Unauthorized Obsession (Unauthorized Series Book 3) (3 page)

The front door of the house was locked, so Kara and her recruit rounded to the back. She knew that the neighbor across the street had reported hearing the alarm and then seeing a male with no shirt on run into the backyard. Cautiously, Kara peeked into the yard and saw no movement. She picked up her radio and called dispatch. “Tell the alarm company to turn the alarm off.” The strident blaring was making it impossible for her to think.

Turning to the house, Kara immediately noticed that the back patio door was standing open. She slunk close to the house and peeked inside, dropping her hand to her gun. A dark living room and kitchen, standing still and empty. She looked backwards and saw Howell, her recruit, two steps behind her, mimicking her movements, except his hands were at his sides. Good. She unsnapped her holster and stepped inside the living room. All at once, the alarm snapped off. The absence of sound left her ears ringing. Footsteps sounded to her left and she turned that way.

A man entered the room from a hallway she couldn’t see in, something large and dark in his right hand, which was partially behind his hip. He stopped when he saw her, his expression startled. In one fluid movement, Kara drew her weapon and pointed it at his chest. Her quick glance didn’t tell her what was in his hand, and she didn’t have time to stare. If it was a gun she was in trouble. “Drop it!” she ordered.

The man’s hands drifted slowly upward and his eyes grew wide. He opened his right hand and the something fell out on the carpet. Kara flicked her eyes downward and saw it was a phone. She relaxed, but only a bit. “Turn around, face the wall,” she ordered him. He did as she said. To her recruit, she said, “Pat him down and handcuff him.”

Howell brushed past her and patted the man down like an expert. She was impressed in spite of herself. Within a minute, Howell had him handcuffed and turned around.

Kara holstered her gun and walked forward. “Are you alone?” she asked. The man nodded and words spilled out of him. Kara studied him as he talked, assessing his truthfulness. He was tall, probably six feet, with short dark hair and a neat, dark goatee. His eyebrows were thick and gave him an exotic look. His chest was heavily-muscled and his ab muscles stood out, each looking chiseled enough to carve stone. A jagged three-inch scar on his left bicep drew her attention only for a second.

He said he was a neighbor, and this was his friend’s house. The friend was away in Africa on a missionary trip for his church. He had been trying to call his friend to get the code for the alarm when it had suddenly shut off. Kara looked around at the house. It was awfully big for one person.

“What’s the home-owner’s name?” she asked.

“Lee Baker,” he answered. “Can I get out of these cuffs now?”

She nodded to Howell who scrambled forward to unlock the man. “Let me see your driver’s license,” she told him. He patted the pockets of his jeans and Kara noticed how nicely his waist tapered into said jeans. She ignored the thought as completely inappropriate. Besides, she still wasn’t certain he wasn’t a criminal.

“I don't have my wallet,” he said with a sheepish grin. Kara noticed a slight dimple on his left cheek and tried to un-notice it.

She pursed her lips. “Well I can’t let you go until I see some ID from you. Or until we talk to Lee Baker. Give me his phone number.”

The man showed her the number in his phone and she wrote it down in her notebook. She gave the notebook to Howell with instructions to have dispatch call and try to talk to the homeowner and also to have them talk to the alarm company and confirm that was the homeowner’s name and number. Howell disappeared out the back door, leaving her and the mystery man alone in the house.

“What’s your name?”

“Zane Michael Rowe.”

Kara smirked and wrote the name down in her notebook. When she looked back up he was watching her closely. “Yes, like the Dirty Jobs guy,” he said with a relaxed, almost cocky smile. Kara felt slightly irritated at how quickly his manner had become carefree. She could still arrest him if she wanted to but he didn’t seem to know or care.

She unhooked her radio from her belt and spoke into it. “Dispatch, give me a driver’s license check on a Zane Michael Rowe.”

“10-4.”

While she waited, she asked him for his birth date. “10-3-85,” he said, his smile widening and seemingly becoming cockier.

Dispatch came back with the same information that he had just given her. Part of her was glad that it didn’t seem to be a lie and another part of her wondered where that came from. She spoke into her radio again, “10-4 Central, any wants or warrants?”

“Negative.”

She watched him closely. His smile had wilted slightly when she said
wants or warrants,
but had reappeared in full force when the voice over the radio came back with the negative.
Maybe he
was
a criminal?

“How did you get in?” she asked him.

“The back door was unlocked. I don't know if Lee left it unlocked or if someone came in the door, but I already checked the whole house. There’s no one in here, and I don't think anything’s missing.”

