Determined to get a closer look, Laurie made her way around the building with out being detected, looking for a second entrance left unguarded. A door stoo d to the rear, not a soul in the vicinity. She ran up to the back, tried the k.n.o.b, and to her luck, found it unsecured.

Steps led up to the second floor on the right as a hall made its way to the left. Standing quietly, listening for where the commotion stemmed from, Laur ie opted to take the stairs. The upper hallway was deserted, but she could t ell by the noise she had come to the right floor. She made her way down the corridor, trying her best not to make a sound. A putrid odor, something she had never smelled before, filled the air, causing her stomach to roil.

She clasped a palm over her mouth and nose, willing the bile to calm. Appr oaching the corner of the hall, the commotion grew in intensity. As she ro unded the corner, she saw the coroner's a.s.sistants leaving one of the room s with a body sealed in a black bag, rushing down the long hall to the fro nt entrance of the building. One large cop, whom she remembered as O'Riley , sat with a crying woman in the hallway as others came and went carrying boxes from the room. The doorway had been sealed off with yellow tape.

Just as Laurie found the courage to leave her secluded spot, Cole Kincaid exited the room and walked to the grieving woman.

"Miss..." his eyes looked down at his pad and flipped several pages back, "Johnson. Are you up to speaking with me?"

"I already spoke with Sam here. I told him everything I know," she sniffed, wiping a tissue beneath her nose. She blew into the Kleenex, the sound echoi ng off the empty hall walls.

"I'm sure you have, Miss Johnson." Cole kept his tone low, calming, and con cerned. "But I need you to tell me again all you know. I need to make sure the facts are correct."

Laurie knew had she left her spot on the corner, hidden by the wall and a ve ry well placed palm plant, Cole Kincaid would more than likely arrest her fo r being where she should not. She stayed quiet, listening intently.

Cole flipped back pages in his pad again, placed the tip of his pencil on his t ongue then took it to the paper. "We could do this at the station if you prefer , but I'll still need to question you immediately."

She blew her nose once more into the tissue. "It's all right. I'll answer your questions here."

"What time did you find the door to Mary Stine's room left open?"

Miss Johnson swiped the tissue beneath her eyes. "I get the mornin' paper.

I opens my door at 'bout seven this mornin'. That's when I noticed her door .".

"That's the first you noticed anything unusual. No noises, screaming?"

"I'm sorry, officer. I didn't hear nothin'. I'm a heavy sleeper-gots to be to sl eep in this place."

"Were you friends with the victim?"

"Sorta."

"Meaning?" Cole prodded.

The lady stiffened her spine and smoothed back her unruly curls from her e yes. "Mary gots clients, if you know what I mean." Cole nodded his head in acknowledgment, then the lady continued, "I works days and she...well, sh e works the evenin's. We spoke to each other, but not often."

"Did she have any enemies you were aware of?" "No, suh, none that I know of. Mary was a kind woman-just down on her luc k."

"Did she have a client last night?"

"I don't know. Keeps my nose to myself."

"So the first you noticed anything amiss was this morning?"

"That's right. When I came out to gets my paper. The door was open-just li ke you found it. I didn't touch nothin'. I peeked into the opened door and I saw blood all over. I runs back to my room and call 911. That's when you nice officers come."

"Okay," Cole said, snapping his pad closed. "You think of anything at all tha t might help us, you'll call the station?"

"Yes, suh," she grinned, showing a toothless smile. "Anythin' I can do to hel p the police."

Cole looked to the bulky officer still sitting beside Miss Johnson. "O'Riley , protect the scene. We may want to return. Have the premises pad-locked."

Cole leftthe building and walked around to the back of the motel, looking in to the Dumpster and anything large enough to conceal a knife or bloodied clo thes. Certainly, the son of a b.i.t.c.h would not walk straight down the middle of the street the way he had left the room.

As he bent into one of the containers, using a stick to poke through the sm all amount of garbage, the back door to the motel swung open, causing Cole to jump.

His hand immediately went to his nine-millimeter, withdrawing it lightning quick, protecting himself from the person exiting the building from behind.

Laurie squealed as she came face to face with him and his semi-automatic poi nted directly at her.

"Jesus," Cole blasphemed, resettling his gun in his pancake holster. "What the h.e.l.l were you doing in there?" he growled.

"I...uh...well, I was-"

"Where you didn't belong," he finished for her. "I ought to have your pretty little derriere hauled in for interfering with a crime scene. Is that what yo u want, Michaels?"

"No-no, I was only trying to get a line on the story." She stiffened, glaring at him as though she had every right to be there without the benefits of an i nvite. "It's the press's responsibility to inform the public of what's going o n, Detective."

Cole wanted nothing more than to throttle her for her insubordination and for scaring the c.r.a.p out of him. He grasped her upper arm and headed for the fro nt of the building. She struggled and squirmed in his tight grip like a bobca t caught in a snare. Her fingernails dug into the skin on his hand. h.e.l.l, Cole thought, next she'll be using her teeth.

"Stop your d.a.m.n squirming," he said as they rounded the corner.

"Let go of me," she ordered, "or I'll see to it you're slapped with a lawsuit."

Cole stopped and turned to face her, his grip not wavering. One brow arched in challenge. "You'll do no such thing."

"I won't? Just you-"

"Shut up or I'll slap the cuffs on now. You were interfering with a crime s cene and unless you want charges brought up against you and your paper, you refrain from threatening me."

