by Marie Force
Avery hadn’t thought about that possibility before she suggested it. “I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do. I assume you’re a normal, healthy man who likes sex as much as the next guy. When was the last time you had sex?”
Shocked that she’d come right out and asked him that, although he probably shouldn’t be, he met her intense gaze. “When I said Sam’s name instead of Shelby’s.”
“And when was that?”
“Before Noah was born, so a couple of months.”
“That’s a long time to go without.”
“We have a new baby. It’s not that unusual for new parents to go without.”
“Don’t blame the baby, Avery. You and Shelby are basically estranged but still living together. That’s not a healthy arrangement for any of you.”
“The thought of bringing this up with her… It’s…” He shook his head. He didn’t have the words to describe how that made him feel. Terrified. Wary. Vulnerable. Contrite. Disgusted with himself.
“You owe it to yourself—and to Shelby—to try to fix this. You say you want to keep Shelby and the baby in your life. You’ve said from the beginning that you love them both very much. If you want Noah to be raised in a healthy, loving home, you’ve got to at least try. If it would be easier to talk to her here, ask her to come with you.”
“That would be allowed?”
“Of course.”
“Okay. I’ll think about that.”
“You said you’re currently working with Sam again. How’s that been?”
“Fine. I’ve only seen her a couple of times at meetings.”
“How do you feel when you see her?”
“I don’t feel anything for her.” The words came out more sharply than he’d intended. Sighing, he said, “I’m sorry.”
“No need to apologize, but I’d like to dig a little deeper into that situation, if you don’t mind.”
Actually having the skin peeled from his body would be less excruciating than taking a trip down that road, wouldn’t it? “What about it?”
“Take me back to the first time you ever saw her.”
“Do we really have to do this?”
“I think we do. We’ve spent a lot of time here talking about your childhood and your relationship with Shelby. But we haven’t spent much time talking about Sam and your feelings for her.”
“I have no feelings for her.”
“But you did, right?”
Avery blew out a deep breath. “Yeah, I did.”
“Tell me about the first time you met her.”
Resigned to having to take this hellish trip down memory lane, he said, “We were working on the Woodmansee case. I was called in after it became apparent that Sam was a target. I had an immediate and extremely unwelcome reaction to her the first time we met.”
“Had that ever happened to you before with a woman?”
“No,” he said through gritted teeth.
“Did you know who she was before you met her?”
“Everyone knew who she was. She’d just married the dashing young senator in a very public ceremony and had investigated the murders of another senator and a Supreme Court nominee. Not to mention the call girl ring she uncovered that brought down some of the most powerful men in the country. I knew who she was, but meeting her in person was something else altogether.”
“How so?”
“Her public persona doesn’t do justice to the…fiery…way in which she leads her life and runs her investigations. She’s quite something, to say the least. And she’s gorgeous, as the rest of the world certainly knows by now.”
“After you had this reaction to her, what did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything about it. She was newly married and madly in love with her husband. I witnessed that myself on more than one occasion. You only had to be in the same room with them to understand she would never be available to anyone else.”
“That must’ve been hard to accept.”
He shrugged. “I was never anything more than a colleague to her.”
“Did she know how you felt about her?”
Avery’s face heated with mortification. “Apparently, I did a poor job of hiding the fact that she intrigued me. She picked up on it, her colleagues picked up on it and so did her husband. That was a real blast, as you might imagine.”
“Is it safe to say your relationship with her has been complicated from the beginning?”
“I have no relationship with her, except professional.”
“And your engagement to her personal assistant.”
“Yeah, that too.”
“When Shelby learned you’d once had feelings for Sam, did she think you’d been using her to get closer to Sam?”
“Yes.” His jaw clenched so tightly it sent shafts of pain through his face.
“I’m getting a better understanding of what happened and how Shelby must’ve felt after hearing this.”
“I want to be clear on something. I never once acted on my feelings for Sam. I respect the fact that she’s married and off-limits. Our relationship has been collegial at best, hostile at worst and an overall pain in my ass. I wish I’d never met her.”
“If you’d never met her, you might not have met Shelby.”
“I’m aware of that.”
She eyed him in a shrewd, all-seeing way that annoyed him. “I’m going to be honest with you.”
“I’d expect nothing else.”
“You and Shelby need extensive couples counseling if you’re going to have a prayer of making this relationship work. The challenges you’re facing aren’t things that’ll blow over in time or work themselves out. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
That certainly wasn’t what he wanted to hear, but it didn’t exactly come as a surprise to him. “I get it.”
Rosemary sat back in her chair and folded her arms. “You’ll talk to her and try to convince her to come in?”
“I’ll talk to her.” He just wished he knew what he’d say.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
THREE LONG HOURS after Sam returned to HQ, she received a call from SVU Detective Erica Lucas. Sam had tremendous respect for the way the young detective did her job and had even offered her the spot on her squad recently vacated by Will Tyrone after he chose to leave the department. But Erica was happy in SVU and an asset to the department there.
