“What do you mean?”
“Is there anyone else as overqualified for their job as you are?”
Tracy shifted her weight. “I heard Rebecca in Customer Service is a packaging engineer.”
He stopped typing for a minute. “Seriously?”
She nodded.
Kyle shook his head as he started typing again. He muttered something that sounded like ‘not anymore, she’s not,’ before he closed his laptop and reclined. “I’ve been trying to get my father to agree to a new promotional direction for months. I told him we needed something direct and honest that could appeal to every household in America.” He folded his arms over his laptop. “Clean, simple, and back to basics. Olson’s Soup. It’s good for you.”
Tracy gaped, hearing her own words.
“I like the way you think, Ms. Seavers, and I need someone who’s not afraid to say what’s on their mind.”
“You need someone for what?”
Kyle walked to the windows and stared out. “I want to make changes. Stir things up a bit.” He turned toward her. “I want you to pack up everything you need from your desk this afternoon and move into office eight.”
She flinched. “Isn’t that the office next to yours?”
He nodded. “I need a partner in crime, Ms. Seavers. You up for it?”
Tracy opened the sliding glass doors on her small balcony and breathed in the crisp, fresh air. Wait until Laini heard about this!
The swirling in her stomach intensified as she looked out over the manmade drainage-area-turned-lake. The sun sparkled over the water, a little piece of heaven right outside her window.
She rubbed her stomach and her skin warmed beneath her touch. Today of all days, at exactly the right moment, she’d found the courage to speak her mind. Her stomach sparkled, as it had in Colonel Olson’s office. Then the warmth spread through her again.
Tracy gulped and placed her hand on the balcony rail. “Adonna, was that you?” Her stomach clenched and released. Tracy’s knuckles whitened on the rail “Did you do this? Did you help me?”
Another pair of mallards flew across the water, trailing lines behind them as they landed in the manmade lake, but her stomach remained silent.
Tracy pressed her palm against her abdomen. “Thank you,” she whispered.
A few tears welled in her eyes and she wiped them away. An amicable relationship, John had called it. This must be what he meant. Dak gave him strength when he was weak. A friend, who was always there, providing far more than moral support.
More tears formed, and she let them fall as she grabbed her cell, pressed the text button, and chose John.
Hope your day is going as good as mine.
John: Hey you!
John: Sorry about what happen Sunday.
She smiled at his texting skills before she typed:
It’s okay. I feel better now.
Tracy tapped her foot as the three little dots popped up on her screen, showing he was typing. Then they stopped. Then they started again. Did he keep changing his mind or was he being interrupted?
John: Been thinking about you.
John: Would love to see you agn.
Her heart jumped in her chest. She closed her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief.
John: Lunch tomorrow?
Lunch. Her enthusiasm drained. The little part of her who hoped for more than friendship wanted more than that. Was he playing it safe on purpose? But then again, she couldn’t expect him to be available every moment. Not until he was done with this case. If she liked him as much as she thought she might, then she’d have to get used to this.
Lunch=Yes
Starbucks Pennsauken? I only have an hour lunch.
John: Too far. Meet halfwy? Merchantville, RT 537?
Hmmm. That was about fifteen minutes from work. It would be cutting it tight, but she’d take what she could get.
Perfect. I have good news to share.
John: Great! We look forward to it.
Tracy nodded.
So do we.
28
“Are you actually texting?” Art asked from across the war room table.
John shrugged, scrolling through his countless typos.
“Since when does the old-fashioned golden-boy embrace simplistic technology?”
John glanced up at him. “Do you have a point hidden inside that smug grin of yours?”
“No. It’s nice to see you might actually have a social life.” Art folded his arms. “Is it that girl from the coffee shop?”
“Yes, if you have to know.” John set his phone down.
“Things getting serious?”
“We’ve only known each other a little over a week.”
Art threw up his hands. “Hey, I proposed to Emily on our fourth date. I’m a firm believer in love at first sight.”
John decided not to mention that she’d filed for divorce six months later.
Sergeant Biggs pushed through the door, handing Art a sheet of paper. “Here’s the info you wanted on Wawa. Everything okay in here?”
John furrowed his brow. “Fine here. Is everything okay out there? That’s the second time you’ve hand-delivered findings to us.”
Biggs shrugged. “I can’t expect Emmerson to do all the research and deliver data, too. If she quits, we’re dead.”
And any other precinct—the kind with budgets—would be more than happy to snatch up a top-rate data analyst like her. “Good move on your part.”
Art handed the paper to John. “You were right. The price of gas on the day of Melissa Harpoona’s murder matches the receipt the scumbag shoved into her mouth.”
John stood. “Either that, or she shoved it into her own mouth.” He leaned against the corkboard, staring into Melissa’s eyes. “You knew he was going to kill you. You gave us a clue. You wanted to tell us something in the only way you found possible.”
“Peters?” Biggs moved beside him.
John broke Melissa’s gaze. “I want to see the police records of every resident within a five-mile radius of that Wawa.”
Biggs arched his brow. “Yeah? You and what army are going to review them all?”
