Satisfied with his rationalization, Spencer turned his attention to Dani’s ex. There was something off about the good doctor. Spencer didn’t believe his reason for wanting the missing book for one single minute, and he definitely needed to be the one to deliver it once Dani found the AWOL tome.
After parking in his assigned spot, Spencer took the stairs to his office. His appointment with the police chief wasn’t until eleven thirty and he needed to get schedules and timesheets approved for his employees or the security staff wouldn’t get paid this week.
While Spencer loved being out from undercover and working security rather than living with motorcycle gangs, he hated the administrative bookkeeping. But he had to do it and as he dealt with paperwork that he could complete in his sleep, his thoughts wandered to what he’d learned about the man Dani had fired. It hadn’t taken much in the way of detective skills to discover that Demetri Mitchell was Detective Mikeloff’s nephew. The real mystery was the circumstances of Mitchell’s dismissal.
None of Spencer’s sources had been able to provide any light on what had gone on in Mitchell’s department at the insurance company and Dani continued to refuse to divulge any details. Spencer was afraid that her pigheadedness would get her arrested for a crime she didn’t commit.
It had taken every ounce of self-control that he possessed not to order her to tell him the whole story. His gut told him that if he forced the information out of her, those tactics would backfire and she wouldn’t trust him with other important facts.
But that was only one of the reasons that Spencer hadn’t persisted in trying to pry the details from Dani. Another was that if he angered her to the extent she shut him out of her investigations, he wouldn’t be able to keep her safe. So even if it meant biting his tongue and allowing her to keep secrets, he had given in and stopped trying to find out why Demetri Mitchell had been fired and instead concentrated on making sure the man’s uncle didn’t take revenge on Dani for the dismissal.
Spencer thumped his head against the back of his desk chair and stared out the window at the white clouds dotting the morning sky. Why was his life always so damn complicated? What happened to minding his own business and keeping a low profile? Why did logic fly out the window and his carefully planned life go to hell the minute he got around Danielle Sloan?
Tuesday night, when Spencer had stopped by the mansion to talk to Dani, he’d had every intention of telling her what he’d found out about Detective Mikeloff, warning her to be careful, and leaving. But the minute he saw Dr. Dipshit with his hands on her, Spencer had allowed his emotions to take over. And instead of delivering his information and taking off, he’d pulled up a chair, eaten her addictive pudding, and offered to help her find Regina’s killer.
A year ago, Spencer would have said no effing way would he ever get involved with another woman. Hell, six months ago, his fondest desire was to put as much distance between him and any female that showed a hint of wanting more than a few hours of mutual satisfaction. Then he met Dani, and now she refused to get out of his thoughts.
Spencer thumped his head against the back of his chair again. No woman had ever affected him this way. Not one of his girlfriends, and certainly not his ex-wife, had made him this crazy. Was it foolish to think that Dani might be what he’d always been looking for?
Spencer reminded himself that neither one of them was anywhere near ready to begin a relationship nor was there any reason to rush into anything. Ivy had mentioned—okay, he’d asked her—that Dani wasn’t seeing anyone and that there weren’t any guys she talked about wanting to date.
Which meant Spencer had time to think things through. He couldn’t allow his feelings to outweigh his common sense. Undercover, emotions got you killed, and in this situation, it could be almost as disastrous.
Spencer took a deep breath, clicked the Send button for the file he’d completed, and got to his feet. This wasn’t getting him anywhere and it was almost time for his meeting with the police chief.
Twenty minutes later, as Spencer steered his truck away from the university, he noticed the dense, green leaves of the trees that lined the road. During the summer semester, the campus quieted down. There were a lot fewer students in class, which meant activity around the college decreased.
Instead of crowds, smaller groups wandered the sidewalks and hung out in the quad. Spencer’s goal had been to use this downtime for staff training and program development, and Regina’s murder didn’t change that plan. Although he might be looking into her death, his investigation couldn’t interfere with the job he was being paid to perform.
Still, it was good that he had some flexibility and didn’t have to punch a clock. He’d just make sure that the college didn’t get shortchanged. The students’ safety would always come first.
Driving downtown, Spencer tried to collect his thoughts and figure out a strategy for approaching the police chief. He’d never met Chief Cleary, having always dealt with the assistant chief of operations, and wasn’t sure what his reception would be. Police officers weren’t usually very happy with any outside interference in their investigations or questions about their staff.
After parking in the public lot, Spencer walked across the street and entered the building. The police station was like most other stations he had been in—a rectangular, brick structure with absolutely no personality.
The empty vestibule, bracketed by restrooms on either side, was painted a boring beige and smelled of heavy-duty cleaning