She nodded. “Where is your driver’s license? I need to make sure you are who you say you are.”

“It’s at my house – right next door, I’ll get it.” He looked tentatively towards the open door behind her.

Kara stood aside and motioned towards the door, then followed him out of it.

At the front of the house, she stopped at the patrol car to see what Howell had figured out. He was talking slowly and painfully to someone on the phone but she looked down at the notes he scribbled in his notebook and saw that the alarm company had indeed confirmed the home owner’s name and was trying to get a hold of him now. She tapped Howell on the shoulder and pointed towards the house next door. He nodded.

Kara followed Mr. Rowe onto the front porch of the house next door. It was gorgeous, with wooden-shingle siding, red trim, and a large wraparound porch.
He has to live here with someone
.
He probably has a wife and four or five kids.
The thought caused a twinge of emotion in her and she furrowed her brow, trying to figure out what exactly the emotion was. Her eyes dropped involuntarily to his left hand where she saw no ring.
A girlfriend then.

“My wallet is in the kitchen,” he was saying as he opened the front door. His words were cut off by the noisy exodus of two large golden retriever dogs. The dogs swarmed him, licking every inch of exposed skin they could find and barely restraining themselves from jumping up and placing their paws on his shoulders. Kara stood back and watched the attention he was getting with a tiny smile growing on her face. The dogs were gorgeous, both a light red color, with fur that had been brushed until it shone.

“Lucy! Kevin! No! Down! Go back inside!” He cried, trying to push them in the door. Both dogs noticed Kara at the same time and rushed for her. Kara tried to keep her stern police officer face on but found it impossible while both her hands were being licked and the dogs circled around her smelling every inch of her. Mr. Rowe came close to her and got a hand on both their collars, apologizing profusely and pulling them into his house. Kara waited on the porch, brushing dog slobber off of her uniform pants. She had planned to follow him inside, if only to get a look at the gorgeous house, but she decided to stay on the porch to avoid trying to brush red dog hairs off her pants for the rest of the night.

Within a minute, Mr. Rowe pushed the front door open again and handed her a driver’s license. She noted with disappointment that he had put on a shirt. If nothing else, he was easy on the eyes. His cocky smile was still there though, the one that she wasn’t sure if she liked or not. She took his license and looked at it - the picture was of him, and the birth date was the one he gave her, but the address was wrong. “This address doesn’t match this house,” she told him.

“Yeah, I moved.”

“How long ago?”

He looked up like he was thinking. “A few years ago.”

“The law gives you six weeks to change your address when you move. I should write you a citation for that.”

The cocky smile slipped a notch. Kara restrained her own smile. She normally didn't mess with people like this, but he was asking for it.

“I trust you’ll take care of that?” she said, throwing him a hard glance. He nodded quickly. “Good,” she said, then turned on her heel and left, stopping at the police car long enough to talk to Howell. She marched to the back of the original house and went through every room, not expecting to find anything out of order. When she had proved herself right she locked the back door from the inside and went out the front door, locking it behind her.

She and her recruit cleared the scene without so much as a glance at Mr-cocky-smile’s house.

As they left the neighborhood, Kara turned her thoughts forcefully away from Mr. Zane Michael Rowe and towards the performance of her recruit. Acting on instinct, she said, “What was your job before this?”

“P-p-prison guard.”

Kara pressed her lips together. Now the anger on his face earlier made sense. “Hey – sorry. I didn’t know. Recruits have a tendency to pull out their guns too early, and I didn’t have time to give you the polite speech – so you got the quick and rude one.”

Howell’s face softened. “I-i-it’s OK.”

“Good job on that call.”

He smiled instead of saying anything and she wondered if he understood how much he was going to have to talk every day on the job.
Who in the hell wants to be a police officer when they have a stutter?
But she was warming up to him a bit. He had performed well. What was his first name again?
Seth.
She pushed the centralized computer over to him. “Type in our report, Seth. Say we made checks and found the house empty, and we talked to a neighbor and got the homeowner’s phone number. The alarm company is trying to contact the homeowner and we locked the doors.”

He depressed the keys on the keyboard quickly, finishing the report in a few moments. His fingers didn’t stutter.

The dispatcher assigned a burglary call to another officer on the road. Kara wondered briefly if the dispatcher was new. She’d never heard the voice before, and the old dispatchers would know the officers with recruits needed calls like that for the experience. She got on the radio. “Central, we’ll take that call.”

Once they arrived at the house it ended up being a huge case. Three houses on one street and four on another. People kept coming over and saying that while they were at work, their house was burglarized too. It was too much work even for a recruit so Kara got on the radio and asked for help. A female voice she didn’t immediately recognize responded. “Central we’ll head over and help them.”

