by Dawn Dugle
"Do you have a camera on the front door? Can you tell me what time he entered?" I asked. Louise pulled up the front door camera and we found his entrance, at 11:49p.m.
"Will you send a copy of that video to me at the police precinct?" I asked, giving Louise one of my cards.
"Anything for our guys and gals in blue!" Louise chirped as she stood to show us out.
I looked at Louise. "Just out of curiosity, how did he take you turning him down?"
"He didn't seem too bothered by it, probably because he smelled like just broke up with his lover," Louise said as she walked toward the main part of the club.
"Smelled like he broke up with his lover," I stopped and stared at her. "You can tell all that about someone because of how he smells?"
"Oh yes. Like this one over here," she pointed at Bodie. "He's a smoker who's trying to quit, and doing a bad job of it."
I laughed and looked at Bodie who wasn't smiling. I guess she hit the nail on the head.
"How do you figure?" I wanted all the secrets.
"He smells like wintergreen gum and too much cologne. He's using the gum to cover up his smoker's breath and the cologne to disguise the smell in his clothes, which isn't working by the way," Louise waved her hand in front of her nose.
"Okay, and what can you tell about me?" I looked at her.
"You are a no-nonsense woman who has no time to coddle a man," Louise pointed at me and narrowed her eyes. Before I could ask how she figured that out, she went on. "You don't smell like anything artificial. Which means you don't wear perfume and your soap and shampoo are all unscented. What you smell is what you get."
Luke leaned in and whispered: "I like your natural smell."
Bodie laughed and I blushed. "Fine. Fine. But what does a breakup smell like?"
"A campfire darling. I always burned shit when I broke up with a lover. It's cathartic and very Stella Got Her Groove Back," Louise gave us a snap in Z-formation.
My stomach flopped and goosebumps broke out on my skin. A fire. He burned the evidence.
∞∞∞
Chapter Twenty-Five
After Luke and I left Midnight Louise's, we headed back to my cottage to pick up his car and grab an overnight bag for me.
Bodie and I had pulled up a map of the area and between the gallery and the club there were miles and miles of wooded area. Seth Campbell could have stopped anywhere and burned evidence that night. I looked for signs of a campfire as we drove, but it was no use.
"He's smarter than that. He's not going to stop and burn evidence along the road, he'll have taken it farther in," Luke had said. And he was right. Ugh.
We were going to need help looking for that illegal campfire and I knew a park ranger who would help us, but I wouldn't be able to call him until tomorrow morning.
At the cottage, I was trying to decide what to take for work tomorrow when Luke came into the bedroom. "Why don't we leave your car here in the garage and I'll drive to my house."
I narrowed my eyes. "And how am I getting to work tomorrow morning?"
"I'll take you."
"I'll need to come back here in the morning anyway to get my weapons," I said. "I don't want them laying around your house."
"Fine. I'll still drive you."
"And what do I do if I have to chase down a lead?"
"Bodie can drive."
"You've got it all figured out, don't you?"
Luke put his hands in his jeans pockets and rocked back and forth on his heels. Damn he was cocky. But hot. And irresistible. And delicious. Damn hormones.
I shrugged with surrender and he grabbed my bag, brushing a kiss on my mouth as we headed to the front door.
"Can we drive by the gallery?" The words were out of my mouth before I realized it, but that seemed right. I didn't know what I was looking for, but something drew me back to the gallery.
He agreed and steered the car downtown. As we drove past, I saw that the lights were on inside, but no one was there.
"Drive around back," I ordered.
"Yes Ma'am!"
When we drove around to the back, we could see two people arguing in the parking lot. Luke pulled behind a dumpster and killed the engine. I rolled down my window and leaned out. I couldn't see who was talking, but I heard a woman say: "God you are USELESS! I'll clean up your mess this time, but I better not have to do it again."
I eased out of the car and slipped around the dumpster to find that both people were gone.
