“Hey, ‘hot lips’! What are you doing in bed with my mom? She’s injured…or haven’t ya noticed?”
Cody and her father had entered the room. Sully’s team filed in close behind them, except for Hawke, who occupied a room down the hall. Sully had mentioned Cody and her dad would fly back today. Her brain must be fuzzy from the meds because she’d lost track of time. Breeana could feel a flush rising from her toes to the top of her head. Sully eased away from her as Cody came forward into her arms.
“It’s great to see you, Mom. Looks like I got here just in time. Boy, the lieutenant has more moves than Micah, and that’s saying a lot.”
“Relax, pal,” Sully laughed. “It was only a harmless kiss.”
“I don’t know. Gramps, what do you think?”
Jack eyed Sully thoughtfully, a devilish glint in his eyes. “We’ll have a private chat with the lieutenant later. I’m sure he was just about to heave his carcass out of my daughter’s bed, anyway. Right, Lieutenant?”
“Not if I had my way,” Sully muttered under his breath, then shot Breeana a wolfish grin, and planted another wet kiss on her mouth before swinging his feet to the floor. “We were just discussing Sal Clemente and how he managed to keep himself off the suspect’s list.”
“It must have given him one hell of a shock when Millette called Rainey Dubé’s death in to your homicide squad,” Theo said.
“I imagine it did. All his other murders had gone undetected and the last thing he wanted was to have homicide involved. I remember how sick he looked when I first arrived at the murder scene. He blamed it on eating cold pizza.” Sully rubbed a hand along the back of his neck. “On the other hand, once we took over the investigation, he was able to manipulate the facts.”
“How did he manage to tamper with evidence without getting caught?” Micah asked.
“It’s not difficult, considering he worked the case. Clemente monitored the surveillance feed from the docks of The Shepherd trapping rats. He claimed a clear picture of The Shepherd never appeared on those tapes. Forensics called me an hour ago. The tapes were doctored. I’m guessing Clemente removed any video footage of himself.”
“But, why did he kill the church secretary?” Reece wanted to know.
“Because Hannah Grimes was his mother. Although, oddly enough, I don’t think he really wanted to kill her. But, he didn’t have a choice, not when he knew we would question her. He must have been afraid she would tell us about him.”
“You planned to ask her about those rosaries stolen from St. Pat’s all those years ago?”
“Right, Bree. I’m guessing she knew he took the rosaries. Clemente had no idea if she’d rat him out. He knew his mother despised him. Yet, even with that, he may have wanted to keep her alive so he’d still have an excuse to murder other women. Joelle believes he envisioned murdering his mother with every innocent life he took. She also believes he had some unhealthy fantasies about her.”
“Oh-oh, information overload.” Cody clutched his throat and forced a gag.
“Do you know how he chose his victims?” Law interrupted, laughing at her son’s antics. “I’ve never understood how psychopaths decide who’s going to live and who’s going to die.”
“I know how he chose Miranda, Rainey and me,” Breeana offered, trying to get more comfortable in the bed. “He followed us home from St. Patrick’s Cathedral after mass. He was furious with us, because Father Mike was giving the sermon and we walked out in the middle of it, when the priest started saying incredibly vile, horrible things about women. We couldn’t sit there any longer and listen to his poison.”
“I’m not surprised,” Sully said. “Father Mike was Clemente’s biological father and the fruit didn’t fall far from the tree. The priest and Hannah had been having an affair for years. And I believe they abused Sal as a child.”
Breeana shuddered, and Sully slipped his arm around her shoulders again. “I can’t believe a mother would hurt her son for any reason.”
“I know, cookie, but remember…both of his parents were total whack jobs.”
Hunt shuffled on his feet. “I guess it doesn’t make much sense, but I almost feel sorry for the guy.”
“Even after what he did to Breeana?” Sully carefully took her injured hand, which was wrapped in a cast, and raised it off the pillow a few inches. “I can’t feel sorry for him. He killed innocent women, and my guess? He used his badge to get close to them. So, there were never any signs of a struggle. We found a tackle box in his beach shack where he hid souvenirs from his kills. Plus, he almost murdered Cody. I would kill him again if I had to.
“While I might grieve for Sal Clemente the child, I have no sympathy, whatsoever, for the man he became. The Shepherd was nothing but a cold-blooded killer who preyed on women to satisfy his sick cravings,” Sully added.