Kara furrowed her brow. She should know that voice - and then it hit her: Ivy! She smiled as she watched Seth dust a doorknob for fingerprints. She was excited to see Ivy on her first day on the job.

When Ivy and Joe called on scene, Kara left Seth for a few moments to go out and meet them. Ivy looked strong, happy, and confident in her uniform, but she looked overheated too. She had to wear her sleeves down to cover her tattoos.

“Hey sis, how’s it been so far?”

Ivy’s smile belied her words. “Great. We had a domestic.”

Kara laughed. She wondered how long it would take the new recruits to dread domestic disputes as much as the rest of them did. She told Joe and Ivy what they had and Joe took three cases from her.

He looked down at the addresses and complaints and shook his head. “We’re going to be here all day long. Want to skip our meal and have dinner at Nan’s at the end of the shift?”

“You’re on.”

The foursome worked hard for the rest of the shift, just as Joe had predicted, Ivy and Seth getting a great introduction to the tedious and plodding part of police work. When they finally finished up at 9 o’clock that evening and were able to turn in their evidence and head over to the restaurant, Kara breathed a sigh of relief. It had been a long day.

Walking into Nan’s, Kara gave the place a quick once-over, as she always did when entering a building. It was completely empty except for Joe and Ivy sitting in a booth near the door. Ivy was shrieking with laughter and Kara hurried over, wanting to get in on the joke. Seth followed slowly behind, seeming out of place with himself.

They slid into the booth, Kara next to Ivy and Seth next to Joe. Joe, his radio in one hand, held up a quieting finger to Ivy who clamped her hands over her lips. Joe spoke clearly into the radio. “Central, I need a driver's license check by number.”

“Standing by.”

Joe read the number off from a tiny piece of dirty and battered paper he had pulled out of his wallet.

No response came back from dispatch for a long time and Kara grinned, imagining what was going on on the other side of the radio. Finally, the new dispatcher came back, defeat and awkwardness in her voice. “That driver’s license number is to a … to a …” After sounding like Seth for a few moments she spit it out, the words coming quickly and all in a row. “To-a-Christopher-Penis-address-424-Elmhurst-Way.”

Ivy giggled behind her hands and dropped her face to the table. Seth just looked perplexed. Kara shook her head, a smile on her face. Joe pulled this on every new dispatcher. In his opinion, it was a rite of passage for them.

Joe waited until Ivy’s giggles quieted and then said, “Thank you, Central.”

“I can’t believe someone has the last name penis,” Ivy said, stray giggles still bubbling out of her.

“Just ask Joe, he knows all the dirty ones. There’s a guy with the last name Fuck in Canada and Joe knows his driver’s license number, but he hasn’t thought of a chance to legitimately use it on the radio yet.”

Ivy’s eyes grew wide and she giggled again. It made Kara’s heart beat gladly to see it. Ivy had had a hard life, and then a rough couple of months when her house was broken into during a police investigation and after that she was kidnapped by Brandon Savoy. But now things were looking up for her – she had a new sister, a new father, a new boyfriend, and a new job.

“Did Ryker work today?” Kara asked her.

“No, he works tonight. He and Jen are both on first watch.”

“Ah, that sucks. First watch is hard. If he can’t sleep during the day, tell him to try taking a Benadryl. That will knock him right out.”

Ivy nodded, her eyes serious and worshipful.

In a sickening flash, Kara realized that she hadn’t gone back to see Sgt. Gale. They had been too busy. Crud. She hoped Gale wasn’t going to make things hard on her. She put the rigid detective out of her mind and tried to concentrate on having a relaxing end-of-shift dinner. She tried to pay attention to her friend, her sister, and her recruit as they ordered and ate and laughed and compared notes for their burglary cases, speculating if it was one guy, or a team that had hit so many houses that day.

At 10:45, shift change, they left the restaurant and Kara and Seth drove in silence back to the police station. “We had a good day, Seth,” she told him. “And tomorrow we’ll do it all over again. Run an iron over your uniform tonight.” He nodded thoughtfully, and to Kara, that was good enough for now.

When they arrived at the police station, they cleared the patrol car, grabbed their things, and headed back to the receiving desk to drop off the radios and keys. As Kara walked down the long hallway she heard the loud hearty laugh of the desk sergeant. Somebody was making him roll. As she rounded the corner, she saw the back of a tall man with a dark head of hair. Something in his posture felt familiar to her. As he turned, her heart fluttered in her chest. It was Zane Michael Rowe and his cocky smile.