"See anything?" Luke asked when I got back into the car.
"Nope."
"In that case, are you hungry?"
"Ravenous."
"It is our one-week anniversary. Would you like to have dinner at Bellissimo?"
"I thought you'd never ask.”
∞∞∞
Even though the place was packed to the gills and people were five deep at the bar, the God Among Men managed to snag a table in the quietest part of the restaurant.
"How did you pull this off?" I asked him. "We have been together all day and I don't remember you making a reservation."
"I don't need a reservation. They always have a table ready for me."
"Well, lah di dah!"
"It's not like that. I knew the chef/owner in the Marines."
"Why weren't you sitting there last week?" I asked.
He winked. "Because I don't like taking up a table if it's just me. And it's often just me."
The waitress came up and nearly fell all over herself to wait on Luke. I could have lit myself on fire trying to get her attention, because not even the fire engine red hair helped. When she ignored my request for a Cabernet, Luke repeated my order and she scurried off to get our glasses of wine.
"And here I thought I changed out of my invisible clothes today," I laughed.
"I see you just fine and I think you look amazing," Luke reached across the table to grab my hand. He picked it up and kissed my palm that was still sore from where I had hit the pavement after the bomb went off at the storage unit. The kiss was tender and somehow made the cuts on my hand feel better.
"So... I'm the first woman you've introduced to your sister," I changed the subject, but he kept hold of my hand across the table.
"No."
"But she said..."
"You're the first woman I've introduced to my family," he corrected.
I leaned back and took my hand away, crossing my arms and frowned at him. Before I could say anything, the chef approached the table.
"I see you still have the same touch with the ladies," he boomed and slapped Luke on the back.
Luke laughed and they bumped fists. "Wysdom, this is Jake Solomon, the owner of this fine establishment. Sol, this is Wysdom Ward."
Jake Solomon reached out and offered me a huge hand to shake. I'm a tall woman, but even my hand was dwarfed by his huge paw. He was taller than Luke, but a little leaner except where his chef's coat strained the buttons around his middle. I guess that's an occupational hazard when you're a chef.
"Pleased to meet you Mr. Solomon," I said.
"Sol. Please. All my friends call me Sol. And if you're dining with the L-T here, you are a friend," he winked at me.
"L-T? Wait, you were a Lieutenant?" I asked Luke, who nodded. "Geez Louise. Is everyone a Lieutenant but me?"
"Wysdom is a Sergeant with the Flamingo Cove Police Department," Luke told Sol.
"Ward, that name sounds familiar," Sol tried to place my face.
"My dad is the chief."
"Ah yes. I know him. Solid guy and seems to be a good listener when we have community forums," Sol nodded. I smiled. Chief Dad was a pretty good listener, most of the time.
"Listen, I have to get back to the kitchen, but Phyllis will take good care of you tonight." As if on cue, the flustered waitress brought two glasses of wine and an appetizer we didn't order. "This is a special appetizer I created for you with pecan crusted brie, toast points and cherry marmalade. It's one of the L-T's favorites."
"And you s
et aside some flourless torte, yeah?" Luke quizzed him.
"Of course, we would never let you go home without your favorite dessert," Sol winked and walked back to the kitchen.
Luke cut into the appetizer and set a little bit of the brie on two separate plates, drizzled the marmalade on the top and placed a few toast points beside each serving of brie. He handed me one of the plates, then lifted his glass.
"Here's to one week."
"And Wysdom coming with age..." I giggled.
∞∞∞
Once upon a time, in a land called My Twenties, there was a magical spell that allowed me to eat anything I wanted and drink all the wine without gaining a pound. You know the expression, "Youth is wasted on the young?”
Yeah. I didn't appreciate my body's metabolism then.
I do appreciate what I've been missing now, because sometimes I can just think about dessert and gain five pounds, right in my belly. It's like a magnet. But even though I tried to refuse extra food, and dessert, Luke wasn't hearing about it.
