LITMIR.BIZ

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trash.

      Then he heard a bumping sound, and leaving the Dumpsters, he flattened himself against the wall of the hotel and peered down the alley. He saw nothing at first, but then farther down, near the street, something moved underneath a third-floor balcony.

      Hugging the wall, Jack slipped silently into the alley. As he drew closer, he recognized the sound he’d heard earlier. A grappling hook had been thrown over the balcony railing of Celeste’s suite, and a slender figure clad in black was now shimmying up the rope.

      Drawing his weapon, Jack sprinted from the shadows. “Police! Halt!”

      The suspect spun, saw him, then doubling his efforts, scurried the rest of the way up before Jack could reach him. Climbing over the railing, the intruder pulled the rope up behind him, then turned and tried the French doors.

      Jack took aim as he raced toward the balcony. “Freeze!”

      The suspect—his face covered by a ski mask—glanced back at Jack, then slung the grappling hook all the way to the roof. It caught on a drainpipe, and as nimble as an acrobat, he scampered up.

      A dozen scenarios flashed through Jack’s head, none of them good. If he fired his weapon, there would be hell to pay. Impersonating a police office carried a stiff sentence, and considering the animosity he’d left behind at police headquarters and city hall, he couldn’t imagine anyone coming down on his side.

      Still, it wasn’t hard to figure that a guy wearing a ski mask and wielding a grappling hook in the middle of the night was up to no good. It was obvious he’d meant to get in Celeste’s suite, but for what purpose, Jack could only imagine.

      The intruder had almost made it to the roof by this time. Grasping the edge, he hitched himself over, then scrambled to his feet. Pausing for a moment, he gazed over the edge.

      Jack had him in his sights. He could have easily taken him out, but he didn’t. Instead he slowly lowered his weapon.

      There was something familiar about him…her…

      Something that sent a shiver up Jack’s spine as their gazes met in the darkness.

      Then, with a mocking salute, the intruder turned and disappeared over the slope of the roof.

      * * *

      JACK RANG THE BELL, then banged loudly on Max Tripp’s door until a light came on in the town house. A few minutes later, his ex-partner drew back the door.

      Max looked shocked when he saw the bandage wrapped around Jack’s hand. “What happened to you?”

      Jack brushed past him. “We need to talk.”

      “So you said on the phone.” Max closed the door and turned. He looked as if he’d dressed in a hurry and in the dark. He wore a pair of sweatpants and an old HPD T-shirt that might have served double duty as a cleaning rag. His disheveled appearance was a far cry from the slick image he presented at his posh offices on South Post Oak, and for a moment, Jack was relieved to see the man he’d known years ago. Maybe this Max would be willing to listen to reason.

      But his next words didn’t instill much hope. “This had better be good.” Reluctantly, he gestured toward the living room.

      “It is,” Jack said grimly as they both took seats. “She’s in danger, Max.”

      “Who’s in danger?”

      “Celeste Fortune.” Jack ran a hand through his hair. “I’m not the only one tailing her. I’ve been getting a strange vibe ever since I started the surveillance, but tonight I actually saw someone try to break into her suite. You know what this means, don’t you?”

      Max’s frowned deepened. “What?”

      Restless, Jack got up and began to pace. “We have to warn her.”

      “Now hold on a minute.” Max’s gaze tracked him to and fro. “Let’s not make any hasty decisions here. Just calm down and tell me exactly what you saw.”

      “It started when I followed her to a restaurant on Montrose tonight.” Quickly, Jack explained about the flash of light on the building across the street.

      Max shrugged after he’d heard him out. “So? You said yourself you didn’t find anything. More than likely what you saw was light reflecting off a window in the building.”

      “No, I’m positive it came from the roof. And then when I went back to the hotel a little while later, I saw someone climb up to her balcony. He tried to get into her room, but the door was locked. If I hadn’t been there to scare him off, he probably would have broken the glass. God only knows what he meant to do once inside.” The images swirling around in Jack’s head made him feel sick. If he hadn’t been there— “The point is, she’s obviously in danger and we have to warn her.”

      “I’m afraid we can’t do that.”

      Jack stopped pacing and glared down at Max. “What do you mean we can’t do that? If anything happens to her, it’ll be on our conscience.”

      Max shrugged again. “Then that’s a chance we’ll have to take. If we go to her now, it’ll blow the whole operation. We can’t do it. Our loyalty is to the client.”

      “Like hell it is,” Jack said angrily. “We’re cops, for God’s sake.”

      “Were cops. That’s the operative word,” Max reminded him. His expression hardened. “Look, I know you always took that ‘to serve and protect’ stuff to heart, but you’re not on the force anymore. You work for me now, and I thought we had an understanding.”

      Jack couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “A woman’s life is at stake. That supercedes any agreement we had.”

      Max calmly folded his arms across his chest. “You don’t know that her life is in danger. You’re jumping to conclusions. The guy you saw tonight was probably a run-of-the-mill burglar or a two-bit jewel thief after that huge rock Fleming bought her. Now that you’ve scared him off, I doubt he’ll be back.”

      Jack wasn’t so sure about that. The guy knew what he was doing. By the time Jack had found a way up to the roof, the suspect had disappeared without a trace. He couldn’t have escaped so easily unless he knew his way around that hotel backward and forward.

      Jack hadn’t so much as caught a glimpse of him. All he’d gotten for his trouble was a bad scrape on a rusty nail. And just his luck, he didn’t remember when he’d had his last tetanus shot.

      “If you’re not going to do anything about this, then I’ll take care of it myself,” he said. “I’ve still got a few favors I can call in downtown.”

      Max gave him a shrewd appraisal. “And just what are you going to tell them? That the woman you’ve been stalking is being stalked by someone else? The way I hear it, you’ve already been making a nuisance of yourself downtown trying to get information about that homicide in Montrose. Next thing you know, you’ll be trying to convince them that Celeste Fortune is being stalked by Casanova.”

      Anger shot through Jack at the man’s cold assessment. Something had happened to Max since he’d left the police department. Something that Jack didn’t want to see when he looked at himself in the mirror every morning. “I’ll tell them whatever I have to,” he warned.

      “Meaning?”

      “I’ll tell them I work for you.”

      Max stood. “You seemed to have forgotten that little thing called a confidentiality agreement that you signed the other day. You go shooting off your mouth about our business arrangement, and I’ll deny ever having had this conversation with you. I’ll say I threw a few odd jobs your way because I felt sorry for you. What you did with Celeste Fortune you did on your own. I’ve never even heard of her. Who do you think they’re going to believe, Jack? Unlike you, I still have friends in high places.”

      Jack clenched his fists. “What the hell are you doing,

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