The P.I. Contest

“Nice place,” Kate said, grimacing as she slid into the booth and her hand came in contact with something sticky.

“Cozy, isn’t it? I come here all the time. This is Wendy.”

Since she had her back to the kitchen, Kate hadn’t noticed the female server approaching. The woman, in her mid-forties, seemed to have weathered about as well as the place where she worked.

“Wendy and Mark own this place,” Lindsay explained.

“Lucky us,” Wendy said drily. “I assume you want your usual?” When Lindsay nodded, she turned to Kate. “And you?”

“I’ll have an orange juice with lots of ice.” Hopefully the vitamin C would help ward off the cold she felt coming on.

“And fries,” Lindsay added. “We’ll share.”

When the server returned a short time later, Kate was surprised to see that she’d brought Lindsay a paralyzer.

“You still drink those? How does your stomach tolerate them?” Once, when she and Lindsay had gone for a drink after a rough shift, she’d ordered one. A single swallow had been enough for her. She’d been shocked to find out what was in the drink. A motley mixture of liqueurs, cream and cola.

“My system runs on paralyzers,” Lindsay assured her.

“So how are things with Nathan? They seem good.”

“Better than good. I’ve never been happier.”

“You look happy.” Kate was sincerely glad for her friend.

“Thanks. I wish I could say the same to you. Tell me about Conner. What was his problem? Didn’t he know how lucky he was to have you?”

“Thanks, Lindsay.” Kate felt tears well up at her friend’s kindness. “In some ways I’ve decided that it’s a good thing that we broke up—though I would have wished for a more civilized finale.”

“Sometimes a good drama is the only way to go. I’m glad you gave him a piece of your mind.”

“I guess. But I’ve come to realize over the last few days I wasn’t as much in love with Conner as I thought I was.”

“Why do you say that?”

“I hate to admit this, but I think I just latched on to him because I was at the point where I wanted to get married.”

“Why so keen to get married?”

“Babies. Ever since I turned thirty that’s all I think about. Everywhere I go, I see them. Did you notice that woman with the stroller on our way here?”

“Yeah, but this is the Upper West Side. There are kids everywhere. I never knew you were so keen to have children.”

“I’ve always wanted a big family as well as a challenging career,” Kate confessed. “Not just one or two children. More like three or four.”

“Wow…I guess you’ll have to start dating, then.”

Kate made a face. “Forget it. I’ve had enough of men for a while.”

“So what are you thinking? You want to be a single mother?”

“Maybe. I’ve been considering it. What do you think? Am I crazy?” She picked up a fry and stared at it without any appetite.

“No, not crazy. But it’s a serious step. Don’t do anything rash.” Lindsay ate another fry. “Anyway, I’m so glad you’re here. I promise you’ll be happy at our agency. The work is varied and interesting and you’ll have so much more freedom than you did working for the NYPD.”

“That’s assuming I find Hannah’s father first and get the job,” Kate reminded her.

“Jay doesn’t stand a chance of solving this case faster than you.”

Kate had already told herself the same thing. But Jay Savage struck her as the sort of guy who wasn’t used to losing. She had to make sure that, this time, he did.

THE NEXT MORNING Kate arrived at the agency bright and early. She forced herself to get out of bed, even though she’d had a restless night, thanks to that tickle at the back of her throat. No matter how many vitamins she popped or how much orange juice she drank, it would not go away.

She bumped into Nadine, who was unlocking the main door. The young receptionist gave her a welcoming smile. “Lindsay and Nathan don’t usually come in until nine. You must be an early bird.”

“When I need to be.” Kate didn’t care when Lindsay and Nathan arrived for work, but she sure hoped that Jay wouldn’t be in for a while.

Nadine gave her a closer look. “Do you have a cold? There’s a mean one going around. I had it last week and it was terrible.”

“Just a tickle in my throat.” She had no time to get sick, and so she wouldn’t. Mind over matter. “Did Lindsay leave anything for me?”

“Yes. She asked me to prepare two files—one for you and one for Jay.” Nadine unlocked the bottom drawer of her desk and pulled out a folder which she handed to Kate. “I’m guessing you’d like to get straight to work. The office you’re sharing with Jay is opposite the conference room. Call me if you need anything. And if you’re a coffee drinker, I’ll have a fresh pot ready in ten minutes.”