“Can you come over to GW?” Erica asked.
“I’m on my way.” Sam stepped out of her office and signaled to Gonzo, letting him know she needed a ride.
He followed her to the morgue entrance.
“How’s she doing?” Sam asked Erica.
“Not so great. They took turns with her for hours.”
Sam winced. “Fucking hell.”
“It was hell, but she got a good description of both men, as well as some other information you’re going to want.”
“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes. Where can I find you?”
Erica gave her the room number. “Sam… You need to be soft with her, okay?”
“Got it.”
“I hope it’s okay to say that.”
“I like to think I can be managed when the situation calls for it.”
Erica laughed. “I pity the fool who ever tries to manage you.”
“Many have tried. Few have succeeded. I’ll see you in a few.”
“I’ll be here.”
On the way to GW, Sam filled Gonzo in on what Erica had told her. “I think I should do this myself. She might not welcome a guy in the room after what she’s been through.”
“Works for me.”
Sam looked over at him and then back at the road. “How’s it going with Green?”
“Fine.”
“That’s it? Just fine?”
&n
bsp; “He’s a great detective, but you already knew that or you wouldn’t have hired him.”
“You know that’s not what I’m asking you.”
Gonzo sighed, his impatience palpable. “What do you want me to say, Sam? He’s a good guy and a good cop. Is it easy taking on a new partner after the way I lost the other one? Hell no. Am I coping with it? Yes. As best I can.”
“That’s what I wanted to know.”
“I almost feel sorry for the guy.”
“Why’s that?”
“He has to come into a tight-knit squad and replace someone cut down in the line of duty who was well loved by everyone. I don’t envy him that.”
“I held out for someone who could handle that.”
“I know you did, and you got someone good. We all appreciate that.”
“It’s going to take a while before you find a groove with him.”
“Yeah.”
“How’s everything else?”
“What do you really want to know, Sam?”
“I want to know that you’re okay. Not just at work, but everywhere else too.”
“I’m fine.”
He said what she wanted to hear, but the weariness in his tone put her on alert. “If you weren’t, would you tell me?”
“The same way you’d tell me.”
“Come on, Gonzo. Help me out here, will you? It’s my job to make sure your head is in the game, even when your heart is broken.”
“My heart is fine, and my head is where it needs to be. Any other questions?”
“How’s Christina?” Gonzo had fallen for Nick’s former colleague, and they were raising Gonzo’s son, Alex, together.
“She’s fine.”
“Do you guys still talk about getting married?”
After a pause, he said, “Not as much as we used to. I suppose I ought to bring that up with her at some point. Anything else?”
“No, that’ll do it.”
Sam had walked a fine line with him since Arnold was killed. As his friend and his boss, she had tried to be supportive and understanding while giving him space to grieve. But they had a job to do too, and despite what he’d said, she still had concerns. She’d continue to keep a close eye on him.
“If you’re looking for a laugh, I’ve been driving Freddie crazy with hints about what I’ve got planned for the bachelor party. Midget strippers, latex and manscaping are some of the things I’ve mentioned. I told him you’ve been my biggest coconspirator.”
Gonzo laughed. “The poor guy. And are we allowed to call them midgets?”
“They call themselves that! Why don’t you tell him you heard there was going to be mud wrestling or something.”
“I will,” he said, chuckling. “He’s going to kill you.”
“He’ll have a great time—if he doesn’t find a way out of it.”
“I thought you and Elin had a fail-safe plan.”
“We do, but the midget strippers might’ve taken him over the edge.”
“Do they even have midget strippers?” Gonzo asked.
“Google it.”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
“You’d be better off.”
“What the hell was he thinking asking you to be his best-man woman?”
Sam cracked up. “I know, right?”
“That’s where he went wrong. Whatever happens now is exactly what he deserves.”
“Couldn’t agree more.”
At GW, they went in through the E.R. entrance. Sam kept her head down so she wouldn’t be stopped by people who wanted the second lady’s autograph. She had no time for that crap today.
They took the elevator to the fourth floor. “I’ll meet you back here after?” Sam asked Gonzo.
He gestured to the waiting area. “I’ll be here.”
She left him and went to find the room number that Erica had given her. The two Patrol officers standing in the hallway helped to narrow her search. Because she knew they’d require it, she showed them her badge.
“Go ahead in, Lieutenant,” one of them said. “Detective Lucas is expecting you.”
“Thanks.”
Sam took a deep breath to prepare herself for what she would see and hear, and then pushed open the door.
Erica stood on the far side of the bed.
The victim was a petite dark-haired woman, her face bruised and swollen and her dark eyes big with fright. Recognition hit her all at once. Oh no. “Angel?”
