Sizzle and Burn

was a witch. And some of them really believed it.”
    “Look, I’ll talk to Cassidy. Maybe she’ll agree to give you another name for the book.”
    “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’ve got a lot going on at the moment. I do not want to get involved in the book.”
    “It’s him, isn’t it? The guy in your room this morning.”
    “No,” she said coolly.
    “Bullshit. How long have you known him?”
    She was getting seriously annoyed, she decided. She flashed her special smile. “Let’s see, about sixteen hours.”
    “ Sixteen hours ?”
    “Give or take an hour. I wasn’t watching the clock too closely, to tell you the truth.”
    Bradley was dumbfounded. “You mean you just met him yesterday and already you’re sleeping with him? Are you crazy?”
    She paused, the teacup halfway to her mouth, and just looked at him, not speaking.
    “I don’t believe this,” he continued, oblivious to her sudden stillness. “You must be out of your mind.”
    “But then, you’ve always wondered about that, haven’t you?” she asked, keeping her voice perfectly even.
    He frowned. “Wondered about what?”
    “Whether or not I was crazy. That’s why the thought of going to bed with me creeped you out, remember?”
    He grimaced. “Damn it, Raine, don’t put words in my mouth.”
    “The word creep came out of your mouth, not mine.”
    “Look, you don’t hear voices.” His mouth thinned. “You just think you do. What you have is a natural gift for observing things at a crime scene that other people miss, that’s all.”
    “I hear voices, Bradley,” she said flatly. “In some circles that’s a working definition of crazy.”
    “That guy I found you with upstairs—”
    “His name is Zack. Zack Jones.”
    “Jones. You really told him that you hear voices?”
    “Yes.”
    Bradley looked at her with patent disbelief. “And he doesn’t have a problem with that?”
    “Says it turns him on.”
    “Something’s wrong with this picture.”
    “Good-bye, Bradley. Good luck with the book.”
    She hitched her purse over her shoulder and started to rise.
    “Please.” The word sounded as if it had been ground out of him. “I need your help. This book is very important to me. If it works, I’ll be able to use it to leverage myself straight into the chief’s office. Hell, maybe I’ll go private.”
    “Good luck,” she said, meaning it.
    “You owe me,” he said.
    “Excuse me?”
    He leaned a little farther toward her.
    “I did you a favor a year and a half ago when you came to me with that wild story about a woman who was kidnapped and murdered by her husband, remember?” he said, his tone low and forceful. “Nobody else in the department was willing to give you the time of day. But I went into the old files and found one that matched the details you provided. I got the chief to authorize the DNA work. I tracked down the husband and got the confession.”
    “And you got all the credit for closing the first in the long string of cold cases that will soon make you famous. I’d say we’re even, Bradley.”
    “Shit. We should have kept the relationship professional. Why did you try to make it personal?”
    She flinched a little and then managed to rally. “My mistake. I thought we were more than colleagues. I thought you understood—” She broke off. “Never mind. I take full responsibility for the failure to communicate. Now, I’ve got to go. Chief Langdon said the detectives from Portland and Seattle may want to interview me this morning. As soon as that’s over, I’m going back to Oriana. I’ve got a business to run.”
    He reached up and grabbed her wrist. “Damn it, Raine, we’re a team.”
    Zack materialized in the doorway. He started toward the table. She could feel the dangerous vibes from halfway across the room.
    She looked pointedly at her captured wrist. “I think you’d better let me go,” she said quietly. “Now.”
    Bradley finally noticed Zack coming toward him. Hastily he released her. His expression hardened.
    “Wise up, Raine,” he said. “I don’t care if Jones knocked your socks off in bed. He didn’t just appear out of thin air. Whoever he is, he wants something from you, too, doesn’t he? And it isn’t just hot, sweaty sex.”
    “That’s none of your business.”
    Bradley was in full interrogation mode now.
    “I can’t believe you met him yesterday,” he said. “What’s his connection to you?”
    “I guess you could say he’s an old friend of the