Authors: Linda Mooney
“For whatever time we have together, yeah.” He placed a tender kiss to her forehead. “Yeah, J. It was a proposal.”
“Then my answer is yes,” she breathed softly, giving him another tug.
They sealed their promise with more than a kiss.
* * * *
“He’s a cop! He’s a fuckin’ cop!”
There was a scream and a strangled cry, both muted by the confusion. Fire and firepower combined into one intense roar of hate and anger. Bodies passed beyond the burning lab, casting shadows over the scene.
Sam threw a hand over his eyes to shield them from the glare as he stared into the mass, trying to find the one person he feared for. Trying to find some evidence as to where he was. Rancid smoke filled his lungs and stung his eyes until tears rolled down his cheeks. He coughed, struggling to breathe.
Gunshots echoed in the abandoned garage. A bullet passed by with a high-pitched whine, like a giant mosquito. He stumbled over overturned chairs and other unidentifiable debris.
“Kiel! Kiel!”
“Sam!”
It was his brother’s voice, weak and filled with fear. There were some muttered curses, not from him, and the smacking sound of something hard meeting flesh.
There were shadows off to his right. A flash of Kiel’s face reflected in the firelight. Blood was running down the side of his face and his eyes were closed. Two men Sam didn’t recognize were dragging him by the arms toward the rear of the garage.
“Halt! Police! Let him go!” He aimed for the biggest one and fired. The guy flinched when the bullet found him, but he continued to drag his hostage.
Someone came up beside him, an undercover cop by the name of Uvalde, looking ragged and soot-streaked. He held his service revolver at shoulder level.
“They got Kiel!” Sam snapped.
“Who did?”
“Two of ’em. I didn’t recognize them. They went out the back.” Instead of waiting for the man to answer him, Sam started off in that direction. Vaguely he was aware of a call being sent out to the officers surrounding the garage to be on the lookout.
Outside the air was fresher. He dragged the stuff deep into his lungs to clear out the stench. In the dark he could see nothing. The growing fire behind him played tricks with his eyes. Pulling his flashlight out of his back pocket, Sam scoured the gravel for some sign of where they had gone. He finally found footprints which led from the back, away from the garage. A twin trail of scuff marks ran between them. Kiel’s. He had to be unconscious or else he would have been walking, if not trying to fight them.
The tracks led down a small rise to a dirt patch wide enough to park a car. Only there was no vehicle there, just a fresh wet patch in the center. Sam fingered the stuff and sniffed it. Transmission fluid.
Uvalde came jogging up next to him as the sounds of the bust gone bad faded behind them.
“Whatcha got?”
“Nothing.” Sam shook his head as he stood and faced the nearby empty street. “Not a fucking thing. There were two of ’em, and they got Kiel, but I managed to tag
one of them. There’s no telling who they were or what they were driving.”
“Kiel can take care of himself,” the undercover cop tried to sound upbeat.
A coldness trickled through him. For some reason he couldn’t explain, Sam knew that this time Kiel wouldn’t be getting out of this situation alive. “Let’s hope so,” he answered anyway.
* * * *
Sam jerked awake. His body was coated with sweat. The sheets and blanket were lying in a twisted heap on the floor beside the bed. He lay there for several long moments and willed his heart to slow down. He was gasping for air just as he had done the night of the bust. Damn, but he could still taste the acidic stench of smoke in his mouth.
It was daylight. A quick glance at the bedside clock read a little past seven. His muscles eased a bit as the world gradually came into focus. Then it slammed into him, and he sniffed long and loud.
No coffee.
Oh, fuck! No!
His feet hit the floor with a thud. Sam hurried into the kitchen to verify what his nose had told him. The coffee carafe sat upside-down on the drainboard where he’d left it yesterday. There was no fresh brew waiting for him, which meant there was no Kiel. His knees threatened to give way.
A bitterness roiled in his gut, threatening to throw him into upheavals. Sam forced his stomach to settle, unaware that he was clenching his hands into white-knuckled fists.
Kiel was gone.
The tightness in his chest nearly blindsided him, until he remembered.
Kiel spent the night with J.
Sam gasped for breath and heard it whine in his throat. He scrambled for the wall phone, nearly dropping the receiver in his haste to punch in the department’s number.
“Homicide. Lieutenant Karl.”
“George? Sam Reese. Can you transfer me over to the captain?”
“Hold on.”
There was a buzz on the line, then the weary sound of the boss’ voice. “Homicide. Captain Redd.”
“Sam Reese. I need the phone number to Miss Laurent’s residence.”
“Something happen? Hold on.” There was the sound of papers being shuffled. The captain’s breath huffed over the receiver. “You still there?”
