Intrigue Me

“It’s for Mr. Kennedy.”

Someone bumped into Lisa’s shoulder. She stumbled a step and her breast pressed into Daniel’s arm. He still didn’t move. And she refused to look him in the eye as she straightened. Her cell signaled a text and she was relieved to have someplace else to look.

It was Logan. He wanted the Trading Cards investigation wrapped up pronto. Her breath caught. How could she have forgotten the main reason she was there? Heather hadn’t turned down Dr. Cassidy yet, so it was hands-off until Lisa got the word.

She stepped farther back. “I’d better be going.”

“Yeah, I’ve got to...”

Neither of them moved.

“Will I see you tomorrow?” he asked.

Valeria, who wasn’t even pretending not to stare at them, had entered the lounge with a student doctor.

“Yes,” she said, hating his confused frown. But she couldn’t say anything more.

“Good,” he said. “Have a nice night.”

“You, too.”

“Yeah,” Valeria whispered as she walked toward the door. “You’re here to work, not flirt.”

4 (#u29f6196b-deaa-504d-bda9-645d9b847cef)

LISA ROSE FROM the small table that doubled as a desk and place to eat, mostly takeout since her efficiency apartment had no kitchen to speak of. After making herself a cup of oolong tea, she returned to the laptop and read her report over one last time. While she had several pages of notes, she’d kept the write-up for Heather Norris brief and to the point. Basically, Lisa was giving the client exactly what she’d paid for: an overall picture of Daniel Cassidy, with a focus on his job and an estimate of his income.

Dr. Cassidy appears to be in excellent health. He’s a nonsmoker and there’s no evidence of addiction. He currently works as a full-time volunteer general practitioner at the Moss Street free clinic, Bronx, NY. His employment began three months ago, and there is no indication that he plans to change his situation in the near future.

Satisfied she’d met her obligation to their client, she hit Send. Just because she knew more about Daniel didn’t mean she was cheating Heather. The woman had never asked whether Dr. Cassidy had the ability to turn a woman’s knees to Jell-O with only a smile. Or that he had an intensely sexy stare that could result in a serious case of the shivers.

When Lisa hesitated to send a copy to Logan, she was forced to admit that maybe she’d come close to dipping a toe over the line. Only thing she could really do was move on by investigating Heather’s number two pick. Another doctor, this time a dermatologist who had a private practice in Midtown.

She unfolded the photocopy of Dr. Edward Fleming’s Hot Guys trading card. Lisa had looked into the dating club for herself. While it seemed completely legit with a slew of satisfied members, Lisa would’ve done the same thing as Heather and hired a PI to investigate her potential dates first.

Although not for the same reason as Heather. Ms. Norris had made no bones about the importance of the two doctors’ earnings. Lisa wanted to know everything she could about a man she’d want to date. Honestly, she didn’t really care about their income. She wanted safety. Someone she could trust.

But her own bitter experience had revealed that on a personal level her instincts were horribly flawed. The reminder of what her mistakes had cost had her shifting in her seat. Daniel appeared to meet all of her ideal man requirements, but clearly he had his own issues. There was a reason he wasn’t at the Neurological Center.

The last thing he needed was someone like her.

Her sigh sent Dr. Fleming’s paper flying off her desk. What a perfect metaphor for the mess she’d made of her life.

She retrieved the photocopy and focused on Edward Fleming. He was looking to date, his favorite restaurant was the Pure Thai Cookhouse in Hell’s Kitchen, his passion was flying and according to the woman who submitted his card, he was dependable and sweet.

That was the issue, though, wasn’t it? Lisa felt sure all the men on the cards sounded great, but there was no way to tell, really. It wasn’t cynicism. She knew firsthand that the people closest to you could turn out to be monsters. Tess had been her best friend, the one Lisa had trusted with all her heart. Tess’s uncanny ability to expose liars and cheaters and men with tempers should have raised a red flag, but it hadn’t.

She took a deep calming breath. Dwelling on Tess’s painful betrayal was counterproductive. More than that, it was damaging. The line between looking squarely at the truth and being sucked into an abyss of self-recrimination was very thin. She’d worked hard to move on, and she wasn’t going to blow it now.

Dr. Fleming’s name brought up a lot of hits on Google. His eponymous practice came up first. The site was professionally done, with plenty of quick-loading graphics of the before-and-after variety, testimonials and lots of advertisements for all the ways people could look younger. He was a real fan of Botox.

His bio read like a press release, so nothing to go on there. But he used LinkedIn, so...

