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  Feeling mute, she nodded as she heard John McBride’s voice coming from the front door.

  “Taynor’s long gone,” Reese called out. “We’ve got a body in here.”

  Referring to Laura Jones as a body caused bile to rise up in Kelley’s throat. She’d seen plenty of dead bodies in her career, but this one was far worse. She’d been responsible. She swallowed. If she hadn’t passed out, Laura would still be alive.

  Kelley bowed her head. Just like her mother would still be alive if Kelley had been there for her.

  In the next moment, paramedics were attending to Kelley. She remained mute, pain gripping her as Reese ran through his version of what had happened. She felt weaker and weaker, and it really pissed her off.

  An Amber Alert had been issued and locally everyone and their mother had received the alert on their cell phones and it had already been broadcast on radio and television. The alert included the make and model of the truck, Taynor’s name, age, and appearance as well as the missing child’s, and that a second suspect had been seen but remained unidentified.

  When John turned away to speak with other officers on the scene, Reese knelt beside Kelley again and looked into her eyes. “Are you okay?”

  She swallowed. “I’ll be fine.”

  As the paramedics prepared to put Kelley on the gurney, Reese brushed hair from her face. “I’m going to go with you to the hospital.”

  Despite the pain in her arm and the spinning in her head, she didn’t want to go to the hospital. She wanted to do something to find Laura’s killer and her daughter, and the second suspect who’d helped Taynor get away.

  She didn’t have to say a word—Reese knew her too well. He shook his head. “I know you’ll want to help when you’re out of the hospital, but you’ve got to get it through your head that you’ll need to recover from the bullet wound and the concussion.”

  As far as the concussion, Kelley had known something wasn’t quite right. She hadn’t been feeling well, but she’d pushed it aside, certain that she’d be able to function just fine. How wrong she’d been.

  Again pressure built up behind her eyes. Old feelings and memories that she’d thought had been long buried rose up inside her. She clenched her hands into fists and took a deep breath and then another one. She had to get herself under control. Had to.

  “How bad are you hurt, Petrova?” John McBride stood beside her as the paramedics put her on the gurney.

  She was feeling weaker and weaker. “I’ll live,” she muttered.

  John frowned. “Something’s wrong, and I’m not talking about the bullet you took in the shoulder.”

  He had always been perceptive with a keen cop sense. She thought about telling him the truth but held it back. Reese was putting his own career on the line by lying to cover up her mistake. The least she could do was keep to his story. “I got shot. What the hell else do you think it could be?”

  John just studied her. “Take care of yourself.”

  Kelley didn’t answer. Instead she fought back tears she refused to cry.

  Chapter 2

  “I’m fine.” Kelley’s voice traveled down the hospital corridor as Reese walked in that direction. “I want to go home,” she demanded. “And I don’t need any more damned morphine.”

  “You’re not going anywhere until the doctor releases you,” came a no-nonsense female reply as Reese reached Kelley’s room. “The doctor already told you that you need to stay until he feels you’re well enough to leave,” the nurse added as Reese entered the doorway.

  When he saw Kelley, his gut twisted. The normally tough spitfire of a detective appeared so pale, almost delicate, propped up against the white pillows, an IV attached to the back of her hand. Despite her weak appearance, she still looked mulish as she glared at the nurse.

  “Let me have a little chat with Detective Petrova,” Reese said to the pretty dark-haired nurse named Nancy, who he’d met on an earlier visit. She somehow managed to look calm in spite of Kelley’s stubbornness.

  The nurse faced him, her back to Kelley, and gave a little smile. “She’s all yours, Detective McBride. Just see that she keeps her butt in bed.”

  Reese winked at Nancy. “You bet.”

  When the nurse left the room, Kelley glared at him. “I don’t need to be here. I can rest up just as well at home.”

  “You, rest?” He snorted. “I think you belong right here as long as they’ll keep you.”

  “Humph.” Kelley started to cross her arms over her chest then winced, pain flashing across her face. Still, she did not make a sound even though it clearly hurt her to move.

  Guilt stabbed Reese’s insides like a knife. He’d seen that Kelley was still affected by the concussion, but he’d let her go with him to Laura Jones’s place. If he’d just insisted that she wasn’t ready—

  Even as he berated himself, he knew that it wouldn’t have done a damned bit of good. Kelley would have gone anyway.

  But couldn’t he have done something to keep her from being shot?

  He pulled up a chair beside her bed. The colorful bouquet of flowers he’d brought her earlier was on a stand next to the bed with the card beside it. “How are you really doing, Kelley?”

  The stubborn look faded. “I’m fine. I should be home. I should be—”

  He cut across her words. “Don’t say you should be looking for that bastard, Taynor.” Reese frowned. “You leave that up to Prescott’s finest.”

  She let out her breath. He knew she wouldn’t argue that the men and women of PPD were good at their jobs. Still, she said, “But one more person searching for him will bring us that much closer.” She sounded as if she might cry as she said. “I have to do this.”

  “What can you do with that shoulder?” Reese said quietly. “Not to mention you’re going to have to go through physical therapy.”

