He looked around the bar. “I think we need to go somewhere more private. Is Masters in the room?”
“He’s in his room. I’ve got my own.”
He nodded and waited. Again, she liked the fact that he seemed to take his time to talk. So many men said the first thing that came to their mind. “Why don’t we take a walk on the beach?”
She nodded, setting down her drink. He waited for her to step in front of him. An odd feeling. She spent so much time with men who treated her as another one of them, she always found it strange when men held chairs or doors for her. The moment he touched her back, she had to fight a shiver. He was warm, and—she thought—so was she. But the moment he touched her, heat and craving rolled through her.
When they reached the sidewalk, she waited for him to draw even with her, and then they started to walk.
“You have very nice legs, Agent Callahan.” The amusement in his voice didn’t bother her as much as she thought he might like it to. She knew that local police officers had to take a few swings at them.
“I hate suits, especially in humid weather.”
“Then why wear them?”
She shrugged and looked out over the beach. “It’s expected.”
She sensed, rather than saw him nod.
“I met your father once.”
That took her by surprise. Maria didn’t know why because she should have been used to people knowing her father, especially in law enforcement. He had been a celebrity of sorts, regularly interviewed on television. She glanced at Rome, but he was looking ahead of them.
“Really?”
He nodded. “I was stationed in the DC area, and he did a few lectures about different procedures.”
“He was good at that.” She could hear the pride in her own voice. Even if he had driven her crazy reciting his rules and regs while she was growing up, Maria knew her father had been a good lecturer. Hell, he had been good at anything he tried. “I think it was why he was so good at criminal profiling. He always said that following the rules would lead you to the man.”
They walked for a few more steps, and then she asked, “You were in the military?”
He glanced at her. “I would have thought you read my entire file.”
“I didn’t have time. I read most of it, but I spent a lot of the trip going over each of your cases and comparing them to the others. What service?
“Marines.”
Like her father. “You weren’t in long enough to make it a career?”
He shook his head. “No. My father got sick, and I needed to get back to Seattle.”
She waited, but he didn’t continue. She knew he’d been a cop for a few years in Seattle, but not much else other than the proof he wasn’t connected to the case and that he was a member of the biggest BDSM club on the island. They walked on a few steps, the crashing of the surf and the busy walkway the only sounds she heard.
“Okay, so you want to talk about the case?” she asked.
“Not really.”
They continued to walk in silence for a while, and he turned into the lobby area and then headed toward the Tapa Tower where she was staying.
“How did you know where I was staying?”
“With your job, they weren’t going to spring for the Ali’I Tower. And the Tapa Tower is the one people usually get at the last minute.”
She nodded as they walked to the elevators. The moment they stepped onto the car, a family of Japanese tourist rushed aboard. She was forced to step closer to Carino. She could feel the heat of him warm her arm. The spicy scent had nothing to do with cologne and everything to do with the man. Neither of them said a word on the ride. Once they stepped off the elevator, he followed her silently to her room. By the time they were in her room, she had her mind back on the case, and apparently he did too.
“So, you want to tell me what you know?”
She nodded. “Not much. I take it from what I read you had no samples for DNA?”
“No.”
“Which a few years ago would have meant he was involved with the police in some way. But now, with all the information out there, everyone knows that.”
He frowned. “Still, the crime scenes are too clean.”
She sighed and settled on her bed. “I know. I saw it right off.”
He crossed his arms and frowned. “There’s nothing in the reports I could find.”
She was tired, so tired, and right now, the first rush of adrenaline after seeing Rome was starting to fade. “I wasn’t primary on it, as I said. And I couldn’t really say anything.”
A look of understanding moved over his face. “So the first agent fucked up the investigation.”
She shrugged. “Not really. His wife served him with divorce papers about halfway through the investigation.”