Mind Play (Bennett Sisters Book 3) (15 page)

The drunk
’
s grin got bigger
.
“I’m Sal.” He stood and held out his hand to her. “
We ain
’
t strangers anymore
.
C
o
me on
,
darlin
’
and
I’ll show you a good time.”

Sal’s eyes traveled from her exposed legs to her breast
s
and never reached her face. If she hadn’t been playing a part, she would have knocked him on his ass and still
thought she
might. Claire reached up and put her hand in his, pushing herself up from the table. He threw his arm around her shoulder
, leaning on her to stay upright as they stumbled to the door.
Claire winked and smiled at Butch, hoping he got her cue to be close behind. If worse came to wors
t
, she could take the drunk, but she didn’t want to knock him unconscious before she got her answers.

They stumbled out into the fresh air
,
and Claire pulled in a lung
ful
of air
, glad to be away from the smoke that was burning her eyes.
Claire managed to steer Sal arou
nd to the alley of the building. The alley was littered with paper and smelled like urine
,
but at lea
st they were alone.
She hadn’t planned this far ahead. She stopped and leaned her back against the wall.
“
I’m too drunk to walk any more. I need to rest, sexy.” She tried to look like she was about to pass out.
She leaned down and pulled the three
-
inch heels from her feet and let them dangle from her fingers by the straps.

Sal placed one of his palms on the building above her head. “Darlin
’
, we don’t need to go any f
a
rther.
”
He leaned down and placed
a
wet sloppy kiss
on
her neck.
Claire held back the shiver his kiss gave her.
She stopped his free hand
from
reaching
up
to fondle her breast.

“Not here
,
sugar.” The whisper had barely left her lips before
Butch’s big hand had grabbed
Sal
,
pulling him off her.

Sal stumbled
,
trying to regain his balance. His eyes got big before he held up his hands in surrender. Sal slurred his words. “Whoa
,
dude
. We were just fooling around. She dragged me out
here;
I didn’t know she was with you.”

Butch narrowed his eyes at the drunk. “She is.” He turned to Claire
.
“H
ave you asked him
?
”

Claire shook her head
.

“Ask me what?” Sal said.

“Where
you got the check you tried to cash today.”

Sal looked around
nervously;
the words seemed to have sobered him up. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Butch swung, landing his fist to the drunk
’
s jaw
and
dropping him on his butt. He lay
on
the ground holding his bleeding lip
, staring up at them in shock
.
Claire straightened from the wall. All pretense of being drunk gone
, s
he grabbed hold of Butch’s arm, halting
Butch from advancing on him again
. “Don’t knock him out. We won’t ever find out.”

Sal pointed a finger at her. “You…you set this up.”

Claire
grinned
.
“We need answers
,
and you’re going to give them to us.”

Claire sta
rted her probe of his thoughts. Sal pushed himself off the pavement
.
H
is thoughts
were
a
jumbled
mess
.
The alcohol in his system
,
and
Butch
’s hit
might have knocked a few screws loose. His words didn’t make any sense.
He’s going to k
ill
me... ruin
the
plan he had for them...
if it wasn’t for
their damn father.

Claire gasped as her hand flew to her mouth, taking in his last thought. “Who
se
plan and what about my dad?” She went to reach for him to shake some sense into him, but before she could
,
a gunshot rent the night
air
. Butch gabbed her
,
knocking her to the ground
and
covering her body with his
. He reached for his
gun
,
grabbing it from his ankle
holster
and
sc
anning the top of the buildings.
Claire tried to look around him, but he blocked her view. He moved her back, pinning her against the brick wall. His voice was rough
.
“Keep your head down.”

He pointed his gun at the
rooftop
, switching
his aim
between the two buildings
,
and stayed in that position until he heard sirens in the distance. Only then
did he give
her a little room to
breathe
. He pulled her up in his arms and cradled her head against his chest, holding it in place
,
restricting her movement. “Don’t look
,
baby. You don’t need to see this.”

Claire pushed
her palms against his chest
and turned her head. Sal’s lifeless body l
ay on the pavement in a pool of
blood. The
majority of the blood centered around a hole in his shirt.
An unshed tear fell down her cheek. She couldn’t pull her eyes away from Sal’s dead body. Her hand went to her mouth
,
covering it as she whispered. “We did this to him. If I hadn’t brought him outside, he’d still be alive. What have I done?”

Chapter 8

Butch pulled her back into his arms and held her
.
She’d almost
gotten them all killed in her quest for the truth
. He
scanned the
surroundings
, looking again for the threat that hid in the shadows
.
Claire had seen Butch tense and the scowl on his face when Sal had his mouth on her neck and his hand reaching for her breast. She’d never seen that look on his face, and knew that it wasn’t going to be good. She’d just never have suspected the outcome they were faced with.
It
was
Claire’s fault that Sal died
;
it had
n’t
been
Butch’s
.
She could imagine the turmoil running through his mind, that it had all been his fault.
Siren
s
rang out in the distance
. S
omeone had called the cops
. W
hat felt like eternity passed until
s
he heard the screeching of the tires stopping at the end of the alley
.

