The trooper nodded and moved on.
With his senses on high alert, Law reached into his pocket and pulled out the flash drive he carried everywhere. It contained only one file, labeled SOCKS. He didn’t need to read it again. He’d already memorized everything he could find about Jori Garrison, her arrest, and her subsequent trial. The newspaper accounts provided him with a good outline of events. Then he’d read and reread court documents, public record, three times. Each time he came to the same conclusion. She was probably innocent. The evidence against Jori was all circumstantial. But it was enough to convict her, without Brody Rogers there to testify on her behalf.
He exhaled in disgust. She should have been smarter than to hook up with a dirtbag like Brody. How could she have allowed herself to be conned by him?
Brody Rogers wasn’t some random guy, his conscience reminded him. Jori had been engaged to him. Conclusion: She must have been in love.
That thought, as irrelevant as it was to his life, pissed him off.
What was it she’d seen in him? Money? Prestige? Those things weren’t important to the woman he’d met three weeks ago. Or maybe Law was just seeing what he wanted to see.
But he was a cop, first, last, and always. He couldn’t afford to let his personal feelings cloud his judgment just because he wanted something to be true. He had years of experience watching and interrogating criminals of every kind. Drug dealers came in all ages and sexes, and from all ethnic and economic backgrounds. No shock that Rogers was a dealer. But Jori lacked a selfish calculating personality. Her emotions were always on her face, probably to her disadvantage. Still, she might know things that would be useful to his investigation of Tice Industries.
That was the reason, he told himself, that he’d called Warriors Wolf Pack this morning to book his week of home supervision with a trainer. He needed time with Jori to learn what she knew. It had nothing to do with the itch he’d scratched. No, that was a lie. It did have to do with sex, and everything else about her. He couldn’t not think of her.
Images of Jori still crept up on him in quiet moments. Surprisingly, the sweet moments outnumbered the nasty-girl ones. Jori taking Sam through her paces. Her slight frown as she concentrated on helping a vet understand a command. The way she fiddled with the end of her braid when she was nervous. Or the way she would sigh, so deeply, when she thought no one was watching. She was lonely, haunted, and unsure of her future. All those things had hooked into his psyche because he shared the feelings. But unlike her, he was fine with being adrift.
Other images, of her naked and sprawled on her bed, well, those just made him horny. And guilty. He’d never thought of himself as a user. But his last glimpse of her, resolute, shoulders squared against his departure, haunted him.
“Hell.” Law expelled the word softly. He needed to get laid again.
When he found time. When he made time. When he had cleared his conscience about Jori.
Meanwhile, he had a job to do and Jori had become part of it. So he’d stuff every damn feeling and impulse away and work the case.
Law mentally checked his objectives. Get Jori to talk about what had happened to her. Get her to tell him everything she could about Rogers: his habits, his friends, his lifestyle. Then let her go back home. Conscience clear.
This time he mentally bodychecked his conscience’s attempt to sidetrack him. Yeah, he’d been a real jerk. Maybe Jori attracted the type. She’d certainly gotten his attention. But no, that wasn’t fair. He couldn’t fault her for being attracted enough to take a chance with him. She’d accepted the ground rules and had played by them. The only cheat in the relationship was him. He had wanted to stay, could have stayed for days, weeks, and so he’d run.
But now he was pursuing an investigation and, as always, would go wherever that took him.
Except that, underneath all his real and important objectives, he simply wanted to see Jori again. And now he had the perfect excuse.
Law ran a palm down his pant leg to wipe away the sweat. He couldn’t believe how nervous that thought made him. Not the deep-down gut quiver he got before going on duty with Scud. This was more an out-of-my-depth sensation. He had the feeling he was going to have to protect her from himself.
Because if she gave him an inch, he was going to take the whole nine yards.
*
“This little gadget teaches your dog how to think and solve problems.”
Jori loaded a nugget of dog food in each of the slots at the back of the puzzle then held it up for the class of trainers to see.