Her Anchor (6 page)

“You just had to get in on this case?”  Laura folded her arms under her breasts.  Her frown only deepened across her face. 

“It’s a big case.  They’re talking serial killer back home.”  He held out his arms in apparent justification.  Apparently word was getting out quickly. 

“And you thought I needed your help?  Jesus Christ, Steve, I’m hunting the killer-he’s not after me.”  Laura was exasperated.  Six months-no, one month ago-she would have considered this sweet.  Hell, it had been their life.  Now she was ready to strangle him.  “Did you come alone?” 

Steve looked hurt.  He lowered his eyes, scuffing one loafer on the tile floor. 

“Of course I didn’t.” 

“Right.  Because Stephanie probably had a case of her own.”  Stephanie was a medical examiner who also helped out at her family’s funeral home.  Laura didn’t even understand what she and Steve had in common. 

She had to push that particular rage away.  She didn’t have time for this now. 

“I’m busy, Steve.”  She pushed passed him, heading for her car.  She heard Steve calling after her, but Laura ignored him.  She didn’t have anything else to say to him. 

Once in the car, Laura let her head fall against the steering wheel.  She was a good cop.  She’d come a long way in the force.  No one had ever expected her to come as far as she had.  Now she was letting her blind emotions take control over her.  She couldn’t risk a case just because the former love of her life had pulled her strings. 

******

“Funny meeting you here two nights in a row.”  Laura looked up.  Tonight she had taken over a table in the corner.  But Detective Jones had found her. 

“You know,” Laura tapped her pen on the table, “I never caught your first name.”  Jones was already pulling out a chair and inviting himself to sit down. 

“It’s Tom.”  He was handsome when he smiled.  Laura hated how attractive he was. 

“Tom Jones?  Like the singer?”  He laughed at that. 

“My parents weren’t fans.  Of the singer, I mean.  They liked the name.  I guess that’s obvious.”  He shrugged.  “So are we having dinner, or just drinks?” 

“Neither!”  Laura looked down at her paperwork.  “I’m working here.” 

“You’ve been working all day.”  He flipped the case file shut.  “And I know full well that a friend of yours is in town.” 

“Friend is a sketchy word.”  Laura gave him a hard look.  Jones held up his hands in defense. 

“All right, all right, I’m sorry.  Regardless, you don’t need to work tonight.” 

“Oh I don’t?”  Laura clicked her pen closed.  “Well then tell me, just what do I need?” 

“You need a drinking buddy.”  He gave her a devilish grin.  Laura’s immediate reaction was to say no.  He’d been an ass the first day they had met.  She didn’t particularly want to drink with him, but it truly couldn’t be that bad.  Besides, he was probably right, she probably did need a drinking buddy. 

“Ok.” 

The rest of the evening rapidly escalated into a blur.  Laura took note of several shots of tequila burning their way down her throat.  He was buying left and right.  Laura lost count after four.  It was more than she needed to have-ever.

She heard herself declaring to him that she needed to go to bed.  He was in agreement.  And then he was taking her hand and leading her out of the bar.

They made it as far as the elevator before his lips were on hers.  A tiny voice in the back of her head was screaming that this was a terrible idea.  He was, after all, a coworker.  She should not be getting into something like this with someone she worked with so closely. 

But she was.  His hands were groping her breasts through her shirt. His fingers reached for the buttons.  She stopped him as the elevator doors opened. 

They stumbled down the hallway to her room.  She was unlocking the door.  It took her several tries with the key card. 

And then they were inside.  Her shirt was being unbuttoned.  He’d had on a blue polo shirt.  It had mutually been stripped off of him. 

His hands tugged her shirt open.  They were immediately pulling down her bra.  His hands cupped her breasts.  Laura heard herself moaning as his lips and tongue traced over them.  She was leaning back against the door, her fingers tangled in his sandy hair.               

