To Trust a Cop Page 2

  Merlene smiled, and the curve of her lips brought a curious sparkle into smoky-gray eyes. Damn but she had a beautiful smile. Shining, almost-black hair fell to her shoulders.

  “Am I interfering with a police investigation again?”

  Yes, and he needed to get his mind back on business. “If you’re spotted, you could blow months of work. Cooperation would be greatly appreciated.”

  She glanced at him sideways, looking doubtful.

  “I already showed you my badge,” he said.

  “Cooperate how?”

  “We’ll trade information.”

  “Trade? Yeah, right. Cops just love to trade.” She raised the video camera again and pressed the record button.

  “What are you recording?”

  “I make a video record of all my activities to substantiate my bill.”

  “Good plan,” he said. Hell, she talked like a pro. Time to throw her off balance—find out if she actually was one.

  “So what does your husband think of your line of work?”

  “I don’t have a husband.”

  “Divorced?”

  “You know,” she said, placing the camera in her lap, “you are absolutely the rudest man. First it’s my diet and now my marital status?”

  He caught her gaze and held it. Beneath delicate brows, her eyes had darkened to an opaque, deeper gray.

  She looked away, glancing toward the apartment. Cody admired her flushed cheeks as he chose his next words. Too bad if she didn’t like his probing. It was his job to stir things up and see what kind of reaction he got.

  “Guess what,” she whispered in a husky voice. “Linda is on the move.”

  He shifted his gaze. Nurse Cole hid behind large, white sunglasses and a floppy straw hat, but there was no mistaking the woman climbing into a white BMW.

  Merlene started the car and shoved it into gear.

  CHAPTER TWO

  “HEY!” CODY SHOUTED as the car lurched forward.

  “I’ve been hired to watch her, remember?” Merlene shot a sideways glance at the detective as she accelerated and found him staring at her, mouth open. Yeah, maybe she shouldn’t have taken off with him in the car, but if she’d waited to get rid of him, she’d have lost her subject. No way was she losing her subject. Linda Cole could be on her way to meet Dr. Johnson.

  “You are unbelievable,” he said, fumbling the seat belt across his lap.

  “Just cooperating with your investigation.”

  “Then don’t follow so closely,” he said.

  “Thank you, Detective, for your professional advice, but I’ve never been made on a tail.” She kept her gaze fixed on the road, but the heat of his scrutiny made her squirm. At least the car’s movement created a rush of cooling air.

  “And how many tails have you been on?”

  “Probably less than you,” she admitted as she stepped harder on the gas. “So Nurse Cole is involved with whatever the doc’s into?”

  “You know I can’t answer that.” Cody peered at the speedometer.

  “What happened to trading information?”

  “Don’t speed,” he said.

  “I’m not speeding.” Okay. So she was—but only a little.

  Merlene stayed well behind the BMW as she followed the nurse toward Miller Drive, holding out her right hand to test the blessedly cold air blasting from AC vents.

  “She’s probably just going to the grocery store,” Merlene muttered. “Won’t even have time to cool the car down.”

  Warren loosened his tie. “Glamorous work.”

  Suppressing a laugh, she thought of the khaki shorts and sleeveless cotton blouse she wore, her usual surveillance uniform. Some glamour. In case she needed to follow a subject to a more formal atmosphere, she always kept a skirt and jacket hanging in the backseat. A good investigator was always prepared.

  “I hope she is going to meet Johnson,” Warren said.

  With both vehicles caught by a red light, Merlene scribbled the time and mileage in her notebook. “Why?”

  “Because he didn’t show up at his office today.”

  She raised her head. “Are you saying you don’t know where he is?”

  He rubbed a hand over his chin. “Not at the moment.”

  “Why don’t you have him under surveillance?”

  “Good question,” Warren said.

  “Well, well. I guess you should have let me stay last night,” she said, not even trying to keep satisfied amusement out of her voice. She couldn’t help but enjoy this turn of events. “I’d know his location if you hadn’t run me off.”

