The Girl Next Door (Shadow Agents 6)

Carmichael maneuvered Gabrielle to the right, getting them in a private corner. Cooper followed right with him.

“You and I are both connecting the dots, Gabby,” Carmichael said.

Cooper hated the way the other man said Gabby. Her name was Gabrielle. A beautiful name for a beautiful woman.

“It’s no simple B&E. You know it. The guy is after you.” He rolled back his shoulders and finally let her go. “I want you to consider moving into a safe house.”

“No.” Her immediate response. “I have my own guard—my partner.” Her gaze darted to Cooper. “I’m safer with him than I’d be anywhere else.”

“With anyone else,” Cooper clarified. Because the cop wasn’t going to keep Gabrielle safe. Cooper was.

You’re an ex for a reason, buddy.

Cooper was suddenly determined to find out that reason.

“What do you really know about him?” Carmichael demanded as he rounded to glare at Cooper. “Because I’ve been digging into your past, Marshall.”

Cooper stared levelly back at the man. Was he supposed to be worried? He knew that his service records were shielded, courtesy of the EOD.

“You were in a boarding school until you were eighteen. Then...somehow...even though your mother was dead and you had no other relatives, you got a paid ride from an unknown benefactor. Four years at Yale.”

The detective had been digging. But he still hadn’t discovered anything particularly impressive.

“Four years, then you vanished. Not a blip on the radar until a year ago when you came back to D.C. and started working as a P.I.”

He hadn’t vanished. He’d enlisted. And unless Carmichael got a whole lot more authorization, he wouldn’t ever see Cooper’s records. Cooper exhaled slowly. Carmichael was an annoyance, nothing more. “Perhaps you should spend less time looking into my past and a little more time looking for the killer. The city would be safer then.”

Carmichael lunged toward him.

Gabrielle put herself between Cooper and the detective. Carmichael kept glaring. In turn, Cooper kept his faint smile in place.

The smile hid the fact that I’m really starting to hate that cop.

“Cooper isn’t a threat to me. He and I are the ones that are giving you leads, so you need to back off,” Gabrielle’s voice was fierce.

Carmichael didn’t look like he was ready to back anyplace.

“I don’t think you should trust him,” Carmichael muttered.

“I do, though. Because he’s had my back every step of the way.”

No, he hadn’t. Shame twisted with the jealousy inside of him.

“And speaking of leads...” Gabrielle said as she pushed back her hair. “We have to follow one now.” She put her hand on Cooper’s arm, but her stare was on the cop’s face. “If we find out anything you can use, I’ll contact you. Just like always—before I put anything in the paper.”

So that was part of their relationship. Carmichael had been busting lots of perps in the past six months, earning commendations...with Gabrielle’s help?

“I’ve got my phone on me,” she added. “You can call me if you need to reach me, Lane.”

The detective leaned toward her. “And if you need me, anytime or anyplace, you call. Don’t let me find out about a break-in the next day, got it? I...care about you. Remember that.”

Then he was gone, storming toward the lobby’s doors.

Cooper didn’t move. Emotion had been thick in the cop’s voice.

“I really do have a lead for us to follow,” Gabrielle said, sighing. “That wasn’t just me trying to get rid of him.”

He turned his head. Found her eyes on him. “You were the one to break things off.”