When a slim, tanned arm flew into view, along with a young, smiling face and a thick head of waist length brown hair that seemed to move with a life of its own, Linc bit back a growl.
He didn’t know this one’s name, either, but he knew her.
She was the most persistent of them all, and her perfume entered a room ten minutes before she did.
“Mmmm….” The brown haired woman whimpered while slamming her hand against one of the doors, forcing them both back open. She leaned on the door once it was done gliding back into the wall, her heavy gaze shooting straight to the zipper of Linc’s dark washed jeans. She bit her bottom lip as her eyes traveled back up his body, only letting it plop from between her perfectly straight teeth when she met his eyes. She never let her thick black lashes open fully, leaving a leer on her face that left no question to her intentions. “Good Morning, Detective Hill.”
Linc straightened his spine, swallowing heavily. “Good morning.” Silence. His eyebrows rose. “Do you need the elevator?”
She seemed to be waiting for the kind of treatment she’d grown used to from most men—a suggestive smile, a wandering eye, a lewd proposition, and when none of them came, she leaned in.
“I could think of a few things I need, none of which involve this elevator. Unless, of course, you’d like them to…” Her voice went deep. “Listen. Linc. I’m not one to beat around the bush. I’ve noticed that you haven’t been seen with a woman in a while.” A Cheshire-cat grin lifted the corner of her lips. She looked down at the silver band gleaming on his ring finger and then rolled her eyes. “To be honest, we’ve all noticed.”
Linc nodded, pressing his lips together.
She lifted a manicured hand. A folded purple post-it note was trapped between her fingers. When the elevator doors tried to close on her again, she scowled and slammed her hand against them with such force it even caused Linc to jolt. The syrupy smile returned to her face only after the doors had slid back open.
She stretched her arm out, offering him the post-it. “If you’re ever looking to change that situation,” she explained. “Or if you’re ever looking… for anything.” She bit her lip again, letting her eyes run his body one more time.
Linc took the post-it on offer and lifted it up, nodding again.
She held his eyes for another long moment, just long enough for things to border on uncomfortable before she removed her hand from the doors and took several slow steps back. She didn’t break their gaze but instead let the elevator doors do it for her.
Linc exhaled once the doors finally shut.
He looked down at the post-it note and didn’t even have to open it to know what it held.
Crumbling it in his hand, he reminded himself to find the nearest trash can once he made it to the fifth floor.
—
Minutes later, Linc breezed into the hospital room at the end of the hall on the fifth floor. He raised his eyebrows when he caught sight of his partner, Samantha Gellar.
Sam’s stick straight brown hair jetted down past her waist, making her long face seem even more never-ending. She wore her usual black slacks, button down and clunky boots. The only part of her body thinner than her long limbs were her lips, and they kicked up a smile at the sight of him, her brown eyes following him as he approached.
“‘Sup, Sam.” He approached the hospital bed she leaned on.
“Can you believe this nut job made another attempt? Who does shit like this?”
“Just when I’m damn sure I’ve seen it all…”
“Yeah, no shit,” she scoffed. “Looks like we’ve got a serial neuterer on our hands. What a bizarre fucking sentence to say out loud.”
“Not serial yet. Gotta have three or more separate events to account for a pattern. This guy’s only done this once.” He thought about Eugene and smirked. “Or, one and a half.”
“Would’ve been two if the girlfriend hadn’t come home early last night. Eugene better be counting his lucky fucking stars.” Sam crossed her arms, looking mystified. “But what’s the motive? Why Todd? Why Eugene?” She sputtered out a laugh. “Why balls?”
“I don’t know, but whatever it is, it’s personal.”
“Too savage not to be.”
“Exactly. Whoever’s doing this is doing it to see them suffer.”
“Who’d want to see Todd and Eugene suffer?”
“Who wouldn’t? Might be a shorter list.”
“Ah…” Sam nodded. “Everybody gang up on the rich guys. How predictable.”
“You’re a transplant.” Linc clenched his fists, making the paper he’d forgotten was in his hand crinkle. “So you don’t know that the rich in Shadow Rock aren’t nearly as squeaky clean as they put out, but I’m sure they’d be thrilled to hear you making them the victims.”
“You’re telling me Todd and Eugene aren’t victims?” Her eyes fell to his tightly drawn fist.
Linc looked down when she leaned forward and snatched the purple paper peeking out of his hand. He rolled his eyes as she unfolded it.
She chuckled when she read it, turning it toward him.
He grumbled. “Some nurse.”
“Some doctor, according to her little love note here.” Sam turned the post-it toward her and did her best sultry voice as she read it out loud. “ ‘Dr. Hailey Dean. Call me, anytime. For anything.’ ” Sam laughed. “Three hearts, three smiley faces. Jesus. She wants that dick bad.”
Linc moved away, heading toward the window. “I meant to throw it out.”
The sound of the paper crumbling filled the room, and he turned back to Sam just in time to see her toss the paper across the room.
“Kobe!” she bragged, when the paper swooshed into the wastebasket with ease, looking over her shoulder and winking at him. After her celebration, she turned on the bed to face him. “You know, maybe it wouldn’t kill you to take advantage of all the pussy that every woman in this hospital—hell, every woman on this island—has been throwing at you for years.”
