Who, that's the question."

Logan cut his gaze over Reese. "She doesn't trust you." And neither did Lieutenant Peterson.

"She doesn't know me," Reese reasoned. "But you do, and that's what matters. Besides, I get the feeling the only person she does trust is her brother."

"She trusts me." No, she didn't want to. Logan got that. But she did.

Otherwise she wouldn't have asked him to ensure Rowdy's safety. "She's furious, but she's smart enough to understand why I-"

Reese clapped him on the back.

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better."

Without slowing his pace, Logan thought of how Pepper had looked. Not shy. Not withdrawn. Definitely not plain.

Bold. Sexy. Living, breathing temptation.

Yes, he knew what she'd been hiding: herself.

"Now what?" Reese asked.

Logan rumbled low, "Did you see her?"

"No man would miss her-including the cutthroat bastards who murdered Jack."

Jesus. Was that her intent? To draw attention? He just didn't know. "This whole thing is fucked three different ways."

"It occurs to me that we have those few years where Pepper was entirely off the radar."

Logan had assumed her timid personality explained that. He had so easily pictured her staying behind while Rowdy took the lead.

Now? He didn't know what to think.

"Your point?"

"I don't really have one," Reese said.

"It's just that maybe you don't know her at all. Maybe you should scrap any and all assumptions and start over at ground zero."

Though he'd already had that thought, Logan dismissed the possibility. He had to believe that some part of her was real.

The vulnerable woman who talked of her painful past.

The messy housekeeper who liked late-night movies and pizza.

The runner. The cook.

The incredibly inventive lover...

"Why did she risk coming here when she obviously didn't want to stay?"

Reese asked. "She could have called you with that message for her brother."

Logan saw the officer standing outside the interrogation room where he'd left Rowdy. "Part of her motive was to make me suffer." He'd felt it, witnessed it in her light brown eyes. "She wants to hurt me like I hurt her."

"By showing you that she's smoking hot?" Reese snorted. "That was a gift and you know it."

Actually, her appearance had shocked him, but it didn't make him want her any more than he already had. Such a thing wasn't even possible.

He shook his head at Reese. "After I talk to Rowdy, I'll know more." He stopped in front of the officer. "Did he give you any trouble?"

"Hasn't made a sound."

"Anyone else come by?"

"No."

Logan thanked him, then asked Reese to take up the guard duty. "I don't want to be interrupted again."

"Sure thing. But let's not take this too late, okay? I'm now a responsible pet owner. I can't be out all night."

Seriously? Reese was worried about his dog when they finally had Rowdy Yates in custody, and when Pepper was out doing God-knew-what?

Or maybe there was more to Reese's impatience.

Reese shook his head in resignation.

"I'm here as long as you need me. You know that. But let's not drag it out, okay?"

Logan accepted that and went into the room.

Calmer now, he pulled out his chair opposite Rowdy.

The man's enigmatic gaze bored into him. "How long are we going to do this?"

"Why?" Logan asked. "You have somewhere to be?"

Rowdy shrugged. "I'm getting hungry, I need to take a piss, and I left a warm woman waiting in my bed."

"Did you tell her you were leaving to break into my apartment?"

"Actually, I wasn't really breaking in since I own the building."

At Logan's pause, Rowdy laughed.

"Yeah, you gotta wonder who the bigger fraud is, right? You undercover as a tenant, or me as an absentee property owner."

"You own the building?"

"That's right."

"Why?"

"I needed a safe place for Pepper. A place where I could touch base with her, where she could be easily overlooked."

Rowdy leaned forward. "But you can get that look out of your eyes. She's long gone from there now, and she won't be back."

If Rowdy spoke the truth, he'd gone above and beyond to keep Pepper off the grid. "She'll have to go back there eventually."

"No."

"She left with nothing. All of her belongings are still there."

For a short beat of silence, Rowdy considered things, then he shrugged.

"There's nothing there that she needs, believe me. I didn't count on someone like you tracking her down, but I didn't leave it to chance, either."

"Meaning?" In order to figure out where she might be now, Logan needed to learn more about how she and Rowdy had operated.

"I had contingency plans in place.

Pepper has already covered her tracks."

That sounded far too final, so Logan pressed him. "Your tracks, too?"

"Yeah, mine, too." Slowly, Rowdy grinned. "I just thought of something."

Hopefully a clue he could use. "Let's hear it."

Rowdy actually laughed. "I was staying at a dump motel for a few days, and I really did leave a naked woman in my bed."

"Who?"

"I don't remember her name, but she had a world-class rack."

Logan's temper ratcheted up another notch. This was the man closest to Pepper, and it made him sick. "I don't give a shit about-"

"Odds are, Pepper went there first."

It took all Logan's concentration not to show his rage. "To cover your tracks?"

"That's right." He shook his head, still amused. "Pepper would have found her there, and knowing my sister, she probably tossed her out."

An image Logan couldn't quite fathom. "When the hell did she have time for a makeover?"

The humor fled Rowdy in a heartbeat.

"What are you talking about?"

"She's only had a few hours, and if she spent part of that time cleaning up your messes-" The ringing of Logan's cell phone kept him from finishing that question.

"What do you mean, a makeover?"

It was curious how Rowdy's tone dropped, how his entire demeanor darkened.

After giving him a long look, Logan glanced at the phone. A private call, without a number or name listed. The entire night had been filled with disturbances. He flipped open the phone.

"Hello?"

"Did you tell him yet?"

Pepper. Hearing her voice reassured him. For this instant, at least, she was still safe. "Where are you?"

"None of your business. So did you tell him or not?"

"He's been so talkative, I haven't had a chance to say anything yet."

Rowdy went perfectly still, listening in with interest.

"Yeah, right," Pepper said. "So tell him now."

"Soon." She'd said she would check in. How often? If she called every half hour, he might be able to track her cell.

"If you'd stop running off, I could tell you a few things that you might find interesting." Like how he hadn't been pretending to care about her, and he definitely hadn't pretended to want her.

What he felt for her was as real as it could get, and it ate him up to think of her out on her own, playing hide-and- seek with a ruthless murderer like Morton Andrews.

"You want to talk about interesting tidbits, Logan? Here's one for you-you arrested the wrong person."

His heartbeat slowed. "That's as confusing as your transformation. After all, he did break in."

Rowdy sat forward. "Let me talk to her."

Logan ignored him.

"My brother is a saint, " Pepper said.

"Everything he's done, he's done for me.

He's protected me when no one else could. He's cared for me when no one else did."

That truth hurt. "Pepper..."

"I have to talk to her," Rowdy insisted. He reached for the cell, but the restraints held him back. "Damn you!"

Logan stood to move out of range.

"Come back to the station, honey. You can help me to figure this out." And this time I won't let you get away.