Read Online Burnout (NYPD Blue & Gold) by Tee O'Fallon - Free Book Online Page A

remote start it would pre-cool the SUV before she got into it. If she hurried, she and Raven might have enough time to get in a run on one of those trails she’d glimpsed just outside of town.
    The perfect remedy for getting a girl’s troubles off her mind. Like a seriously hot guy.
    And a hired killer.

    “Hey, Cass. How’s Mayberry?”
    “Very funny, bro.”
    Cassie held her cell phone to her ear as she maneuvered the Trail Blazer from the deserted parking lot back onto the road. She and Raven had run a breezy four miles along a dirt path in the woods outside of town. Behind her on the rear seat, Raven panted loudly but happily.
    “Any news on who planted the bugs?” She swiped at a bead of sweat trickling down her temple.
    “Negative.” The sound of a police radio chirping in the background told Cassie that Gray was in his Crown Vic. “But I won’t stop looking until I find out who it was. IA’s working on it, and I’m running a few checks of my own. You can bet whoever did this received substantial payment for their services, and money like that is too big to hide.”
    Cassie didn’t doubt for a second Gray would get his man, her big brother always did. He was tenacious to a fault. “Anything useful from Manici?” she asked hopefully.
    “Nothing good. The little prick’s still denying everything, no shock there. We started going through his secret stash of videotapes, but that’s gonna take a while. Aside from the original tip about the hit and its connection to the bust at La Femme, we’ve got nothing.”
    “So what’s next?” Cassie braked as deer darted across the road in front of the Trail Blazer. “I can’t hide forever.”
    “We’ll figure it out,” Gray replied. “We’re putting enough informant money on the street to buy a small country. Something should turn up. I also went to your house to check on things. The place looks fine. All I did was turn off a light upstairs and—”
    A light?
    “Gray,” she interrupted, gripping the phone tighter. “I didn’t leave any lights on.”
    There was a moment of silence. “Are you sure?”
    “Positive.” Her fingers tightened around the steering wheel.
    “Shit.” She heard a stream of more curses before Gray added more calmly, “I’ll get a team over there to dust for prints, but there was no sign of forced entry. If someone broke in, they knew what they were doing and probably didn’t leave any. I’ll check for security cameras on your street.”
    “There aren’t any,” Cassie said, frowning. “The neighborhood’s residents voted against installing them. They thought it was too Big Brother is watching you .”
    “Damn,” Gray said. “A camera might have picked this guy up.”
    As she sped along the deserted road, deadly reality punched her in the gut.
    Someone is really trying to find me. To kill me!
    “We haven’t turned over copies of the recordings you made at La Femme yet,” Gray said, “but there aren’t that many female detectives working out of this precinct, so I’m sure it wasn’t hard to figure out your real name and, with a little digging, where you live.”
    “I know.” Cassie clenched her jaw. The idea of someone breaking into her home, riffling through her things, filled her with so much anger she wanted to hit something. “I still can’t figure out why someone would come after me when the recordings would still be admissible whether I’m alive or dead.”
    “I don’t get it, either.” Gray sounded as frustrated as she felt. “Dom and I agree, Manici would be stupid to try this when he’s about to be indicted. Makes him look guiltier and doesn’t really accomplish a thing for him. Unless there’s something you’re not telling us, none of this makes sense.”
    “There’s nothing I haven’t told you, I swear it.”
    The police radio chirped again, and she heard Gray respond into the microphone. “Gotta go, but, Cass?” There was no mistaking the worry in his voice. “This could take a