by Lulu Pratt
But I’d also been burned before, so the skittish part of me reared its head and asked, “So, just to make sure, for my own sanity… you don’t think I’m guilty.”
He shook his head vigorously. “No. I just got nervous. I believe in you, Zoe, and I believe that you would never harm this bakery.” He ran a hand over the kitsch sofa and the old-timey coffee table. “It’s your life. This place is you. Hurting it would be like cutting off one of your fingers.”
I smiled, and replied, “Okay, kind of a gross comparison, but I’m glad that you get it. That you see this place for what it is, and by extension, that you see me. I feel so free, just being seen.”
I wiped off the last tears that were drying on his face, and added, “No more crying. Only good things from here on out.”
He nodded, and he grabbed the hand that was wiping his tears, and brought it to his lips, where he planted a firm kiss. His lips were soft, in spite of the salt from the tears.
“Now,” he said, removing his lips from my skin, “speaking of good things… I think I might have had a break in your case.”
CHAPTER 32
Dylan
“So,” I began, looking deep in Zoe’s green eyes, “I conducted the interviews with your employees.”
“Yeah,” she agreed. “And?”
Her lips parted as she leaned in anxiously, eager to hear what I had to say. I didn’t want to keep her in suspense, but I loved how she looked as if she were on a precipice, expectant and excited.
I replied, “Samuel and Donovan are great kids. They tried to be of assistance, but came up pretty dry.”
She nodded in agreement. “I like them too, and I already kind of knew they’d be dry wells. Thought it was worth a shot.”
“And you were right, we have to cover all our bases.” I paused. “Now, Kelly, on the other hand—”
“What?” Zoe interjected.
I rolled my eyes and laughed. “Calm down, I’m getting there. So, I talked with Kelly, and the entire time she was displaying some rather suspicious tics. Unable to make eye contact, looking to the side, face flushing, sweat on her upper lip. All tell tales signs of—”
Zoe gasped, “Of knowing something.”
I nodded, and added with a smirk, “You sound like you’ve been watching a lot of cop shows.”
She shook her head and returned, “It’s just that Kelly’s always been a total brat, and I wouldn’t be even a touch surprised if she knew more than she was letting on.”
“Okay, good background information, Detective Zoe. The boys said the same thing, said Kelly was always pretty disgruntled, agitated, anxious to leave.”
“Yes, yes absolutely,” interjected Zoe. “She hated work, couldn’t wait to get out, brought her boyfriend and just chatted with him all day instead of serving customers.”
“Well, ‘disgruntled’ is enough of a motive for me.” I paused and added, “She seems like a bad employee.”
“She is, but she might not be a bad person.”
“She’s young.”
“She has no idea yet how to be truly bad,” the corner of her lips quirked and she said, “baby, you don’t know how bad I can be.”
“Okay,” I chuckled, “after we talk to Kelly, I want you to show me that bad girl side. Deal?”
She leaned in and brushed her hand over my cock, immediately startling it from its soft respite inside my pants. “Deal.”
I pulled her hand away with some difficulty, and returned, “You can’t get me hard before I interview a possible suspect.”
“Fair enough,” she allowed. “I guess that just means we have to make sure you’re in a refractory period.”
“Uh, what?” I began to ask, but she already had her hands on my jeans and was unzipping the fly. “What are you doing?”
“If you fuck me before the interview, you won’t be distracted thinking of me.” She raised her brows coquettishly. “I just want you to be in your best form, Officer Robertson.”
“Zoe, we’re in your office. Anybody could walk in. I don’t know if we should—” My words were interrupted by Zoe’s full lips wrapping around the head of my cock. I inhaled sharply and let out the air with a groan of pleasure.
“Should I stop?” she taunted, lifting her mouth up. “I suppose if you really aren’t in the mood—”
I grabbed the back of her head and pressed it to my erect cock, replying, “Oh no, no, you’ve got me in the mood all right. Finish what you started.”