  Kelley frowned. “Like I have time for that.”

  “You’ll have plenty of time while you’re on leave. You know you need PT if you’re going to get back to a hundred percent.” He reached out and put his hand over hers. “Take it easy, okay? Promise me?”

  She looked at his hand covering hers and something he couldn’t define made his heart thump a little faster. When her eyes met his, she had an almost surprised look, as if she had felt something, too.

  He squeezed her hand. “Promise me.”

  Her throat worked as she swallowed. “I can’t.”

  “Damn it, Petrova.” He moved his hand from hers. “You’re going to make things worse with your shoulder if you’re not careful. If that happens, it will be even longer before you’ll be back to full speed.”

  If he didn’t know better, he’d think she was holding back tears. Kelley’s jaw visibly tightened. He knew that on the occasions Kelley had met with Laura, Kelley had had the opportunity to talk with Belle

  “He’s out there,” Kelley said. “He killed Laura and he has her daughter. I owe it to Laura to help put the bastard behind bars and get her daughter back safely.” She clenched the fist he’d just touched. “For God’s sake, Belle is only eight.”

  Reese dragged his palm down his face. The ghost pains from his missing fingers made his whole hand throb. “I’m on it. I will find them.”

  Kelley looked away and stared out the window. Again she looked like she might be holding back tears. After a long moment, she turned back to face him. “Find the bastard,” she said, a fierceness in her voice.

  “I will.” He put his hand over hers. “You can count on it.”

  Warmth so deep touched Kelley clear to her soul. She’d worked with Reese for almost two years and she’d never experienced anything like this before. She cared for him, would give her life for his, but this was something more.

  Had it always been there? Or was she feeling it now because of the fact that she had come so close to death? A couple of inches to the right and the bullet would have entered her heart. Was that why she had these crazy feelings inside her for Reese that she couldn’t control?


  Or it could be the fact that her brain was addled with morphine even though the effects were starting to wear off and pain was shooting through her shoulder. Still, maybe the residual morphine was the cause of these funny feelings she was having around Reese.

  He released her hand and she immediately missed his touch. “I’ll head down to the station and get to work finding Taynor,” Reese said. “Your job is to get better. Understand?”

  She didn’t want to give in. It wasn’t in her nature to sit on the sidelines and not be a part of something so important. And finding Taynor and his daughter were more than important. It could even mean the little girl’s life or death.

  “Yeah,” she finally said. “But when I get out of here—”

  “You’re going to work on healing and getting into form,” he said, cutting across her words. “I want my partner back.” He squeezed her hand one last time before letting go. “I’ll see you again before you’re released.”

  “I don’t plan on being here that long,” she muttered.

  He smiled and met her gaze for one long last look. His light brown hair was a little out of place and he had a day’s stubble on his jaws. His vivid blue eyes held hers and she didn’t think he’d ever looked more handsome than he did at that moment. He was muscular with an athlete’s build and he filled out the T-shirt he was wearing in a way that made her heart pattering harder.

  It had to be the morphine. She mentally shook her head as he turned away and headed out the door. She watched him as he left, feeling strangely bereft without him there.

  She sank against the pillows and looked at the ceiling. Being in the hospital with this injury was definitely addling her brain. Of course she would feel something for her partner after all this time, and not in a romantic way. She cared about him as much as she did because of all they’d been through together. This was just another facet of their partnership. They had been through a lot.

  And now this… She was barely conscious of rubbing the pale thin scar on her chin as everything whirled through her mind. She hated this helpless feeling when she should be out there chasing after a murdering bastard, where she belonged.

  Men who treated women as less than equals infuriated her. But men who hurt women, men who killed women, put her into a rage so great that she knew she had to keep a tight rein on herself. After what her father did to her and her mother—

  Before she could stop them, memories of the past flashed through her mind.

  Her mother’s screams and Kelley’s own cries rang in her ears…from the time she was a little girl until she ran away from home as a teenager, her father had beaten both of them. Memories assaulted her of all of the tears she’d cried as she’d watched her mother being knocked around by her father…and then how her father had whipped Kelley with a belt when her mother wasn’t there to take her father’s punches.

  When he wasn’t beating them, he would tell them how worthless they were. He’d say a woman’s only uses were to have babies, and to cook for and clean up after men.

  Isaac Petrova had been more than a bastard. He’d been evil. She’d hated him more than she’d hated anyone in her life. She had never stopped hating him.

  She buried her face in her hands, even as pain shot through her from moving her shoulder. Her skin felt hot and tight.

  Guilt weighed heavily on her soul. Kelley’s father had killed her mother not long after Kelley had run away from home when she was sixteen. If she’d been there or had done something to stop him, her mother might still be alive. But Kelley wondered if she’d be dead just like her mother if she’d stayed around.

  Isaac Petrova was in prison for his wife’s death. Kelley had never been to visit him and never would. He would rot there.

  God, how she missed her mother. Kelley felt a hot tear at the corner of her eye and brushed it away impatiently. She didn’t cry, damn it. Long ago she’d promised herself she’d never cry again and that she would never, ever be a victim.

