by Kay Bigelow
“I guess.”
“What were you going to do next?”
“I had reservations on the next shuttle out of here because I knew Cooper was leaving that night and if she escaped, I was going to go down for murder. But you came along and kept us both here.”
“You’re still going to be charged with accessary to a number of crimes, including murder and kidnapping. You’ll be going away for a very long time. Hey, maybe you and Cooper can be roommates and share a cell.”
Leah felt a little satisfaction as she watched the blood drain from McDonald’s face.
Once she’d left the cell, she said, “Interview of Camryn McDonald completed at 17:30.”
One of Stanhope’s team came down the hallway with a tray of food on it. Leah wanted nothing more than to take a shower and wash away what she’d been told by McDonald.
Leah waited while Stanhope watched the dinner tray delivered to the prisoner and the door closed and safely relocked. When Stanhope entered the main room of the jail, Leah said, “You and your team get over to McDonald’s cabin and find those tapes of Cooper and her clients. I don’t care if you have to take the building apart board by board, I want those tapes.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Before she headed back to the big house, Leah paused long enough to send a copy of McDonald’s recorded confession to Cots, telling him what it was and to keep it safe even though she’d sent a copy to Fujiyama as well. She also told him about the tapes Cooper had, and that she was going to give the ones specific to this case to Fujiyama.
As she rounded the corner to the big house to find Dani, Sojourner came out of the kitchen.
“Sojourner, I need for you and your team to go with Stanhope. McDonald has told us about a cache of tapes she has from cameras and listening devices in Cooper’s bungalow and the cabin we found the girls in. She said she hid them beneath the floorboards of her cabin. I want them found tonight.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Sojourner said even as she had her phone out, sending a text to her team.
Leah texted Peony and told her what was going on and that she should be on hand to video the taking apart of McDonald’s bungalow. It wouldn’t do to have the defendants claim the evidence was planted.
She went through the kitchen, pausing long enough to thank Chef Meryl for feeding everyone on such short notice.
Leah found Dani and Bette, her new manager, in the manager’s office talking quietly across the conference table.
When Dani saw Leah, she told Bette they were through for the night.
“Are you okay?” Dani asked.
“Not really. I just interviewed McDonald. She knew about what Cooper had been doing for quite some time. Cooper had vid and aural recordings of everything that happened on the planet. She gave the tapes to McDonald, who hid them beneath her floorboards. If we can find the tapes, we’ve just wrapped the case up in a nice red bow for the DA.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that’s what you were going to be doing?”
“Because it was cleaner for just Stanhope and I to do it. Fewer distractions that way.”
“I could have helped.”
She’s more like her father than she’d like to think. He said the same thing when I told him to stay away from investigating his daughter’s murder.
“By the way,” Leah said to distract Dani from not having been allowed to be present during the interrogation of McDonald. “McDonald embezzled nearly six hundred thousand dollars from you. I think you need a new accounting firm. I can recommend one to you, if you’d like.”
“Phuc,” Dani said.
Before they could get out of the building, Leah’s phone alerted her to an incoming call. When she looked at the display, she saw the caller was Reagan Dominier. “Dr. Dominier, good evening.”
“I think I found what would have killed the young girl,” she said with no introduction.
“Her name is Natalie. We don’t know her last name yet. What did you find?”
“I think she was being poisoned. I’m not sure of the name of the poison, but if I had to place a bet, I’d put my money on some of the newer variations of a plant called Aconite or Wolf’s Bane. The leaves are toxic and can cause death within a few days of ingestion. With the newer varieties there are fewer symptoms. The medical examiner in Victoria may be able to verify my guess. The girl didn’t die immediately because she was given very low doses of the poison, but eventually she would have died. The real cause of death is being thrown against a tree face first. X-rays showed that when she hit the tree, her nose was broken and a piece of the bone was shoved into her brain.”
“Really? How’d you reach your conclusions?”
“Yes. It bothered me that we didn’t have a cause of death for her. I thought she might have survived the destruction of her face, but she was shoved or kicked into the tree with excessive force forcing the bone into her brain. I put the small objects we found embedded in her face during the autopsy under a microscope and found tree bark. Even if she’d survived the tree, it seemed to me unlikely that the murderer would have allowed her to live. I knew I didn’t have the equipment to run sophisticated tox screens, but poison seems to be indicated here.”
“Thanks for the update, Doctor.”
“My pleasure. When are you returning home?”
“We’ve got a few more days. If you’re ever in Victoria, give me a call. I’d love to have dinner and talk about our respective career paths.”
“I’d like that, too.”
When she hung up, Leah knew she was impressed with the doctor. She must have been researching causes of death since the autopsy. She was glad the doctor came up with something. She quickly let Cots know what the doctor had told her.
While Leah was speaking with Reagan, Dani had stepped away to give her privacy. Leah went in search of Dani and found her talking with Bette again. She’s probably trying to give the young woman a crash course on running Wild. When Dani turned away from the front desk, her eyes searched for Leah. When she found her, she smiled a slow lazy smile that showed off her dimples.
