He saw Carino’s number and winced.

“Carino,” he said to Del.

“Read him in, and if he gives you crap, hand him off to me.”

Graeme nodded and clicked on his mobile as he walked into his office for a little privacy.

“Give me a reason not to kick your Scottish ass all the way back to the UK, McGregor,” Rome growled over the phone.

“Hey, I was under orders. And to save a little bit of an issue, Del had gotten approval to read you in before the info leaked. I was going to talk to you about it tomorrow.”

“Still pissed.”

“Well, get over it.”

There was a long pause, then a sigh. “Okay, tell me what you have.”

He went over what little they had gathered, then waited for Carino to respond.

“Son of a bitch. We could have asked him about that and might have found the weapon.”

“First of all, he lawyered up. Second of all, before we could sort through everything, he’d passed out.”

Carino sighed again, the long day and the frustration of a case that had just gone sideways easy to hear over the phone.

“We’re going over the ME’s report, but why don’t I come over tomorrow with the report from this case, along with the cold case, then we can put it all together and maybe come up with something?”

“I’ll see what I can dig up. Nine sound good?”

“Make it ten. I’m still at TFH headquarters, and I’m not sure how long before I can head back home.”

“Good. And, just so you know, I say you owe me one.”

Then he hung up. McGregor couldn’t help but chuckle. Carino was definitely one of a kind. He walked back out into the conference room.

“Everything okay?” Del asked.

McGregor nodded. “Aye. He’s coming over around ten tomorrow to go over the two cases with us.”

“Good. Carino has a good eye, so he’ll help.”

“More than likely, he’ll be happy to dump this in our laps.”

Del nodded. “From what this says, she was found under some brush, her face covered,” Del said, as he read over the ME report. “Odd that he made so many notes about things like that in this.”

“Both Elle and I think that the murderer might have known her, or at least it wasn’t premeditated. Definitely shows remorse.”

“And the ME?”

“He’s practically like an uncle to Elle. She thinks he wondered about a cover up, so the extensive notes might have something to do with that. And, she noted that he started looking at it again around the time of the Goddess Killer.”

Del nodded as his mouth tightened. Graeme could understand his boss’s reaction. Seeing the woman he loved fall over a balcony was enough to make Del hate even the mention of the case.

“It’s such a shame the girl was ignored, but hell, you see it still today,” Marcus said. “And this definitely would fall through the cracks, even right now.”

“Not sure about that,” Cat said. “Now that we have so many traffic cams, etc., there would have been more ways to sort through the evidence. And, remember, there is no ongoing serial killer case. With a healthy social media, many Hawaiian residents would make sure she would get attention.”

That was one of the things he loved about Oahu. There were close to a million people on the island, but it was like a small town. Everyone knew everyone else...or his cousin. It was probably irritating to some, but when they needed each other, there was always community support.

“Speaking of which,” Marcus said looking at Graeme, “You want to make sure you get all the evidence. I’m pretty sure Charity could do something with it.”

Graeme nodded. “Let’s hope there’s enough.”

“Well, they have her clothes from what this says,” Del said.

“Do you need us for anything else, boss?” Marcus asked. “Cat and I have a meeting out at Hickam tomorrow.”

Del shook his head. “You go on.”

When they were left alone, Del leveled him with a look. “Got something to tell me?”

“No.”

He nodded and continued to look over the report. “So, you and Elle went out to eat?” Del asked.

“Yeah. Seems that she frequents McPherson’s.”

Del nodded. “I could see that. It seems like you worked through your issues.”

Graeme shrugged, feeling as if Del was fishing, and he was not in the mood. His mind was on the case...
and
the woman.

“Did you ask her about her past?”

“She told me some of it.”

Del nodded. “I assumed that was part of the reason she had issues with you. But I’m glad you worked it out. My mother gets here the day after tomorrow, and Emma’s sick. She doesn’t want me to know she is sick, but she’s worried herself into a state. I knew the two of you would be able to work the case together.”

“I don’t know that I need the doctor around after she goes over the findings.”

“True, but since she has a connection to the first ME, I thought it might help out in the case. I do want her taking off tomorrow. I want you to tell her that I don’t want to see her at the office unless it’s an emergency.”

Graeme let one eyebrow rise up. “And you think she’ll listen to me?”

Del smiled. “Tell her I said so. Then threaten her with leave. Or a call to the good old Doc Keahi. The man is like a second father to her.”

“I didn’t know you knew about their relationship.”

“I don’t miss much, but I do know he recommended her for this job, and she lived with him for awhile when she first got over here. He might not be able to get her to do anything, but he’ll contact her mother. Apparently, that is the way to put the scare into Elle.”

“Okay.”

They heard the ding of the doors, and they both turned toward it. Emma turned the corner into the conference area and made her way to the office. By the time she stepped into Del’s office, she looked like she was ready to pass out. Her face was pale, and she didn’t appear to be steady on her feet.

“Hey, Emma, what’s wrong?” Del asked, as he rose from his desk.

“Nothing. I just realized I need to get some good food in me. And I need some sleep.”

“You got it. I take it you’ll be here when Elle’s done?” Del asked.

He had planned on it. “Yes. I want to see what she found out.”

Del nodded.

“Night, Graeme. Make sure she gets sleep. Elle hardly ever sleeps,” Emma said.

“And you know this how?”

“I recognize a fellow insomniac when I see one.”

He followed them out of the office, then watched as Del led her out into the hall. His boss was right. Emma did not look all that well, but then, he had been around for one of his sister’s weddings, and that had been horrible. The memory still left him with nightmares.

Alone in the office, he decided to go over the report that Elle had given him while he waited.

E
lle was practically dragging
her ass on the ground as she stepped out of the elevator. She had expected Graeme would stick around, but she felt better when she saw his office light on.