Good Girl Gone Bad (2 page)

“Say it’s over, Officer Zorn. Say it’s over or I will.”

Philamina Zorn felt her stomach sink. She sure as hell couldn’t muscle the six-foot-three sergeant to her will. His size aside, his corded muscles strained beneath the black T-shirt and his form-fitting jeans. Expert that she was in defensive tactics, she wasn’t going to fool herself about who would come out on top if they went hand to hand. This was her first IA case and she was about to blow it.

She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. The contempt she read in the sergeant’s green eyes was enough to quell the hardest of criminals. While she considered herself hard as nails, she was no criminal, just a good cop hell-bent on seeing the letter of the law served.

His contempt was mirrored. It was rogue cops like the one standing so arrogantly in front of her that brought the pride of a PD down. She’d seen it all the years her father proudly served, and she also saw it take his life. She’d be damned if she was going to let this guy slip through the cracks.

“Sergeant Jamerson. We can do this the easy way or the hard way, and frankly, I don’t give a damn which one you choose.” She squared her shoulders as wide as they would go and moved so close her breasts brushed against the hard plane of his chest. In tandem their eyes widened at the contact. Phil leashed her body’s inadvertent reaction, ignoring the tightness in her nipples and the way her skin warmed.

She smiled seductively, secure in her ability to draw him out. Softly she finished. “Because in the end, Sergeant Jamerson, the truth will win.” Her heart fluttered when he growled and reached out to grab her.

Ponch jackknifed out of his chair. “Don’t do it, Ty, don’t give her a reason.”

Ty’s hands halted in midair.

Ty spoke low, in almost a whisper. “Go ahead, lady, push me. Push me and see how hard I can push back.”

“Are you threatening me, Sergeant?”

“I never threaten.” He pointed to the scattered files on the floor. “Take those with you and go do your homework like a good little investigator and remember, even the most seasoned turned up nothing. Not one complaint has ever been substantiated.”

The heat between them became stifling. He didn’t back down and when he lowered his hands, his chest brushed her nipples again. She flinched. This man was dangerous. Dangerous in an exciting blood-racing way.

“There’s always a first time, Sergeant, and your time is nearly up.”

He grinned wickedly, his even white teeth flashing like those of a predator. He bit down on the piece of candy, the cracking sound shattering her resolve. As his pant leg brushed against the back of her left hand, he softly blew in her face and said, “That’s not all that’s nearly up.”

Stopping her involuntary flinch, she gasped. “Sergeant Jamerson!”

“Lady, I’m just a proactive cop. Very proactive.”

CHAPTER ONE

Three years later
County Task Force HQ, vice squad office

“I
ask for one lousy female and I get another grunt dug up out of who the hell knows where!” Lieutenant Ty Jamerson slammed down the file he held on the nearest surface, which happened to be his desk. Glaring at Jase, who’d had the misfortune to hand him the file, Ty grunted in male understanding. He wouldn’t kill the messenger. After years of working together, Jase knew it, too. He grinned back good-naturedly.

“Maybe we can dress him in drag,” Jase offered. “Get him some falsies and get him up onstage.” He laughed heartily. “Now that’ll draw every creep outta the woodwork.”

Ty ran his fingers through his shoulder-length hair. He’d be glad when this assignment was over. The last three years in vice had taken its toll on him and his team. They needed to come up for air soon, or they’d morph into the seedy underworld counterparts they sought to put away.

“Serious up, Jase,” Ty chastised. “We’ve lost one of our own. It’s balls to the walls now.” The high energy in the room accelerated.

“She’s just missing,” Reese said.

Ty glanced across the room at Reese, another brother in blue and his longtime point man.

Ty slammed his hands down on the desk. “Just missing? Just missing for two weeks? What about the other two, the ones who’ve been missing for months? I’ll bet my retirement those ladies are either dead or worse. Shipped off to some third-world sheik for his amusement.”

Ty stalked the short space of the stuffy room, his frustration nearly out of control. He spun around and stopped, glaring at both of his men. “I told those brass assholes we needed an experienced officer, not some fresh-faced male rookie six months out of the academy.” He looked down at the scattered file on the desk. “Now they can’t even bother to read my request form. I need this”—he grabbed the file and looked at the name tab—“Phil Zorn like I need another one of you dickheads.”

