The Cop

The thought of Father Mike had her stomach sinking, and once again she pictured those seconds that had seemed to happen in slow motion—the flash of fire and the deafening sound of the gun going off. She didn’t even know how serious Father Mike’s condition was. The least that Detective Nik Angelis could do would be to come back and fill her in.

Sensitivity was obviously another quality he’d missed when he’d dipped into the Angelis gene pool. She glanced down at her cuffs. He would have to come back to release her, and when he did, she would have a grip on herself.

Her adrenaline had settled. Reaching into her pocket, she took out a sugar-coated almond and popped it into her mouth. Once he’d released her from the handcuffs, she’d go her way and he’d go his.

J.C. frowned down at the handcuffs. Just as soon as she paid him back in spades.

“WHAT WE’VE GOT HERE is a time bomb,” Commissioner Galvin said. “Do you think any of it has leaked yet, Angelis?”

“Hard to say, sir.” Nik led the way up the aisle of the church. He’d already shown them the small room in the choir loft. “I’ve given orders to the officers, but the EMTs don’t work for the SFPD.”

“What’s your take, Parker?”

Nik’s boss, D.C. Parker, nodded in his direction. “I agree with Angelis. We’ve got two missing kids, a wounded priest and a dead man. And we’ve got Roman Oliver, the older brother of the bride-to-be who had plenty of motivation to put a stop to the wedding and who seems to be involved. We don’t know what role the older sister played, but the fact that she left doesn’t look good.”

“She left her purse behind,” Nik pointed out. “In my experience, a woman rarely does that. Maybe in her rush to help the bride and groom escape, she didn’t have time to retrieve it.”

“Nice theory, Detective,” Parker said. “And in that case, we’ll hear from her soon. Before the media gets hold of this and focuses on a more headline-grabbing explanation for her disappearance.”

“The media will turn this whole thing into a circus,” Galvin said. “We need to find the bride and groom fast.”

“I agree.” Nik had known that neither his captain nor the commissioner would be happy about the situation. D.C. Parker was a political player, but he was also a good cop. Commissioner Galvin, on the other hand, had his eye on advancement. The word was that he was using his position as a stepping stone to the mayor’s office and perhaps one day the governor’s job. “The priest said that someone wanted to kill the bride and groom.”

“But Roman Oliver is in the hospital. Shouldn’t they be safe?” Commissioner Galvin asked.

“We don’t know that Roman is behind this,” Nik noted.

“He’s our prime suspect,” Galvin pointed out.

“Perhaps, but there’s a lot we don’t know,” Nik said. “Even if Roman is behind it, that puts him at risk if the Carlucci family decides to retaliate. I sent two men with him in the ambulance. We’ll need to post men twenty-four-seven on both him and Father Mike.”

“Right. Good thinking,” Galvin said. “What about the other eyewitness—the caterer?”

“She’ll need protection, too, of course. The man who shot Father Mike knows that she can ID him. He took off his ski mask when she hit him with her cell phone.” Nik ushered the two men through the sacristy and into the small anteroom where he’d left J.C. She was seated on the radiator, and she shot him a look that nearly seared his skin.

Then her expression completely changed, and he watched in astonishment as she beamed a smile at the commissioner. “Uncle Chad? Is that you?”

“Jude Catherine? What are you doing here?” Commissioner Galvin moved forward and enveloped J.C. in a huge hug. When she tried to hug him back, her handcuffs clanged against the radiator pipe.

“What’s all this?” Galvin frowned down at the handcuffs and then turned to Nik. “Why is my godchild in handcuffs?”

“Yes, Detective Angelis, I’m wondering that myself,” Parker said.

“Mayor Riley is not going to be happy about this.” Galvin shot a look at Parker and then at Nik. “I’m not going to enjoy explaining to him that a detective on my force handcuffed his only daughter.”

Nik shoved his hands in his jeans pockets. Didn’t that just figure? The little redhead was the commissioner’s godchild and Mayor Riley’s daughter. That certainly explained her habit of ordering people around.

Parker muttered under his breath, “An explanation, Angelis.”

Before Nik could reply, J.C. answered, “He fastened me to the radiator to keep me safe while he concentrated on the crime scene. He said he didn’t want me mucking it up. He was only doing his job.”

“Oh.” Galvin turned his attention back to J.C. “But that still doesn’t explain what you’re doing here.”

Nik simply stared at her. She’d just done her best to save his skin. He couldn’t identify the emotions surging through him as he watched her straighten her shoulders and lift her chin.

“I’m the caterer. I’ve been running my own business for almost a year now, Uncle Chad.”

“Your father has never mentioned it,” Galvin said.

“No—”

“Wait,” Galvin interrupted and turned to Nik. “Are you telling me this is the caterer who can identify the man who shot the priest?”

“The one and only,” Nik said.

“She’ll need protection,” Galvin instructed Parker. “I want you to put your best man on her twenty-four-seven. That’s what her father will demand when I talk to him.”

“You’re looking at my best man.” Parker jerked his head toward Nik.

“Him?” Galvin and J.C. spoke in unison.

“The one and only,” Parker replied.

Galvin looked Nik up and down. Then he slowly smiled. “Well, I guess if he managed to handcuff her to a radiator, he can handle her.”

Nik met Parker’s eyes. “Sir, this is my case. And you want me to babysit her?”

“You’ve got your assignment, Angelis. I’ll handle the case personally. Your job is to stick to Ms. Riley like glue until we can wrap this up.”

Shit, Nike thought as he looked at J.C. And if he read her expression right, she was thinking the same thing. This was not only the case of the century, it was one that involved someone close to his family—and he had to babysit the mayor’s daughter.

5

DETECTIVE NIK ANGELIS was furious. J.C. sensed the anger radiating off him in waves and felt it in the hard grip of his fingers on her arm as he dragged her out of the church.

She dug in her heels as they circled her van. “I need to get my bag. I keep a change of clothes in it, and I’m assuming that you’re not taking me back to my place.”

He waited, saying nothing as she opened the doors and pulled a duffel out of the back of the van. He’d spent a fruitless five minutes trying to argue his way out of his new assignment. She could sympathize with his frustration because she hadn’t been any more successful in her little debate with Uncle Chad. Their fates had been sealed when her uncle had called her father and convinced him that Detective Angelis was the only man for the job. Then her father had talked to Captain Parker, and that was that. Obviously, Nik Angelis blamed her for the fact that he was stuck with a babysitting job.

Babysitting. That’s the term he’d used when he’d been talking to his captain. Just thinking about it had her own anger flaring up again. She sent him a scowl as he led her around to the other side of the van.

“What’s going to happen to my van?” she asked as he jabbed his key into the door of a sporty little red convertible that didn’t look at all like police issue.

“Parker will arrange to have it delivered to your place of business.”

“What about the cake?”

“The cake? You’re worried about the cake?”