Flirtation. Part 9

"Charlotte, stop. Tell me. What?"

"My laptop! They took my laptop!"

EJ halted in the doorway, looking around her tiny bedroom that was probably once light and cheerfully decorated, but was now just as trashed as the rest of the apartment. Whoever had been here had been looking for something, and they wanted it bad.

"What was on your laptop that someone would want to steal, Charlotte?" Account numbers? Customer information? Evidence? The d.a.m.ning thoughts popped up in his head one after the other. She looked at him in shock and confusion.

"What do you mean? There was nothing of value on my laptop-not to anyone else-but all of my tarot records, my personal files...who would want it? It was an old model, used."

She sat on her bed, looking at him with a blank, wounded stare, and his gut wrenched.

"Charlotte, if you are involved in anything dangerous, if you know any dangerous people who might do something like this, you should tell me now. This is the time to come clean."

She shook her head, her brow furrowing in confusion. "What are you talking about? Come clean about what? I don't know any dangerous people! I don't know why anyone would want to do this to..."

Her voice faded off, as if something occurred to her, and EJ honed in.

"What? What is it? Did you think of something?"

Tears filled her eyes, and he had to hold himself back from going to her. Not now. Not yet.

"My brother, Ronny. Sometimes he hangs with a rough crowd. Maybe...that's all I can think of. Maybe he owed them money, or something-"

"Is Ronny involved in anything illegal?"

"Not that I know of, I mean, he smokes some pot, but that's about it. But his friends are, you know, a little sketchy."

"And he's brought them here?" The thought that Charlotte could be innocent and that her brother could have put her in the path of danger angered EJ, but he choked it back when he saw Charlotte's eyes widen as she watched him. She was already in enough shock.

"Sometimes. He would never let anyone hurt me, though, I know him better than that. He has his problems, but he loves me. He's really very...sweet."

Tears started pouring out, her shoulders shaking as she still sat there in her beautiful dress, her hair still a mess from his hands. He relented against his professional judgment and crossed the room, sitting on the bed and pulling her up against him. Regardless of her level of involvement, she was a victim at the moment, and she was a woman he'd been intimate with. And she was hurting.

"Shhh. Deep breaths. We'll figure it out. We have to call the police."

"I have to find Ronny. I have to make sure he's okay."

"Give me his address. We'll send a unit there right away."

She looked at him, blinking back tears. "You're talking like a cop."

EJ sighed heavily, closing his eyes, and then met her gaze frankly though not without regret. "I am a cop."

6.

CHARLOTTE LOOKED AROUND THE tattered surroundings of her bedroom, and then stared down, her fingers having found three frayed pieces of lace hanging from the dress. tattered surroundings of her bedroom, and then stared down, her fingers having found three frayed pieces of lace hanging from the dress.

"Oh, no!"

EJ leaned in cautiously. "What?"

"The dress. It's not mine! I have to return it in the morning, but look, I must have caught it on something and it's torn!"

"Why do you have to return the dress?"

"The woman at the thrift shop loaned it to me, and I'm supposed to bring it back in the morning. There's no way I could afford something like this, even secondhand, but I wanted something special..."

She couldn't deal with one more thing, and had chosen to not even process what EJ had said to her just moments ago, instead obsessing on the dress. Everything around her was being ripped apart, and she needed to figure out how to fix it.

"Charlotte, look at me. C'mon, darlin'."

He tipped her chin up, bringing her face close to his. She stared into his concerned green eyes.

"You lied to me."

The concern she saw flickered with hints of something else-regret maybe? Guilt?

"Yes. I didn't mean for things to go that way, what happened between us. I shouldn't have let that happen."

"Why not?"

Secrets turned his eyes a deeper shade of moss, she observed.

"Like I said, I'm a police detective. I've been investigating you."

"Me? Why?"