  Instead, she fought to uplift and protect women and volunteered at women’s shelters when she could. She had worked hard to succeed in a male-dominated career and had made a place for herself.

  She leaned back against the pillows, frustration making her entire body tense and her shoulder throb even more. She didn’t consider herself to be a victim in any way. Belle and Laura were the victims.

  Kelley gripped the hand of her good arm into a fist. When she got out of this damned hospital, she’d do what she could from home until she was stronger. Hopefully it wouldn’t be that long before Taynor and Belle were found, and Kelley wanted to find whomever it was that had shot her, too. One thing she refused to do was sit around and let that bastard get away with the little girl.

  Nancy walked in holding a syringe. “I need to give you another dose of morphine, Detective.”

  “I said no.” Kelley shook her head and clenched her jaw as she tried not to cry out from the pain it caused when she made the movement. “I don’t need it.”

  With a sigh, Nancy said, “You cops are all the same. Too damned stubborn for your own good.”

  Kelley felt like snapping at Nancy, but the nurse was only doing her job. Kelley knew she shouldn’t take out her frustrations on the woman.

  She let out her breath. “I’m sorry, but I’m a little wound up right now.”

  Nancy smiled. “So you’ll take the morphine?”

  Kelley shook her head. “The only thing that will make me feel any better is getting the hell out of this place.”

  “That’s not going to happen today.” Nancy started to leave the room then looked over her shoulder as she paused in the doorway. “Get some rest, Detective. The more you rest, the sooner your body will heal.” The nurse turned away again and left the room.

  Kelley let out a rush of breath. She had to admit that she wasn’t a very good patient. She’d only recently been cleared to go back to work from the head injury and concussion. For some reason the back of her head ached where the stitches had been.

  Here she was, right back where she’d been a couple of weeks ago. She’d been lucky in both instances. She could have died as a result of the explosion, or she could have died this morning when the man had shot her.

  She narrowed her eyes as she thought of Taynor and his accomplice. She prayed Reese and the men and women in blue would find the bastard and the little girl soon. If they didn’t, come hell or high water, Kelley would.

  * * * * *

  After yet another dead-end lead, Reese ground his teeth. He was determined to find Taynor and Belle. Not only for the little girl’s sake, but for Kelley, too. Finding the man who’d shot Kelley was top on Reese’s list, too.

  He leaned back in his seat at his desk that faced Kelley’s. He hated seeing her chair empty and would have liked nothing more than to have her there right now.

  The thought of how close Kelley had come to death was a knife to his gut. He didn’t know what he’d do if something happened to her. She wasn’t just his partner—

  He frowned and picked up a pen from his desk and fiddled with it. What was Kelley if she wasn’t just his partner? He thought about that moment in the hospital when he’d touched her and the crazy feelings that had gone through him. From her expression, she’d felt it, too.

  His frown deepened and he started tapping the pen on a pad of paper on his desk. He wasn’t too sure he wanted to explore those feelings right now.

  He scanned the computer screen, looking over the leads from the Amber Alert. He’d gone through them time and again. All of the leads were being followed up on, but none of them had panned out so far. He’d been out to investigate the strongest leads himself. He gritted his teeth and barely kept from snapping the pen he was gripping and tossed it back onto the desk instead.

  Something about this case hit close to home with Kelley and Reese wondered why. He’d noticed that most cases involving domestic violence against a woman or child set Kelley off. It was beyond her being passionate about her job. Something about this o
ne was even worse for Kelley.

  The more he thought about it, the more his keen investigative senses made him want to learn more. He wanted to know what made Kelley Petrova so passionate about her work… Exactly what made her tick?

  A part of him knew he shouldn’t invade her privacy in that way, but the part that wanted to know won out.

  He searched through the police database and came up with Kelley’s file. He felt a moment’s guilt, but pushed it aside. As he read the file his mouth tightened into a thin line. Kelley’s mother was deceased and her father was in prison. The file didn’t tell him a whole lot more.

  Reese opened up an Internet browser and typed in her father’s name, Isaac Petrova and her mother’s name, Jill Petrova. He had to sort through various hits, but finally found old articles dating back fifteen years ago when Kelley would have been sixteen.

  As he read through the articles, Reese’s brows narrowed. Isaac Petrova had been found guilty of murdering his wife, Jill. They’d had one daughter but her name had not been released as she had been a minor at the time.

  The article told of the brutal murder where Isaac had bludgeoned his wife to death and that he had abused his minor child.

  Reese’s gut clenched. The shock that went through him wasn’t just because of what had happened to her mother and the fact that her father had beat them both. It was because his story was eerily familiar to hers. What were the odds that they’d been through such similar things as they grew up?

  What had happened to Kelley was enough to make her as passionate as she was about seeing that justice was served when it came to domestic violence. That was in line with how he felt, too, after his own upbringing.

  When he thought about what Kelley had gone through, he found himself wanting to beat the shit out of Isaac Petrova. If the man hadn’t been in prison, Reese would have wanted to track him down and do it himself.

  He closed out the browser and went back to checking up on leads for the Taynor case. Something had to break and soon.