One of his hands had dropped down to rub between her thighs.  After a moment, it reached up to undo the button.  She was glad she still preferred her sexy underwear.  His fingers traced over the thin fabric of the white thong.  Then they were inside. 

Laura gasped as his fingers passed through the hot wetness that he had found.  One finger pushed into her, followed by two.  Again she reminded herself that she should not be doing this-not with him.  But his fingers felt so good.  She just wanted to ride them, keep them going inside of her. 

Her hands felt deftly for the clasp of his pants.  She found it, pulling it open and freeing him.  Her hands wrapped solidly around him.  She heard him moaning as he pushed her more forcefully against the door. 

His hand left her body.  She opened her eyes, disappointed at the momentary loss of contact.  It did not last long.  Laura gasped as she felt him push into her.  His body was thick and solid in her.  She heard the moan that left her throat. 

She had had sex with Steve recently-it wasn’t like she had gone without.  But this was good.  Maybe because he was practically a stranger to her.  Maybe because she was drunk.  Maybe because she was lonely and angry.  Probably a combination of all of the above.  Either way, she didn’t want him to stop. 

Tom was drawing one of her legs up to wrap around his waist.  She did not hesitate to follow his lead.  He was pounding himself hard into her.  It felt incredible.  Laura clung to his shoulders. 

For a moment, she wondered how she had gotten here.  She wondered if maybe this was some sort of dream…if she was actually back in Philadelphia fucking Steve.  But she wasn’t.  She was in a Pittsburgh suburb’s hotel room fucking a man that she had known for barely for two days.  This wasn’t her. 

But somehow she didn’t mind it. 

Laura cried out like she never had before as her orgasm hit.  It did not stop him.  Laura felt one of his hands move up.  It stroked over her neck, rubbing lightly over her Adam’s Apple.  Suddenly she heard him groan, felt him shake against her. 

“I could do that every day.”  He murmured against her ear.  Laura laughed. 

“I don’t usually do this.”  She pressed her lips against his cheek. 

“I thought not.  So why don’t we do it again?” 

******

Laura woke up with her head pounding.  She was naked, alone in a tangle of hotel sheets.  Sunlight was trying to peak around the heavy curtains. 

And someone was knocking on her door. 

Laura groaned.  She sat up wearily.  She hadn’t had a hangover like this is ages.  She stumbled out of bed.  Yanking open the closet, she maneuvered her way into the hotel issued robe.  Pulling the door open, she found herself face to face with Steve. 

She apparently looked as bad as she suspected because he took a step backwards. 

“What happened to you?” 

“Why are you here?”  She snapped irritably.  She wanted to go back to bed. 

“Because they found another body.”  That snapped her back to reality. 

“Where?” 

******

Lake Park was in Allegheny County, which housed Pittsburgh proper.  It was, however, a good forty minutes in traffic from the city itself.  Its namesake lake sat in the middle of the park with a flowing fountain in the middle.  The park was always full of people.  It was good sized, but not as big or as remote as Clearwater.  That’s why the discovery of the jogger’s body had been such a shock. 

She’d been left beside a dumpster right beside one of the most popular playgrounds in the park.  A trash collector had thought it was nothing more than a mannequin which had been dumped out for disposal.  It wasn’t.  It was thirty-five-year-old Sandra Wilks.  She was a married mother of two from a nearby subdivision.  She ran in the park daily before coming home to get her children ready for school and herself ready for work. 

Her running shirt had been pulled up when she was found, exposing her sports bra.  She had been strangled.  Whoever had done it had taken the time to strangle her with his hands.  Nothing else was done. 

Laura had pulled herself together to come out.  She still had a job to do-regardless of how she felt.  Steve had come with her.  The team had been called to assist the Allegheny County police because it was odd to find another body strangled and dumped so close to the other.  The two parks were about 20 minutes apart-depending on which route you took. 

“But if it’s our guy, it doesn’t fit anything like the Clearwater crime scene.”  Laura winced when she saw Jones approaching her.  He gave her a faint smile. 

