Carolina Blues Read Online Free PDF

had her last name. He smiled. “Nice to see you again, Ms. Patterson.”
    “You, too, Chief Rossi.” Her tone was wry. Aware.
    There was that jolt again, like a shock from a live wire. It had been a long time since he’d felt that kind of gut-level response to any woman other than Renee. Except for his time in the service, they’d been together since high school. One woman in twenty years. Like he was imprinted on her, the way he’d read baby ducks attached themselves to the first thing they saw coming out of the egg.
    “Great,” Meg said briskly. If she caught the vibe in the room, she didn’t let on. “Well, I’ll let you two chat while I dig up the trap. Can I get you anything? Cookie? Wine?”
    “I’m good, thanks,” Jack said.
    He didn’t drink on duty. Not anymore.
    He stood there, not saying anything, while Meg bustled out. He’d always found the silent routine worked pretty well in getting other people to talk. Suspects. Women.
    Lauren Patterson
. He’d heard that name before. Where had he heard that name?
    It wasn’t like he was interested in her personally, he told himself. He was the chief of police. It was his job to know what was going on.
    She regarded him over her glass of wine. She had pretty hands. Short, dark painted nails. Twists of silver curled around three fingers and the thumb of her left hand. To match the ear cuff?
    When the silence stretched on too long, he asked, “So how long are you staying?”
    “I don’t know yet. I just got here a couple days ago.”
    “Nobody waiting for you at home?”
    Lauren shook her head.
    “Kids? Family?” he persisted.
Husband?
Boyfriend?
    “A mother and a younger brother. Noah’s a high school senior this fall.” She leaned back against the counter, which did nice things for her breasts under the thin ribbed tank top. “You?”
    “No kids.”
    He’d supported Renee when she said she wanted to wait.
I am not your mother. Or your fucking sister-in-law, pumping out a kid every two years. I have things I want to do with my life.
    Yeah.
    Turned out one of the things she wanted to do was his partner, Frank.
    Lauren was still watching him, still waiting, doing her own version of the silent routine. Where had she learned that?
    “Two parents,” he offered. “Two brothers, one sister.”
    “And you’re the oldest.”
    “Good guess.”
    She shrugged. “Not really. You have that whole overdeveloped sense of responsibility thing going on. Plus you don’t cut yourself any slack.”
    She sounded like one of those talking heads yapping on
The View
. And yeah, he had definitely seen too many hours of daytime TV during his months on leave.
    “You don’t know me well enough to judge,” he said.
    “I know you’re chief of police. That’s a responsible job. And you turned down a glass of wine because you were on duty.”
    Point to her, he decided. “What about you?”
    “What about me?” she asked, turning the question back on him.
    That was a cop’s trick. Or a shrink’s. Jack had seen one of those, too, during his leave. “You have a younger brother. Does that make you the responsible one in your family?”
    “Yes,” she said. No explanation, no excuses.
    He could respect that. The silence stretched. He shifted his weight. She studied her glass.
    Okay, this wasn’t an interrogation. Once upon a time, he used to be good at talking to women.
Say something, dickhead
.
    She beat him to the punch, looking up from her wine. “So, Jack Rossi, where are you from?”
    “Philly.”
    She gave him that three-cornered smile. “Like Rocky.”
    He suppressed a sigh. It was the accent. Or the fact that for the past twelve months he’d been taking out his aggressions on a heavy bag and it showed. His chest and arms were heavy with muscle. He was down a belt size, too. He wanted to tell her there was more to him than that, that he used to read books and listen to blue-eyed soul. But maybe that part of him was gone, along with his marriage and his