Tears filled the woman’s eyes and spilled down her cheeks as she nodded.
“Angel mentioned that you two know each other,” Erica said.
Sam nodded, her gaze fixed on the bruised face of the girlfriend of Roberto Castro, the man she’d befriended while undercover with the Johnson family. Roberto had been left paralyzed in the shoot-out that had ended in the death of Quentin Johnson. Roberto credited Angel with giving him a reason to live since he was injured.
Sam fought through an emotional reaction. “I’m so sorry this happened to you.” She had so many questions that she needed answered in the case, but she asked the most pressing one first. “Does Roberto know?”
Angel shook her head. “I was out with my girls last night, so he didn’t expect me home. I was supposed to sleep over with one of them.” She raised a hand to her face, and Sam noticed vicious road rash on her elbow and arm, probably from when she fell out of the car.
Erica handed her a tissue that she used to carefully wipe her tears, wincing at even that little bit of contact with her injured face.
“I had a bad headache, so I left them to go home, and that’s when… I came out of the Metro station to get a cab. They pulled up and forced me into the car.”
Sam rested her hand on top of Angel’s. “Take your time.”
Erica poured Angel a cup of ice water and held the straw for her.
She took a sip. “I tried to fight them, but they had guns.”
“Do you remember what the car looked like?”
“It was a red SUV. I’d seen the alerts you guys issued about the car the shooters were driving, and I realized right away that they must be the guys you were looking for.”
Sam released Angel’s hand to pull her notebook from her back pocket. “What can you tell me about them?”
“They were young, in their early twenties maybe. Mixed race. They called each other D and C, no names.”
“What happened once they got you into the car?”
“The one they called D… He’s the one who grabbed me, and he started pulling my clothes off right away. I…I tried to fight him, but he punched me so hard I blacked out. When I came to…” Her voice broke on a sob. “He… He was raping me, and it hurt so bad. I screamed for him to stop, but he put his hand over my face so I couldn’t scream or breathe. I passed out again. When I woke up, the other one was raping me. It went on like that. All night.”
Sam wrote down everything she said while battling her own emotions. Angel was such a tiny girl. She wouldn’t have stood a chance against two men. “How did you get away from them?”
“Th-they were talking about how they were going to k-kill me. The one called C… He fell asleep, so I just grabbed the door handle and pulled it open. I fell out of the car, and they kept going, thank God. Another car stopped to help.” She broke down again, sobs shaking her body.
“You were so brave to escape, Angel,” Sam said. “You saved your own life.”
Erica gave Angel another tissue. “Tell Sam what you told me about the things they talked about.”
Angel took a minute to get herself together. “I couldn’t figure out everything they were saying, but it sounded like they forced someone to do the shooting for them. Like they kidnapped him or something. And one of them said something about not being bored anymore.”
“This is real
ly helpful, Angel,” Sam said, writing frantically.
“There was one other thing. The guy D… He got a call while I was in the car that his mother had died. He cried when he got that news.”
“That’s great information,” Sam said.
Angel looked at Sam, her eyes bright with tears. “Will you find Roberto and tell him what’s happened?”
Sam’s stomach ached at the thought of that dreadful task. “Of course.”
“Thank you. He’ll take it better coming from you.”
Sam doubted that, but she’d do whatever she could to help Angel—and Roberto. “I’d like to get you with a sketch artist today so we can put out some images of what these guys look like. Would you be willing?”
“I’ll do whatever it takes.”
“Try to get some rest, and I’ll go talk to Roberto. I’ll be back to check on you later.”
“Thank you,” she said. “He thinks the world of you, but you already know that.”
“The feeling is mutual. Is he back at work?” The last time Sam saw him, he’d told her he was out of work because of some health problems related to the shooting.
Angel nodded. “He went back yesterday.”
“Then I know where to find him.” Sam squeezed Angel’s hand. Roberto and Angel had hit a bump a few months back when doctors told him he might not be able to father children. Angel had left for a time, but thankfully she’d come back. Sam took it as a good sign that she was asking for him. “It may seem impossible to believe today, but you’re going to get past this. You’re a strong woman, and you’re going to survive. I promise.”
“Thank you,” she said as another sob escaped from her swollen lips. “That means a lot coming from you.”
“I’m going to walk Lieutenant Holland out,” Erica said. “But I’ll be right back.”
“Okay.”
In the hallway, Sam needed a minute to get her emotions under control. She walked a few steps from the Patrol officers, and Erica followed, giving her the space she needed. “I’m sorry,” Sam said after a long silence. “That was just…”
“I know. She’s amazing, though. Gutsy and strong despite a horrific ordeal.”
“That’s how she is. Roberto credits her with saving his life after he was paralyzed in the Johnson crack house shooting. He was one of Johnson’s lackeys.”