“But this is the third strangulation victim in the area in two months.”  At her questioning look, he clarified. “Greensburg.” 

“Of course.”  Laura needed to get that file.  She’d go through it tonight. 

“Lots of people get strangled.  Doesn’t mean that it’s done by the same person.”  Steve was glaring at Tom. 

“It’s not a huge area-not like Philadelphia.”  Tom told him firmly. 

“Are you saying we find strangulation victims by the hour?”  Steve asked, deadpanned. 

“All right you two.”  Laura grumbled.  “Jones, tell your men to go over the scene.  See if they can find the actual location of the murder.  Steve, go find the nearest Starbucks.” 

Steve looked unhappy at being dismissed.  She momentarily did not blame him.  A month ago she would have wanted him by her side.  They were a dynamic team in Philadelphia-everyone knew that. 

Now she could barely stand to be near him. 

As Steve was walking away from her, Jones was approaching. 

“How are you feeling?”  He looked a little sheepish now.  It was a look she hadn’t expected on him. 

“You got me drunk and I woke up alone.”  She retorted.  “How do you think I’m feeling?”  He chuckled nervously.  His hands pushed into the pockets of his kakis as he lowered his head. 

“Sorry but I woke up and I didn’t want to make things awkward.” 

“You mean more awkward than screwing my coworker?”  It was early and she was hung over.  She was bound to be a little testy.  Especially after her first one-night stand since college. 

“If it means anything, I am sorry.  The alcohol got the best of me.”  Jones gave her a more apologetic smile.  He was full of surprises that was for sure. 

“I am too.”  Laura offered.  “I’m sorry, I don’t usually do things like that.” 

“I didn’t think so.  You don’t strike me as that type.  I hope that this won’t make things awkward between us.”  Laura managed to force up a genuine smile. 

“Of course not.”  If it was one thing that she could be, it was professional.  “After all, we have a case to solve.”  Jones gave her another smile. 

“Oh, that we do.” 

******

Laura was sipping a Coke that afternoon in the interview room at the Allegheny County-Lake Park headquarters.  She was still feeling the effects of last night.  It was a bad hangover when you could still feel it almost a full day later.  Either that, or she was getting too old for this shit.  Probably a bit of both.

The door opened.  She glanced up to see Steve slipping in.  She sighed, but didn’t kick him out.  What was the point, really? 

“I’m here on business,” he started off.  Laura was glad.  She was still not in the mood for a relationship talk-even though they needed one. 

“So you found something at the lake?”  She stood up.  Steve shook his head. 

“No, not quite.”  He reached into his pocket.  He withdrew a plastic evidence bag.  Laura took it, curious.  Inside the bag was a piece of paper. 

Troll-do you have friends in Lake Park?  Tell them I left them a present……

“How did you find this?”  Laura’s hand shook.  There was their key that the murders were connected. 

“Actually, it was brought into us.”  Steve glanced out the door.  “The kid is in another rom.  He says he’s the Clearwater Troll.” 

Laura was already moving. 

“I want to talk to him.” 

“I figured.”  Steve held the door open for her.  “Let’s go.” 

In an interview room down the hall, a teenage boy wearing a denim jacket over a white t-shirt was nervously running his hands through shaggy brown hair.  He looked up as the two entered. 

“Should I be talking to you without my mom?”  He looked between the two. 

“It’s ok.  You’re not in any trouble.  But Detective Lewis will have your parents called.”  Laura sat down at the table, looking back at Steve. 

The boy identified himself as Dustin Williams.  After he’d given them a phone number, Steve went off to make the call.  Laura waited until the door had closed, then turned back to the boy. 

“Dustin, I’m Detective Allbright.  I want to talk to you about what’s going on in the park.” 

“Yeah, sure.” 

“Ok.  So why don’t you tell me exactly what happened?”  The boy shrugged.  He looked like the athletic type.