“Dad always said you have to look at the crimes, the way they are handled, to figure out the killer.”
“I did take that class off him.” He couldn’t hide the sarcasm in his voice.
She nodded. “But if it is like we think, if it’s someone in law enforcement, he could be doing things in a way to make us think he’s different than he is.”
“What do you mean?”
She pursed her lips. “The guy is smart. No doubt about it. So if he is that smart, he could be sending us on chases after a person who doesn’t exist.”
“He knows the mentality, the FBI playbook? So he does things to throw you off?”
She shrugged. “Could be. Not like there aren’t a hundred shows to teach you how to do it, and thousands of sites on the Internet with instructions.”
He shook his head. “Someone in that kind of frenzy wouldn’t be thinking of that.”
She opened her mouth and then her attention went to someone beside him. He looked up and found Jack standing there. Shit. Rome wasn’t in the mood to deal with his now-former partner. Jack wasn’t a bad guy, but he wasn’t someone he wanted to deal with. And not someone he wanted around Maria.
“Hey, Jack. How’re you doing?”
Jack was watching Maria with an interest that Rome didn’t like. Jack’s marriages ended up in the gutter because he cheated on all his women constantly. Jack didn’t believe in being faithful. More than once he’d gone after one of Rome’s lovers after he’d split. He didn’t think it had anything to do with Rome, but that the women might have been vulnerable…and easy.
“Thought I would grab something to eat before I go on over to mediation.”
He barely gave Rome any attention.
“Maria, this is Jack Daniels.”
Jack tossed him a look of aggravation. He turned back to Maria with a smile. “Jackson Daniels.”
She offered Jack a smile that had Rome biting back a growl as something dark and nasty coiled in his gut. Did she have to be so friendly with the idiot? He took a smile as an invitation to sex.
“Nice to meet you,” she said with just enough southern accent that she had him blinking. Then he remembered, she had used it the night before.
Jack, damn him, widened his smile. “I can’t believe I haven’t met you before. I know most of Rome’s…friends.”
Rome bit back a snarl. “We just met.”
“Ah, that explains it. Tourist?”
Maria practically batted her eyelashes at Jack. “Does it show?”
“Not much.”
Rome decided he’d heard enough. If he let it go on much further, there was a good chance he would beat up his ex-partner…or blow their cover. At the moment, Rome wasn’t all that sure which was worse.
“You might want to order your breakfast or you’ll be late. For your divorce proceedings.”
Jack shook himself and looked at Rome. It was as if he had just noticed he was there. “Oh, yeah.”
“This is your…what? Third?”
“Yeah. And there’s my lawyer,” Jack nodded toward the door. “It was very nice meeting you, Maria.”
“Same here.”
He left and headed off to the well-dressed shark who kept punching something into his phone. When Jack was out of earshot, Rome turned around and found Maria smirking at him.
“What?” he asked.
“What was that display for?”
He fought not to fidget, but it was hard. “Jack has a reputation.”
One eyebrow rose. “And you don’t?”
“I don’t.”
“Funny, your friend seems to think you do.”
He shifted in his seat. “First, he isn’t a friend. He’s my ex-partner. And second, Jack always thought I had a lot of women, and I don’t. Not any more than the next guy.”
Her smile widened. “That’s not what I heard at the club last night.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Well, the women were all talking about you last night. I mean, the subs do like to compare notes.”
He frowned. “There was no one I dated there last night.”
She didn’t say anything, just kept looking at him over the rim of her coffee cup. He could tell by the way her eyes were sparkling she was messing with him. And she had a right. He knew exactly what he was feeling, and it was jealousy. He hadn’t felt this for years, and never this violently. Jack, a harmless pain in the ass, had sent such a rage through him for just flirting with Maria. He was acting like a jackass, and he knew it.
“So, how about we get together this afternoon and work over those names again. We sent them through once, but it wouldn’t hurt to look at some of them again.”