  Warren answered with a strangled noise.

  The BMW turned south on Galloway Road, and Merlene stayed with it.

  “How long have you been a private investigator?” he asked.

  “Two years. I work with D. J. Cooke Investigations.”

  Warren nodded as if he knew where she worked, which she didn’t like one bit. But of course he’d probably verified her license was current and she’d paid all her fees. Fortunately her boss was a stickler for those kinds of details.

  “I didn’t know D.J. was still around,” the detective said. “Tell him I said hello.”

  Was that a note of respect in Warren’s usually overbearing tone? “You know D.J.?”

  “He’s a good man.”

  “He is, isn’t he?” She adored her boss, a distant relative from Missouri. He’d taught her how to follow a subject and not get nailed. D.J. was semiretired now, bothered by too many medical problems, but she’d heard tall tales of his exciting career, first as a cop and then a P.I. “Did you ever work together?” She’d love to hear another war story about D.J.’s time on the job.

  “My dad knew him,” Warren said in a flat voice.

  She threw him a look, but he stared out the windshield, his eyes fixed on the vehicle in front of them.

  “Linda is turning into Norman Brothers,” he said.

  “Shoot.” Merlene drove slowly past the gourmet grocery, confirmed that her subject had parked in its lot, then turned around at the next intersection.

  “I don’t see Johnson’s car,” Merlene said as she drove through the jammed parking lot.

  She maneuvered the Corolla into an empty space, then reached into a zippered sports bag in the backseat and selected a red wig.

  “You’re going to follow her in?” Warren asked.

  “Unless you want to.” Gathering her long hair into a bun, she tugged the wig securely over her head. The detective leaned against the passenger door to watch.

  Hating that his scrutiny made her self-conscious, she checked herself in the rearview mirror, rearranged the wig with quick fingers, then grimaced at her pale face surrounded by a mop of hideous red hair.

  Oh, definitely a glamorous job, she thought, angry with herself for caring what she looked like.

  “Cole might meet the doc here,” she said. “Haven’t you heard the grocery store’s a hot spot to pick up dates?”

  “Speaking from experience?” he asked, quirking an eyebrow.

  “There you go with rude questions again.”

  He grinned. “That’s one hell of a wig.”

  “It works.” She placed tortoiseshell frames with clear lenses on her nose. “I don’t want Dr. Johnson to recognize me.”

  “The doc won’t meet her here.”

  “Probably not,” Merlene agreed, “but it’s my job to confirm that. Stay put and keep the air-conditioning running.”

  Without waiting for an answer, she stepped out of the car and breathed a sigh of relief. Detective Warren’s presence made the compact car feel like a toy.

  * * *

  CODY LAUGHED AS he watched Merlene half run across the lot and enter the groc
ery. Stay put? Where did she get her nerve? He should have arrested her for kidnapping him.

  But he enjoyed the feminine sway of her hips, thinking good things definitely came in small packages. He smiled, guessing this was one lady who never resorted to the grocery to meet members of the opposite sex.

  And a meet at a produce market wasn’t Richard Johnson’s style, especially since the good doctor wasn’t having an affair with “Nurse” Cole. Linda Cole had been hired only as a player in Johnson’s elaborate game of fraud and deceit. No wonder the wife got suspicious, considering how much time her husband spent with the bogus Florence Nightingale.

  She’d be more likely to hook up with Sean Feldman, the attorney mastermind of the scheme, but a survey of the parking lot didn’t reveal either of his vehicles. Too bad. Merlene could have recorded Nurse Cole and Feldman together. That would be one nice piece of evidence against Feldman, the lawyer who filed lawsuits based on the phony injuries diagnosed by Dr. Johnson, allowing them to fleece insurance companies out of millions. Usually by quick settlement so the insurers didn’t have to even bear the expense of a trial. What an easy con.