With a grin, she sat back on her heels and unbuttoned her gingham blouse. She undid her bra at the front and let her tits spill out. She moved to me once more and bent prone over my thighs. Those gorgeous breasts squished into my legs as Zoe came closer to my penis. It twitched expectantly, desperate for her touch.
“You want me?” she asked, her mouth hovering over my cock.
Close to bursting with anticipation, I could do little more than nod. “Fuck. Yes.”
“Okay,” she returned with a giggle, and immediately suctioned her lips around my dick, which hardened into such a solid rod I thought the skin might break from strain.
“Oh Jesus,” I grunted. “Zoe—”
I lost my words into the next wave of pleasure that roiled through me. She had begun moving up and down my shaft, the sides of her mouth caving in to fully surround my cock. I was her plaything, her puppet, she could have me any way she wanted me.
“Unhhh,” I moaned through gritted teeth as she grasped my balls and toyed with them.
She looked up at me through thick lashes and somehow managed to grin around my cock stuffed in her mouth.
She brought her hands up from my balls, ran them through the downy hair covering my thighs, and wrapped them in fists around the length of my dick. She began to move her hands up and down, twisting them in opposite directions as her mouth choked on my cock and her tongue made swirls around the ridges.
“Zoe,” I panted. “You’re incredible.”
I wrapped my hands in her hair and shoved her face even further down my cock until I was fully within her throat. My hips, of their own volition more than conscious thought, began to writhe in circles, pushing me even deeper inside Zoe. I was using her mouth to bring me closer to the brink.
She released her mouth from me, and I cried out, “Is something wrong?”
“No,” she returned with a knowing grin. “I just want you to come inside me.”
She kicked off her shoes and shimmied off her jeans and underwear. From the depths of her purse she grabbed a condom and started to unwrap it. Once it was out, I took the condom from her and rolled it along my length and laid back, waiting for her.
She was naked from the waist down with her breasts exposed by the opened shirt. She put one of her fingers into her mouth and slowly pulled it out. She ran the wet finger down her breastbone, along her flat stomach, down to her glistening lips. She smiled at me as she moved her finger back and forth for a few moments. I leaned forward, grabbed her hips, and pulled her to me. I kissed her stomach, but she pushed my head away. She spread her legs and sat down on my knees.
Her hands reached for my erect cock and she started moving them up and down my length. I threw my head back in ecstasy.
She stood up for a moment and mounted me.
I had only time to say, “Holy shit,” before she wrapped her hand over my mouth to muffle my outbursts.
She started riding me, her hands on my shoulders and her head thrown back in delight. I gripped her hips and moved her pelvis up and down along my shaft. She took one hand away from my shoulder and moved it between her legs. She rubbed herself as I thrust into her. Her center tighten around my cock and she was already close. I leaned forward and grabbed one of her bouncing tits in my mouth. I gently held her nipple between my teeth and ran my tongue over the little pebble. She slowed down a little, but her walls tightened even more around my hard cock. She threw her head back again as she came all over my cock.
Three rapid thrusts of her hips brought me to orgasm.
I bucked and sputtered, blowing my load in the depths of her pussy. She hugged me close as my body trembled with bliss.
At last, when I grew soft, she climbed off.
Aloud, I said, “That was… um, spectacular. Phenomenal. Out of this world. But we’ve got a job to do.”
Zoe smiled, and murmured, “Is that all you have to say about it?”
My eyes widened with disbelief. “No. Big, big no. I could go on about what you just did for hours, if I had the time. And when we next have free time,” I added in a low voice, “I’m gonna fuck you so hard the neighbors will call the police because your screams are waking up the neighborhood. Okay?”
She grinned, and replied, “All right, that gives me something to look forward to.”
“Good,” I said, and pulled her in for a long, deep kiss. “Now let’s go solve this crime.”
CHAPTER 33
Dylan
Zoe, much to my dismay, straightened out her mussed hair and pulled her clothes back on. A shame. She looked pretty fucking good without them.