“Oh, oh, Gramps,” Cody snickered. “It’s time to roll up my ears and tuck them in my head. It sounds like Sully’s going to talk about kinky sex. Micah hasn’t explained those things to me yet.”
“Mic!” Sully growled. “What have you been teaching the kid while you guys were recuperating?”
“Will you relax, Sully?” Breeana saw Micah roll his eyes and wink at both her son and her father. “We only had normal conversations about the birds and bees. I would never tell Cody anything his own grandfather wouldn’t want to teach him.”
“I’m not so sure, Mic,” Sully said, curling his lip.
“Hey.” Cody’s grandfather interrupted. “Why don’t we let Breeana get some rest and play a little poker over at my place? I’ll supply the beer and cigars.”
“Sweet, Gramps. Let’s go see if Hawke wants to get in on the action. We could always break him out of here for a couple of hours. Let’s go, guys!”
Breeana lay against the pillows and laughed until tears ran down her cheeks and her stomach hurt. The expression on Sully’s face was priceless. He clearly had no idea what life with Cody and her father was all about. After they all filed out and he had a moment to regroup, he cupped her chin in his warm hands, tenderly lifting her face.
“Bree? I love you beyond belief.” He gazed into her eyes with something close to terror in his own. “It took almost losing you to realize I don’t want to live my life without you. I never thought it could happen to me. I’m lousy at relationships and I don’t know how this will end.”
“Well, maybe it doesn’t have to end,” she whispered. “Why don’t we take it one step at a time and see where it takes us? Because, Sully, I love you too, and I don’t want to lose you.”
“Aw, cookie,” he groaned, carefully moving over her on the bed, still holding her face between his hands and kissing her lips. “I’m a lousy prospect for marriage. I live life in the dangerous lane and there’s always the risk I won’t make it home to you one night. It wouldn’t be fair to you, or Cody.”
Breeana’s heart plunged as if it would shatter in a million pieces. She loved Sully so completely. She knew he would never hang up his shield, or stop fighting for the innocent. It was who he was. The man she loved. She was more than willing to take the risk of being a part of his life, for as long as he wanted her. “Sometimes you think too much. Go lock the door and show me how much you love me.”
“Now that’s something I can handle.”
Chapter Twenty
Sully brought Breeana home the next morning and carried her upstairs to her bedroom. “How about taking a nice hot shower?”
“It depends. Are you offering to scrub my back?” She wrapped her arms around his neck and winked at him. “If you are, we’ll have to hurry. Cody and my father will be back from the arena soon.”
“There’s an offer I can’t refuse, if you’re sure you’re up to it. Just let me put the dogs out in the yard. I’ll get the water started in a minute.”
He set her down on the bed, ran downstairs, and pulled up short as two pairs of eyes drilled into him. Cody and Jack were already home. If looks could kill, Sully figured he’d be choking on his last breath right about now.
“Good morning, Lieutenant.”
“Morning, Jack,” he mumbled.
“Hockey practice was cancelled and we’re home early. We were just about to have breakfast.” Jack led them into the kitchen and reached in the cupboard for three bowls. He slammed them down on the counter next to an apple-cinnamon pie. Then he tossed the pie into the microwave and scowled in Sully’s direction. “So, before you take a shower with my daughter, you’ll be joining us.”
“Right. Don’t mind if I do, Jack.” The scent of fear mixed with sweat oozed from Sully’s pores. He’d sooner be facing the Son of Sam than going up against the tag team of Cody and Jack. There wouldn’t be a trial. They’d go straight for the lynching, and he sure couldn’t blame them.
He was guilty, caught red-handed last night in a hospital bed sampling the spoils of victory, rolling on the sheets with Cody’s mother and Jack’s daughter, however innocently. And, now they’d heard him talk about taking a shower with her. Maybe he should just shoot himself and get it over with. Hell, he probably deserved it.
Cody slammed the freezer door and the vanilla ice cream he carried landed with a thud on the counter beside his grandfather. Forest deftly cut the warmed pie into three slabs and smashed it into bowls. Cody followed along behind with an ice cream scoop and heaped the slices à la mode.
“Would you mind telling me what you were doing in bed, lip-sucking my mom last night?” Cody said. “Was it supposed to be your idea of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, or what? I’d hate to think I have to slug you for hitting on my injured mom. But I’ll do it, and I’ll take the consequences for assaulting a police officer while I’m at it.”