“Thanks, Nadine.” This receptionist of Lindsay’s was so pleasant and helpful, especially when compared with some of the dispatchers Kate had worked with over the years.

With her leather bag slung on one shoulder, Kate’s hands were free to open the folder as she walked. Inside she found a summary of the information Hannah had given them yesterday and copies of forms she must have filled out with Nadine.

Kate paused to open the door to her new office, then assessed the layout. A second desk had been squeezed next to a file cabinet. The original desk, in front of a window that looked out at—surprise!—a brick wall, was larger and also had the computer on it. She sat there.

She’d done a lot of thinking last night and already knew where she wanted to start: with Hannah’s birth mother. Thankfully her name, phone number and address were included in the file. Rebecca Trotter lived in Brooklyn with her husband and two school-aged children.

It would be best to arrange a face-to-face meeting. There was a chance Hannah’s mother would tell her things she wouldn’t have felt comfortable sharing with her daughter. At any rate, Kate wanted to verify the list of father candidates before she went to the work of tracking them down.

Hoping to catch the woman before she left for work, or to take the kids to school, depending on her routine, Kate dialed the home number provided in the file. A woman answered, sounding harried.

“Yes? Who is this?”

“Kate Cooper from The Fox & Fisher Detective Agency. Your birth daughter—”

“Fox & Fisher? Again? Look, I want to help, but I’m busy. I have two kids to get ready for school, breakfast to cook, lunches to make. I don’t have time for this. I already told that nice man last night, afternoons are more convenient for me.”

Oh my God. That nice man had to be Jay. And he’d already talked to Hannah’s mother last night. Kate couldn’t believe she had been scooped so quickly.

“I apologize. I didn’t realize Jay had already set up a time for us to talk.”

“He didn’t mention anything about you coming along. Kate, was it?”

“Yes. Kate Cooper. It is actually important that we both speak with you, so to waste the least amount of your time, we should probably combine the interviews.”

“Doesn’t matter to me. Jay’s coming here this afternoon at one. Does that work for you?”

“It sure does, Mrs. Trotter. Thank you very much.”

AFTER A MORNING spent surfing for information on the alumni of New England College, Jay called for a cab to take him to Brooklyn. This morning he’d decided not to accompany Eric on the subway. Not that Eric seemed to care, one way or the other.

Jay was worried about all the emotions Eric must be bottling inside. One of the doctors who had been on duty the night Tracy died had suggested counseling for the boy, but Eric had walked out of the session Jay had arranged with a grief therapist. Jay didn’t have any other ideas on how to handle the situation.

The poor kid had walked in on his unconscious mother. He’d called 9-1-1 and had waited alone in the hospital until he’d been told that his mother was dead.

It was more than most adults could bear, and Eric was just a kid.

Jay had been flying the night Tracy died, on the last leg of a transoceanic trip to Europe. He hadn’t received the frightened message his nephew had left on his cell phone until the next day.

He wondered if Eric blamed him for not making it to the hospital in time. If so, he wouldn’t be surprised. He certainly blamed himself. Too late he realized he’d pursued his dream of flying at the expense of his family’s best interests. He should have kept closer tabs on his sister and her son. No doubt about that.

Still, the mistakes he’d made in the past didn’t change the reality of his problems with Eric. This past month he’d let a lot of things slide. Not just rudeness, but a general sloppiness around the apartment. He had to start laying down some ground rules with the boy, which he knew wouldn’t go over well.

Tracy had never been one for rules, or discipline of any type.

Jay sighed at the prospect of what lay ahead. Sometimes it was hard for him to believe Eric was the same child that he had watched grow up from infancy. He’d done a lot of babysitting for Tracy over the years, and Eric had always loved spending time with him.

They’d done stuff like feed the ducks at Central Park and ride the ferry on the Hudson. He’d taught Eric to skate and to ride a bike. And yet, at some point Eric had stopped seeing him as his favorite person in the world.

He’d heard his colleagues at work, the ones with families, complain about what happened when kids became teenagers. He supposed it was the same with Eric. After all, Tracy had changed a lot when she’d hit adolescence, too.