“Yeah.” He memorized the number the captain repeated twice and started to hang up when he was again asked if there was anything wrong. “Kyle and I think we may be on to something,” he said. As it was, they were a hairsbreadth away from bringing him the information about what they’d learned about the dump sites. “We’ll have a new report on your desk soon,” he promised, and hung up. With shaking hands, Sam first said a quick prayer then dialed the number to J’s house.
One ring. Two.
“Hello?” Her voice was soft, sodden with sleep and weariness. Sam smiled in spite of himself.
“J? Sorry to wake you. This is Sam. Is Kiel there?”
“Yeah. Just a sec.”
He heard a faint, “It’s Sam,” as she gave his brother the receiver.
“What’s up, bro?” said a familiar voice.
It was enough to drain the rest of his anxieties from his body.
“Checking up on you,” he admitted. “I got up and didn’t smell coffee, so I—”
Before he could finish, Kiel interrupted. “No problem. I understand. What time is it?”
“Getting close to seven thirty. Were you going to pop over here? Or do you want me to come by and pick you up?”
“Come by, would you? Give us a little more time together,” Kiel suggested.
Sam knew his brother didn’t like doing the disappearing bit when they were at the station house. There was too much of a risk of being caught in the act, and no way of explaining it if he was seen. So meeting him at the station was out of the question. Arriving together at work like they normally did wouldn’t raise any eyebrows, even if it meant Sam had to drive all the way over to J’s place first to get him. Besides, there was no way Sam would object to letting them have a few extra minutes to say good morning and goodbye.
“Okay. I’ll be there in half an hour.”
“Anything happen last night?”
Sam knew the captain would have said something if there had been another body discovered. “Nope. See you soon,” he promised and hung up.
The tension inside his chest unknotted, allowing his heart to start beating again. Kiel was still with them, at least for another day. Damn, there went his eyes again, getting all watery. Giving his head a shake, Sam hurried into the bathroom for a quick shower. He would have to be satisfied with grabbing a cup of java on the way over to J’s because heaven knew station coffee was barely two stages above ground sludge.
* * * *
Kiel was standing by the front gate when Sam pulled up. He got in on the passenger side and they slid back into the flow of traffic, neither man saying anything as Sam drove them to the station. They were nearly there when Kiel spoke.
“My body has to be at that big warehouse where I was killed.”
“Wherever that place is.”
“I’ll
find
it,” Kiel insisted. Then with less enthusiasm, he repeated, “I’ll find it.”
“Okay.” Giving it another second or two, Sam then asked, “You’re positive on this one?”
Peripherally, he could see the younger man nod. “The other bodies were left where they were known to sell the drugs. They were left there to be found, to send a message to the others once the media got hold of it. The first two, the ones who kidnapped me, they ran their deals out of the chop shop. The next three, they obviously set up the lab in that apartment complex.”
“But we didn’t find any lab there,” Sam reminded him.
“We didn’t search the rest of the apartments.” Kiel eyed him. “I need to go back over there and do a thorough search.”
Pulling into the precinct parking lot, Sam stopped the car in his designated slot and shoved the gear in park. But instead of turning off the ignition, he turned to face his partner. “How are you going to find the right warehouse?”
“The answer’s in that apartment complex.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“I can feel it. I don’t know how or why, but there’s something that doesn’t add up. And there’s a ton of things that will, once I find the right clues.”
“What clues? CSU’s been all over that place.”
“I know that, but I want to go over and look for myself. I want to confront Conader, if I can, and find out what he did to me. What he did to my body.”
Sam stared out over the dashboard. “The CSU’s report should be filed by now. I’ll check it over and see if there’s anything they found that could give us an idea where to start. Or look.” A comfortable silence fell between them. Sam returned a fellow officer’s wave as the man passed by on the way to his squad car.
“Sam?”
“Hmm.” His eyes remained riveted on the back door where officers and detectives entered and exited to and from the parking lot.
“Promise me you’ll take care of J after I’m gone,” Kiel softly asked.
Sam looked at his half-brother. “You know I will.”
“This has gone way beyond what either of us expected. On one hand I hate the fact that I had to get tangled up in her life.”
“But on the other hand you hate the fact that you won’t be able to share her life,” Sam finished for him.
“She’s a very remarkable woman, Sam. She has a strength that surprises me. She doesn’t even think of herself as being handicapped.” He slowly shook his head. “She’s had to be alone most of her life. I can’t bear the thought of her being alone for the rest of it.”
“Don’t worry, Kiel. I’m looking forward to having a sister. At least she’ll be easier on the eyes.” He gave the man a lopsided grin. He was given a snort of laughter in return. “Go on. Take off for the apartment. I’ll stay here and get an update over to the captain so he’ll stay off our backs.”
