“Okay, fine.” Jarek reluctantly agreed. “We’ll check the place out prior to heading back to the safe house. But if it’s locked, we’re not breaking in.”
“You’re no fun,” she murmured, disappointed. Okay, yeah, she knew they didn’t have probable cause to search private property, but if she was working alone, she would not have let that stop her.
“Do you need anything else from us?” Jarek asked Kent.
“No.” Kent glanced at Andrews, who was on the phone. “If Andrews needs anything, he knows how to get in touch with you.”
Personally, Di wouldn’t hold her breath on that, but she didn’t voice her thought. Jarek would make an excellent detective. And she needed to remember not to cross any lines that would get him into trouble.
“Okay, thanks.” Jarek turned to her. “Let’s get out of here.”
She nodded, eager to leave. Their car was two blocks down, which was probably a good thing. There were several cars parked on the street, so the shooter would have no way of knowing which one she and Jarek were using.
But the fact that they’d been found at the café still nagged at her. Once they were in the car, she turned toward Jarek. “You texted Andrews from the café, didn’t you?”
“Yes, why?” Understanding dawned in his blue eyes. “You still think he’s involved in leaking information to the gang?”
“Anything is possible. I can’t help it if I don’t trust him.”
“I know he acts like a jerk,” Jarek said as he pulled into traffic. “But I can’t see him risking his pension, especially since he’s so close to retirement.”
“Maybe not.” She shrugged. “But it’s strange we were found at the café.”
“Cargo pants could have been driving the car,” Jarek said thoughtfully. “He may have gotten a glimpse of us sitting there and jumped on the opportunity to get rid of us.”
“I guess.” She decided to stop harping on the possibility of an insider leaking information. Jarek wasn’t going to suspect his fellow officers without a really good reason. And deep down, she admired his loyalty.
Jarek drove to the other side of the city. He parked several blocks away from the warehouse. It was a little unnerving to walk through known gang territory. Di couldn’t shake the sensation that she had a large bull’s-eye etched on her back. Even though it was early afternoon, there weren’t many people out and about. She’d half expected to see drug deals going down on every corner, but the area was pretty much deserted.
She followed Jarek past the warehouse. Up close, she noticed the paint was peeling and the eves sagged as if the roof might be caving in. The windows were dark and covered in dust, and there was a padlock on the front door. A new shiny lock, which was at odds with the rest of the building.
Darting into the alley between the warehouse and another brick building, she went up to peer into the closest window. The dust was so thick she couldn’t see a thing. She tried all the windows with the same result.
“Anything?” Jarek asked when she returned to the main street.
“No. There was a loading dock, the rubber half missing from the edge where the trucks must get unloaded. But someone is using the place or there wouldn’t be a brand-new lock on the front door.”
“I agree.” Jarek headed down the other side of the building, looking in the windows there the way she had. But they were also too covered in dust. In the back of the building there was another door, but it was also locked with what appeared to be a deadbolt.
“Let’s head back to the safe house,” Jarek said. “We can do some work on the owner of the place. Maybe that will help.”
“Okay.” She couldn’t help feeling dejected. She felt sure cargo shorts guy was involved in the drugs and the shooting attempts. Yet she knew Jarek wasn’t going to budge on his no breaking-and-entering rule.
“Hey, don’t be upset.” To her surprise, he looped his arm around her shoulders, giving her a quick hug. She was far more aware of his musky scent than she should have been. “We’re going to figure this out.”
Would they? She tried to smile. “Yep.”
“I’m here for you, Di. I am not going to let this guy get to you.”
She nodded and reminded herself that Jarek was a cop. That protecting people was in his DNA. His feelings for her weren’t personal. Well, other than friends.
They needed to find the gunmen soon, before she did something foolish. Like telling Jarek what she’d done eighteen years ago. The friend part of him might understand, but she knew there was no way the cop in him would let her crime go unpunished.
Jarek knew that if he hadn’t been there, Di would have broken a window of the warehouse and crawled in to search the place. He was glad she’d agreed to head back to the safe house.
They needed something more to go on, other than an older model boat and a man in cargo shorts walking toward a warehouse. He had to admit he was annoyed with Andrews’s lack of progress on the case. Not surprised, but still disappointed.
It’s possible the detective could have found out some information that he was holding back, but Jarek wasn’t convinced. He’d pulled Kent aside to ask him what the crime scene techs had found, but his partner hadn’t heard of anything useful moving the case forward.
