yielded.
And she did care, she admitted to herself. On some level she responded to Cruz, there was no denying it. Especially with the physical reaction she was experiencing right now. She had to get that reaction under control before she saw him again. She was going to need every bit of cool she could muster to face him in a few minutes without the faintest hint of her recently acquired knowledge showing, either in her face or actions.
She strode into the headquarters and walked resolutely to his desk. He looked up at her arrival, his lean, handsome face a mask of impatience.
“About time,” he grunted. “Where have you been, anyway?”
“I had something I had to take care of.”
His eyes narrowed. “You weren’t doing some more research on your own, were you? You promised me, Madeline, and I thought I could trust you.”
His words slammed into her with the force of a fist. For a moment, just for a split second, all her rehearsed equanimity fled, to be replaced with something that felt uncomfortably like guilt.
His displeasure turned into concern at the expression on her face. She looked for a moment as though he’d slapped her. Then she visibly recovered.
“It was… personal.”
Cruz didn’t cease his perusal of her. Whatever she’d been doing, it had shaken her up, though she was trying to hide that fact. And he felt like a bastard for jumping down her throat. “Anything I can help with?”
“No.” Her response was flat and final. She looked down at his desk and saw a picture marked with Valdez’s name. She picked it up and looked at him
“I’ve been spending the time reading up on our friend there. Thought that picture might come in handy.” He was referring to their plan to try to track Valdez down for questioning today, and she nodded. “Are you ready to go?”
“Sure.” She turned and preceded him out of the building, unwilling to engage in any more inquiries about her whereabouts this morning. She hadn’t handled herself well a moment ago, she knew. Although she thought she’d recovered quickly, Cruz was perceptive enough to accurately gauge her reaction to his words. She hoped he’d taken her explanation at face value, but she mentally braced herself for an interrogation once they reached the car.
But Cruz didn’t question her any further. After a few minutes of tense waiting, it occurred to Madeline that he was acting almost solicitous. She could feel herself begin to relax for the first time that morning.
They drove to Valdez’s apartment again, but no one answered the door this time, either. Then they checked out the places where Tommy had claimed Valdez sometimes hung out. They walked into each place and ordered something, looked at the occupants, waited for a time and then left. By silent agreement they didn’t tell anyone why they were there. If Tommy was correct, someone from each place was bound to be able to identify Valdez, but they couldn’t take the chance that he would be tipped off that they were looking for him.
They repeated the pattern a number of times during the day, but by late afternoon they still hadn’t had any luck. Madeline and Cruz had come out of a smoky pool hall after spending a fruitless hour in it.
“We’ll probably have to spend most of the evening in these dives,” Cruz was saying. “These guys only come out at night-” His words broke off as Madeline jabbed him with her elbow.
“That looks like him coming,” she said quietly.
Cruz stared hard in the direction of her gaze. Valdez was sauntering down the sidewalk toward the pool hall they had just vacated. They waited a few seconds until he got closer, then Cruz said, “Jose Valdez?”
The man froze. His eyes darted between Cruz and Madeline. And when they started toward him, he turned and fled.
Cruz and Madeline took off in quick pursuit, but it was apparent that the man was familiar with the neighborhood. He dodged people and obstacles with ease and then darted down an alley.
Cruz reached the alley seconds later, Madeline slightly behind him. The narrow passageway was shadowy, and strewn with litter and boxes. Large Dumpsters hampered their view. Valdez could be hiding anywhere in the area, and Cruz felt a skitter of unease skate down his spine.
Suddenly he heard a loud report, and he reacted without thinking. “Get down!” he shouted to Madeline. Without further thinking, he grabbed her shoulders and pushed her to the ground. He dropped down after her, covering her body with his own.
Another report sounded, and then another. But the echoes hadn’t faded before Cruz realized his mistake. Those noises weren’t coming from the alley, and they weren’t gunshots. A nearby car backfired once more before it continued on its way. His instincts had had him reacting to the danger of the situation, without stopping to think. He heard the sounds of footsteps running away and knew they belonged to Valdez. Without another word he picked himself up, hauled Madeline up by one elbow, then drew his gun and sprinted after Valdez.
She couldn’t have followed him if she’d wanted to. When he’d landed on top of her the wind had gone out of her with a suddenness that had left her, quite literally, breathless. She staggered over to the wall of a nearby building and gasped for air. Cruz was back before her lungs had drunk their fill. He reholstered his gun.
“Well, we lost him,” he said disgustedly. “And he knows we’re looking for him. Probably guessed we’re cops. Are you okay?” he asked, seeing Madeline was still having some difficulty breathing. He brushed at her camel- colored slacks, which were marked from her fall.
She pulled away and glared at him. “Would you mind telling me,” she demanded, her words interspersed with pauses to take deep breaths, “just what the hell… you thought you were doing?”
Chapter 7
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, what was the point… of your big macho act a minute ago?”
He stared hard at her, noticing the flare of color across her cheeks. She hadn’t quite recovered from being hit with a hundred-eighty pound tackle, but from what he could discern, her flush was due more to anger than breathlessness.
“I’m sorry. I heard the car backfire, and it was so close…” He shrugged. “I reacted without thinking. I thought it was a gunshot.”
She glared at him. “So did I, at first, but that doesn’t answer my question. What the hell were you doing on top of me?”
He opened his mouth to answer, and then found that he couldn’t. His jaws snapped shut. Finally he muttered, “I don’t suppose you’d believe I tripped?”
Her gaze pierced him like a rapier. He studied the ground, feeling remarkably similar to how he’d felt when Sister Mary Joseph had caught him in some prank.
“No.” Her voice dripped with disdain, “I would not believe that you tripped. Admit it, Martinez, you were trying to protect me.”
It was obvious that she thought she was accusing him of the most heinous crime in the world. He knew there was no way he could weasel out of this one, so he raised his eyes and looked straight into hers. When in doubt, try bluffing. “Yeah, maybe. So what?”
She looked as though she was going to explode. “So what? I’m a trained police officer, Martinez, a detective with ten years’ experience on the force. I’m not in need of protection, not from you or from anybody else.”
“Look, I apologize, all right? I didn’t plan it, it just happened. Blame it on instincts.”
His words didn’t appear to mollify her. If anything, she became even more incensed. “Instincts? Well, I’m here to tell you, buddy, your instincts suck.”
Cruz felt his usually even temper begin to simmer. “Look, Madeline, why don’t we wait until you cool down before we do this, okay?”
She moved forward to stab him in the chest with one long, tapered finger. “No, not okay. We’re going to do this now. If you have a problem working with a woman, that’s tough. I’m not going to let you make it my problem, you got that?”
His eyes narrowed. “I do not,” he said with precise enunciation, “have a problem working with a woman. Your
