Missing Magic (15 page)

“Did you set this fire?”

“What do you know about the blood in Mr.
Morsi’s Explorer?”

Meanwhile, the cameras continued to roll.

Dee tried to push her way past them, but they
blocked her.

“Come on.” Cenrick turned her into his chest,
shielding her, using his big body like a linebacker to push their
way through.

They made it to her car. Hands shaking, Dee
managed to get the key in the ignition and start the engine. She
drove without seeing where she was going. Drove until the smoke and
the sirens and the commotion was several blocks behind.

Then, pulling over, she turned to face
Cenrick.

“You realize what this means, don’t you?”

He nodded. “With the house gone, they won’t
be back. Wherever they’ve moved the machine, it’s permanently gone.
We’ll have hell finding it.”

“Or Mick.” She ran her fingers through her
hair, wishing she could stop trembling. “And, they’re trying to pin
one more thing on me. My credibility is shot to hell. They’ve
won.”

“Not yet. We’ll figure something out.” He
leaned close. She was pretty sure he meant to kiss her cheek, but
she turned her head at the last moment, and his mouth slanted
across hers.

Shuddering, she put all of her frustration
into the kiss. It might be a mistake, but she needed this more than
she’d ever needed anything.

THE INSTANT their lips touched, heat
flared.

Desperation driving her, she put her
everything into the kiss, hoping, praying, he wouldn’t turn her
away.

After a second of stunned shock, he took
control, deepening the kiss, his tongue mating with hers.

Desperation fled, desire, urgent and hot,
taking its place. She wanted him, right here, right now. Had she
really thought she could control this? When they’d been dancing
around their attraction for days?

Luckily, she still had the capacity to
reason. After all, they were in her car, parked on the side of a
very public street.

“Cenrick.” She broke away. “We can’t. Not
here.”

He nodded, gazing down at her. The heat
blazing in his eyes was almost enough to change her mind.

“My apartment. We’re five minutes away.”

“Get there quickly.” The raw desire in his
husky voice made her shiver.

“Oh, I will,” she promised.

They made it in four minutes. Exiting the
car, they hit sidewalk running, taking the steps two at a time.

As they reached the landing, she dug her key
out of her purse and headed for the door.

Cenrick grabbed her arm. “Wait.”

Impatient, she danced from one foot to the
other, anticipation making her edgy. “Why? What’s up?”

“Look.” He pointed.

Her front door, slightly ajar. When they’d
left, she’d been careful to lock it.

“Someone’s been in my apartment.” She pulled
her gun from the holster and flicked off the safety. “Let’s go.”
“No.” He touched her arm, forestalling her. “I’m going first.”

“But I’m armed. You’re not.”

“You can cover my back.” Without waiting for
an answer, he pushed the door open with his shoulder.

Taking a deep breath, Dee plunged in right
behind him.

Inside, chaos reigned.

“Look at this.” He shook his head. “What
the—?”

With a touch on his arm, she got his
attention. “We check the place out first, see if anyone’s still
here. Then we can take stock of the destruction.”

Prowling from room to room, searched
everywhere. As she’d suspected, the intruder was long gone.

“Now,” she said, holstering her gun. “Let’s
see what they’ve done.”

Vicious, random, destruction. Her apartment
had been completely trashed.

They started with her living room, her
favorite. The multi-hued pillows had been slit, their stuffing
flung all over the room. The plush sofa had been slashed. All that
remained of the cushions were ribbons of foam and cloth. The
intruder had even taken care to destroy the prints on the walls,
smashing the glass and using the shards to shred the art.

In the kitchen she saw that the contents of
her refrigerator had been flung all over the countertops and walls,
running in great globs of goo to the tile.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think this
looks like the work of teenagers. It’s random destruction for no
reason.”

He gave her a thoughtful look. “I think
they’re trying to intimidate you.”

“Who? Natasha and her pals?” She grabbed
paper towels, handed some to him, and got busy cleaning the
kitchen. After a moment, he joined her.

“After what happened to Mick’s, I’m actually
surprised they didn’t set fire to the place,” he said, scrubbing
along beside her.