"Your tarot business. The fact that it's a front for online thefts. The more you can tell me about it now, before we have to deal with this, the better. You're obviously not in this alone." He softened his tone, touched her hair. "I want to help, Charlotte, if I can."

She drew away from his touch, her eyes meeting his steadily, and not liking the doubt she read there.

"While I appreciate you wanting to help me, I don't need any help. Not like that. I am not a front for anything. I can't tell you anything, because I am not involved in thefts or anything else! I don't know why you would think I am."

She stood from the bed, walked to a bookcase and began mentally counting the books strewn across the rug, wondering if anything besides her laptop was missing, too distressed to deal with what was happening between them at the moment.

"Charlotte, listen..."

She whirled on him, stopping him in his tracks.

"No, you you listen. I don't know what's happening here. My home has been violated, my trust has been violated, and I am not going to sit down and take this. I am listen. I don't know what's happening here. My home has been violated, my trust has been violated, and I am not going to sit down and take this. I am not not part of any scam, or any thefts, and I don't know why any of this is happening. Whatever you know, I would appreciate it if part of any scam, or any thefts, and I don't know why any of this is happening. Whatever you know, I would appreciate it if you you would tell would tell me me right now." right now."

She crossed her arms over her heaving chest, stubbornly refusing to avert her eyes from his, and waited. He nodded, his mouth flattening into a serious, businesslike line, and he did tell her. Who he was, why he was watching her, and what he thought she was guilty of. By the time he was finished, she was numb with rage and confusion.

"I don't understand-just because I did a reading for all of the people who were robbed, you thought it was me doing it? That seems pretty flimsy."

"It is. That's why I was, uh, investigating further. We needed more evidence. But you were our only lead."

"I didn't do it, EJ."

He stared at her hard for several seconds. "Okay. But something has obviously gone bad here, and we have to figure out what it is."

"It could have just been a random break-in."

"Could be. But if it was random, just thieves looking for stuff to sell, why didn't they take your television or your camera? Yet they only took your computer. And this-" he gestured to the destroyed room "-looks intentional. They weren't just looking for anything anything-they were looking for something something."

The words chilled her and she started to pace, then stopped abruptly. Ronny Ronny. Ronny always wanted to borrow her computer, and her computer was missing. She never checked to see what he was up to-could he possibly have been involved in scamming her clients and she had no idea?

Her heart broke at the thought, and then froze-if Ronny was involved, he could be in danger, too. She turned to EJ, grabbing the lapels of his jacket urgently.

"We have to find Ronny. He could be in danger."

"I'll send a car to his address," EJ said, immediately understanding why.

But Charlotte was already out the door before he could dial the first number. "I'm not waiting around for the police. I have to go make sure he's okay."

"Charlotte, wait-you don't know what kind of danger he could be in."

"We have to find out."

EJ DIDN'T LIKE IT DIDN'T LIKE IT one bit that they were on their way to Ronny's apartment-Charlotte had been through enough for one night-but at least she hadn't objected when he'd called for backup and sent someone back to her place. It was going to be a long night. one bit that they were on their way to Ronny's apartment-Charlotte had been through enough for one night-but at least she hadn't objected when he'd called for backup and sent someone back to her place. It was going to be a long night.

When he set down his cell phone, she was looking at him quietly, like he was someone she had never met before. He guessed that was more or less the case.

"I'm sorry I lied to you Charlotte. I'm sorry for taking advantage."

"Is that what it was?"

EJ honestly didn't know. Maybe making love to her wasn't so much taking advantage as it was giving in to the buried desires being with her had stirred up, but the results were the same. Maybe the wild way he'd lived his life for the past two years had finally caught up with him, and he'd been a little too casual where he should have been in control.

"I didn't mean to hurt you, regardless of how it might seem."

Amazingly, she reached across the car, and laid her hand on his arm. "I know that, EJ. And I realize that you had a job to do, I really do."