John clenched his teeth and steadied himself. “Fine. Make it a two mile radius, and I’ll take an army of three. You, me, and Commings.” He pointed at each man. “It’s Monday already. This asshole is choosing his next victim. I, for one, want to find him before the next girl disappears.”
29
“Only you could mouth off at the boss and end up with a promotion.” Laini grabbed a fortune cookie from the pile in the center of their kitchen table and chucked it at Tracy.
“I know. It’s crazy. I really thought I was going to my exit interview and then all of a sudden Kyle is setting me up in the next office.”
“Oh, so it’s Kyle now, huh? Is he cute?”
“He’s married with a kid, so eww.” Tracy opened the plastic container set before her and took a sip of her egg drop soup. “Anyway, I’m seeing John tomorrow for lunch again.”
“Again? Should I start dress shopping for your wedding?”
“Let’s not get overly excited, but I do like him.” A lot.
Tracy rubbed the churning sensation in her stomach. Any time she thought of John and Dak, her entity moved inside her. The reaction didn’t seem negative. With any luck, it would stay that way. If Adonna didn’t take to Dak, this was going to be hard on all of them.
As much as it freaked her out when Dak took John over, the entity seemed nice enough. And he was obviously interested in Adonna. Hopefully not so interested that he’d take control again at an inopportune moment.
She shivered. How would she even know if he did?
If she and John ended up a couple, Dak would need to learn to give them the space they needed. She smiled to herself. She and John, that would be a pretty nice space.
A warmth spread through her. Could it be true, what Dak said: that John was on the way to falling in love with her? Tracy’s stomach twitched, a
nd she gently rubbed her skin, again. Please give Dak a chance. This can be great for us.
“Wow, girl.” Laini propped her elbows on the table. “If you could see the dreamy look in your eyes. You’ve got it bad for this cop.”
Tracy shrugged. Maybe she did.
Her roommate sat back. “Well, he’d better be good to you, or I’m going to serve him up with the ass-kicking of his life.”
Tracy snorted. Let’s hope she’d never have to bail her friend out of jail for assaulting a police officer.
30
“Thanks so much for meeting me again.” Tracy placed her coffee down on the long table in Starbucks’s back room.
“Hey, no problem,” John began. “Your text sounded like you had some good news to share. I could definitely use some of that.”
They settled into chairs on opposite sides of a small, round table. John’s gaze roamed over the black curtain they used for a door. The thick fabric wouldn’t do much to hide their conversation if anyone in the main lobby was listening, but it would have to do.
Folding her hands on the edge of the table, Tracy detailed standing in the middle of an executive meeting and pretty much telling off everyone in the room. “I think it was Adonna. She felt me get angry and gave me the boost I needed to speak out.”
Damn, her eyes sparkled when she was excited. “That’s awesome.”
“But do you think I’m right? Do you think it was her?”
“It very well could have been her. Dak pokes at me all the time when he thinks I’m not going with my gut or doing the right thing. He gets pretty ticked at me sometimes.”
*You should listen to me more.*
John stiffened, surprised to hear Dak after the day-long reprieve following the incident Sunday. Bite me. I’m still mad at you.
*You missed me. Admit it.*
John suppressed his grin, wishing he could hide the relief at hearing his friend’s voice.
He returned his attention to Tracy. “Short movements like making us stand don’t seem to be difficult for them, and she can read your thoughts. She must have felt your hesitation and given you a little extra encouragement.”
Her face beamed. “That’s the kind of encouragement I can get used to. I got a promotion.”
“Get out. Really?” She nodded, and John hugged her over the table. “That’s amazing. Congratulations!”
Tracy adjusted her blouse as she returned to her chair. Her gaze fixed on him, and she took a deep breath. “I wanted you to know that…” She gulped. “That I think I’m going to be okay.”
John’s gut twisted. If she was okay, she wouldn’t need to see them anymore.
Tracy’s expression faded. “I thought that would make you happy.”
John blinked. “Oh, damn, yeah, it does. I’m sorry.” He lowered his gaze. “It’s great that you’re feeling better about all this. I’m excited for you. And believe me, it only gets better from here.”
She rested her chin on her raised palm. “With that in mind, I’d really like to discuss what Dak told me.”
The falling-in-love thing. Shit. You had to open your big mouth, didn’t you? Tracy wasn’t some smitten little girl, ready to fall for the burly cop. She was a strong, independent woman. She didn’t need anyone, let alone a guy to smother her, especially when her career was about to take off. “Listen, Dak gets a little overzealous sometimes. He has no idea how human emotions work. I mean, I like you, I like you a lot, but love? Hey, we’ve only known each other what, two weeks?”
She snickered. “That’s not the part I was talking about.”
“It’s not?”
She shook her head. “I’d really like to know who Amy is.”
Even worse. Damn you, Dak.
A sparkling heat flooded him.
Glad you find this funny. He took a bite of his sandwich and chewed slowly.
Amy. How could he explain the worst and best thing that ever happened to them?
He took a sip of his coffee. It needed more cream. He didn’t care.