Kiel nodded, glanced around the parking lot to make certain they weren’t being watched, and vanished. Sam hurried inside to make an appearance before the captain put out an all-call on them.
He was met inside by Anne Dornaby, one of the lab techs. Spotting him, her face lit up, and she hurried to catch up with him. “Sam! Wait up!” She waved a folder at him as she fell in step. “I was about to drop this over on your desk.”
“What is it?” he asked, flipping it open.
“Some of the debris the guys picked up in one of the apartments included a few partially destroyed lists. It’s taken me quite a while to work it through the ’scopes, but I’ve managed to pull some names and places, and numbers.”
Sam raised a brow at her. The woman grinned in reply.
“You owe me big time, Reese,” she promised him before peeling off and taking the next hallway to their right.
Sam continued on into the main office area, plunked down into his squeaky chair and spread the data out in front of him.
Most of what he was reading was incomplete jumbles of letters and numbers. At least it appeared that way at first glance. But when he put himself in the mind frame of where the list had been discovered, he began to make sense of the list.
Names. Places. Amounts owed or due. Payments made or taken.
Sam mouthed an expletive.
Pulling up his computer screen, he typed in his password and brought up the databank. The first name on the photo of the bloodstained list was a partial. Typing in what was legible, he clicked on the
search
button, then sat back and let technology come up with a list of possibles.
* * * *
Miss Cassie found her sitting at the table in the kitchen. J was still in her robe. An empty paper plate sat before her bearing traces of maple syrup. Fingers were wrapped around a cup of coffee. Cassie shook her head.
“How many of them frozen waffles did you have?”
J jumped, letting Cassie know the woman hadn’t heard her enter the room. A weary smile greeted her in return. “Good morning to you, too. Don’t harp about my frozen waffles.”
“I’ll harp any time I see you not eating properly. A couple of eggs with bacon would fill you up better than those flash-frozen pieces of cardboard would.” The woman gave her a closer examination. “You’re looking a bit peaked. You’re not coming down with anything, are you?”
“No. Just a little tired.” J took another sip of her coffee then got to her feet. “I think I’ll go sit outside on the patio for a while.” Behind her she could hear the woman fussing in the kitchen as she got ready to do her daily chores.
After refreshing her cup, J went outside to sit underneath the huge oak. There was a slight breeze smelling faintly of ozone. Rain wasn’t too far away, but she wasn’t going back inside until she felt the drops. Besides, she wanted to be alone. For once. No, not alone as in solitary, but alone to think. And reflect. And relive the night before.
That incredible night last night.
They had talked. And loved. And teased each other. Loved some more, and laughed. Kiel had been patient with her, answering her halting questions with frankness, and not making her feel stupid for asking. There was so much to learn and learn about. He was her first, and she couldn’t get enough of him. She would never get enough of the feel of him. Or the taste of him. Or the smell of him.
He said his hair was the color of mums, golden yellow. His eyes were hazel like hers. But he smelled like nothing she had ever smelled before in her life. It was a rich smell, intoxicating to the point of making her dizzy. Musky almost. But definitely the most erotic smell she could remember.
She had asked him if he always smelled this way, or if it was because of what he now was. Kiel had shrugged off her question because he honestly didn’t know the answer. He didn’t have to take showers anymore. He didn’t get dirty. He did answer her query about clothing, though. The fact that he could see a suit in an ad in the newspaper or on television, then recreate that same look on himself was what he called part of the illusion. It was one of several tricks he’d learned and used to appear alive.
More than that, he had awakened in her a sensuality she never knew she had. A wantonness that surprised and embarrassed her. A hunger for raw sex that continued to burn inside her even now.
J sipped her coffee. Somewhere to her left a thrush called out a warning to other males. She shifted in her lawn chair, and the soreness between her legs flared like a wedge of heated pleasure. A moan rose in her chest. If Kiel was here, she knew she would beg for him to take her again, regardless of her swollen flesh.
This wasn’t a fling for him, any more than it was for her. J could spot the truth in anyone’s aura, and when Kiel told her he loved her, that truth brought out a sparkling edge to his intense brightness. He had captured her soul with his. Captured, claimed, and stamped it with his mark.
A tear slid down her cheek. Hastily she wiped it away. It would do no good to cry. At least, not now. She had to save her tears—
Amos.
…for the time being.
J froze. Something had flashed into her mind. A name. Keeping still, she waited a moment to see if it would repeat itself, or if there was more, but after a little while she caught nothing else. Sagging, she took another sip of her cooling coffee.
“J?”
Again she jerked at the interruption in her thoughts. Pasting a smile on her face, she answered, “Yes?”
Miss Cassie was standing at the back door, looking down at her through the screen. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to intrude.”
Nodding, J replied, “Just running over some details. What’s the matter?” Miss Cassie knew of her abilities. The older woman was one of the few people she trusted with the truth.