“There’s no need to get physical, Cody. I can explain.” Needing to do something with his hands, Sully grabbed chocolate sauce from the nearest shelf and squirted it over the ice cream.
“We’re listening, Lieutenant,” Jack said, smiling darkly as he flicked maraschino cherries over the chocolate sauce in the bowls, managing to spray Sully’s shirt in the process. “We’d like to hear your explanation…wouldn’t we, Cody?”
The kid was busy shaking a whipped cream canister, landing a glob in Sully’s hair before maneuvering the nozzle over the heaping concoctions. “Yeah, Gramps. I leave home for a few days and come back to find this dude sniffing around my mom, even after I warned him off. It had better be good.”
Sully routed around with his head in the pantry, until his hand landed on a jar of chopped nuts. Mindlessly, he opened the cap and heaped them into the bowls. “The truth is I screwed up… You know, like sometimes happens with teenagers?”
Damn!
Why should he have to explain his actions to Cody and his grandfather? It was embarrassing as hell. He was a man, full grown. He shouldn’t have to give the details of his love life to anybody, least of all Breeana’s family.
“Well, you’re no teenager,” Cody scoffed. “And even
I
know you have to keep a handle on your actions after your brain leaves the building. Gramps and I have discussed it, about taking responsibility; haven’t we, Gramps?”
Sully almost slid to the floor at Cody’s revelation. Thirteen, and he was already discussing sex with his grandfather. He was still a kid. Wasn’t he too young to be having those conversations?
“The way Gramps tells it, a man’s got to keep his
screw ups
under control, unless he’s planning to marry the lady in question—which would be
my
mother. Do you have anything to add, Gramps?”
“Nah, I couldn’t have said it better myself. I think I’ll just sit back with my breakfast and let you handle the manly stuff in the family.”
Jack added bananas as the final topping to their breakfast, slid spoons into the bowls, and set them on the table in the sunroom, nodding for the others to take their seats. “So what’s the deal here, Sully?”
Marriage seems to be the deal
, he thought. And if Cody and Jack had their way it was going to be a shotgun affair.
Marriage
? The word stuck in his craw as he attacked the mountain of syrupy gloop dripping from his spoon and brought it to his mouth. Yet, wasn’t it his need for permanency with Breeana that had confused him from the beginning?
Since he’d first laid eyes on her, in fact? Hellfire, he was hopelessly in love with her. He’d rather die than live without her. The thought struck him like an epiphany, claps of thunder and bolts of lightning zinging around in his brain.
Marriage? Why not?
“Cody, I swear to you, I love your mother. And I do want to marry her.” He caught the glance passing from grandson to grandfather but couldn’t get a read on it. “What do you say? Do I have your permission to ask her to marry me?”
Jack nodded to his grandson. “The decision’s yours, son. I’ll go along with whatever you decide.”
Cody eyed Sully as he swirled his spoon between his fingers. “Hmm, if you marry my mom, does it mean you’ll want me around? ’Cuz it’s a package deal, you know? I’m not ready to leave yet and someone’s got to stick around to keep an eye on things when you’re out doing your police and military stuff.”
“Absolutely, I wouldn’t have it any other way. We’d be a family, Cody.” He heaved a sigh of relief and reached out to clasp the teen’s shoulder.
“Hold up a minute. Not so fast.” The kid winked slyly at his grandfather. “And will you promise to practice with the team and take us to hockey games at the Bell Center sometimes?”
“You bet I’ll practice with the team.” Sully fought to keep the grin off his face. “I’ll even spring for tickets to the NHL games when I can.”
Cody was on a roll. “And will you keep your hormones under control, at least until the wedding day? I don’t want to have to walk around the house blindfolded, so I don’t see your sick moves on my mom.”
“Ah,
that
I won’t promise you. It’s normal for people in love to kiss and hug each other, pal.”
“Well, just don’t get any ideas about kissing
me
, Sully, but you can hug me if you want to, as long as it’s not in front of the guys.”
“The same applies to me,” Jack said. “You can hug me if you want, but no kisses. Now come on, group hug before we ditch the evidence of our breakfast. God knows, Breeana will kill us all if she sees what we just put into our stomachs. What’s all the mess on your shirt and in your hair, Sully? Did your spoon have a hole in it?”