Laurie jerked her arm from his grasp, stuck her fists on her hips and glared at him. "And just where do you think you're taking me?"

"To City Hall."

"On what charge?"

"Nothing yet." A grin curled his upper lip to a sneer. "Unless you want me t o. For now, you're going willingly."

She crossed her arms beneath her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, drawing Cole's gaze. d.a.m.n, but w hy did G.o.d have to bless her so thoroughly? Here he stood, just finishing up a gruesome crime scene, wanting nothing more than to scratch the itch t hat had been plaguing him since he'd held her in his arms.

"What for? I have a story to write."

"Exactly. I intend to find out what you heard."

"That's for me to know-"

"And me to find out. Now haul your backside over to my car. We're going downtown."

"Like h.e.l.l I am." She stomped her foot on the gravely pavement.

Cole took a deep breath. This was certainly not the time-though he doubted he would find a better one. He took a step in Laurie's direction, closing the g ap. He could feel the heat radiating from her flesh.

"We're going downtown and you're going to tell me what you intend on writi ng in that little paper of yours." He paused, his eyes narrowing. "And the n you're going to tell me what the h.e.l.l you were doing in Mansfield."

Chapter 10.

Word hadgotten out. The station crawled with newspaper reporters and televis ion crews as the detective's sedan pulled up to City Hall, driving around to the back parking lot. "Christ," Cole muttered to himself. Laurie sat in the car, staring out the window in awe. "Don't look so surprised," he said. "They heard the same wa y you did. Someone tipped them off."

The car pulled into the Sally Port and the garage door closed. Laurie looked at Cole. "No one tipped me off."

"Then how the h.e.l.l did you know? It's not like we find a dead body every da y."

Cole stepped out of the car, not looking back at Laurie, knowing she had litt le choice but to follow him. He took the steps two at a time to the main floo r and walked into his office.

All tagged evidence either made its way to the lab or had been brought here for processing. Cole sat behind his desk and took out some of the necessar y paperwork.

Laurie entered his office.

Sitting down in the chair across from him, she still said nothing. Did he rea lly have such a frightful affect on her that she would be afraid to speak her opinion? Doubtful , he thought with a chuckle as he leafed through his note pad.

"Are you going to tell me why you brought me down here?"

"Do you really need to ask?"

She shifted in her seat, raising a brow. "You've finally decided to give me t he exclusive," she said, sarcasm lacing her carefully placed words.

Cole leaned back in his chair, paperwork momentarily forgotten, and steeple d his fingers, glaring at her from over the top. "Which exclusive are you t alking about, Miss Michaels? Mine, or the case's?"

"I don't intend to sit here and play games with you, Detective."

"If you're going to insist on calling me by a t.i.tle, it's Lieutenant," Cole bit, anger rising beneath his surface.

"Oh, well...excuse me," Laurie spat, " Lieutenant . I didn't realize you had a problem with your ego."

"My problem is with you and your nosiness. Now, do you intend to tell me why the h.e.l.l you went all the way to Mansfield to see Robert Freeman?"

"How did you find out?"

"The same way you found out about the body this morning. Your source was d.a.m.n quick, I might add."

"I told you, I was not tipped." Laurie's jaw clenched as she sat back in he r chair, holding his glare. "But you obviously were. Or have you taken to f ollowing me now?"

"Don't flatter yourself, Michaels. I don't give a rat's a.s.s what you do with y ourself."

"Maybe my trip to the prison had nothing to do with you."

Cole laughed. "Give me a break. You expect me to believe after all these years a reporter has suddenly taken an interest in doing a piece on Robert Fr eeman? Don't mistake me for a fool, Laurie. Robert Freeman is my past."

"So why would someone tip you? Why would you care who goes to see the man?"

"The slug is a sworn enemy of mine. He can't take a dump without me knowin g it. And you, a journalist, expected to take a trip south to his new home without me knowing? Maybe you're not as good a reporter as I thought."

"I'm better."

"So far, you haven't proven it."

"So?" she asked, as though she expected him to know what train of thought s he had taken this time.

"So what?"

"Are you going to tell me about the body you found today or not?"

Cole chuckled. "You got some nerve, Laurie. First you try your d.a.m.nedest to trudge through my past and now you want me to give you an exclusive?"

Laurie sat forward in her chair, glaring at him. "When I did that piece for you on the funeral-you promised me the exclusive."

"So, I did. You're in my office aren't you?"

"Yes-only to get my rear-end chewed out."

"What did you expect, Laurie?" Cole shifted in his chair, tapping the eraser of his pencil on the arm. "I told you before not to go messing in my past.

But you didn't listen, did you? h.e.l.l, you went all the way to Mansfield to p rove that. Did you learn anything from Robert? Did he tell you how he beat m y wife to death with his bare fists?"

Laurie took her turn to shift in the chair as she leaned back, her expression softening. For a while, she remained silent, then said, "No. He didn't say tha t. But I'm a reporter, for heaven's sake. This is what I do."

"The exact reason I don't like your kind." He narrowed his eyes, studying her expression. She had a backbone, he would give her that much. Switching subjects, he began reciting the report mechanically. "The victim was a wh ite female, found dead at seven this morning at the Cleveland Motel at Wes t 227 Street and Lorain."

Laurie quickly wrote down the details as he relayed them. She looked up fr om her pen and paper. "Any ID on the victim?"

"The ID of the woman won't be released until the family has been contacted -you know that."

"Is this the same work as the other two victims?"