A Man's World 2: Detective Shea (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Becca Van

  “You know what some men are like, Scott. A successful, professional career woman intimidates some men and the only way they can make themselves feel good about themselves and their own insecurities is to be complete and utter bastards.”

  “That doesn’t make it right,” Colby snapped.

  “No it doesn’t.” Ward sighed. “That fucker was probably just jealous because Lori Shea is the best detective in San Angelo, if not the whole state of Texas.”

  “Jeezus, I am so glad that Darius contacted us and asked if we wanted to transfer. He’s been talking about Lori for years and I feel like I’ve known her forever.” Scott got up from his chair and walked over to the pin board.

  “Yeah, he and Dad never lost contact after serving in the Marines, and we used to love it when he’d come visit,” Colby said. “He’s the reason all of us decided to be cops. I used to love listening to all those stories he told us when we were kids.”

  “Yep, he’s been like a second father to us. If it hadn’t been for him stepping in when our folks were killed we may have gone off the rails,” Ward said.

  “We owe him big time,” Scott said, and turned to face Ward and Colby. “He saved us from going down the wrong path.”

  “Yeah, but you know he won’t accept our thanks.”

  “Ain’t that the truth,” Colby said.

  “I can’t believe how that asshole can’t see how damn sexy she is.” Scott groaned and adjusted the fit of his jeans. “She’s so damn beautiful and hot, I got an instant boner.”

  “Me, too,” Ward said in a raspy voice. “All those fucking sweet curves. Man I had a hard time not rushing over to her and laying my lips on hers as well as my hands.”

  “That ass is so fucking sweet I wanted to strip her down naked and run my hands all over those luscious globes.” Colby gasped in a deep breath and then exhaled slowly.

  “Yeah, we are all attracted to her, but from what Darius has told us over the last couple of years she’s built a wall around her heart so high and no man has ever breached it.” Ward looked at both of his brothers before glancing back to the doorway. “I want her.”

  “So do I,” Colby whispered.

  “Me, too,” Scott said.

  “We’ve talked about sharing before but have never done it. How are we going to go about this?” Scott asked.

  “One step at time,” Ward said. “The first thing we need to do is gain her trust. Hopefully when she’s more comfortable around us we can woo her.”

  “She’s had a hard life,” Scott said. “Didn’t Darius say she grew up in foster care?”

  “Yes, damn it,” Colby replied. “I remember him telling us how he’d met her. He saved her from a mugger. She’d just run away from the last place she was living at because she didn’t like the way the man of the house watched her.”

  “Fuck,” Ward snapped, and rose to his feet to pace. “It’s gonna be hard to penetrate those walls she put around her heart, and especially after putting up with shit from some of her work colleagues.”

  “We can’t do anything about it just yet,” Scott said. “Let’s catch up on this case and help Lori solve it. If we can get the asshole killing prostitutes off the street then maybe she’ll relax a little.”

  “Yeah, I could see how upset she is about this when we first walked in the door.” Colby pointed to the pin board. “And she looks exhausted, as if she’s not sleeping.”

  “She needs someone to lean on, that’s for sure,” Ward said. “And I’m aiming for us three to be her pillars of strength.”

  “Amen to that, brother,” Colby and Scott said at the same time.

  Chapter Two

  Lori ignored the stares from the other men as she walked back along the wall toward her office at the end of the main room. Just before she walked back in to face Ward, Scott, and Colby, she took a deep calming breath, released it slowly, and then she straightened her shoulders, held her head up, and wiped all expression from her face.

  They looked up as she walked further into the room, but then they began reading over the case files again. Lori walked over to the pin board and made herself look at each and every picture and piece of evidence they had on the serial killer. She hated seeing how bruised and battered the six women were, the stab wounds to their bodies and the slashes across the front of their throats, but she needed to see. Although she wasn’t really seeing, because she’d looked at everything so many damn times she had it all memorized. That was one of the reasons she was having nightmares and trouble sleeping.

  No matter how hard she tried to relax, she couldn’t. She was getting no more than three or four hours of sleep a night and not all at once. Lori knew she needed a decent night’s sleep and to push all those images from her mind so she could see everything from a fresh perspective, but she didn’t know how to accomplish that other than sleeping pills, and she wasn’t about to start using those. She needed to be alert as soon as she came awake and not groggy and disorientated from the effects of medication. She had a feeling that the serial killer wasn’t done yet. There were only five days left till the end of the month, but her gut was telling her this asshole was going to strike again before the month was through.

  She pushed those thoughts aside as she stared at the board and then her muscles tensed.

  She didn’t need to look around to know that one of the men had come up behind her. The hair on her nape prickled in warning and she felt his body heat, but she wasn’t about to turn around and see who it was. That would give away how very much she was aware of them, and she didn’t want to do that. The last thing she needed was for any of them to realize she was attracted to them.

  Damn fucking hormones. Why the hell to they have to wake up now?

  “This guy is escalating,” Ward said.

  She tried to contain the shiver of desire, which started against the back of her neck where his breath caressed against her skin and then raced down her spine. She nodded but didn’t say anything.

