Brain Storm by Cat Gilbert (detective books to read .TXT) 📖

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IN THE END, I decided the easiest way to lose the tail was to go to the police station. It’s someplace I would normally go and what tail is going to risk being made at the police station? Not this one, I hoped, and sure enough, I watched as he rolled right past the entrance while I parked the Tank.

I grabbed the coffee, seeing no sense in letting it go to waste, and hustled myself inside. I know a lot of the guys at Little Rock PD and doing the type of work I do gets me in the door. The fact that I stay out of trouble, do a decent job, try not to break the law and am on their side of putting the bad ones away, means they help me whenever they can.

“Jonas in?” I called out and got three hands all pointing to the back of the station and along with a couple of grunts. Little Rock has more than its fair share of crime, and the station was a busy place. With a recent high-profile murder, I knew the timing wasn’t good for me to show up, but then again, I was a citizen, they were the police, and I had a plate number.

I shoved through the door and headed back toward the offices where Jonas was likely to be. I knew most of the force by sight, but Jonas and I had touched base on a couple of cases, and I was comfortable working with him. Technically a detective, Jonas Hill was the type of cop you wanted around when things went bad. Big, and by that I mean BIG, black and mean looking. Jonas looked like he could take care of himself and any trouble that came along. The first time I met him was on a case where the father had kidnapped his own daughter. The Dad had been abusing the girl, and the Mother had sole custody. Dad decided to take matters into his own hands, which in turn had instigated an Amber alert and a three state hunt. Trinity had filed the criminal papers on dear old Dad, so I was asked in when the kidnapping occurred. Jonas made the mistaken assumption I was working for the defense at first, and until we got it straightened out, we had some bad moments. Once he found out I was on his side of the investigation, things settled right down. We ended up working quite well together. Jonas had good instincts, and I tried to keep out of his way as much as possible. I think he liked me. At the very least he tolerated me. He had been there when Keith was killed, keeping me informed and explaining the process. He was one of the good guys. Big and scary, but a good guy. Which I tried to remind myself of, when he scowled up at me.

“What?” He glanced up when I entered his office and immediately went back to writing the report on his desk. He was busy, and I decided to cut right to the chase, sure he would appreciate it.

“I need a plate run.”

“Why?” He quit writing and sat with the pen poised above the paper, waiting.

“I picked up a tail today. Black BMW 325i.” That got his attention. He looked up, meeting my eyes with a questioning look. Having worked on Keith’s case, he knew the car make and model. Knew that it was never found. I was sure he noticed it each time he saw one, just like I did. My request to run a plate on that particular car and one that was tailing me no less, had him raising his eyebrows.

He pulled out a request sheet and motioned for me to sit down. I filled him in on the details while he wrote out the information. After he had gotten the ball rolling, he leaned back in his chair and looked me in the eye.

“Tell me what’s going on,” he demanded. “What cases you working on.”

“Just one. For Trinity Davis. A child support case. Everything else is wrapped up unless someone got out lately I don’t know about.”

He snorted at this. Like I said, I fly pretty far under the radar and like it that way, for this very reason. The bad guys don’t need to know who got the goods on them. Just that the goods have been got, and they are in trouble. I could count the number of people who knew what I did on one hand. A revenge scenario was highly unlikely, and Jonas knew it.

“How come you’re twitchy?”

“I’m not twitchy,” I said, hoping to avoid the interrogation I saw heading my way.

“Yeah, You are,” he insisted. “What aren’t you telling me?”

Like I said, instincts. Jonas has them oozing out of his skin. He leaned back in his chair, stretching his tee shirt tight across his chest and closed one eye, pinning me down with the other. On some guys that look would probably come off as a flirt or showing off. On Jonas however, it is the ‘I am big and tough, and I know you’re withholding information, don’t make me hurt you look’. He did it well.

“I had a bad day yesterday. An altercation down at the coffee shop by the condo. Spilled coffee, accusations, that type of thing.” I might have to talk, but I didn’t have to tell him everything. “And no, I don’t know the guy. I didn’t get a name, and I don’t see that it has anything to do with this. I just don’t like confrontations and it rattled me a little.”

I was saved from having to provide any further explanation by the return of the officer with the information on the plates, which he handed to Jonas.

“Stolen.” Jonas slapped the form down on the desk. “When did you lose him?”

“Just now, when I turned in here. He drove by out front.” Jonas rose and pulled open his drawer to get his gun.

“Stay here,” he ordered. Holstering his gun, he called out for some assistance and four other officers followed him out the door.

Twenty minutes later he was back, none the wiser and not any too happy about it. There had been no sign of the car. I could leave, but was to let him know if I was followed again or noticed anything strange. He was putting out an all-points bulletin and would have a car drive by the condo tonight on a regular basis.

Great, I thought as I headed out the door. Doesn’t that put you at ease? Could be a long night and it’s not like I had gotten much sleep the night before. I needed to call Trinity and let her know what was going on. I also needed to tell her to watch her back. I didn’t know why I was tailed, but Trinity had been with me, and there was a possibility she may have picked up a tail too. She needed to pay attention. I headed home, taking some comfort in the thought that Jonas was on the case and keeping an eye on things, all the while knowing that I would spend the night up watching for the phantom BMW.