Shelby's Secret (Once a Marine, Always a Marine Book 4) (7 page)

She took a deep shuddering breath. “I just wish I knew what happened. For myself and for Rebecca.” She pulled away to look into his eyes, not even seeming to realize she was in his lap. “That little girl hasn’t spoken a word since I had to sit her down and tell her that her mom was missing. In every way except blood, she’s like my own daughter. She even used to call me Mama Two,” she said, holding up two fingers. “Not until she was about three did I started having her call me Aunt Shelby. Abby deserved to be the only one being called Mom.”

“And knowing for sure that she’s dead will help you both?”

Shelby jerked out of his arms and almost jumped off his lap in a violent objection to his words.
 

Not that he’d said them harshly, but just saying the word out loud was enough. She’d used the words missing and disappeared, but she was hiding from the truth. Her friend was likely dead.

“What I feel doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is helping Rebecca. I helped raise her, and I love her almost as much as Abby
does
. I have to keep her safe, and we have to know what happened.”

Does, not did. Stubborn to the end. But she had changed. She’d grown up while she’d been off getting rich and famous. That she valued someone other than herself was clear. Her feelings showed in the way she talked about her friend, the sincere regret that she didn’t make time for her. And in the love shining through her eyes when she talked about Rebecca. Even Madge had a piece of her heart.

“Then I’ll do everything in my power to make sure nothing happens to either of you,” he said. And he meant it. Nothing and no one would hurt a little girl who was mute in her sorrow over her missing mother. “Just realize that you may never know what happened to Abby. And that’s something you’ll have to face sooner or later. For both your sakes.”

“I’m sorry about all of this, Mike.”

He shrugged. “I’d do it for any of my friends.” Shelby looked like she wanted to say something but he got a text just then. He read it quickly and felt a leap of excitement. Daniel might have found the crime scene. Finally, something useful to do. “Listen, I have to go, but I’ll be in touch. And if this bastard contacts you again, then call me immediately.”

He waited until she nodded and then he left. It was a cowardly thing to do, running off to a crime scene when she’d opened up the way she had, but leaving was self-preservation. Shelby was the one chink in his carefully-built armored life. He couldn’t afford to again get sucked into that particular whirlpool of emotion.

But he could solve this case. And then she could take off again. Because that’s what she was good at.

Chapter 6

As he approached the warehouse, Daniel cut his lights. His police cruiser was one of the older Chevy Caprices, so it was low to the ground and heavy. All the police emblems had been removed so that it was considered “undercover.” But the searchlight mounted on the driver’s side door and more than one antenna on the roof made a mockery of the term.

He circled the block slowly. The engine purred quietly, making his approach as soundless as it could be. Nothing moved in the pre-dawn hours. Even the homeless didn’t come down here at night. Between the rats and the isolation, the location wasn’t ideal if one wanted to stay safe. There was no way the suspect was still there, but Daniel wasn’t one to rush into something.

Not after that rookie move had gotten him shot.

Thank God, he’d had his vest on at the time, but it hadn’t been one of his finer moments. And it had made him look like a fool in front of the very beautiful woman he was trying to save, not to mention her giant boyfriend. Now husband.

Pulling back around to the front of the building, he parked so he could see the doors as well as the street. Mike was on his way now, and Daniel was glad. They didn’t want patrol fucking up the crime scene if this was really the building. If it wasn’t, then they didn’t want to pull resources from the street on a hunch. It was a gut call, but he’d made it and Mike would back him up.

He sat for about twenty minutes before he saw headlights headed his way. He ducked down slightly, making himself less visible, in case the driver wasn’t Mike. But the lights cut out about the place Daniel had cut his, and the big truck pulled up and stopped about twenty feet from his spot.

He grabbed his Mag light and keys and stepped out of his vehicle.

Mike did the same, unfolding his large frame from the seat, light in hand.

Daniel knew Mike’s friends called him ‘Little’ Mike, but the guys on the department called him Tank. Not to his face, only when they talked about him. And he was. The man was made of muscle.

“What do we have?”

“A good gut feeling,” Daniel answered.

Mike looked around and then back. “You’ve checked out the perimeter?”

“I have. Nothing moving anywhere in about a block radius, and I waited approximately twenty minutes before you got here. I never heard a thing, and it’s so quiet here I’d have heard a rat fart.”

“Then let’s check out this theory of yours.”

“Jesus, I hope this is it. We need to find this vic,” Daniel said as he turned on his light. They neared the building on silent feet. Both used the light to sweep the ground in front of them, as well as the building.

“This is it,” Mike said.

They hadn’t made entry yet. “What makes you sure?”

“The smell.”

His tone was grim, and Daniel had to wonder if the man had super senses as well. Because
he
didn’t smell anything but dust and old diesel fumes. He inhaled as quietly as he could, but he still didn’t smell anything out of the ordinary. So he shrugged and followed his boss to the door that, up close, was slightly ajar.

Mike pulled his gun out of his holster and Daniel followed suit, taking up a position behind his boss.
 

And then Mike opened the door.
 

The hinges should have made some kind of noise, as old as they were, but the door swung silently open. Mike was clearly thinking the same thing since he had his light shining on the jamb. He pointed.

Daniel could see a small dried pool of fluid, probably one of those spray lubricants, on the concrete stoop.

Without a word, they made entry.

And the smell hit Daniel. Just no mistaking the odor of a decomposing body. The metallic copper scent of blood hung heavily in the air as they swept the corner of the room. Daniel swallowed hard, attempting to ward off nausea. The room they were in was empty, but there was a door on Mike’s side.

In the semi dark, Mike’s serious face took on a sinister quality. Daniel was glad the big man was on his side, because he’d hate to go up against him. They were through the door into a maze of smaller rooms. Half-assed cubicles that were only partially dismantled. He could hear tiny rodent nails scraping across the floor, avoiding the light he swept through each area.