“You ready?” I asked.
“Oh yeah,” she affirmed.
“Then let’s do this.”
I held the door open so that Zoe could walk out of the office and I followed close behind her. Anticipation fluttered in my chest, as it always did when I was on the edge of a big discovery. Once you’d been in the force for long enough, you developed a second instinct for catching criminals. Maybe it was something in peoples’ micro-expressions. Maybe it was a power too big for my understanding. Either way, I was grateful that I could scent promising blood in the water.
We walked the couple of feet out of the office and into the main dining area. Samuel and Donovan were still hard at work, and Kelly was still messing around on her phone behind the counter.
Zoe called to the boys, “You can leave for the day, we’re closing up shop. Kelly, can we have a word with you.”
Samuel replied, “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, totally. Thanks so much for all our help, I can’t tell you how sincerely I appreciate it.”
They nodded and wiped their hands off on their aprons before hanging them up in the back, coming to the front to grab their coats. Samuel and Donovan said their goodbyes and walked into the brisk morning air.
“The fuck was that about?” Kelly whined. “Why do they get to go home?”
I could see anger steaming in Zoe’s eyes as she shot back, “Yeah, and you’re somehow getting paid to text. Funny how that works, isn’t it?”
“Hey Kelly,” I interjected politely, hoping to steer the conversation somewhere more productive. “Could we please talk to you?”
“You’re already talked to me,” she said.
“Yes, I know that,” I said with some difficulty. No wonder this girl drove Zoe nuts. “But I have just a few more questions to ask you.”
I saw the teenager’s eyes flicker with doubt, and I knew my instinct from earlier had been spot on. Kelly was gonna crack like a nut.
“Fine,” she grumbled at last. “I guess you can talk to me. But I have stuff to do.”
Zoe guffawed, and muttered, “Since when do you do anything? There are no customers in here.” Her eyes seemed to burn like lasers through Kelly.
But I was an officer of the law and I couldn’t let this get out of hand. I knew Zoe’s hackles were raised — she was a mama bear protecting the bakery, her cub — but Kelly would clam up if we didn’t ease into it.
“Okay,” I inserted hastily, before things got out of hand. “Kelly, pull up a chair and we’ll chat.” I indicated a nearby round table, and Zoe and I sat down expectantly.
Kelly groaned in the way that only a teenager can groan, and came around the counter, her dirty, dilapidated sneakers clopping across the tile floor. Do these even meet the health code? I wondered.
She grabbed a chair from around its circumference, and slowly dragged it across the floor to where Zoe and I sat.
Kelly plopped the chair alongside us and leaned back, crossing her arms over her chest and bringing an ankle across her knee. She was the picture of repose and ‘no shits given.’ I noted that she seemed to have carefully constructed the expression she wore now, as though it were painted on by a drag queen. Something about it was too extreme, too literal.
“So, Kelly,” I started. “Why don’t you tell me what you think happened that night?”
She muttered, “I dunno, some fucking dude broke in and jacked the stuff.”
“Please be more specific.”
“Like what?”
Zoe interrupted, “Try giving us a singular detail about what you were doing that night, let’s start from there.”
Kelly flipped her hair and replied, “I don’t remember.”
Yeah, that was pretty much what she had said to me before, and what I had come to expect from her. Silence and sassiness.
“It was less than a week ago,” Zoe argued. “Unless you were stoned off your ass the whole day, you must remember something. Were you high?”
Kelly looked askance, shook her head and mumbled something.
“What was that?”
“I don’t do drugs,” Kelly said louder.
I was ready to let that line of questioning go — even though I was a cop, I didn’t approve of the ‘scared straight’ programs — but Zoe hopped in with, “Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” Kelly’s foot jumped up and down on her knee, and her lip trembled. Oddly enough, though, I didn’t think she was lying about the drugs.
While I loved watching Zoe play bad cop and was getting some role play ideas for some later date, I had to streamline the interview. Or, more aptly, the interrogation.
