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scenes—” Gabrielle began.
    The fork clattered against his plate.
    “I didn’t break in,” she rushed to clarify, realizing how he must have interpreted her words. “I looked behind the buildings. Kylie Archer’s place had a fire escape, too. The killer could easily have escaped on it.”
    “Lockwood didn’t have a fire escape.”
    “No, he didn’t.” The spaghetti smelled fabulous. “But then again, maybe that’s the reason why Lockwood’s front door was smashed in. The attacker didn’t have any other way to get inside, so he had to use force there.”
    Cooper ate in silence.
    She took a bite of the spaghetti. He hadn’t been lying. It was fantastic. “I’ll have to make you one of my cherry pies,” she said, sending him a nervous smile. “You did dinner, so I can do dessert.”
    His head tilted. His eyes heated, the blue getting even brighter. “Sounds like a date.”
    “I—” She nearly choked on the spaghetti. “I have a proposition for you.”
    That half smile flashed again. Did he have a dimple in his cheek? It looked like he did.
    Sexy.
    “I’d love to hear the proposition.”
    He made it sound...hot. It wasn’t. She put her fork down. “I want us to work together.” She tried not to let the words come out as desperate.
    He kept eating.
    “I think we could make a good team. We could keep investigating the cases and find the killer—”
    “I’m not in the market for a partner.”
    Okay. He was going to make her lay everything out for him. She’d have to show that desperation, after all. “But I am in the market for some protection.” Because she was afraid, and Gabrielle didn’t want to let the fear stop her from doing her job. “I think someone has been watching me. I think he has been watching me.”
    * * *
    “T ELL ME AGAIN ...” Dylan Foxx began as he narrowed his eyes on Rachel Mancini. “Why is Cooper having a cozy dinner with the reporter? He’s supposed to be keeping her out of this mess and not—”
    “—seducing her?” Rachel finished. She’d seen the way Cooper looked at the other woman. She knew exactly what was on his mind.
    Dylan shut the door of his office. They were in the EOD headquarters, a place most civilians would never visit. Actually, most civilians would never even know of its existence.
    The EOD was a hybrid organization, one composed of former members of various military branches. The EOD had been founded and was still led by Bruce Mercer. The EOD was far off the books, and the agents took jobs that no one else could handle.
    Jobs that often ended in violence. Death.
    The EOD agents were the ones who went out after the hostages that couldn’t be rescued. They were the ones who eliminated the most dangerous threats in the world.
    Right now, unfortunately, one of those threats came from within.
    A rogue agent.
    Suspicion was rampant in the EOD. Trust, the cornerstone of the agency’s success, was being shattered. If you couldn’t trust the agent who had your back in the field, how were you supposed to complete the mission?
    Rachel sank into the chair near Dylan’s desk. She trusted him 100 percent. But she wasn’t ready to extend that trust to all of the agents at the EOD.
    They all knew how to kill, lie and keep secrets.
    Someone was using those deadly skills.
    “I could see them through the window,” Rachel murmured. Not that she enjoyed the Peeping-Tom bit. “They went into the kitchen and the guy cooked.”
    “Cooper?” Dylan’s dark brows shot up.
    She nodded. “Maybe he’s just trying to get under her guard. The lady has proven to be pretty resourceful.”
    “The lady’s dangerous.” He threw himself into the chair near her. Leather groaned. “I ran down her bio. She’s got a trail of awards behind her and a reputation for being a real bulldog when it comes to her stories. She’s latched on to our killer, and I don’t see her just backing away now.”
    Not even after a trip to the hospital.
    “The more time she spends