Tracy’s eyebrow remained arched, waiting for an answer. At this point, he had no choice but to give her one.
“I was assisting with a trial in Philly when we met. Amy had an entity in her.” He glanced at the shifting curtain, then back to Tracy. “Dak and Cowa felt each other from across the courtroom and drew the four of us together like Dak did with you and me.” He shifted his weight. “Amy was great. An attorney. She understood what I went through as a cop. She got the long nights and the pressure. Most of all, she understood what it was like to have another voice in your head.” He sipped his coffee again. “I thought it was perfect. Dak and Cowa even liked each other. Amy and I would walk holding hands and our entities did whatever it was that these things inside us do when we touch.” He closed his eyes and cleared his throat. “I guess it was both Amy’s and my fault. Neither of us fully understood what it was to have a host-alien relationship. We weren’t a normal couple. There were four of us. Dak and Cowa loved us, so they never told us.”
“Told you what?”
Dak wept deep within John. The pain still burned for each of them. “They were both male. They could talk and share, but…” John rubbed the sweat from his palms across his slacks. “When Amy and I made love for the first time, Dak drew so deeply into me that I thought he was gone. I didn’t even think about it. I thought he was giving me privacy.” He threw back another gulp of coffee. “It was great for the first half hour or so, but then I felt Dak stir.” John shifted his weight. “It was weird. He shook inside me. It wasn’t anything I’d felt before, and then…”
Shit.
God, it was screwed up.
John tapped his finger on his napkin. “I woke up in the middle of the night and found Amy curled in a ball on the bathroom floor, crying. I tried to hold her, but she pushed me away. She couldn’t stand the thought of touching me again.” John rubbed the space between his eyes. “Dak had reached into her while we made love. Dak admitted to feeling Cowa’s energy mingling with his own.” He sat back. “Apparently, Dak didn’t care that they were both male, but Cowa did.” John gulped down tears just on the edge of forming. He couldn’t say anymore. Hopefully, she understood. “Amy loved Cowa more than she loved me. I never saw her again.”
Tracy grabbed his hands, looking deep into his eyes. “I’m not Amy. I’m not going anywhere. And Adonna is a female, right? There won’t be a problem between us.”
A sizzle reached from Tracy’s hands and sank deep into John. Dak turned within, spun and cried out.
“Dak, are you okay?”
Warmth flooded him, but he didn’t answer. The tingle slipped back through John’s arms, wrists, and disappeared through his fingertips.
Tracy released him and stared at her hands. Her lips opened slightly before she looked up. “Was that Adonna?” She grabbed her temple. “Whoa!”
“What?”
She looked back to her fingers. “All this stuff is racing through my head.”
“Anything you want to share?”
Tracy shook her head. “There’s this flood of emotion. Happy and sad. Longing, but confusion. Fear. Lots of fear.”
“Hold on a minute.” He searched within him for Dak. Anything happen between you two?
Dak didn’t answer, but the sensation John recognized as his friend swirled within, momentarily content.
“Dak seems fine. Maybe it’s that new relationship thing. I mean, she’s starting to wake up, right?” Shit, please let him be right.
Adonna had reached for Dak. She didn’t cringe, she didn’t shy away. Could it be possible? Did the four of them actually have a chance?
Tracy shrugged. “Maybe.”
John glanced at the clock. Fuck it all. He really didn’t want to leave now. But every second he sat here working on the rest of his life, a psycho was planning someone else’s death.
But, God, did he want to stay. If Adonna and Dak kept getting along, John could spend the rest of the evening searching out Tracy’s curv
es, seeing if she was as soft as he’d dreamed about the past few nights.
John blinked away the thought. He had to stop thinking from behind his zipper. He had a goddamn killer to put behind bars, for Christ’s sake!
Tracy reached over, grabbed his sandwich, wrapped it in a napkin, and stuffed it back into the bag. She handed it to him, along with his coffee.
“What?” he asked.
“I can tell by the look on your face. Go ahead. You have a job to do. I don’t want to get in the way.”
“I’m sorry. I really want to continue this conversation.”
“Me, too, but there’ll be a time for that. Go. Make the world safe again. I’ll be waiting for you.” She straightened. “We’ll be waiting.”
He kissed her hand. “You know, you two might be the best thing that’s ever happened to us.”
She smiled. “Give Dak a kiss goodbye for me.”
*How about a real one?*
Shut it. “I’ll call you.”
“We look forward to it.”
We.
She’d called herself we. It hadn’t been a typo on the text.
John’s lip trembled like a wuss. He bit it back and manned up.
Tracy was perfect: kind, understanding, supportive. Not to mention that ass that he wanted to knead with his fingers while he… The little solder in his pants pressed against his zipper, making Dak fizzle with alien glee. They both knew Tracy was everything John wanted.
This time, John would make it work. He’d make it work for both of them.
31
Tracy sat on the ground in her living room, her back to the couch. She flipped through the last pages of The Hobbit, absorbing the words faster than she’d ever been able to read before. Finishing, she flipped the cover closed and threw the book across the room. The paperback slid down the wall and fell open over the pile containing every other novel in their house.
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