Leah walked over to Dani and said, “Now you can take me home and have your way with me.”
“Yes, ma’am. It’ll be my pleasure,” Dani said with a smile.
Leah felt a pulse of arousal course through her body.
I wonder if I’ll ever get used to having Dani smile at me like that, or my reaction to that smile and those dimples.
Chapter Twenty-two
Leah and Dani didn’t speak on their way down the lane to their bungalow in their little hover-car. My God, I did not expect this when I came here. All I wanted was to spend time with Dani, eat good food, make love whenever we felt like it, lie on the beach, sleep late, and let go. What I got was a murder and a monster selling girls into sexual servitude. Drude. What the phuc happened to Cooper to turn her into a monster? Do I really want to know? No, I don’t.
Leah followed Dani into the house. Once they were inside, Dani turned and took Leah into her arms. “How the hell did you see things like that every day and not have it change you?”
“It did change me,” Leah said.
“But it didn’t make you hard. You are a kind woman. Tasha knows it. The crowd in front of the girls’ bungalow sensed it, too.”
“I’ve changed since I’ve been on Xing. When I got there, I was a mess. I entered therapy at Cots’s insistence. I learned so much about myself that I knew I couldn’t be the person I’d been on the police force.”
“I’m glad you changed because I love you so much. I can’t imagine falling in love with someone who hides their feelings behind a hard shell.”
Leah smiled because she knew Dani was also describing herself.
“Can we go out to the beach? I need to decompress and get the images of the things I saw and heard out of my mind, at least for a little while,” Leah said.
“I’d like that—a lot.” Leah and Dani didn’t speak on their way down the lane to their bungalow.
Dani
had gone into the house to put away Leah’s bag and to grab a couple of towels for them. When she returned to Leah, she took her hand. They walked hand in hand in silence to the nearby beach.
Dani spread out the towels on the white-sand beach. “Let’s go for a dip, okay?” Dani asked as she began removing her clothes.
Leah watched her for a minute before beginning to remove her own clothes. She held her hand out to Dani, who took it in her own. They walked to the water’s edge, where Leah paused and dipped her toes into the water.
“Oh! It’s warm.”
“What, you were expecting it to be icy cold?” Dani asked with a big smile. “What kind of a tropical paradise would this be if the water was cold?”
“You’re right. What kind of sea life do you have out there?” Leah pointed with her chin to the far reaches of the lake.
“Don’t worry, I’ve forbidden all—what did you call it—sea life into this little bay for the two weeks we’re here.”
“Oh, okay,” Leah said following Dani farther into the tepid water.
When they were deep enough for it to cover their breasts, Dani turned to Leah and took her into her arms and held her tightly. “My God, I’ve missed touching you today. When this case is out of your hands, I’ll be touching you all day, every day.”
“Promise me, please,” Leah said.
“Baby, I promise you, you’ll never want to be touched by anyone else for the rest of your life.”
“Oh, my.”
“Don’t sound so surprised.”
Dani’s stomach took that moment to growl loudly. They both laughed. “When was the last time we ate?” Dani asked.
“Dinner last night?”
“That’s not good. I need to feed you to keep your stamina up. You’re going to need it tonight,” Dani said.
“You don’t need to worry about my stamina. I’m thinking I need to worry about yours,” Leah said, splashing water at Dani.
Dani grabbed Leah around the waist. “Come on. Let’s dry off and see about dinner.”
Out of the water, they lay on their towels and soaked up the last of the day’s sun. “God, the sun on me feels nearly as good as having you on me,” Leah said with a smile.
“I guess I’m just going to have to top you more often if it makes you feel that good.”
“Promise me you will.”
“I promise. By the way, I spoke with my grandmother while you were on your stakeout. I told her how I proposed to you. She agreed with you. She said it was lame.”
Leah smiled. Dani’s grandmother was one of her favorite people. For the past couple of months, she and Dani had had dinner with her at least once a week. Leah loved her for being the remarkable woman she was. She could sit and listen to Dani’s grandmother’s tales of her early life for hours.
“Let’s go have dinner, shall we?” Dani asked.
“Can we not go to the big house?”
“We don’t have to go there. There’s a small café a few minutes away by cart. We can go there.”
“Sounds good.”
After they each took a shower at the bungalow, they put fresh clothes on and met in the kitchen.
“Look what I found,” Dani said.
“What is it?”
“It’s a quiche! Looks like spinach and bacon.”
“Oh. Where did it come from?” Leah asked.
“Chef Meryl sent it over with her compliments, according to the note that came with it. It’s still hot.”
“Are you wedded to going to the café for dinner?”
“Not even a little bit. I was only willing to go out because I’m hungry.”
“Let’s stay in, okay?” Leah asked.
“Oh, yes.”
Dani found a bottle of white wine in the refrigerator and poured a glass for each of them. Leah set the kitchen table and sat down to their little feast. After they both had eaten their fill, Dani cleared the table and returned to Leah.
Before they could do anything else, Leah’s phone rang. She answered it with an apologetic glance at Dani, who smiled at her.
“Samuels.”