For now he’d just keep doing his best to make his nephew comfortable in his new home. He’d already converted the office in his apartment into a second bedroom, he’d bought a Wii and set up a computer for the boy to use in the family room.

Still, nothing he’d done seemed to have softened Eric’s attitude toward him. He had a meeting scheduled with his homeroom teacher this afternoon. Maybe she would have some useful advice.

“What’s the address again?” the driver asked him. They were crossing the bridge into Brooklyn, the Statue of Liberty dimly visible to the south.

Jay answered, then told himself to stop thinking about his nephew and start focusing on the job. He needed to be sharp if he wanted to best Kate Cooper, and so far he liked to think he was off to a fast start.

Ten minutes later the driver pulled up in front of the Trotters’ address. The home Rebecca shared with her husband and two kids was one in a long line of attached houses, with a garage out front and a tiny lawn.

Jay paid the driver, arranged a pick-up time, then made his way to the front door. It was exactly one o’clock when he rang the bell.

The woman who came to the door had to be Rebecca Trotter, since she looked like an older, fifteen-pound-heavier version of Hannah. Amazing the power of genetics. He smiled and said hello. “Jay Savage. We spoke on the phone last night.”

“You’re finally here. Come on in. We’re in the kitchen.”

Finally? We? He checked his watch and wondered if it was running slow. They passed through a small living room, with toys and books strewn on the carpet, to a kitchen crammed with more toys and a large pine table.

Sitting in one of the chairs facing him was Kate Cooper, looking very pleased with herself.

“Hi, Jay. Glad you could make it.”

CHAPTER FOUR

THE EXPRESSION ON JAY’S face was priceless. Kate hoped she was going to see a lot of that look in the weeks to come, though she had to admit she was impressed at how fast he’d been coming out of the gate.

Rebecca invited Jay to sit down and offered him a cup of coffee. He noticed the pitcher of filtered water and glasses on the table and declined.

“Water’s fine by me.”

“Let’s get started then,” Rebecca said. “My shift at the hospital starts at three. I’m a nurse,” she explained in an aside to Jay, having already told Kate earlier.

“We were just talking about Rebecca’s reaction when her daughter asked to meet her,” Kate said, easing Rebecca back on topic. “It must have been the most shocking phone call of your life.”

“It was a surprise. A wonderful surprise. I’d always hoped that one day my daughter would contact me. And it was amazing to finally meet her. Pretty, isn’t she? Sweet, too.” Rebecca smiled, a little proud, a little regretful. “Frankly, I’d hoped she would get in touch sooner. But I’m glad she was so happy with her adoptive parents that she didn’t feel the need to.”

“Were you worried about your husband’s reaction to meeting her?” Kate asked.

“Not at all. John knows the whole story. I met him in October, about a month after I got pregnant, though I didn’t realize I was carrying a baby at the time. When I finally clued in to the fact that I hadn’t had a period in a while, I was up-front with him. I was terrified. Didn’t have a clue what to do. I knew my parents would be furious if I told them.”

“So you didn’t?” Kate asked.

“No. John gallantly offered to marry me on the spot—but I felt we were too young. Still he helped me get through the rest of the school year, and his family put me up for the holidays. Then, after the baby was born, they organized the adoption. My parents never had a clue.”

“John sounds like an amazing guy,” Jay said.

“Oh, he is, but no one’s perfect, right? He made his share of mistakes as a teenager. My wild and crazy phase lasted all of one month. Getting pregnant at eighteen tends to make you grow up fast.”

“I imagine it does. And now your daughter is married and planning to have children of her own,” Jay said. “Must be hard to believe.”

“You’re not kidding. I understand her husband wanting to know about Hannah’s father. And I’m willing to help any way I can. But after all these years, I’m not sure it will be possible.”

“You never talked to any of those guys once you realized you were pregnant?” Kate asked.

“I wasn’t planning to keep the baby, so I didn’t see the point. It wasn’t like I had a relationship with any of them.” Her face pinkened. “I must admit I’m a little embarrassed, now, that I slept with three different guys in one month—more like one week, to be honest. But I was caught up with the excitement of being on my own for the first time in my life. Frosh week was so exciting. There were so many parties, with drinking and…well, you know.”

