who now stood talking to her neighbor at the end of the hedge dividing their yards. She sounded shaken but okay. Perry picked up pace toward his Jeep.
He paused when he reached for his door handle, frowning and staring over the roof. A green hybrid was parked across the street in a narrow driveway. Perry instantly recognized the tags-those registered to Enterprise. Dani had told him Kylie was a college student at KU, working on a thesis about teenagers as a subculture. He imagined that would make for an interesting paper; his nieces definitely lived in a world of their own.
Perry opened his car door and leaned against it, taking his time studying the hybrid, the narrow driveway, and the small home. Although it wasn’t quite evening, the blinds in the house were all closed. The yard was neat, though, with patches of dirt breaking up thick clumps of grass, typical of the many yards on this street. The house was probably a rental. Most on this street were government housing or rented to private individuals. It was an affordable alternative to living in an apartment and not unusual for college students to be found living here, although not many who attended KU, which was half an hour drive from here.
There was something about her, though. He’d spotted it the moment he laid eyes on her the previous afternoon in the mall parking lot. Dani was a pretty perceptive kid, and she’d noticed something about her, too. Enough so to approach a stranger, which he should have lectured Dani about doing, and ask what she was about. Obviously Dani didn’t confront her-Kylie-because she was distractingly pretty. Although his niece did comment that Kylie was a sharp dresser, he didn’t conclude from that statement that Dani approved of her appearance.
Perry wouldn’t describe her as a sharp dresser, more like alluring, tempting, as if she slipped into that minidress she’d worn the night before knowing it would turn the head of every man who passed her. Her blond hair wasn’t long, but long enough to give a man something to grab hold of, to yank her head back and enjoy the slender arch of her neck and back.
There was a compelling spark in her bright blue eyes, noticeable even at night. But the way her dress hugged her figure, showing off perky, decent-sized breasts and narrow hips, made it damn hard for him not to physically respond when he first laid eyes on her. It was more than the challenge in her eyes, the cool way she had responded to him when he let her know he’d pulled her tags after seeing her at the mall the other day, which made him ache to know more about her. In spite of how young she looked, there was intelligence in her eyes, wisdom and something else. Something that told Perry there was more to the young lady than just a college student going all out to write an incredible thesis.
Perry focused on each of the front windows, seeing no movement inside. Maybe a bit more investigation was in order here. It was right there, kicking in, causing his insides to harden while predatory and protective instincts burned inside him. And maybe something else. He appreciated that curiosity warred with other emotions, with the desire to learn what a beautiful woman was about. Years on the force had taught him that danger appeared in all shapes and sizes. Although he doubted anything about Kylie the college student was dangerous, he still fought the compelling urge to get to know her better.
His radio beeped inside his car. “Unit Seven, what’s your ten twenty?”
Perry slid behind the wheel and slowly closed his car door. Grabbing his radio, he cupped it in his palm while continuing to watch Kylie’s home. “I’m here; go ahead.”
“Request ten eighty-five.”
Perry frowned as he reached for the radio on his dash and switched to a different channel. Cliff Miller, the dispatcher, didn’t often ask Perry to move to a secure channel, unless there was trouble.
“Roger that,” he said, and released the button, waiting for Cliff to enlighten him as to what was so serious that they needed to move to a different frequency.
“The owners of that car at the mall yesterday just came in and visited with Rad. Appears their daughter is officially missing.”
“Shit,” Perry hissed, dragging his fingers through his hair. “Get me everything you can on her. I’ll hit the streets.”
“Ten four.” The silence ran for several minutes while Perry stared at Kylie’s home. Something told him he would see the hot, sexy college student again.
But for now, school was out. His nieces would be home. Maybe he’d start with them. He hated dragging them into this, but the reality was that teenage girls were disappearing. Whether his sister approved of him scaring her daughters or not, awareness would protect them.
Cliff came back with Olivia Brown’s home address, the name of her high school, and a list of several girls who were considered her closest friends. “Rad just told me to send you over to the Browns’. They should be receptive to you going through her computer.”
“Ten four. I’m on my way.”
*
It was after seven when Perry’s sister, Megan, called and asked if he’d pick Dani up at the library. Those first few years after David’s death were hard as hell on the entire family. Megan was young, and left alone with four girls to support and raise on her own. Perry jumped in right away, to the point where he helped support all five of them while Megan struggled to find work that paid enough to keep a roof over their heads. Perry was pretty fucking proud of his kid sister. Many women would have crumbled under the life she’d been dished out, but Megan remained strong and brought up four beautiful young ladies. Diane had started junior college last fall, and now if they could get Dani through high school and not have her turn into a wild child like she seemed determined at times to become, Perry was sure they’d be able to get the other two through high school as well.
“There a reason why you’re not answering your mother’s calls?” Perry said in a low, deadly whisper when he approached Dani from behind.
She sat in an oversized chair in the middle of the library and jumped noticeably, spinning around, when he spoke. Her eyes were wide with fear but narrowed quickly when she stared at her uncle.
“You scared the crap out of me, Uncle Perry.”
“Watch your mouth.” He continued staring down at her, letting her know with his hardened look that he expected an answer to his first question. Whenever he was certain Dani would do both him and Megan in with her willful nature, Megan would assure him that Dani was simply incredibly intelligent and would make them both proud someday.
“I got us a computer,” Kylie said, speaking in a soft whisper, as she appeared out of the first aisle of books. She froze, lifting her attention from Dani, who still sat in the chair, to Perry, who stood behind her. For a moment something dark passed over Kylie’s gaze. It disappeared in the next moment and her features softened. “Oh, shoot. Do you have to leave?”
“Apparently visiting hours are over.” Dani stood slowly and kept her back to Perry as she said something that he didn’t hear to Kylie.
Kylie’s sleeveless dress ended at mid-thigh and showed off slender tanned legs that weren’t muscular but appeared toned enough that she could wrap them around a man and squeeze the life out of him while he drove deeper inside her. Her pink fingernail polish matched the color on her toes, which were visible through black open- toed sandals. And her blonde hair, which didn’t quite reach her shoulders, looked soft, like silk, and made his fingers itch to find out if it was.
Kylie lifted her gaze to his and he swore he saw awareness in her bright blue eyes, as if she knew that he wanted her and hadn’t decided yet whether that knowledge appealed to her or not.
More than likely, dressing like that, Kylie was propositioned on a regular basis. That didn’t sit well with him for some reason. There were people with strange kinks out there. It was enough worrying about protecting his nieces all the time. He didn’t need an incredibly sexy college student distracting him and creating carnal needs that were torn between fucking the shit out of her and protecting her as well as his niece.
“Dani, we’re leaving now,” he said, sounding gruff enough that his niece turned around and studied him. “Let’s go.”
“Just a minute,” she said, sounding exasperated. She turned and looked at Kylie as if apologizing with her eyes. It was a quick glance, one he’d miss if he weren’t focusing on the body language between both of them and noting the intense similarities. “Uncle Perry, I’ll be out in like ten minutes, okay?”
“No,” he said firmly.
Kylie interrupted him. “It’s okay, Dani,” she said, her soft voice soothing, incredibly sultry sounding. “We can do this another time. Your uncle is in a hurry.”
“No, he’s not,” Dani grumbled. “He’s just bossy.”