“It’s Sojourner. We found the vids. I’ll transfer custody of the pertinent vids to the DA when she gets here. Peony taped the search and the transfer of the evidence. I’m afraid we’ve done serious damage to the cottage. If it’s okay with you, I’ll drop off the remaining tapes at your bungalow. I’ll just put them on the front porch for you.”
“I’m sure no one’s going to care that you damaged the cottage because you put the nail in Cooper’s coffin. Well done, Sojourner. And thanks,” Leah said.
“I’m really glad we found those tapes. Good night, Boss.”
“Good night,” Leah said.
She turned to Dani and said, “They found the tapes, but had to seriously damage the bungalow to do so.”
“I don’t care about the bungalow.”
“They’ve separated the tapes of McDonald and Cooper from the other tapes. Sojourner’s dropping off those tapes tonight, including the ones from our bungalow.”
Dani took Leah’s hand into her own, and stroked it with her thumb. The contact was so soft.
“Baby, I want you to know how remarkable you were today. To be honest, when you went in to question Tasha, I held my breath. If you hadn’t had the compassion you do, you could have done irreparable harm to her young, shaky psyche. But you were gentle and kind. You didn’t push her too hard, and you quit when you had what you needed to identify the dead girl.”
“Thank you, sweetie. That means a lot to me, especially coming from you.”
“One more thing before I take you to bed. Leah Brioche Samuels, will you marry me?”
“Yes, Jardain Lan Bensington, I will marry you.”
The two women sat grinning at one another.
“Come to bed with me. I want to show you how much I love you and how happy I am that you’ll marry me.”
Before they could leave the kitchen, they heard Leah’s phone ringing again.
“God, not now,” Leah said.
“Can you ignore it?”
“Not really.”
“Samuels,” Leah said answering her phone.
“Leah, you did good today. Your case is all over the media.”
“Thanks, Cots, but I would have preferred that it stay out of the media altogether, or at least until the DA can question Cooper to find out if she’ll give up her partners in the stealing and selling of young girls.”
“I know you would. Your name hasn’t actually been mentioned, nor has Jardain’s, and Wild hasn’t been mentioned, either. The only thing available is the fact that the ring has been busted.”
“Shit. That means the clients will go so far underground the cops may never find them. At least we found the tapes McDonald told us about so maybe we can identify Cooper’s clients from them.”
“If I can have a copy of those tapes, I can help them. I can shovel info to Maggie McGregor,” Cots said. Maggie was the cop they’d worked with when they had been hired by Dani’s father to solve the murder of her younger sister earlier that spring.
“I’ll see if I can get you a copy of the vids. I’m not sure the DA will want us involved beyond when they assume control of the case. Thanks for helping Maggie out.”
“It’s the least I can do since I’ve been stuck at home while you were doing all the hard work. By the way, do you know where Peony is tonight? She’s not answering her phone.”
“There’s a big dance up at the dance barn. She’s probably there.”
“A dance after what went down today?”
“There was only one guest involved, Cots, and that was Cooper. As far as we know, none of the guests are involved in the trafficking ring. The other guests are probably looking for a way of celebrating their lives tonight.”
“If you see Peony, tell her to call me, will you?”
“Yes, I will.”
Leah sent a quick text to Peony telling her to make a copy of the videos being handed over t
o the district attorney at ten the next morning. She also told her to call Cots because he needed to speak with her.
When she hung up, Dani was looking at her. “I hope the call was from Cots and we don’t need to go anywhere.”
“It was Cots and we don’t have to leave the bungalow. He’s looking for Peony.”
“Thank God.”
“He did say that the media has the story—no names yet—but it’s all over the media feeds that a huge trafficking ring has been busted. He also said he wants to help identify the clients, but he needs a copy of the vids to do that. Are you okay with that?”
“Let me think about that. At least we won’t have to deal with the media until we return to Xing.”
Leah took Dani’s hand and led her into the bedroom. They spent the night making love. When they were both exhausted, both mentally and emotionally, they fell asleep in each other’s arms.
Leah awoke once and smiled when she reached out to find Dani with her back to her. When she touched Dani, Dani moaned. She rolled over and whispered, “Turn over, Leah.” Leah turned over onto her side with her back to Dani. Dani moved so her body touched entirely down the length of Leah’s body. Leah relaxed into the embrace. I could get very used to sleeping like this.
Chapter Twenty-three
Leah was sleeping hard when she felt Dani stroking her back. “Mmmm?”
“Baby, you need to get up. The DA will be here in an hour.”
“I don’t need to be there to greet her. I do need to sleep, though.”
“Okay. You go back to sleep and I’ll get Peony to brief the DA even though Peony is only a civilian while you’re the cop on the case.”
“Drude. You don’t play fair. You fuck me all night and now you want me to get up at the crack of dawn.”
“Baby, it’s nine o’clock in the morning. The sun’s up and it’s a glorious morning,” Dani said as she gently shook Leah’s shoulder to rouse her.
“Harumph,” Leah groused.
“Come on, sweetie. Get up and take a shower. I’ll bring you coffee. You’ll be happier you got up than if you sleep through the DA’s visit.”