“Ah, but then I wouldn’t have been able to
see their handiwork.” She couldn’t keep the bitterness from her
tone. “What I want to know is why? Why are they targeting me? What
have I done to hack them off?”

“Your association with Mick.”

At her snort of disbelief, he smiled.
“Somehow, some way, you’re a threat to their plans. What we have to
do is find out how.”

Once they’d wiped up the floors and the
counters were clean, they moved on to the walls.

“You know,” she mused. “When I was a
policewoman and I investigated robberies and break-ins, the victims
always said they felt violated. While I sympathized, I didn’t
really get it. Now, I know exactly what they meant.”

They got the walls as wiped down as they
good. “I’ll mop later.” She picked up the phone, started to dial,
then, shaking her head, she punched the off button. “I can’t
believe how this is affecting me.” Looking down at her hands, she
saw they were trembling.

Cenrick put his arm around her shoulders and
drew her close. “Hey, at least you weren’t hurt. Count your
blessings.”

“I know, I know.” She made a face. “You’re
right; nothing’s missing, at least that I can tell. But this was my
home. My first real home. Growing up the way I did, when I finally
got my own place, I took pains to make each room exactly the way I
wanted. And now someone’s gone and taken that away.”

He hugged her, offering a silent comfort.

Though she told herself she wouldn’t cry, the
hot ache at the back of her throat and the stinging in her eyes
proved her wrong. For a moment, just a tiny slice of time, she
allowed herself to hold on to Cenrick, taking comfort in his
solidness, breathing in his masculine scent.

Then she pushed herself out of his arms and
lifted her chin. “You know, if I’m looking on the bright side, at
least they didn’t touch my shoes.”

He stared. “Your what?”

“Shoes.” With a small shrug, she gave him a
sheepish smile. “I’m fond of designer shoes. Expensive ones. I have
a bit of a collection.” She led the way to her bedroom closet,
opening the door to show him rows and rows of boxes. “They left
these alone, thank goodness.”

“They probably didn’t know they mattered to
you.”

“True. I’m sure if they had, they would have
destroyed them.” She trouped on back to her living room, eying the
mess. She sighed and held up the phone she’d carried with her.

“I keep putting off the inevitable. I need to
call this in.” At his blank expression, she elaborated. “I need to
make a police report, so this is documented.”

Again she dialed the number she knew from
heart. Susan Best, the dispatcher on duty, took the report and
promised to send out an officer. Her unemotional voice and the way
she didn’t even ask Dee if she was okay, told Dee the poisonous
lies about her had spread through the entire department.

Again, almost as if he could sense her
despair, Cenrick came to her. This time, he took her hand. They
sat, side by side on her ruined couch, and waited for the
police.

In twenty minutes, the doorbell chimed. The
responding officers, Ben Lieber and Linda Lacey were two Dee knew
well. She and Linda had even gone out for drinks once or twice.
They’d both lamented how hard it was to be a woman in a man’s
world, though both were determined to make it.

At least Linda was still in the game.

Lieber, an older man with a bald spot, was
decidedly unhappy to be there.

“Point of entry?” he asked, his tone
suggesting that perhaps she’d trashed the place herself.

“Over here.” Cenrick showed him the broken
door frame.

“I can’t believe you of all people don’t have
a better deadbolt,” Officer Lacey commented, shooting Dee a harsh
look.

“I know.” Dee felt a bit sheepish. “I’m
getting a new one now, believe me.”

“Get two,” Linda said. As the other woman
smiled sympathetically, Dee felt relieved. At least not everyone in
the police department believed the false stories about her.

Officer Lieber however, apparently did.
Clearing his throat, he planted himself in front of her, his
aggressive stance making his hostility evident. “Do you have a list
of what’s missing?” Pen posed over paper, his narrow-eyed glare
told Dee exactly how much he disliked even talking to her.

The sad part was she couldn’t blame him.
Once, she’d have felt the same, were their situations reversed.

“Whatever happened to innocent until proven
guilty?”

At Lieber’s shocked expression, Dee realized
she’d spoken her thoughts out loud. Good. She was tired of being
tarred and feathered without even a trial.

