Breaking Bad Read Online Free PDF Page A

feds would keep him on a short chain, not the longer leash of local police work.
    “I’ve got more than a hunch.”
    “I’m looking forward to your brief.”
    The elevator doors opened. Stevie strode down the hall to the surveillance room. Taking out her key she unlocked the door and stepped in. As she did each time she entered this room, no matter how many times a day she did, her eyes were drawn to the large storyboard with the pictures of the three victims prominently displayed. Their lifeless eyes staring at her, a constant reminder of why she was there. Why she endured the ceaseless hours of boredom staring through a camera lens, the interminable hours on the computer haunting chat rooms under assumed names, and why she wore out the soles of her shoes on the street looking under every rock for a clue.
    She didn’t sleep. She had to remind herself to eat. She had a suitcase in the corner with fresh clothes and her toiletries at the ready in the small half bathroom that came with the office, for God’s sake! This was
her
case. She lived it 24/7. And she had failed to produce enough evidence to get even a simple search warrant. They couldn’t even get Spoltori for spitting on the sidewalk or throwing a candy wrapper out his car window. He was slick, and she knew after his little show earlier that he was on to her. And if he was on to her, then her nose was on the right scent.
    She
did
need help, damn it, but not from Jack! Anyone but him. And not because of their history . . . Well yes, totally because of their history. Because she hadn’t moved on, and because she hadn’t, it would interfere with her investigation.
    With her back to him she let out a pensive sigh, and then slid her hands into her pants pockets. She turned around and faced him fair and square. “Jack, please, pull yourself off my case.”
    Cocking his head he chided her. “Can’t stand a little heat? What the hell kind of cop are you anyway?”
    Something inside of her snapped. Dumping her backpack on the floor she got into his personal space. “The kind that has some integrity and refuses to put up with an egomaniac, ex-lover who’s bent on making her nothing but miserable.”
    His jade eyes flared a challenge. “Chicken.”
    “Taunting me won’t change anything, Thorn.” Inclining her head toward the window she continued, “I’d rather spend the day with Lothario over there and take my chances. At least with him, I’d be in control of the game.”
    Jack laughed, the sound husky and deep. Her skin flushed beneath the percussion of it. Her reaction to it while she was so pissed solidified all the reasons why she could not work with him. As controlled as she was in everything in her life, she had no control of this one aspect. It maddened her that she was still susceptible to his pull.
    “I don’t play games, Detective.” He leaned into her. “I play for real.” His nostrils flared when a small gasp escaped her lips at the intensity of his nearness. “That POS killed three women, and I’ll be damned if I’ll let our history prevent either one of us from getting him before he does it again.” He pulled her around and pointed to the wall of death. Dead eyes stared back, begging to be put to rest.
    “I’d work with the fucking Taliban if it would bring those victims justice.”
    Stevie elbowed him in the ribs as she turned around to face him. “My responsibility is also to the victims as well as their families. But how the hell am I supposed to do my job with you breathing down my neck like a dog denied?”
    Jack’s lips twitched as he rubbed his chest where she’d elbowed him. “Consider it an adverse condition and deal with it.”
    “With no hazard pay? Forget it.” She was joking, of course, but if she accepted her new working conditions
and
her new partner, she was opening herself to a world of hurt.
    “No hazard pay, just the hazard of working with me.” His eyes darkened. “Besides, I owe you.”
    “You don’t owe