“Okay,” I said. “I believe that you don’t do drugs. We’re on the same page. But if that’s the case, why don’t you remember what happened the day of the robbery? Was something else going on at that time we should know about?”
“No.” Her lips tried to close tightly, but the quivering bottom lip betrayed her.
“No what?”
“No, nothing else was going on.”
I sat back, frustrated. Silent suspects were the worst, you couldn’t get anything on someone who refused to even open their mouth.
Zoe picked up where I left off, asking, “Kelly, why are you lying to us?”
The young girl shivered and crossed her arms tighter. “I’m not.”
Zoe pressed. “Yes, you are. I know you are. You better quit it, and stat, or there will be consequences. Like jail time.”
Oh boy. I jumped in to prevent any more overreaches by Zoe, telling the teenager, “If you tell us what you know, no matter what that may be, it’ll go easier for you down the line. Even if you were somehow involved, provided you cooperate, I swear I will do my utmost to protect you.”
I saw out of the corner of my eye that Zoe was about to jump in, but I held up a finger, calling for her to remain silent.
Kelly faltered, and asked quietly, “Really?”
“Really,” I assured her. “You’re safe with me.”
Zoe softened, and added, “He’s not kidding. Officer Robertson is a man of his word.”
Kelly’s eyes fell to her lap, and her arms began to uncross, until they floated limply down to her sides. She appeared to consider the offer for a few more seconds, and at last said, “Okay, I know who did it.”
I heard Zoe’s rapid intake of breath and I had to put a hand on her knee to keep her from lunging across the table and shaking the truth out of Kelly.
“All right, Kelly,” I said in the paternal tone I used to get Danny in the bath. “Who did it?”
She whispered, “Zach.”
“Your boyfriend?!” Zoe questioned incredulously.
Kelly nodded miserably. “Yes.”
Zoe cried, “Jesus fucking—”
“Shh, Zoe,” I interrupted, staving off a tirade. “That’s okay, let her tell the story.”
Zoe pushed back from the table, stood up, and began pacing, letting off the steam of the
discovery. “Fine,” she replied. “Go ahead, Kelly.”
The girl hesitated, and began, “I didn’t want him to steal anything.”
I could almost hear Zoe roll her eyes, so I quickly urged Kelly on, saying, “Yeah?”
“Yeah. He told me he was hard up for money, and that he needed it real bad or there would be big trouble. And he, like, y’know, hung around the shop a lot, and saw that there was okay business going on here, and that I had the cash register code and everything—”
“Of course,” Zoe muttered, putting it together. “I’d been letting you use my code when you forgot it.”
Kelly replied quietly, “Right. So, Zach said that we should rob the bakery, and we’d have the money, easy-peasy, and no one would get hurt because insurance would cover it.”
“And do you know what Zach wanted the money for?” I asked.
Kelly curled a strand of her hair around her finger and put it to her mouth, running her lips over her hair. “No.”
“Are you sure?”
“I have no idea what he wanted the money for.”
“Okay, I believe you,” I replied. And I did. This girl obviously wasn’t the smoothest liar, she’d cracked after only minutes of pressure. “Go on.”
“Zach said that I needed to help him, that he couldn’t do it without me. And like, he was right, he couldn’t have. I showed him which stuff was nicest and gave him the code. Even reset the alarm for him.” She reddened, presumably realizing she’d just admitted her own total guilt. “Will you still protect me in court, Officer?”
I was about to reply, when Zoe interrupted with, “Why did you do it? Why’d you help him steal from me? After I’ve given you a nice job and fair hours?”
Kelly shifted back and forth in the seat, while Zoe loomed over her like a hawk. It was a fair question, so I nodded at Kelly to answer it.
Forlornly, she replied, “He said he would break up with me if I didn’t do it.” Tears had begun to dazzle her eyes, and I couldn’t help but think how young she looked. Young, and in love with a no-good asshole.