As he turned away he stopped in his tracks, realization dawning, then grabbed the file and opened it. His eyes scanned the information. “Shit!”

He tossed the file back onto the table, and the door to the small office opened. Three sets of eyes widened, and one set narrowed.

Philamina’s heart plummeted to her knees. This was a mistake, she thought. Not even close to what she’d put in for. Two men she did not recognize smiled—no, leered—the other, the one who she hadn’t stopped thinking of the past three years, scowled.

She felt like a sacrificial lamb who had just walked into a den of hungry wolves. She swallowed and steeled her nerves. Her last three years in IA hadn’t taught her to shrivel up and die. No, she’d learned a few things about survival, even among these beasts.

Phil contemplated Ty’s tall muscular frame, his long dark hair, and the severe cut of his short goatee. He looked every bit the hard-ass he’d sold to the grunge underworld of vice. Her heart picked up an unsteady pace. No way was she going to let him see how he affected her. She smiled, exuding confidence. “So, you made lieutenant. I thought for sure you would be hosing down kennels at the pound by now.”

“I thought for sure you would be riding a meter cart handing out unwarranted parking tickets.” Ty’s cock twinged. He admired her tall slender form. Couldn’t help it. She still came across prim and proper in a sleek navy pantsuit, but now experience, and no doubt anxiety, gave her soft features some depth. Her eyes, that unusual shade of dark blue, no longer held that hungry, I-want-to-get-the-bad-cop gleam. No, something else replaced that first flush of bravado he’d found so disconcerting three years ago. She’d grown up some, and the new mature lady cop before him unnerved him more than the innocent firebrand.

“What’s the rat squad want with vice?” Despite the hum his body produced at her entrance, he wanted her out of his office and out of his life. He had no room in either for a distraction like her.

“Officer Zorn reporting for duty, sir.”

Ty swore under his breath. Neither Jase nor Reese wasted a minute in welcoming what Ty had specifically asked for, an experienced female officer to go undercover. In their zeal to welcome her, they bumped into each other.

“Sergeant Reese Bronson at your service.”

Ty scowled when Bronson kissed her hand.

“Knock it off, Bronson, she’s a cop, not the frickin’ queen of England.” He moved in and pushed Bronson aside. “You’re mistaken, Zorn, your services are no longer required here.”

She wasn’t having it. She stepped into his space like he had done to her so many years ago. The fire burned hot in her eyes now. He liked it.

“Sorry to disappoint, Lieutenant. You requested an experienced female, and so you’ve been assigned one.”

Ty ignored the soft musky scent of her anger. “I never have and never will work with a rat.”

The words hit her hard in the face; he almost felt sorry for her when she blanched.

“I’m not now nor have I ever been a rat, sir. I followed my job to the letter of the law. If you happened to get caught in the crossfire, that’s on you.”

Ty’s fists slowly opened and closed. He’d see about this. “Excuse me.”

He flung the door wide and exited the office, his finger punching the sheriff’s number on his cell phone.

“Bellicheck.”

“Sheriff Bellicheck, Lieutenant Jamerson, sir.”

“Make it quick, son, I’m on my way into a meeting.”

“One word. Zorn. As in Philamina Zorn, an IA rat!”

“That was more than one word. What’s your problem?”

“I requested an experienced X for my undercover operation and I get a letter-of-the-law rat. How the hell am I supposed to work with the Wicked Witch of the West? She’ll be writing my guys up for spitting on the sidewalk.”

“Look, Jamerson, she’s all we could come up with. She’s single. No kids, no family to speak of. She’s perfect for this operation.”

“But, sir, my men can’t work knowing she’s keeping book.”

“She’s out of IA. I give you my word, nothing you or your men do will be used to incriminate you, so long as you produce. I want the person responsible for kidnapping Officer Marten and those other two women. Use Zorn, she’s no shrinking violet. Now stop your bellyaching and get back to work.”

“Sir, I—” The drone of a dead line reverberated in Ty’s ear. “Son of a bitch.” He slapped his cell closed and prowled back into the office to find his two men gallantly entertaining Officer Zorn. Her eyes shone with excitement and her straight white teeth startled him in their brightness. Shit-fuck-damn!

