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He cruised down the street, and we all made a show of peering through the windows as if we were on the lookout rather than knowing exactly where our target was. When Dess came into view, Julius sped up. He veered up to the sidewalk right in front of her and fixed her with his best “you’ve got some explaining to do” expression.
Dess leapt backwards, her eyes flashing, but Talon and I had already hopped out and come up on either side of her. Julius got out too, letting his hand rest on the concealed holster at his hip in a subtle threat.
Dess halted in her tracks. “How…” she started, shaking her head. Her gaze darted toward the mall beyond me, and I wondered again about what she’d been waiting for.
“We’ve looked through half the city for you,” Julius said, putting on an impressive show of frustration. He gestured to the street around us. “Do you know the kinds of things that happen on this side of town? It’s even less safe than the last place we found you.”
I didn’t dare to glance away from her face as he spoke, but I found nothing of importance there. She looked calm, though the tightness in her shoulders suggested a hint of anger that she was caught.
If it weren’t for Blaze and his software, she wouldn’t have been, but we didn’t need to reveal all our tools to her.
“You don’t need to protect me anymore,” Dess said, backing up another step, but the Chinese restaurant behind her with a foreclosure sign in the dusty window didn’t offer any avenue for escape. “I survived the last couple of hours just fine on my own, didn’t I?” She placed her hands on her hips, as if she’d proved something with her little escape attempt.
I saw the flicker of mischief in her eyes that nobody else caught. I noticed the way she shifted her weight from her left foot to her right one as Julius spoke to her, and I knew that she was hiding something. I knew better than to believe anything she said.
“You have no idea what you’re dealing with,” Julius said. “Whoever blasted their way through that mansion would make most of the criminals around here piss their pants. You may think you don’t need us—you may even be right. But you’re connected to this case, and until we figure out exactly how you’re connected, you’re not going anywhere. Get in the car.”
Dess frowned at him. Then her eyes flicked to the side again, and an unexpected emotion touched her face—disappointment? Regret?
I risked glancing over my shoulder, but I couldn’t tell what she’d seen that’d provoked the strange response. When I looked at her again, it was gone anyway. Her shoulders came down a smidge with what I’d have said was resignation, except she still didn’t budge.
Julius moved forward with the full heft of his massive frame and grasped her upper arm. Dess tried to jerk away. “I’m not your property.”
“That depends on your definition of property,” I muttered.
The look she shot me should have killed me on the spot. “I’m pretty sure cops aren’t allowed to take people into custody without—what—a warrant or something? Especially if you’ve got nothing to charge me with.”
I let my lip curl into a sneer. “Did you forget so soon? We’re not like other cops, sweetheart.”
Julius tugged, and finally Dess came without more of a fight. Maybe she could tell that’d only end up worse for her.
Talon slid into the back seat, and Julius propelled Dess after him. I got in by her other side, more amused than I probably should have been by her irritated huff.
Some part of me kind of wanted to know what would happen if she really stepped out of line with Julius. He was ruthless and organized, and if something didn’t go his way, his temper would ensure that it got back on track quickly. How would Dess react to that military-honed authority?
It’d be something to see, that was for sure.
“Let me guess,” Dess muttered as Julius started the engine. “When you got your jobs, they added an extra line to your swearing-in.” She raised a hand as if pledging allegiance to the police academy that I’d never attended. “I swear to serve, protect, and only illegally hold a civilian if I think it’s absolutely necessary.”
“Now you’re getting the picture.” I glanced over at her, doing my best not to pay attention to her lean frame tucked next to mine or how gorgeous her face was amid its frame of dark waves. Trouble shouldn’t look that hot.
But as Julius had pointed out, my main job was figuring out the people we encountered on the job. Time to get that over with.
I folded my arms over my chest. “So, what were you up to out here? Just checking in with some friends? Or, wait, your boyfriend never let you have friends, did he?”
Blaze twitched with what might have been a wince, but he couldn’t tell me to play nice. Nice hadn’t gotten me anywhere with Dess before, and she wouldn’t have bought that act now. I needed a reaction, whether because I hit her in the right emotional tender spot or because she got her story tangled trying to keep up with me. Either would work fine.
Dess simply rolled her eyes. “Maybe I was just trying to get as far as I could from the bunch of you. I used to live in this neighborhood. I know it pretty well—including how to avoid the wrong kinds of people.” She gave me a pointed look as if to indicate I was one of the wrong kind.
“I guess that didn’t work out so well for you, since here you are back with us. And nothing to show for it either.”
I’d hoped for some indication that I was wrong, that she had accomplished something in her trek across the city, but I didn’t get so much as a twitch of a muscle. “Yep,” she said. “Right back where I started. Who should be more upset about that, you or me?”
I would have been annoyed, but some perverse part of me enjoyed how easily she could give back the snark I threw at her. There wasn’t anything wrong with enjoying it, was there, as long as I cut to the meat of the matter before too long?
I shot her a smirk. “What makes you think I don’t enjoy your luminous company?”
Dess guffawed. “Oh, only the fact that you’ve been pointing out how little you want me around for about two days now. Too bad your colleagues don’t listen to you more.”
