Criminal Promises Read Free Page B

Winchester and I’ll
personally pull your balls out your throat. Then we’ll talk
about your feelings.”
    “You can try.” A cocky
grin spread across Craig’s mouth. “After you get your head
straight.”
    An hour later, while they worked at
dissecting everything in the case files from their first go-round
with Adalia, BD still fumed over Craig’s hard view of his actions.
Again they tried to find a logical connection between her victims
aside from the cryptic notes left with the bodies.
    “Why was she so direct in
her last note? She was more vague before.” Craig twirled a pen
between his fingers. “And what’s she mean by ‘our failure resulting
in mass destruction’? How many people does she plan to
kill?”
    “I don’t intend to find
out the last answer. As for her directness, maybe she’s working
against a timetable. Or she’s grown impatient, which will make her
screw up. We just have to figure out her agenda.”
    Craig looked up from the
paper he was reading. “We have to tell Mrs. Sullivan.”
    “No.” BD could see it now.
Him explaining to Maggie how the woman sentenced for Mike’s death
had escaped, killed another woman and that Maggie may be next. Of
course he couldn’t forget the part about her husband maybe being
involved with Adalia.
    “No,” he said again. “It
wouldn’t go over well.”
    “She’ll be safer if she
knows.”
    “Or she’ll go off
half-cocked thinking she can handle the situation.” BD pinched the
bridge of his nose in an attempt to alleviate some of the pressure.
While there was nothing fragile or timid about Maggie, she wouldn’t
take orders well—even for her own protection. “We need a way to
stay close without her knowing what’s going on.”
    “We’ve upped patrol car
presence in the area.”
    “Which won’t be enough.”
Wood was too clever and always a step ahead. “We’ll need to take
turns watching her house at night.”
    “Have I mentioned my
hatred of stakeouts?” Craig, the mellow member of their team who
dealt more easily with periods of inactivity as they related to
doing paperwork hated sitting in a car for hours. Where Craig
thrived on mental stimulation, BD fared better when his mind could
drift from possibility to possibility.
    “Loan me your car. I’ll
cover them.” It was a better option than going home to the cheap,
pre-furnished apartment he’d moved into after Samantha.
    “Why do you need my car?
What’s wrong with yours?”
    BD leaned back in the chair
and rolled his neck. “Maggie identified mine from a few sweeps I’ve
done. If I park all night she’ll know something’s up.”
    Craig’s left brow popped
up. The pen rolled seamlessly through his fingers like a miniature
baton. “Man, where to start. How about with pointing out she’s
already aware something’s up?”
    “Been there.” BD tapped
his temple and ignored the sarcastic air quotes Craig framed
“something’s up” in.
    “You take the fun out of
it when you don’t fight back. Well…” Craig grinned slowly, only
raising one side of his mouth. “Mostly. That you’ve been checking
up on her and keeping it secret…” The weight of what Craig didn’t
say sat like boulders on BD’s mind. “How long’s it been going
on?”
    “Awhile.” Three more days
would make a year. Not that he’d counted.
    “Okay. She’s observant.
Probably too much so to be fooled with a different car. If anything
it could scare her into calling 9-1-1.”
    He’d thought of that too.
    “I’m open to
alternatives.” As long as they didn’t involve being close enough to
smell her sweet scent of vanilla and roses.
    “You want her to be
careful? Give her a reason. Her concerns will be raised and she’ll
stay on guard.”
    “A warning won’t keep her
safe from Adalia.”
    Thinking, Craig flipped the
pen back and forth three times before tapping it on the desk. “You
could date her. And don’t think I’ve missed that you’re ignoring my
question.”
    Date her?