Kate nodded sympathetically. She wasn’t inclined to judge the other woman poorly for her behavior. In fact, she admired Rebecca for having the gumption to return to school and earn her degree after the baby. Clearly she was a hardworking, responsible wife and mother now. And she was willing to do whatever she could to help Hannah.

Kate pulled out the photocopied pages from the college yearbook and placed them in front of Rebecca. “Hannah told us that these are the three men who might be her father. I’d like to confirm that with you, and also ask if you can remember anything else about them?”

“I’m sorry. I told Hannah everything I know.”

“The smallest detail might be helpful,” Jay said. “Since you were all new to college and each other, the guys might have mentioned where they were from?”

Kate looked up sharply. He’d taken her general question and redirected it to something specific. For a guy with no training, he had smart instincts.

“Oh. Funny you should say that.” Rebecca took a closer look at the photograph of James Morgan. “I remember Jimmy talking about his family’s lake resort. I’m pretty sure he said it was somewhere in Upper New York State. Once he’d finished his business degree he was planning to go back and run it.”

“That’s exactly the sort of detail we’re looking for,” Jay encouraged. “Can you possibly recall the name of the lake?”

She wrinkled her forehead. “I’m sorry. It was so long ago.”

“That’s okay. This is a great help.” Kate jotted down the details in the fresh notepad she’d started for this case. Too bad Jay had learned the exact same information that she had. But she would find that lake before he did. She was determined that she would.

She and Jay quizzed Rebecca about the other two men, hoping to unlock more forgotten tidbits of information, but Hannah’s birth mother couldn’t come up with anything else helpful.

“I already told Hannah that Gary was on the football team. He was a big guy, like you,” she said, glancing at Jay. “I can’t think of anything else unique about him. As for Oliver, he was very quiet. We didn’t talk much at all.” She laughed a little self-consciously. “I’m sorry I can’t be more help. These were obviously one-night hookups.”

Kate passed her a card with her name and number. “That’s fine. We appreciate your time. Please call if you remember anything else. No matter how trivial.”

Jay looked flummoxed, and she hid a smile. He could hardly pass his own number on to Rebecca now and ask her to call him, as well. Rebecca would assume Kate would pass along any information to Jay. Which, of course, she would definitely not do.

As they made their way to the front door, Rebecca chattering about her kids and apologizing for the mess, Jay brushed by Kate and whispered, “Very clever.”

His breath was warm, and she shivered as his arm touched hers. She was a tall woman, but he was much taller, and his broad, football-player shoulders were solid muscle.

Out on the street, a cab was waiting.

“Want to share?” Jay offered. “I assume you’re heading back to the office?”

“I took the subway here and was planning to go back the same way.” She hesitated, for some reason reluctant to be in close quarters, alone—the driver didn’t count—with this guy. But wasn’t that foolish? The more she knew about Jay, the more likely she could find his weakness.

“But since you’re already paying the fare…” She climbed into the back and he joined her.

As he gave the address to the driver, then settled back into his seat, it struck her how surreal their situation was. In one day this man had gone from being a total stranger to her rival in one of the strangest competitions she had ever been a part of.

Who was Jay Savage? Suddenly she was curious. What were his interests? What was his background? Was there a woman in his life?

He struck her as the sort of man who would have lots of women hanging around. Or was that just an unfair stereotype of an attractive, unmarried pilot? Or her own sour grapes after Conner’s betrayal?

He caught her eye. “It was quite a surprise to find you at Rebecca Trotter’s.”

She couldn’t help smiling. That had been a sweet moment, all right. “I plan to keep surprising you. Maybe you should just quit now.”

His laugh was low and sensual. “I don’t think so. Technically I got to Rebecca Trotter first.”

“About that. Rebecca said you called her last night. But according to the rules, our investigation wasn’t supposed to start until this morning.”

“I didn’t think arranging an interview counted as ‘investigating.’ Last night I did a little searching through some phone directories. When I saw the Trotters’ number, I figured it couldn’t hurt to call.”

She didn’t recall even hearing Hannah’s birth mother’s name. Perhaps it had been mentioned when she’d been zoning out. That would teach her to daydream during important meetings.

“I suppose that’s fair enough.”