“It looks like I have no choice but to have you on the team, Officer Zorn.” He moved closer and lowered his voice. “But be warned. If it were up to me, we’d be slapping a skirt on Vaughn here and having him shake his ass for dollars.”

Phil stepped toward him. Her case against him three years ago fell apart, but she was determined not to let this case get away from her. “Consider me one of the guys, Lieutenant, and I assure you I will produce results.”

Ty smiled. “Oh, you’ll produce all right. Let me fill you in on the case you’ll be working.”

Philamina didn’t like his tone or the way his dark green eyes glittered. Reese snorted and Jase stood quietly grinning. Why did she feel like the joke was on her?

CHAPTER TWO

“H
ow do you know for sure these girls didn’t willingly check out of their current lives for something better?” Phil moved closer to the storyboard, examining the faces of the two missing dancers and Officer Marten. The dancers looked barely old enough to be out of high school, and Officer Marten, twenty-two and just out of the academy, looked like a poster child for
Teen
magazine. Maybe she’d had enough, but hadn’t had the balls to face her quick-tempered lieutenant.

Phil eyed Ty and swallowed hard. She’d never admit it, but the man pushed her buttons, causing her to react, instead of respond in her normal, carefully reined demeanor. “Young people are impetuous, they throw caution to the wind to chase silly dreams.” Something Phil would never do. When you lost control you gave the winds of fate latitude. Follow the plan, play by the rules, and keep focused. It worked so far and she had no intention of changing.

“Here’s a few facts, Zorn.” He leaned his fists on the desk and leaned toward her, looking her directly in the eye. “Forty-two percent of all strippers are stalked. Twenty-nine percent are sexually assaulted. By those two stats alone, your theory has holes.” He pushed back from her and stood up straight.

“Each of these ladies was doing what she wanted. Never a word about taking off to see the big bad world on their own.”

“But the letters they leave are clear, coherent, and in their own handwriting.”

“Coerced. No doubt about it, in my mind.”

Phil shot Ty a look. “Why? Because
you
say so?”

Ty’s eyes narrowed, Jase coughed, and Reese covered his mouth with his hand and looked down at his feet.

“It’s painfully obvious to me, Officer Zorn, you have no instinct for this line of work. If you did, you’d know just by the plain fact that three women are missing from the same club under the same circumstances something is off.”

Phil’s face warmed. If she hadn’t been so eager to make him look rash, maybe she would have considered those glaring facts. She wasn’t impetuous, or a grandstander. She was cool, calm, and collected, always diligent in her facts before making a judgment.

“Okay, I’ll give you that,” she said.

“Thanks, you’ve made my day.”

Jase cleared his throat. “Um, children, can we get back to the case?”

Ty threw him a narrowed glare and turned his attention back to Phil.

“Motive?” she asked before he could launch an attack.

“My guess is if they aren’t dead, white slavery.”

The fine hair on the back of her neck spiked and a chill ran down Phil’s arms, causing the fine hair there to rise. Visions of girls bound and gagged scared to death and wishing for death instead of the repeated rapes by faceless men made her sick to her stomach.

Phil glanced at the three smiling faces on the board. “Do we have any suspects?”

Jase answered. “No one specifically at this point, but lots of regulars we’re watching, and two we’re looking at hard.”

Phil nodded, her brain mentally compartmentalizing the information. “How about someone close and personal, a fellow worker?”

Ty swiped his hand across the bottom of his face. His frustration was evident. Not with her, but the case. “So far, everyone’s checked out.”

She opened her mouth to comment, but he put his hand up, stopping her. “That doesn’t mean we aren’t digging. We’re digging like mad. Every damn thread so far ties up nice and neat.”

Phil nodded and looked at both Jase and Reese, who calmly regarded her. She turned back to Ty. “What about the notes?”

“While each of the good-bye letters was coherent, and in the missing person’s handwriting, not one of them mentioned to coworkers, family, or friends at any time prior to their disappearance she had any intention of taking off. In fact, in Officer Marten’s case, she left her cat, with no forwarding instructions.”

Phil shrugged. “Maybe she didn’t care enough about the cat.”

“I know for a fact she treated that cat like a baby, and would have taken a bullet for it.” Ty’s adamancy told her something else, and inexplicably, it infuriated her.