She kept her face from showing her surprise and approached him. “Did you need something Mr. Rowe?” she asked.

He shifted on his feet slightly and his smile slipped to only one side, deepening the lone dimple. “I was hoping to talk to you privately, Officer Price.”

Kara felt the weight of many stares on her. Ivy, the desk sergeant, Joe, maybe even Seth, were watching her closely.
Had there been an issue at the house after they left?
The thought caused a flutter of alarm in her chest, but she didn’t show it.

“Follow me.” She passed through the lobby and out the double doors, walking a few feet down the brick wall so they weren’t right in front of the doors.

She turned to him expectantly. His smile was fully in place again, but he seemed slightly nervous. Something in the set of his mouth and the way his movements were too quick - too jerky.
Maybe he did trigger the alarm and now he’s going to confess,
she thought.

“I was, ah, wondering if you would like to go out with me sometime, Officer Price.”

Kara uttered a surprised laugh and saw his smile grow strained.
Oops, damage control - quick.

“You want to go out with me? After I held you at gunpoint today? Most men don't appreciate that.” If that wasn’t the understatement of the year she didn’t know what was. She hadn’t dated anybody who wasn’t a cop for six years, as long as she had been on the force. She was pretty sure men who weren’t cops were intimidated by her job. Or at least that was how it usually seemed if she showed interest in someone. She’d almost given up on men and marriage seemed an impossibility. Something that only happened to other people. As the thoughts rushed through her brain she decided to be completely honest with him. “Most men think I’m scary.”

His smile came back full-force and Kara’s brain did a double take.
God he is handsome
, ran through her mind.

“Well I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little scared at the time, but I also would be surprised if any red-blooded American man worth his salt didn’t find you …” He seemed to choose his word carefully - “arousing.”

Another laugh bubbled up out of her throat.
Just what in the hell did that mean?

“Arousing?” she said skeptically. “Arousing as in …?” She trailed off, not sure what to say.

“Arousing as in sexy. Arousing as in beautiful. Arousing as in, I want to get to know you better so much that I had to come down to the police station hoping I could catch you.”

Kara felt a blush fly to her cheeks.
Oh.
She almost took a step backwards in surprise. This man was extremely forward and she’d never had anyone talk to her quite like this before. She thought she liked it, but it also made her a little bit nervous.

He took a tiny step towards her and lowered his head. She realized he probably knew how handsome he was and was trying to use it to his advantage.

“So how about that date?” he said.

Kara’s brain tried to think of all of her goals and life plans and if she really had time for a boyfriend right now, but Kara’s mouth had a different idea.

“OK,” it said, without any stutter or indecision.

“OK,” he breathed, his face a pretext of extreme confidence. “When is your next day off?”

“Saturday,” she said without thinking.

“Saturday at seven? Can I pick you up at your place?”

“How about here?” her mouth said, at least getting that much right.

“Here sounds good. Just so I know, will you have your gun on you?” His tone was soft and teasing. She wasn’t sure what to make of it.

“Possibly.” She said, her eyebrows drawing down. What was he getting at?

“And your cuffs?” he asked, his voice suggestive.

Oh. Now she was sure what to make of it. Before she could decide whether or not to call the whole thing off because he was too cocky and forward, he laughed.

“Sorry, sorry. I couldn’t help it. I’ll be a good boy from now on. I promise.” He held out his hand. “Let’s start over. Hi, I’m Zane.”

Kara smirked. He had gotten her. She should know better after having been partners with Joe for so many years. She shook his hand. “And I’m Kara, it’s nice to meet you.”

“Kara,” he said lightly. A smile lit his face. “I will see you on Saturday at seven. I look forward to it.”

She watched him retreat to his truck and restrained an urge to copy down his license plate.
Bad cop.
Although she knew that Joe and maybe Ivy were already running background checks on the guy, if they had figured out why he came down here (or if they were listening in somehow). She whipped her head around, checking behind her. Clear.

She had a feeling he’d come out clean from any background check, though. He was too cocky to ask a cop for a date and not have a spotless background. She tried to think about when the last time she had been on a date was and couldn’t do it. At least a year. The thought of her date, only two days away, caused a surge of excitement inside her. The thought of going on that date with
Zane
caused a wave of heat to flush through her body. His dark eyes flashed in her memory, while she tried to decide if she liked that cocky smile or not. She’d have to see more of it to decide. Thoughts of her stalker and her next meeting with Sgt. Gale were temporarily driven to the back of her mind. She knew she liked that.