  So where was Doc Johnson? Had he gotten wind of the coming bust and rabbited? If so, he hadn’t cleaned out any accounts. Didn’t seem likely since he’d made a fortune off his various schemes, including a lucrative pill mill in Hallandale where any addict with an itch could get a prescription for a fee. Cody shook his head, thinking about the greedy physician who’d supplied narcotics to his sister’s husband.

  Cody still searched for answers when Linda exited the store and loaded brown paper bags into the trunk of her white BMW. She lit a cigarette, dropped the lighter back in her oversize purse and climbed behind the wheel.

  Moments later Merlene slid into the driver’s seat and yanked off the wig. “Oh, that itches.” She scratched her head, her own dark hair cascading to her shoulders in waves.

  “You look better with your own hair.”

  She stopped scratching and looked up, gray eyes suspicious. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  She shoved the car into gear. Neither spoke for a moment as she followed the BMW into traffic.

  “Looks like she’s headed home,” he said.

  “She didn’t speak to anybody in there except the clerks.” Merlene sighed. “Just a routine trip to get groceries.”

  Silence filled the car again. He studied Merlene’s face, trying to figure out why she intrigued him. He liked her, despite her interference. No question she was a looker. She had a fragile, porcelain look, although her attitude was anything but docile. She appeared to be a competent detective, but she was wasting her time attempting to catch Linda Cole and Dr. Johnson together in a romantic tryst. He ought to tell her and save her some effort. She had to be frustrated. He sure as hell knew how that felt.

  Plus, he couldn’t help but believe her constant presence around the players in his case had somehow changed the game, had caused Johnson to vanish. The sooner she moved on to other surveillance, the better. This wasn’t just another case to him. This case involved a doctor more interested in cold, hard cash than healing patients, some of them patients like his brother-in-law.

  “Have you recorded anyone going into the doctor’s house?” he asked.

  She shook her head. “Nope. He’s pretty damn boring, if you ask me. His wife is probably well rid of him.”

  “Because he’s boring?”

  “He’s a crook, too, right?”

  Cody nodded. “Listen... Mrs. Saunders...”

  “Don’t tell me. I’m interfering and you don’t want me to mention anything about a police investigation to my client.”

  “Actually, I’ve decided to help you,” he said. “I’ll save you the headache of following Cole around.”

  “Oh, yeah?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Then call me Merlene.” She tossed him a look. “I don’t answer to Mrs. Saunders. That’s my ex’s mother, thank you very much. Not me.”

  Amused by her prickly tone, Cody relaxed against the seat. He’d known her marital status, but now he knew how she felt about her ex.

  “So how are you going to help me?” she asked.

  “You’re wasting your time chasing Linda Cole. Dr. Johnson isn’t romantically involved with her.”

  “My client thinks otherwise.”

  Cody nodded. “He’s spending a lot of time with her, but only to make money, not love. They won’t meet outside the office.” He watched while she turned the information over in her mind.

  “You’re sure?” she asked.

  “We’ve got them on audio, and it’s all been pure business.”

  “Interesting.” Merlene remained quiet for a moment. “But not good enough for my client. She wants concrete proof, and I can’t exactly tell her my info came from the cops, now, can I?”

  “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t,” he said. Merlene’s sarcasm bothered him, but he wasn’t sure why. She seemed to take particular delight in antagonizing him. Hey, he was trying to help her.

  “I don’t know.”

  Fascinated, he watched her absently twirl a strand of thick hair around a long, graceful finger, the diamond ring flashing with her movements.

  “I’ll run it by D.J.” She dropped her hand to the steering wheel and narrowed her eyes. “But don’t feed me any nonsense about you pulling my license if I don’t back off. I know you can’t do that. It takes months...probably a year to suspend a P.I.’s license.”

  “I didn’t say one word about suspending your license.”

  They’d arrived back at Linda’s apartment. Without speaking again, Merlene pulled in next to his white, unmarked unit.