People were talking
,
but
she’d zone out
.
She now had a dead man on her conscious, her mind raced with the repercussions.
Claire knew she was in shock but couldn’t seem to pull herself back to the living. Something warm
slid around her shoulders
,
but she didn’t know what. She
was lifted off her feet
and r
ealized it was Butch who had her wrapped in his
strong arms. Claire closed her
eyes and leaned into his
warm embrace
, wishing
image
s
of Sal
’s dead body
would
disappear
from her mind
. She w
ished she could
get back to
her quiet content life
before all of this
had
started. None of it made any sense
,
and somehow she knew it was just the beginning
.

“Claire, baby.
We
need to
go down to
the station. They want us to make a report.
”

Claire glanced
up into Butch’s eyes and
blinked several times before his words registered
. “You’re right
.
I need to
find
Mike and Abby.”

Butch set her on her feet and punched the numbers into the keypad to unlock his truck door. He scooped her back up in his arms and placed her in the seat before
closing
the door and going arou
nd to the other side
,
climbing in
.

Her thoughts were as jumbled as Sal’s had been. What th
e hell was up with his thoughts?
They hadn’t gotten their answers
. T
he only thing he’d left her with was more questions and
who the hell
had
killed him. What had he meant about
his plan
and what about their father? This was getting more confusing by the minute.

Claire had been so focused on running the scene and the thoughts through her head that she hadn’t noticed they’d arrived
at the station
. After parking, Butch lowered her from the cab of the truck. He cupped her chin and
lifted her gaze up to his. “I’m so sorry
,
baby. I promised to protect you
,
and I almost got you killed
.”

He lowered his lips to meet hers and placed a light kiss. “Let me do
all
the talking.”

It took a minute for his words to register. Had he really just blamed himself? Claire shook her head as
Butch grabbed her hand and walked up the steps to the precinct.

Claire tried to pull him to a stop. “Wait.”

She had no more than
said that
before Mike descended the stairs in two strides
,
crushed her in a bear hug, “What the hell were you thinking?”

They’d apparently been expected.

Claire pushed on her brother
’
s chest
,
and Mike glanced down at her clothing.
“And what the hell are you wearing?”

Mike reached out to touch Claire’s arm. He’d gotten an instant replay of the event that occurred, just not what she’d heard in Sal’s mind. Mike growled and turned
,
narrowing his eyes at Butch.

“What the hell were
you
thinking letting her go to that bar?
Dammit
,
you were
supposed to
be protecting her, not
almost getting her killed
!
” Mike yelled at Butch.

Butch
grabbed Claire’s hand and lifted his chin.
“You know as well as I do that
,
if I
hadn’t taken
her, she would have
gone
anyway. For god’s sake, look at how she came home dressed from Emma’s house.” Butch wa
ved
his hand at Claire.

Claire touched Mike’s arm, drawing attention back to herself. “It isn’t his fault. He’s
right
;
I would have
gone
anyway
,
and he protected me. You saw it yourself
;
he didn’t let anything happen to me.
”

Mike crossed his arms over his ches
t and glared down at his sister before his gaze traveled up and down the street. He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her inside the precinct.

“We
need
to give
our
statement
s
, but I
read Sal’s thoughts before he got shot, and I
need you to get Abby and Emma and meet me at my house. There’s something else
going on that effects all of us
.
”

Mike was about to grill her
when
she
noticed
Jefferson walk through the door.
She remembered him helping Abby try to track down the killer that had targeted her, when Sam had came back to town. All of the cops had been in their lives in one way or another over the last year.
“This shouldn’t take long
. F
ollow me to the interrogation room. I’ll get you
r
statement and then let you go home. We know where to find you.”

Butch took Claire’s hand and pulled her down
the long corridor
, following Jefferson.

Jefferson hadn’t lied
;
it
only took
thirty minutes. Claire and Butch were signing their statement
s
when a somewhat familiar man walked in, dressed in jeans and a
T
-shirt. She’d seen him before, just couldn’t
place where
.
He had a file in his hand
,
and a frown marred on his lips.

Jefferson stood up. “This room is occupied
. I
f you need to make a report, just go back out to the front desk, and someone will be with you in a minute.” Jefferson walked to the door and pulled it open.

“Sorry
,
no can do
,
detective.” The man pulled out his wallet, opened it
,
and flashed
a shiny badge
at Jefferson. “I’m Special Agent Thompson with the FBI
,
and I have a few questions I’d like to ask them also. If you’
ll
just excuse us.”

Jefferson glanced back at Butch. “Holler if you need me. I’m going to go check out his
story.
I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

****

Thompson walked over to the table
dropping the file on the plastic surface; the expression on his face was a mask of stone, unreadable and calculating
. He sat down in the chair Jefferson had just vacated and opened the file.
Butch crossed his arms over his chest
and
glared at his old partner.
What the hell
is
he doing here?
They’d known each other for years. What Butch couldn’t figure out was what the heck he’d be doing in Southall.

“Thompson, what brings you to my neck of the woods?”

Thompson held out his hand
,
and Butch shook it. “It’s good to see you again,
Edwards.” He pulled his hand back. “Now can you tell me what business you had with Sal Santiago, and exactly why he ended up dead within fifteen minutes of meeting the blonde
?
” Thompson
asked
as his head tilted toward Claire.