One Kiss More Read Online Free Page B

custody?” Landon swallowed down half a glass of water, allowing the liquid to quench the heat of Emma’s dark gaze. A surge of adrenaline coursed through his veins, the high miraculously steering his focus. He wasn’t some twenty-four-year-old rookie anymore. He refused to let Emma get one over on him.
    “I was with Tyson Kennedy that night,” she replied. “From about . . .” She pulled her bottom lip in between her straight, white teeth, as her eyes gazed high and to the left—an indication that her story might be fabricated. “Eight in the evening until two or three the next morning. We visited several clubs downtown. I’m sure if you asked around you could find two or three people who saw us out that night.”
    “We’ll check it out,” Morgan replied from his right side. “We’ll need the names of those clubs, Emma.”
    “Oh, sure,” she all but purred. “The War Room, Sixty-Nine . . .” Emma paused, and this time her gaze was focused squarely on Morgan. Her time frame might be fabricated, but the clubs she’d been to weren’t. “Oh, and a hot little dive bar in Belltown called The Pit. I remember because the bartender there, Levi, is hot .”
    Morgan scribbled the names on a notepad and reclined back in his chair as Landon asked, “And what about the week since your father’s escape? Has he called, dropped by, sent you any e-mails? Had any contact whatsoever with you?”
    Emma rolled her eyes and let out a derisive snort. “You know what your problem is, McCabe?” No, but he was pretty sure she was about to tell him. “You always jump to conclusions. You’ve got that self-righteous cop attitude down pat, and because you have the so-called law on your side, you fail to look past the obvious answer to any question.”
    “Spoken like someone who’s breaking the law,” Landon remarked. Truth be told, he had no idea what she was talking about. There were no obvious answers where Javier’s escape was concerned. If there had been, he’d be in custody right now. “But since you’re so keen to enlighten me on my shortcomings, tell me, Emma, what is the obvious answer I’m missing?”
    Emma let out a slow sigh as her gaze shifted low and to the right. Now she was hiding something. “No, he hasn’t called, e-mailed, or stopped by for a visit. I haven’t seen or heard from him since the day I drove to Sheridan to visit him.”
    Not a lie, but not the truth, either. “Would you tell me if he had contacted you?”
    Emma leveled her gaze on Landon, and those big brown eyes of hers all but swallowed him whole. “No,” she said. “I wouldn’t.”
    Landon leaned back in his chair and studied Emma for a quiet moment. He was getting nowhere with her, which was exactly what he’d expected. His only choice at this point was to treat her as hostile, which, knowing Emma, would only make her more antagonistic. This was a lose/lose situation no matter how Landon approached it so he’d give her one last chance to play nice.
    “Emma.” Her name rolled off his tongue, and though it was a technique used to make her feel a sense of familiarity, Landon couldn’t ignore how the sound of it punched into his gut with a pleasant ripple. Sort of like diving off of a high cliff into the ocean below. His breath caught as though he were under water, and it took a conscious effort to breach the surface and convince his lungs to work again. “We’re on the same side here. We both want to find your dad. I know he’s not well and he’s not going to get the medical attention he needs on the run. Help us help him.”
    “Don’t talk to me about my dad’s health,” she snapped. Well, that tactic crashed and burned. “He wouldn’t even be in this situation if you’d done your job right the first time. We are not on the same side, McCabe. We never will be. You don’t care about my father’s health, so do me a favor and don’t use it in your attempt to psychologically manage me, okay?”
    Damn. For a minute,