  “Are you going or staying?” he asked, not caring that he sounded sharp.

  “Going. For now. I’ll let D.J. tell me what to do. I trust him.” She met his gaze as if daring him to object.

  “Fine,” Cody said. “I don’t want to say, ‘See you around,’ exactly, but...”

  She crossed her arms. “I won’t promise to stay out of your way.”

  “Then I guess I will see you around.”

  * * *

  “LICENSING BOARD?” Merlene stared at D. J. Cooke behind his cluttered desk. She’d thought her boss looked more tired than usual. Now she knew why. “What do you mean you’ve heard from the licensing board?”

  “Something about your client’s husband,” D.J. said with a sigh. “Interference with the police. They’re sending an investigator out next week to interview me.”

  “They’re starting an investigation?”

  “Routine, I’m sure,” D.J. said.

  “Damn that Cody Warren,” Merlene muttered. “I knew he was nothing but trouble.”

  “Cody Warren?”

  She nodded. “That’s the cop who rousted me off surveillance on the Johnson case.”

  “Cody. Doggone it. That’s a name I haven’t heard in a dog’s age.”

  In spite of her annoyance, Merlene grinned at D.J.’s wrinkled face. Her boss always resorted to Ozark slang on a trip down memory lane.

  “He remembered you, too,” she said. “He said you were a good man. His exact words.” She stared at her lap, organizing her notes from the surveillance. “That’s the only nice thing he said all day. I should have known he’d pull something like this.”

  D.J. made a clucking sound. “Little Cody. I’m glad he stuck it out.”

  “Well, he’s not little anymore,” she said, remembering the way his white shirt had stretched across a muscular back.

  D.J. didn’t seem to hear her. “It sure was rough on him there for a while.”

  She raised her gaze. “What was?”

  D.J. sighed. “Bad business. His dad was a longtime beat cop and got caught shaking down
shop owners for protection money. Cody was a rookie when the scandal broke.”

  “He seems to have survived.” So she and Cody had the same rotten luck when it came to their parents.

  “I can’t rightly recall what happened to Bill Warren, but Cody became a cop who plays it strictly by the book.” Tapping his glasses against his cheek, D.J. swiveled in his chair and looked out the office window. “He worked in homicide for a while, then asked for assignment to the fraud division.”

  Merlene followed his gaze outside to a suburban backyard. Two small brown squirrels chased each other around the gnarled trunk of an avocado tree. Her boss conducted business out of his home now, taking only an occasional case, allowing Merlene to work as many surveillance jobs as she could land.

  She watched the squirrels fuss at each other. Probably squirrel husband and wife, she thought. But at least one of them still wanted the other.

  D.J. coughed. Not liking the sound, she shifted her gaze back to his face and really didn’t like what she saw. D.J. looked exhausted. No, more than that. He looked sick, his face as pale and white as his hair.

  “Hey, are you okay, boss?” she asked softly.

  “Fit as a fiddle,” he said with the wave of a thin hand. “Don’t worry about me.” D.J. swiveled back and placed his forearms on the desk. “I’ve handled much worse problems in my career.”

  She nodded, thinking he definitely didn’t need the stress of a Division of Licensing inquiry at this stage in his life.

  “What should I tell Mrs. Johnson?” she asked.

  “You’ve never seen the doctor and the nurse together away from the office?” D.J. asked.

  “Never.”

  “Call your client. Tell her you’ve got nothing. Let her make the decision.”

  Merlene nodded. “Good enough. I’ll even offer to refund some of the retainer.”

  “Is money part of the problem in this marriage? From the home address, I thought they were loaded.”

  “Could be. I definitely get the feeling the doc keeps her on a tight leash,” Merlene said. “And I remember what it’s like to be divorced, broke and unemployed. Scary. Maybe she’s got nobody to help her. If it weren’t for you, I don’t know where I’d be right now.” D.J. and his wife had been there for her when she hit rock bottom after the divorce.