"No, mi amor, this food is delicious and I want to make sure you are satisfied when you leave the table!" How can you argue with that coming from a God Among Men?
He made sure I ate my half of the appetizer, the salad and most of the main course. When the flourless chocolate torte arrived, he actually fed it to me himself. I've seen men offer bites of food to their women before, in movies, and I always thought it looked ridiculous. Why would you let a man feed you like a baby? But the real thing was sooooooo far from that, I can't even begin to tell you. It was sensual and a huge turn on. Who knew?
When we asked for the check, we found that Sol had already taken care of it for us. We thanked him again for the wonderful food and headed to Luke's house.
"How can you manage to be under cover in this town and still have people who know who you really are around here?" I wondered.
"The only people who know my real identity are my sister and Sol."
"And Claire," I regretted the words as they came out of my mouth.
Luke nodded. "Yes. And Claire."
"I'm sorry," I reached out and touched his shoulder. "I can really stick my foot in it sometimes."
"I'm not mad at you. What you said is true."
"Still, tell me it's none of my business and I'll butt out."
Luke shot a quick glance at me and I laughed. "Well, I'll try my best to butt out."
"That's what I thought," he smiled.
When we arrived at his house, he told me to wait as he ran around the car to open my door. "I thought I'd give you a proper welcome to my house this time."
"I don't know, I thought the welcome was pretty great the last time."
The sexcapades from this morning and the sensual nature of our dessert sharing was heating me up something fierce and turning me into Wanton Sex Goddess mode. I gave him a swat on his ass and a wicked grin as I sashayed up the front walk. Mama was going to get lucky again tonight!
He caught up and pulled me towards him, giving me a deep kiss that was anything but friendly. I returned the kiss with so much enthusiasm that he dropped his keys. We finally came up for air, he bent down to pick up his keys and looked towards the lock. His eyes went wide, he grabbed me and flung me off the porch, landing right on top of me.
"What the hell Luke!" I yelled.
He sat up and looked around, blinking. "Sorry. Something is wrong. My house has been broken into."
We both jumped up.
"How can you be sure?" I whispered, the hairs on my arms prickling.
"That's a brand new lock. I just installed it after your brother kicked in my door the other day. And there are new scratches on it. I think someone broke in."
"That doesn't explain throwing me into your flowerbed!" I picked leaves out of my hair.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to do that, but I was worried someone was waiting on the other side of the door to shoot us."
I reached for my weapon, and remembered I had left both of them in my safe at home. "Are you armed right now?"
"No. All of my weapons are locked inside, except for the one I carry in the car."
"Great. Let's go get that one out of your car, and I'll call for backup. Then we'll go in and see what they were looking for."
We scurried towards his car that was parked at the curb. He reached inside the glove box and was about to hand me his Glock when a huge explosion blew the glass right out of the car and knocked us to the ground. He rolled on top of my body, covering me as rubble and debris rained through the air. Broken glass was everywhere. Once again, my ears were ringing from the blast, but I could swear I heard a car alarm going off somewhere in the neighborhood.
I sat up and looked around. The whole place looked like a war zone. And once again, I was right in the middle of it.
So much for getting lucky tonight.
Damn it.
∞∞∞
Chapter Twenty-Six
My dad was none-too-pleased to see me at the scene of another bombing. This time, I was sitting inside the command unit that had rolled up on the scene. For the first time since I came down with perimenopause, I was really cold. But I knew that was the shock setting in.
Luke and I sat side by side, sharing a gray blanket and similar dazed expressions, when Chief Dad entered the command unit.
"Wysdom, are you okay?"
"We have to stop meeting like this, Chief."
"Nice to see you haven't lost your sense of humor," Dad looked over to Luke. "Luke Nelson? I'm Chief Deuce Ward. Wysdom's father."
Luke shook my dad's hand. "Sorry I got her blown up again."