He frowned. “I hope you mean that. I intend this to be an honest competition.”

He sounded sincere and Kate appreciated that.

“Believe me,” he continued, “I didn’t even think that I was breaking the rules of our competition when I called Rebecca last night. I was trying to be organized.”

“If I’d have thought of it, I probably would have called her, too,” Kate conceded. “Still, it gave you the advantage.”

“You think? You’re the one who left Rebecca your number, not me. If she remembers something else, I’m not likely to hear about it, am I?”

“No.”

He smiled. “At least you’re honest.”

“It wouldn’t be much of a competition if we shared information with one another. I feel it’s only fair to tell you—I really want this job. I kind of burned my bridges with the NYPD.”

With hindsight, the letter of resignation she’d written could have been drafted with a bit more tact. Not that she planned to ever go back. But she’d shut that door a bit more forcefully than was really necessary.

“Why? Was it the stress?”

“Partly it was the hours. Partly my impatience with the bureaucracy.”

“But there’s more to the story,” he guessed.

He was easy to talk to. Too easy. She wondered if he was just passing the time, or if he was really interested. Know the enemy…Was that his strategy, too?

Still, she had no reason to be secretive. “I just ended a long-term relationship. And I’m ready for a change in my life. I want to try new things. Go new places.”

“Meet new people?” he suggested. “Maybe have a rebound affair?”

She caught a subtle lift to his voice, and narrowed her eyes at him. Was it possible Jay was flirting with her? She glanced at him again. The man was easy to talk to, but not easy to read.

“I’m not interested in any sort of affair. Rebound or otherwise.”

“Maybe it’s too soon. Since your breakup, I mean.”

Yes, it was soon, but Kate couldn’t imagine changing her mind for a long time. “What about you? Are you in a relationship?”

He shrugged. “There’s no one serious. I tend to avoid that sort of thing.”

“So the stereotype of the single, male pilot fits after all. A girl in every city…is that how it works?”

“Hardly every city. I don’t have that much energy.”

She refused to smile. “It’s going to be difficult to keep the women in line now that you’re stuck in one place. What’s with that, anyway? Why the switch from pilot to P.I.?”

“Like you, I have plenty of reasons. But the main one is my nephew, Eric. I need to be home in the morning to get him off to school. And I want to be home every evening to cook dinner and make sure he does his schoolwork. It may sound mundane to you, but I’m his only family now.”

It didn’t sound mundane at all. It sounded like what she had wanted—and still did. “You can’t be a caregiver for your nephew and a pilot at the same time?”

“As a single parent it would be difficult. I was a long-haul, international pilot. I could have requested shorter routes, but even those require you to be away from home for three- or four-day stretches.”

“Will you miss flying?”

His eyes darkened. “No question.”

Yet, he’d given it up for his nephew. She admired that. “Did you ever run into trouble during a flight? Something serious, that you didn’t think you’d survive?”

He blinked, then gazed out at the passing city. “The vast majority of flights are pretty routine. And thank God for that. No one in their right mind would get into a commercial airliner otherwise.”

She looked at him closely. “You just sidestepped my question.”

“You think?” He smiled disarmingly. “What about you? Did you ever run into big trouble in your job at the Twentieth Precinct? Something you didn’t think you’d survive?”

“A couple of times, yes. But it’s the cases that break your heart that are more difficult to handle.”

Jay’s expression grew serious. “Yeah. It’s hard to see someone suffer. Even when they’ve done it to themselves.”

“What always gets me is how fast it happens. One minute everything is good. The next—catastrophe.”

“Maybe one night, when this is all over, we’ll get together and exchange war stories,” he said.

“Maybe.”

She felt relieved that the taxi was pulling up in front of the office. Jay was more complicated than she’d initially thought, more intelligent and more sensitive, too. And he had skills she hadn’t expected.

Consider how easily he’d extracted that information about the lake resort from Rebecca.

And how quickly he’d extracted information about her, as well.

CHAPTER FIVE

IT WAS GOING TO BE interesting sharing an office with Kate, Jay thought. She’d already claimed the big desk by the window, which was fair enough, since she needed the computer. Still, sitting at the smaller desk by the door meant that she could see his computer screen every time she got up to get a coffee.