“Do you have a list?” Officer Lacey stepped
in to fill the silence. Through most of this, her gaze kept
returning to Cenrick.

Again, Dee couldn’t relate. Before all this
had happened, she herself had been ready to jump his bones.

“No list. As far as I can tell, nothing is
missing. I don’t think robbery was the motive.”

“Really,” Lieber drawled. “Then pray tell,
why the break-in? Just to inconvenience you?”

Dee ignored him, focusing on Linda.
“Intimidation.”

Lieber laughed, a mean sound. “Don’t you mean
payback? Payback for dishonoring your badge and that of our
department?”

“Ben, that’s enough.” Officer Lacey snapped.
“If you can’t be professional, why don’t you wait outside?”

“Sounds good to me. It stinks in here.”
Stalking to the door, Officer Lieber left.

“Thank you,” Dee said softly. “You don’t know
how hard this has been for me.”

“Look.” Officer Lacey waved away Dee’s
thanks. “At the department, a lot of people don’t believe the
charges. Gossip has dozens of witnesses saying you took bribes,
that you were running a racket, selling drugs, you name it.”

“One hooker, and some guy I’ve never even
met.” Dee shook her head. “I swear to you, I wasn’t.”

“Tell it to Internal Affairs.”

“I have.” Swallowing, Dee looked the other
woman square in the face. “I’m going to find out who set me up and
I’m going to clear my name.”

“Yeah? You’d better do it fast. They’re
talking about calling a grand jury and setting up a hearing next
week. If they indict you…” She didn’t have to finish. Dee knew if
she was indicted her career was all over.

“They don’t have enough evidence to go to a
grand jury.” Unless more had turned up, something she hadn’t been
told about. “I’d better call Lieutenant Cowell.”

“You do that. In the meantime, we’ll make our
report.” Lacey opened the door, turning one last time to check out
Cenrick before looking at Dee. “And Bishop? A word of advice. Look
into Mick’s so-called girlfriend. My gay-dar was way off if she’s
for real. I heard she used to be a scientist at some hush-hush
government lab.”

With that, she let herself out.

Once she was gone, Dee stared at Cenrick. “Do
you believe that? They know about Natasha.”

“They know what we do, that she used to be a
scientist.” He shrugged. “They don’t know about the Fae or the
machine that’s stealing their souls.”

“And they think Mick is dead.”

“And that I’m evil incarnate.” She laughed, a
sound without humor. “Come on. Let’s head over to the hardware
store and pick up a couple of deadbolts.”

When they returned, new door assembly and
deadbolts in tow, she sighed again as she surveyed her wrecked
living room. “I’ll make us a pot of coffee.” Standing on tiptoe,
she placed a casual kiss on his cheek, wondering if he’d totally
forgotten what they’d started in the car. Now that the initial
shock of the break-in was over, making love with him was all she
could think about.

As she moved away, he grabbed her, claiming
her mouth in a savage kiss. Thank goodness.

Letting the package fall to the floor, she
wrapped her arms around his neck. “Cenrick,” she gasped against his
lips.

“Now is not the time for reason.” He told
her, his breathing harsh. “I need to feel you, your sleek softness
and rounded curves. I want to make love to you, to bury myself deep
inside you.”

She started to speak and he shushed her.

“Nothing else matters, not this instant. Just
you and me.”

Her moan was a sound of acquiescence. He was
right. Desire, wild and fierce and urgent, swept everything else
away.

“Touch me,” he growled against her mouth.

Her breath caught. Her heartbeat stuttered.
Hesitantly, tentatively, she trailed her fingers over his chest,
down to his flat belly, and the band of cloth at his waist.
Finally, skimming over fabric, she touched him
there
,
gasping as she felt the fullness of his arousal through his
trousers.

This time, he moaned as she cupped him.

He tugged at her shirt. Still stroking him,
she lifted it, pulling it over her head and tossing it away.

The bra went next, his fumbling fingers
finding the clasp in back.

“You next,” she gasped against his mouth. She
tugged at the nape of his shirt, tearing it.

Eyes burning with desire, he shrugged off the
shirt. She gave him a slow smile. “The pants have to go too.”