Page 9 of Night Watch
“Someone who wanted to stop her research,” Kennedy said. “She also taught chemistry part-time at PSU, but I honestly can’t see anyone she worked with wanting to kill her. Or the students. And her fellow professors loved her. At least that’s what they said when I attended a small memorial luncheon they had for her. It was really touching.”
“What project was she working on when she died?” he asked.
“She was developing a first-of-its-kind technique to quickly yet accurately characterize illegal pharmaceuticals. And she was also pioneering a way to give law enforcement officers real-time access to this information.”
In Erik’s patrol days, he’d seen the harmful and even fatal effects of illegal or counterfeit medicines. These fake pills contained the right active ingredient, but it was often at the wrong dosage.
“Sounds like she was doing some important work,” he said.
Kennedy nodded. “Illegally dispensed meds need immediate testing when they’re discovered. And, if there’s a serious threat to public health, there needs to be a method for rapid early warnings. She was also improving the process of collecting information about the product’s manufacturing and supply chain. That’s vital not only for law enforcement investigations but for criminal prosecutions too.”
“Okay, so that’s got to tick off a lot of lowlifes who manufacture and sell counterfeit drugs,” he said. “Have you been looking into that?”
“As much as I can with my limited resources. I’ve called in a few favors in D.C., but I still don’t know who the key players are in the area.”
“This guy tonight. You think he’s trying to stop you too?”
She shrugged as if the intruder didn’t much matter, but the fear lingered in those expressive eyes. “He was opening a drawer when I first saw him, so maybe he was looking for something.”
Erik had to fight the anger still smoldering in his gut to keep his tone even. “Would you normally be here at this time of night?”
She shook her head. “I always work at the lab until at least nine and most days later. But Finley wanted to meet with me, so I came home early. I planned to go back to the lab, but my conversation didn’t go well with Finley and I ended up falling asleep on my mom’s bed.”
Pain flooded Kennedy’s eyes, another thing to ignore or he might do or say something far too personal. “We have to imagine the worst case scenario, which is that this creep wanted to kill you. Do you know if the marina has security cameras?”
“Not that I’ve seen.”
“If not, security here isn’t top priority.” He stood and paced a few steps, then locked gazes with her. “And in that case, because of the break-in, I want to offer our agency’s protection services. We’ll also help you investigate your mother’s death.”
She didn’t speak for the longest moment. “That…us together. It’s not a good—”
“Idea? Yeah, I get that.” He didn’t like hearing her echoing his feelings, but he agreed. “We shouldn’t spend time together. Not with our history. But I’m not going to let you fend for yourself when there could be a killer out there turning his sights on you. So either hire a bodyguard or let us do this for you.”
She watched him, her gaze mining for something, as she twisted her hands on her lap. “I’m on unpaid leave. I can’t afford a bodyguard or your services.”
“Then we’ll do it for free.”
“I can’t let—”
“You owe me, Kennedy. For the way you dumped me. So make it up to me by letting me make sure no one hurts you.” He knew that was a low blow, but if it was the only way to get her on board with protective services, he wasn’t beyond striking.
“I…I just don’t know.”
“If you won’t do it for yourself, how about doing it so you can keep working on the project? And if your mom reallywasmurdered, then you can find who did it.”
“Okay.” She got up. “But we have to agree to keep this professional.”
“Trust me,” he said, not letting his gaze waver from the bottomless brown eyes that always made his heart flip-flop. “I’ll be the perfect example of professionalism.”
She held out her hand. “Then we have a deal.”
He clasped her hand, and despite the lingering coldness, his heart fired with a million little sparks.
Right. Professional.Could he do it? Time would tell.
He let go, almost hurling her hand away. “I’ll get Malone on the phone.”
He dug out his cell and took a few steps back, as if moving away from Kennedy would change the unexpected feelings.