“You still working on that case with the police?”
“Yeah, but we’re at a standstill at the moment.”
“Okay. Anyway, I found your clothes you left on the floor by your grandmother’s divan. Did you sleep there last night?”
A hot flush burned her face, but J kept her gaze averted from the woman’s sharp eyes. “I fell asleep downstairs but I woke up some time in the night and went upstairs.”
“Did you know you got blood on that velvet? I’m afraid I’ll ruin the nap if I try to scrub it out. You may have to send the whole thing to a professional cleaner.”
“Could you check the phone book and see if there’s one who can take the divan?” J asked.
“All right. I’ll go ahead and change out the sheets on your bed, too, even though it’s not laundry day.”
Faint sounds of scuffling feet told J the woman had gone back inside the house, leaving the back door open the way J had left it. Miss Cassie had learned long ago that if she had to move or change anything in the house, she had to let J know so J wouldn’t worry if she went searching for something and couldn’t find it where she knew she’d left it. Otherwise, she’d be reduced to playing a game of hide and seek.
Blood on the divan.
J touched the bandage on her hand. The wound there didn’t hurt, but she knew that wasn’t where she’d bled. Miss Cassie was probably thinking she had started her period.
Well, let her.
She couldn’t bring herself to tell the woman about Kiel. At least, not now. Not yet. Not when the scent of him still clung to her hands. Not when she could still taste his kisses in her mouth. Least of all now when the sense of him inside her brought back memories so strong she could feel her nipples hardening into tight points. A shudder enveloped her, spilling some of the lukewarm coffee in her lap.
“Damn.” She brushed half-heartedly at the wetness. What did she plan to do today? Sit around and mope?
Carter.
J froze. Her breath barely moved through her lungs as she waited.
Foscelli
.
“Miss Cassie!
Miss Cassie!
” Getting to her feet, J hurried into the kitchen and aimed for the wall phone hanging near the doorway leading into the dining room.
Screams piercing her ears. Blood splashing in wide arcs across the floor, making footing slippery. Impossible to stand. Unable to get a grip on anything to fight back.
“
Miss Cassie!
”
She couldn’t find the phone. Someone had moved the phone. Her hands beat against the wall as she frantically searched for the object.
“
Miss Cassie!
”
The radio in the kitchen droned on. Some nonsensical jingle for a car company. J’s fingers touched something. The shape was wrong to be the phone. It jumped off the wall and fell to the floor with a crunch.
Mitch. You ain’t takin’ it away from me, motherfucker! You hear! It’s mine! Mine! The juicy smack of blood and bone. Pieces of a human being spackling the cement floor.
“J? Sweet Jesus! I’m here. What? What’s wrong?”
“Where’s the phone?” she called out over her shoulder.
Quickly, efficiently, the older woman grabbed the receiver and shoved it into J’s shaking hands. “Who do you want me to dial?”
“Nine-one-one.”
Before the line could ring, a cool voice answered, “Nine-one-one. What’s your emergency?”
“My name is J Laurent. Get me Captain Redd over at the Aaron Street Station.
Hurry!
”
“This line is for emergency calls only, Miss. You can call the station direct—”
Shrieks of pain, growing into screams of sheer horror. Agonizing. The sounds of something pounding. Something being pounded. Dull, wet, ripping noises as the screams lessened, growing weaker.
“I’m blind!” J nearly yelled into the mouthpiece. “Tell the captain someone’s being murdered. Right now!”
There was the sound of distant typing. “Where is this murder taking place? Is it at your residence?”
J knew the call-board would be showing her home address. “No. It’s at the apartment complex. The captain knows which one I’m talking about. I don’t know the address, but you have to
get someone over there
now
!”
“Just calm down, Miss. I’ll relay your message over to the Aaron Street Station as you requested. In the meantime I’m sending over a couple of officers to take your statement.”
J slammed the receiver back into the cradle and turned to head for the stairs.
“J! Where are you going?” Cassie called out to her.
“I gotta get over to that apartment building,” she said over her shoulder before running up the staircase. Once inside her bedroom she quickly threw some water on her face and brushed her hair into a ponytail. Donning one of her shift dresses, she tied a scarf over her head, grabbed her shoes and cane, and went back downstairs. During her preparations she’d heard the phone ring twice more and knew Cassie answered them.
The visions weren’t hampering her any longer. In a way J was thankful. Her body felt unusually chilled from the experience.
“Nine-one-one called back,” Cassie said as J sat on the next-to-the-bottom step to put on her shoes. “I told them you did some work for the police department and that you were blind. Some supervisor told me he would relay your message.”
“Who called the second time?”
“Some detective named Reese. He’s on his way over to pick you up.”