  Colby came to stand on one side of her and Scott moved close to her other side. Lori’s breathing and pulse rate escalated and she wanted to tell them to back the fuck off and give her a little space, but then they would know how much they got to her. She’d never let on to anyone what she was feeling and she wasn’t about to start now. She took quiet, shallow breaths and hoped they didn’t notice.

  “This guy is a professional,” Colby said. “No DNA to be found at any of the crime scenes, not even a strand of hair.”

  “Do you have a profile on him?” Scott asked.

  “Other than a bald, Caucasian, right-handed male aged between twenty-five and fifty odd, no.”

  “Why do you think he’s bald?” Colby asked.

  Lori turned to face him and raised her eyebrow.

  “He could be wearing a cap or a beanie.”

  “True, but he’s too damn meticulous about not leaving anything behind. He’s either naturally bald or he shaves his head. My guess is the latter. Traces of a lubricant that is used on prophylactics were found on the women. Somehow he manages to tie those women up without leaving even a partial print on anything. There are never any signs of the women fighting him off, so he either drugs them with something which wears off quickly and is untraceable, or they know him. Or they trust him.”

  “He could be cleaning them down after he’s finished,” Scott suggested.

  Lori shook her head. “There are never any signs of their nails being scraped or of them being washed down. He’s right handed and he wears latex gloves. Traces of powder had been found on the victims.”

  “Does he leave any notes or calling cards?” Ward asked.

  “Nothing, that I’ve noticed, nor has the coroner.”

  “Looks like we’re dealing with a serial killing psychopath,” Colby said.

  “Yes and one that also happens to be a cop.”

  “Why do you think he’s a cop?” Ward asked.

  “There are never any signs of a struggle. That means that the women trust this pri
ck.”

  “Maybe he is drugging them,” Scott suggested.

  Lori nodded and frowned. “But there are never any signs of a struggle. He’d need to get close to them to drug them and I can’t see sex workers being that naïve.”

  “Most prostitutes would be wary around a cop, worried that they could be arrested if caught soliciting,” Colby said.

  “Yeah, but I don’t think so in this case. I think this asshole is flashing his badge and pretending to ask about our murdered women. His gaining their trust and compassion before he makes his move.”

  “How?” Ward asked.

  “That’s something I haven’t quite figured out yet. Call it gut instinct or whatever you want, but I think we are dealing with a law enforcement officer.”

  The three men stared at her and she expected them to argue just like Geoff had, but they surprised her when they nodded.

  “Do you think it’s someone here?” Scott asked.

  “I don’t know.” Lori shrugged and swallowed around the lump of anxiety which lodged in the throat. “Could be.”

  “Have you told Darius?” Ward asked.

  “No.” Lori sighed, skirted around them, and walked back to her desk and sat down in her chair.

  Colby came over to her desk and sat on the edge. Her breasts tingled and her pussy moistened when it clenched as he perused her body over. “Why?”

  “Because I have no proof.”

  Lori startled when large, warm, manly hands landed on her shoulders and she looked up and back to see Ward standing behind her. “Darius isn’t stupid. He’s probably already figured out it’s a cop or someone who has access to the law. Damn it, Lori. You could be in danger. Everyone here knows you’re working on this case. You need to keep Darius in the loop.”

  Lori shrugged her shoulders, hoping to displace Ward’s hands, but he either didn’t get the message or he ignored it. But when he started massaging the tight knots in her muscles, she couldn’t help but groan and lean her head forward to give him better access.

  “Jeezus, honey, you’re wound up tighter than a coil. No wonder you’ve got a headache.”

  She closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. How the hell could he see that when he’d only just met her? His fingers dug deep into her knotted tissues and she felt the tension gradually subsiding, but instead of releasing her once her muscles loosened, he kept right on going and the more he touched her, the more she wanted. At first her breathing had been deep and even as he worked the kinks out, but the more his fingers massaged, the faster her breathing became.

  Her breasts lifted and felt swollen. Her nipples hardened and began to ache and her pussy lips moistened with cream. Damn it! How could he and his brothers get her motor revving after she spent most of her adult life keeping away from the opposite sex unless she was working with them?

  She lifted her lids and peeked at Colby and Scott from beneath her lowered lashes. They were looking at her as if they were predators and she their prey. Her heart stuttered and her belly fluttered with excitement as more juices coated her feminine folds. That was the moment Lori realized that if she didn’t keep her distance from them, she could be in real trouble.

  She wasn’t about to let them know she was anxious about this case. She’d been alone for so long and she was used to taking care of herself. Plus she was a trained professional and didn’t need anyone looking after her.

  She couldn’t stand to have Ward’s hands touching her—at least that’s what she told herself—and finally got up from her seat and walked away from them. After taking a couple of deep breaths, she had her breathing back under control and felt confident about facing them again. She was good at keeping her emotions hidden and made sure she was the epitome of the sexless female some of her work colleagues had labeled her, but when she looked at each of them she wasn’t sure she’d pulled it off this time. Or maybe it was that these three men could see beneath the surface of her stoic expression. Either way, it didn’t really matter. There was no way in hell she was getting involved.