"So you're okay with this?" He found it hard to believe she could just let go of the fact that he'd not only gotten to know her, but had s.e.x with her, under false pretenses. But her next words clearly showed her priorities were elsewhere; he obviously had to get over himself a little, he thought with a self-deprecating sigh.

"Now we just have to figure out what's going on, if anything, and help Ronny."

"If he's the one orchestrating this, Charlotte, I have to bring him in. He's guilty of serious crimes. And he may try to implicate you-he already has."

She withdrew her hand and wrapped her arms around herself again, not responding. EJ let her be; he wasn't sure how to navigate this mess, but first things first, which meant tracking down Charlotte's brother.

Though his cop's mind reflexively generated a hundred schemes within which Charlotte could still be guilty, he didn't believe them. His gut had been telling him she wasn't a criminal all along, but his mind had refused to listen. But she was going to end up an injured party in this, regardless.

He kicked himself for not checking out Ronny before now. It was such an obvious miss. It also made more sense-the more he learned about Charlotte, the more unlikely it seemed that she was a con artist. He hadn't known her long, but he knew how much her brother-her only family-meant to her. And it would be EJ's job to put him away, if Ronny was involved and if whoever had wrecked Charlotte's home hadn't gotten to Ronny already.

He pulled up in front of the house with the address Charlotte had given him and held to one final, doubting thought: he hoped it wasn't a setup.

He looked at Charlotte, trying to distinguish any telltale clues, but her eyes were glued to the house, fretful and anxious, her hand on the door handle, ready to bolt.

"Wait. Let me talk to the officers first."

Uniformed officers met him at the car, and he spoke to them in low tones, giving them instructions that Charlotte couldn't quite hear, EJ's iron-clad grip on her hand keeping her from rushing into the house.

"Charlotte, I want you to stay here. Let us check it out first. Please."

Though she wanted to object, she knew there could be real danger here and agreed to stay back, if reluctantly. She squeezed EJ's hand.

"Be careful."

His eyebrows lifted in mild surprise and then he turned, walking to the front of the house with the officers, who peered in windows and tried to see anything out of the usual before entering. Within seconds Charlotte could see them hesitate at the door, which pushed open easily, just as hers had.

She held her breath, knowing it wasn't a good sign.

There was no noise, no movement, and she actually jumped when she saw a light flash on inside the apartment.

What was happening? Her mind raced to all the awful things that could have happened, and she took a step forward, only to stop when EJ showed up on the porch. He signaled to her to come in.

But before she could so much as take a step forward, a car peeled around the corner and barreled down the street. Charlotte stood, looking at the vehicle in blank confusion, the sound and speed startling her.

She was still frozen on the sidewalk as EJ yelled and ran down the steps, lunging in her direction. The officers appeared on the porch, and Charlotte hit the ground very hard, broken gla.s.s shattering somewhere and sounds of men shouting and m.u.f.fled gunfire filling the air.

Her arm hurt but she didn't move, hearing EJ's harsh breathing and m.u.f.fled curses as the car sped away. When she felt the weight of his body lift from hers, she still didn't move, unsure what was going on or what she was expected to do.

"Charlotte, get in the car and stay down."

EJ had opened the car door and practically threw her in the backseat, pushing her down into the leather. She thought she heard him whisper, "Sorry, sweetheart" as he closed the door and rushed back toward the house. As the numbness of surprise pa.s.sed, she swallowed her breath in gulps and lifted up, just enough to peer through the backseat window. EJ was on the sidewalk in front of the steps; he and one of the other officers were crouching over something-someone-the other officer.

"Oh, my G.o.d," Charlotte whispered, reaching for the handle. Someone had been hurt. She opened the door and ran up to them, clamping her hand over her mouth as tears burnt her eyes when she saw the dark stain on the cement sidewalk surrounding the officer.

"Is he...?"

EJ looked up, bleak. "Charlotte, get back in the car. They could come back."

"Is he dead?"

"No. But it's bad. Help's on the way, please get back in the car."

"I want to help."