"This is your fault?" Chief Dad started seeing red. And when he started seeing red, he was known to charge.
I put up my hands. "Dad, he doesn't know this is his fault. This could be something from the murder investigation and I was the target."
Luke grabbed my hands, frowned, then looked at my dad. "Has she always been this stubborn?"
Chief Dad smiled. "Yes. Since day one. When she was a little girl, we'd tell her she had to hold our hand when we crossed the street and she would tell me: 'No Daddy, I'll hold my own hand.'"
Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.
This is not how I imagined introducing my dad to my.... lov...boyf...PERSON. Whatever! Agh!
"Well, this trip down memory lane has been great and all, but I need to go get some sleep," I stood up and tried to go, but Chief Dad just pushed me right back down.
"You're not going anywhere, Wys, until you debrief me."
We told him about the trip to Tampa, meeting Midnight Louise (which he was fascinated to learn was his favorite college football linebacker) and our dinner.
"What were you doing back here then?" My dad looked at Luke who was looking at the floor. I found the most amazing water spot on the ceiling and was trying to figure out what it looked like when the Great Detective Deuce Ward put two and two together and simply said: "Ah."
A commotion started up outside and the trailer door banged open.
"Wysdom? Wysdom? Are you in here?"
"Crap on a cracker," I swore under my breath.
"Wysdom! Are you okay?" My ex-husband and current boss swept towards me and grabbed me under my arms and into the most awkward hug ever. I didn't want to hug this jackass and I just stood there, with my arms sticking straight out in front of me, over his shoulders.
"I'm fine."
Kirk stepped back and started touching my face and running his hands all over my neck and shoulders. I felt Luke stand up next to me and stare down at this interloper.
My ex looked at Luke and sneered: "What's he doing here?"
"The bomb went off in his house," I explained.
Kirk stared at me. "Then what are you doing here?"
I didn't say anything and looked at my dad, who had also found the most interesting water stain on the ceiling. Chief Dad didn't tell his Lieutenant about my extra-curricular assignment? Damn it. Why do women always have clean up the messes around here?
In one swift movement, Luke punched Kirk in the face and knocked him right down to the floor. Everyone in the command center stood up and gawked at Luke, but no one said a word, or made a move to stop him. My eyes went wide and I gasped.
Luke bent over and grabbed Kirk by the front of his shirt until they were nose-to-nose. His voice took on an edge of warning that I had never heard before. Luke narrowed his eyes and said, just low enough that only Kirk and I could hear: "You ever call her that again and you'll answer to me. Now apologize to the nice lady."
The blood had drained out of Kirk's face and I saw actual fear in his eyes as he looked at Luke and realized my new PERSON was dead serious. "S...s...s...sorry Wysdom."
Luke reached out a hand to help him up and Kirk swatted it away, getting up on his own.
My champion smiled at me and settled back down on the bench with his arm around my shoulders. "There, that's better."
"I should press charges. Assaulting a police officer. I have witnesses!" Kirk cried as he turned around to look at everyone else in the trailer. They all were conveniently looking at their own individual interesting water spots on the floor and ceiling.
"What assault?" Chief Dad asked and Kirk sputtered. "I don't know of assault, but I did hear you sexually harass one of my sergeants, who also happens to be a woman over 40. That's a protected class and that means double the trouble for you with Internal Affairs."
Kirk stepped back.
"Now, I suggest you go home and tend to that eye before it gets too much worse," Chief Dad dismissed my ex with a wave of his hand, and Kirk scrambled out of the command center.
Dad turned to Luke and said: "If you need any advice of how to bandage up your hand after hitting that tool in the face, just ask Wysdom. She has some experience."
Luke turned towards me and I shrugged.
"Since your house and car are destroyed, where will you stay tonight?" Chief Dad looked at Luke, who looked at me. "Ah yes. Well, let's get you both a ride home. It's been a long day.”