“Take a look at this.” Perry opened his file and pulled out the printed page and then slid a picture of Kathleen Long out next to it.
“Son of a bitch,” Rad hissed.
“Yup. A match.”
Rad let out a loud sigh and leaned back, keeping his focus glued to the two pictures and not saying anything for a minute.
“Did you get her hard drive?”
“Yeah, it’s right here.” He pulled out the ziplock bag and held up the black hard drive. “Where are you sending it?”
Rad focused on him with intense gray eyes that today looked more tired than usual. Reaching across his desk, he took the hard drive from Perry. “I’m sending it over to the FBI field office.”
Perry blew out his frustration. “Rad, give me this case. You know I can work alongside the FBI. We’ve done it before.”
“Yup, we have.” Rad set the hard drive on the side of his desk. “I thought you wanted the Peter case.”
“It’s the same case.”
Rad raised one eyebrow. “You’ve got proof that Kathleen Long was pursued by Peter?”
“Not yet. I couldn’t dig into her hard drive at her house other than glimpsing at where she’d saved her password.”
“And you didn’t see anything?”
Perry shook his head, frustrated. “Give me the case. I can prove their connections, or learn who kidnapped Kathleen Long.”
Rad slid the hard drive across his desk toward Perry. “The case is yours,” he said, but then pointed a finger at Perry. “Keep Carl with you when you’re doing your investigating. Promise me you won’t spend one minute on this case without him by your side.”
Perry grabbed the hard drive and stood, turning toward the door. “No problem,” he said, getting the hell out of Rad’s office before he changed his mind.
“Flynn!”
Perry turned, studying Rad’s hard gaze as the Chief stood slowly. “I’m serious about this. Watch your ass, Flynn. You hear me?”
Perry rested his hand on the doorknob, hearing the Chief loud and clear but not liking his tone. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“You’re a good cop.”
“I’m a damn good cop.”
Rad nodded. “Keep it that way. Don’t fuck me over.”
Perry let go of the doorknob and walked toward Rad’s desk, squaring off with the large man who stood opposite it. “You mind telling me what you’re trying to say?”
“This is my town, Flynn. Not a goddamn thing goes on here that I don’t know about. We’ve got a criminal on the loose and he’s going to go down. And when he does, it’s going to be bad and ugly.” Rad pierced Perry with a fiery glare. “I’m going to see to it.”
“Wait in line,” Perry hissed. “This is my fucking town, too. And if you think I’m going to tolerate a monster preying on teenage girls one minute longer than I have to, then you disappoint me, Chief.”
“I’m giving you this case because I think you’re the man for the job,” Rad said, his voice taking a low, calm tone that was almost unnerving. “But I’ll have some explaining to do.”
“What?” Perry hissed.
“That’s all I’m saying.” Rad pressed his lips into a paper-thin line and wrinkled his brow when he scowled. “You’re a good cop and I believe that, which is why you just got this case. Don’t make me regret giving it to you.”
Perry didn’t have a fucking clue what Rad was talking about and was getting pissed off listening to him ramble. But he had the case and that was what mattered. He headed out of the Chief’s office, forcing himself to relax his grip on the hard drive before he snapped it in two.
“Flynn!” Rad bellowed when Perry had barely reached his desk. “Take that hard drive over to the KCMO 3rd precinct. I’ll call and tell them to be ready for you.”
Perry nodded, not trusting himself to speak at the moment. He didn’t like being told to watch his ass and not being told why. Worse yet, there was obviously something wrong, or Rad wouldn’t have spoken to him that way. If someone had told the Chief something about Perry, he had a right to know what it was. But Rad wasn’t asking him to justify his actions, just watch himself in the future. Perry didn’t like it. But he didn’t have a problem taking the hard drive to the KCMO precinct instead of the FBI field office. At least this way, he could get answers faster.
Carl walked over toward Perry, a question in his eyes although he didn’t say anything. Perry preferred running alone, but whatever was bugging the crap out of Rad, if he pushed him Rad looked wired enough to yank him right back off the case, just to cause a fight.
“Let’s go,” he grumbled, not bothering to elaborate. He’d credit Carl for having enough sense not to ask questions but simply follow him out of the station.
He’d run over to the Kansas City, Missouri, precinct, hang there while they tore through the hard drive, then drop Carl off at his car. They’d have some answers today. One way or another Perry would know if Kathleen had been involved with Peter.
After he had that information, Perry planned to seek out one hot little blonde. Player or not, she had a right to know the man she had tried meeting was running in a car with illegal tags. Perry wasn’t seeking her out to fuck her but out of his sworn obligation to protect his community. If Kylie wanted to be an idiot and meet men in dark parking lots, that was her business. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if she got hurt and he didn’t warn her. And that was the only reason he would seek her out.
Chapter 11
“You know what, go to hell!” Kylie shoved her chair back from the table, pushing hard enough with her legs that it squeaked loudly across the floor. She couldn’t hold her anger in any longer. “Don’t ever suggest that I don’t know how to do my fucking job,” she hissed, gritting her teeth together so hard her jaw hurt.
“What I’m suggesting is that you keep a safe distance from anyone who might be viewed as a suspect,” John Athey said. He remained seated at the opposite end of the long, narrow conference table, his tone as cool as his expression. “Especially in light of what happened last night. It seems rather odd to me that Lieutenant Flynn just happened to be at the exact location you agreed to meet this Peter.”
“Last night I verified that PeteTakesU is not a teenager, that he drives a black Suburban. Sitting here going over everything that didn’t go right, instead of seeing what did go right is a waste of my time.”
“How do you know your guy was in that Suburban?” John demanded, his cool tone almost more annoying than his idiotic line of questioning.
“He sat there in his car with his brights on me for several minutes before approaching.” Kylie shoved her chair back further from the table in the meeting room at the FBI field office. It made a loud screeching sound against the floor.
“What proof do you have that Flynn wasn’t the one there to meet you?” John demanded, ignoring her comment. “Why the hell would he just happen to show up in that parking lot at the same time you were supposed to meet someone?”
Kylie had no idea why Perry was there last night. But the next time she saw him, he would get a piece of her mind, and his ass kicked if he pulled any macho crap on her.
“Are you sure you got the tag number right?” Paul held his hand up defensively, stopping her before she could bite John’s head off. “If you did, it’s fake.”
Kylie slapped the table with her palm and glared at John. “More proof, if you ask me, that we’ve got our guy. I’ll flush him out again. At least we know we’re on the right trail.”
“Kylie,” John said when she turned toward the door, making her name sound like a warning. “We already