Her email notification app beeped. Huh. Heather. She was out of town on business and Lisa hadn’t expected to hear back so soon. The response was short and to the point: Forget about Cassidy. He’s gorgeous, but a bleeding heart. Working for free? No thanks. Let’s move on to Dr. Fleming.

Lisa acknowledged the request professionally even though her heart was pounding and the stupid grin on her face felt weird. But she pulled herself together quickly. Daniel was no longer a person of interest as far as McCabe Security and Investigation was concerned, which meant...

No. She wouldn’t think about that yet. Heather was still their client, so Lisa went back to work.

Fleming looked more and more like the kind of man Heather wanted. He golfed. Co-owned a private plane. Belonged to a number of professional organizations and had dozens of connections listed on LinkedIn. In fact, the only mystery about Dr. Fleming was why he wasn’t married already.

Once again, she couldn’t be sure the information on the trading card was true. For either doctor.

She should call Cory, her friend from her old precinct.

At the thought her chest tightened. Calling him wasn’t something to take lightly. He would welcome the contact; she knew that. It was her ego that made the decision difficult.

She went back to work, making notes, clicking on website after website, until it was crystal clear that Dr. Edward Fleming appeared to be a perfect match for Heather. She’d be all over him. Lisa put his trading-card photocopy in her in-box while she pulled out Daniel’s.

She stared at his image, only mildly surprised at the butterflies in her tummy. Maybe that was reason enough to never show up at the clinic again. But really, if she kept her wits about her, did a bit more digging, why not have a one-night stand? Especially because she’d already met him. Gotten the scoop on him from his coworkers and patients. Besides, he didn’t really know who she was, thank God, because she couldn’t ethically set him straight without outing her client.

The moment she typed the final sentence of her report on Dr. Fleming, Lisa surrendered and turned her thoughts to Daniel. Half of her wanted to get that one-night-stand thing going. But the top half still had doubts. There were mysteries about the man. Was it his choice not to work at the Center run by his brother? Or was there a reason he wasn’t welcome to practice there? For all she knew, he could have a record. Be an addict. She’d met her fair share of people like him who started with energy drinks then moved on to ADD drugs and worse. Frankly, everything about Daniel made him seem too good to be true.

She really should call Cory.

Leaning back, Lisa went through a whole cycle of deep breathing while giving the matter serious consideration. Calling him was the logical next step. Logan never said a word, but he knew as well as she did that she had a wealth of investigative connections and useful tools at her disposal, and she hadn’t used any so far. Her own embarrassment wasn’t just crippling her; it impacted the business. With a deep exhalation, she made her decision. It was time to take another step on her road to recovery.

She remembered the phone number. Of course she did. She’d worked at the 36th Precinct for four years. Assuming things hadn’t changed too much since her resignation sixteen months ago, she should reach Detective Cory Riley.

“Detective Lisa McCabe.” Cory’s voice lowered, as if finding it difficult to believe it was really her. Perfectly understandable. She’d avoided everyone from the department for the past year. “Hey, kid, how ya doing?”

Kid. She smiled. While in the academy together, how many times had she reminded him she was a month older than he was. “Ah, you know, same shit, different day,” she said, the familiar banter coming more easily than she’d expected even as the reality that nothing was the same, would ever be the same, pressed on her chest like a fifty-pound weight. She wasn’t even a detective anymore. Being too trusting had lost her the right to that title. And after having worked so damn hard for it. Trying to make her mark in a good-old-boys network like the NYPD had been a monster of a hill to climb. “How about you?”

“Me? I’m okay. The wife got a kitten. My legs are shredded.” He paused and the sounds of the detective’s bull pen behind him brought tears to her eyes. “It’s been a long time,” he said, his voice softer. “God, I’m sorry about what happened. I know I should have called—”

“You did. I got your voice mails. It was me—I wasn’t ready...”

“I should’ve kept calling.”

“I just would’ve reported you for stalking.”

Cory laughed. “Yeah, you would,” he said, sounding more relaxed. “I can’t shake off what happened with Tess. It doesn’t seem real. How the hell could she have fooled us for so long?”

Lisa swallowed around the lump in her throat. “You mean me. She fooled me, Cory.”

“No,” he said after a short pause. “Tess Brouder fooled all of us, even the brass. I keep thinking about our academy days, trying to figure out if there’d been any clues that she was off her fucking rocker. But for the life of me, I can’t come up with anything. So, no, kid, you’re not alone.”

But Lisa was alone in this. It was sweet of Cory to want to soften the truth, but she’d trusted Tess with everything. Including access to all her personal documents.