Closure (Partners in Crime Book 5)

Chapter 11

Another week rolled around and Blake had hit a dead end. On Nicole and the weapons case. The entire group of people had listened to his recorded evidence. They all agreed it sounded like the governor's son and they trusted Blake's judgement, but they needed proof.

And Nicole was still ignoring him. She was confusing him. He continued to have small attractions toward her and his thoughts drifted to her, but he didn't want to be interested in her. And she clearly had no interest in him.

"Blake!" Matt shouted, interrupting his thought, "Fire at the warehouse!"

Blake groaned and ran out to his SUV. Twenty minutes later, he pulled to a stop at the burning warehouse. The CSI lab was already identified as arson and Blake had the grim feeling that the warehouse was an arson too.

Jenna and Nicole stood waiting by the ambulance. Blake forced himself to not look in their direction. He had a job to do. Evidence to hope that he could recover.

The arson investigator, Stephen, came up to him. "The place is a total loss. And because of the situation, with the gun smuggling and CSI lab arson, I'm willing to bet this is arson too. But I'll have to double check tomorrow."

Blake nodded, "Sounds good. You saw the info about the recording I had?"

"Yeah, you really think it's the governor's son?"

"I saw him. I know it's him. But I'm having a friend check to see if his voice matches. The problem is that the video isn't enough proof and this could cause way too many problems with the government if they knew that the governor's son was involved. I don't want to say too many things yet, so keep this quiet."

Stephen looked at him seriously, "Of course. Thanks for even telling me."

"No problem." Blake went over to the ambulance after talking with Stephen for a reason he did not know. Jenna said something quickly about needing to go see if there was anything that needed her help somewhere and dashed away.

Nicole lifted her chin up a notch, "Is there something you need?"

Blake shifted uncomfortably, "No." He stared into Nicole's deep brown eyes. He wished they weren't closed off. He'd love to look endlessly into those eyes.

Whoa. What was he thinking? Then she broke eye contact and Blake found himself wanting to look back into those eyes.

"Tanner?" Nicole put her hands on her hips.

"Wagner?" He grinned, vexing her.

She turned around and climbed into the back of the ambulance. He stopped and then looked. She stood inside, organizing some boxes and cleaning a few things. Purposely ignoring him.

"Nicole?" He asked again, kindly, almost gently.

The way he voiced it, caused her hands to still. He watched her close her eyes and take a deep breath. "Yes?"

Here was his chance. "I'm sorry about last week. I didn't mean to offend you. I guess I just got protective." He winces at his choice of words.

"Protective? Of me?" Nicole still didn't move her hands.

"Yeah." Blake climbed into the ambulance and stood a few feet away from her.

Nicole regained her composure and continued working. "You're not supposed to be in here. Unless your bleeding, puking or dying get out."

He held up a finger, "I have a paper cut."

"Oh, does your wittle finger want a band-aid?" Nicole pitied.

He chuckled, "If it means I can stay in here."

Her eyes widened, "On second thought, I don't think you need a band-aid."