One more door in the back stood wide open and led into the large warehouse behind the offices. And there she was. Exactly as the video depicted.

“Good job, Daniel.”

“I’m just glad this wasn’t a colossal waste of time. We needed to find this scene.”

“And now we need to call in the troops. I want this kept as quiet as possible.”

Daniel nodded. “You think it was one of us? That news leak.”

“Hell no,” Mike said, walking slowly around the pool of shiny red liquid that coated the floor. “One of the rookies on patrol was probably thinking with his dick, and let slip the details of the scene to a reporter. Hope he got laid because if I find out who it was, he won’t ever be able to use it again.”

“I’ll go and make the call,” Daniel said. The job was his, but he couldn’t deny getting away from the overwhelming stench of the room was his goal as well. The sight of blood was fine, but the smell was something else.

He turned at the door to ask if Mike wanted anyone in particular to respond, but he stopped when he got a look at his face. The high windows let in the moonlight and partially lit the room. Mike stood at the edge of the pool of blood, staring down at the woman on the bed. Pure rage was written on his face, as if the woman was known personally, and he’d been unable to prevent her death. There was pain as well. But where that emotion came from, Daniel couldn’t fathom a guess.

Then Mike moved and his face was once again in shadow.

Turning from the sight, Daniel could feel the menace. All from his boss. He hurried from the room and pulled out his cell once he was free of the building. He dialed dispatch, thinking to himself that the man he’d just left wasn’t a present-day homicide detective, but a throwback to another age where revenge and retribution was handled at a personal level.

Permanently.

Daniel would have to work harder to find this perpetrator, because if Mike found the killer first, there might not be anything left for the courts to prosecute.

***

That Casey Henderson was more excited about getting called to a crime scene than she’d been about the date she’d had that night was a sad state of affairs. And the fact she was still strapped into a tight leather dress with five-inch heels, adding much-needed height, wouldn’t stop her from heading straight to the scene. She carried a fairly large collection kit in her trunk, as well as an extra pair of her favored coveralls for work, just for these incidents.

There was nothing she could do about her favorite heels but try and not get blood on them. She’d have to remember to stash an extra pair of work boots in the trunk next time. And since this perp was the same sickie that set up the first scene, this one would more than likely be a doozy.

She parked her Charger on the street next to a big F-250, grabbed her camera from the case she carried and got out. She wanted to photograph the scene first before she had to suit up and take samples. And she hoped one of the on-duty guys for her office was already on the way, because she’d let her co-workers handle the heavy lifting.

Stepping carefully to avoid the cracked concrete, she picked her way through the overgrown weeds and glass that littered the sidewalk. She didn’t want to nose dive into the parking lot because one of her heels got stuck in a crack.

“I’m sorry, lady, but you can’t be here.”

Casey looked up to see a plain-clothed detective standing in her way about midway to the warehouse. “Excuse me?”

“This is a police matter. And we won’t allow the press inside. You should know that.”

His tone rankled, like he was talking to an errant child escaping from the romper room. Good thing she wasn’t armed because she might have shot him, just for the tone. Clearly, he was new.

Giving him a scathing look, she weighed her options of getting around him without explaining who she was. But the heels were problematic. “Who says I’m press?”

He frowned at that.

She was glad. Casey reluctantly admitted the guy was cute. Tall, but with a thinner build than most of the cops she was used to dealing with. Not that he was skinny—no—he was well muscled. He had serious blue eyes that contrasted interestingly with sandy brown hair that would look great tussled after sex. She noticed he was giving her a thorough once-over as well.
 

While he liked what he saw, his gaze remained serious and he was still frowning. “I guess you could be a hooker with a hard-on for crime scenes.”

She burst out laughing because it was such an outrageous thing to say. Casey didn’t even take offense at being called a hooker, especially since her heels were fuck-me red to match her lipstick. He clearly hadn’t seen the local flavor if he thought the Phoenix hookers took this much time with hair and make-up. Seeing a shadow over the new guy’s shoulder, Casey peeked around to see Mike. “You gonna help me out over here? Your rookie thinks I’m a hooker.”

“High-priced call-girl maybe, but hooker?” Mike’s eyebrow was raised.

Casey smiled at him and shook her head. “At least it’s more accurate. You call—I’m a girl—here I am. All dressed up and unable to get to the body because Deputy Do-Right here is blocking my way.”

“Daniel Wolfe meet Casey Henderson, senior medical examiner.” Mike made the introductions. “You look great, Case, sorry to pull you out of whatever you were doing.”

“No worries, Mike. My date was a dud.” She tossed her keys to the cute detective saying, “Be a doll and grab my case out of the trunk, will ya?” Then she swept around Detective Wolfe and followed Mike toward the building. By then, she was all business. “I expected more patrol cars. Who found the body?”

“Your errand boy. He played a hunch off a video feed our suspect sent to a witness. Turns out he was right. We’ve got a couple of patrol units enroute now to secure the perimeter, but they’re not coming inside so the scene has stayed as pristine as I could make it.”

“New guy has some chops, huh?”

Mike nodded. “He’s a good guy. Came over a couple of weeks ago from burglary where he was making a name for himself. This is his first homicide investigation.”

“He’s cute.”

“Well, I’m not really into guys, so I’ll take your word for it. And if you start talking about his ass or package, I’m leaving you alone with the rats.”

She laughed as she followed Mike though the remains of an office space and out into the warehouse. The smell was enough of a warning that she knew her heels were toast. When they stepped into the warehouse and she saw the poor girl lying on the bed without any eyes, Casey got mad. “I’d like to peel off this asshole’s face while
he
squirms.”

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