  Not in this lifetime.

  But the more they looked at her, the more uncomfortable she got. She had this horrible feeling that they had her stripped naked and could see right into her soul and there was nothing she could do that would stop them from breaking down the walls she’d encased her heart in.

  Lori turned her back to them and once more stared at the board. There was something here she wasn’t seeing and that frustrated the hell out of her. She had a feeling the clue to capturing this asshole was right in front of her face but she couldn’t put her finger on it. But she wouldn’t give up until she had that asshole behind bars for the rest of his life.

  Lori sighed with frustration and spun around to find all three men watching her. Was that heat in their eyes? She blinked and met each of their gazes, and when she didn’t see anything she relaxed again.

  Just as she headed back to her desk to start going over the files again, officer Wade Simons knocked on her door. “There’s been another body found. They’re asking for you.”

  “Where?”

  “The northeast tip of OC Fisher Lake, where Bald Eagle Creek is.”

  “Let’s go,” Lori said after thanking Wade, and headed toward the door. She looked back to see all three men following her and then she led the way down the stairs toward the basement car park. Just as she unlocked her unmarked car, she looked over at Scott and Colby. “Do you two have a car yet?”

  Colby nodded held up a set of keys and then pushed the button on the key remote. The car next to hers beeped and the indicator lights flashed. She should have known that Darius had everything organized. The three men had probably already been given a tour of the place before they even met her.

  Lori got into the driver’s seat, put her seatbelt on, and then headed out, totally aware of the man sitting next to her and the other two in the car following behind. No more than ten minutes later, she was parking the car, and after grabbing her kit bag, she walked toward where the uniformed officer was standing.

  She pushed her emotions deep and pulled up her armor and then she stopped to talk to the uniformed cop. “Who found the body, Bart?”

  “The lady over there.” Bart pointed off a ways. “She was out walking her dog. Mrs. Jessop lets her dog off the leash because her precious ‘Pooky’ always comes back when she calls him. But when he ignored her, she walked over to him and that’s when she discovered our victim.”

  Lori really liked Bart. He was a nice young man and she knew he was using humor to keep things light. She touched his arm. “Thanks Bart.”

  “No problem. I have her name, phone number, and address. Do you want me to send her on her way?”

  “Yeah, but make sure she keeps this to herself, will you? The last thing we need is for the media to get wind of it.”

  “I’ll try, but you know how the public are.”

  “I certainly do.” Lori sighed.

  “Who are the other guys?”

  Lori turned to find Ward, Colby, and Scott watching her, and none of them looked happy, but neither was she. Another innocent woman had been murdered and she had a feeling it wasn’t going to stop. This was the third victim this month, and she knew if they didn’t get a handle on this guy he was just going to kill more and more.

  “This is Detective Ward Stanford and his brothers Scott and Colby. Ward is my new partner and Scott and Colby transferred into our homicide division.”

  Bart held out his hand and greeted all three men. Lori turned away from them and got to work.

  She studied the naked woman and gulped when she saw all the stab wounds and cuts over her body. If she hadn’t been used to seeing this, she would have been bent over, heaving her guts up. She was just glad she hadn’t consumed anything other than coffee this morning, because her stomach was already churning. She heard them all as they came closer but continued to ignore them, but Lori started recording her findings for the report she would have to file later today.

  “Multipl
e stab wounds and slashes, but the perp is becoming angrier. He cut both her breasts, and from the blood on the victim’s vagina and thighs, he’s raped her with his murder weapon.”

  Lori studied the Jane Doe and noticed how her blonde hair was haloed around her head. Her arms were up above her head and her wrists were tied together so tightly that there was bruising on her skin. She walked closer to the head of the woman and studied her fingernails. One of them looked jagged, as if it had been broken in a struggle.

  She pulled out two plastic bags from her kit and then placed them over the victim’s hands to preserve evidence, if there was any to be found. She took a few steps back and looked at the whole scene.

  “This guy is angry with women,” Ward said as she walked over to her.

  “Yes,” Lori replied.

  “He was probably abused as a child either physically or mentally,” Scott speculated.

  Lori nodded. She’d already worked that out.

  “But he likes them to look just so,” Colby said.

  “He arranges them exactly the same every time,” Lori said. “Like he wants them to look feminine and pretty even after he’s cut them up.”

  Lori moved back to her bag, and after pulling her camera out starting taking photos of the victim and the surrounding area. After she was finished she donned latex gloves and began collecting evidence from the victim. She scraped nails, took a strand of the woman’s hair, and then swabbed each and every stab wound, placing the swabs into separate containers so they weren’t contaminated.

  Ward started dusting the victim for prints after taking tools from his own forensics kit, and Colby and Scott started searching the surrounding area.

  By the time Lori was finished, her back was aching as much as her head after squatting and leaning over the deceased women. All she wanted to do was go home, have a nice hot shower, and crawl into bed, but she still had a report to write up and she needed to get the evidence over to the forensics department to be tested.

  “I have a footprint,” Colby called out.