“We’ve only been partners for a month. How would you know how much pussy is getting thrown at me?”
“The stark desperation. Women are only as desperate with a man as they are with you when that man has been rejecting them for years.”
Linc hissed out a laugh, smoothing his goatee.
“That’s especially true for the beautiful ones,” Sam said. “They can’t fathom any man turning down their advances, so when it actually happens, there’s nothing more attractive. They instantly become like the very men they’ve grown to despise. Desperate. Ruthless. Chasing after you like shameless, rabid dogs.”
“Where’s the vic?” Linc asked, trying to change the subject.
“When the girlfriend showed up unexpectedly last night, she startled the perp so bad that he slipped up with the scalpel and made a cut pretty deep. Docs are still deciding whether Eugene needs surgery.”
“Christ.” Linc spat, unable to help the cringe that took over his face, almost feeling that scalpel on his sack.
“You look stressed.”
“I’m a man who lives on this island with a sack that’s fully intact. Apparently I’ve got a lot to be stressed about.”
“I doubt this guy would come after a cop. And even if he did, it’s not like you’re putting those little swimmers of yours to good use anyway—would you even notice they were gone?”
“You sound like my mother.”
“Do you and your mother discuss your balls often?”
“More than you’ll ever know.”
She chortled. “Just saying, maybe you wouldn’t be so tightly wound if you set some of those little guys free. God knows there isn’t a single nurse in this place who wouldn’t be happy to serve as your cum disposal.”
“Pretty vile.”
She popped her collar, clicking her tongue. “I do my best.”
When a wheelchair came rolling around the corner, they both stood tall, clasping their hands together at the sight of Eugene.
So large he wa
s nearly overflowing out of the wheelchair, Eugene’s bulky, tattooed arms teetered over the edge of the armrests, elbows hanging on for dear life. His bald head shone under the bright lights of the room, and the scowl on his face never wavered, not even when Linc and Sam greeted him.
The nurse stopped his wheelchair next to the bed and tried to help him up.
He snatched his arms away from her gentle hands. “I’m not a fucking cripple. I got it.” He pushed himself up from the wheelchair by one arm, holding the back of his hospital gown closed with the other. He moved at a snail’s pace, clearly in tremendous pain as he plopped down on the bed and swung his legs up. “Fuck…” He froze in mid-climb to collect his breath. “God… damn it.”
The nurse held her arms out, just in case he fell off the bed, but didn’t dare touch him, frowning as if she was feeling his agony too.
Eugene remained frozen as the pain appeared to ebb deeper with each second that passed. He jammed his eyes shut and took in several heaving breaths before trying again, wiggling onto the bed, moaning the entire way. He gave up before he reached the middle of the mattress, collapsing against the pillows. A few inches of his body hung off the edge of the bed, but he appeared unable to move another inch, panting like he’d just finished a triathlon.
The nurse threw her hands out in defeat and let them plop to her sides before leaving the room entirely.
Sam and Linc, lips pulled tight and eyes squinted, waited until Eugene was as settled as he could get before they approached the bed.
“Sorry to bombard you like this,” Sam said, coming to a stop next to the bed while producing a pen and pad from her pocket. “I’m Detective Gellar…” She motioned to Linc with her pen. “This is Detective Hill. Do you mind if we ask you a few questions about what happened last night?”
“I already got questioned earlier.”
“That was preliminary. Plus, the drug you were injected with wasn’t completely out of your system, and you lost consciousness before our colleague could finish, so… We’ve got a few more questions if that’s cool.”
“Of course it is.” Still short of breath, Eugene spoke in brief sentences. “I won’t remain silent. Not like Todd. I want this pervert found. I want him prosecuted. To the highest extent of the law.”
“We’ll do everything we can,” Sam said. “Do you have any idea who might’ve done this to you?”
“Nope.” Eugene licked his lips. “Thought that was your job.”
“Do you remember what happened?”
“Syringe. In my neck. Passed out.”
“Did you see anything? Hear anything?”
“Guy didn’t say a word.”
“What about a face? Distinguishing marks?”
“Covered in black. Head to toe. But short. Skinny.”
“If you had to guess…?” Sam pressed.
“Shit.” Eugene swallowed thickly, jamming his eyes shut as he took a moment. “5’5”? Maybe 5’6”? 120, max. I bench that with one arm.”
Deb’s eyebrows shot up. “So we’ve got a really small man, or…”
“A woman,” Linc finished. He met Eugene’s eyes. “The nature of the attack is leading us to believe the motive might be personal. No enemies you can think of? Ex-girlfriends? Business rivals? Anyone you may have been at odds with?”
Eugene’s eyes danced back and forth, and he exhaled. “I’m chief of security for the largest cruise line in the country. My list of enemies is a mile long.”
“We got nothing but time,” Linc said, holding his hands out.
Before Eugene could respond, someone else entered the room.
Linc lifted his eyes to the door, and the moment they landed on Veda Vandyke, dressed in form fitting blue scrubs with her long natural hair pulled back into a slick bun, showcasing her delicate features and full lips, his spine straightened. It locked tight. Not because he was taken off guard, but because he could see that she was.
She always was.
The last time he’d seen her was when they’d shared a boxing room at the gym, a month ago, and she’d made the mistake of bringing up his missing wife. Even before that, Linc had noticed something about their interactions always felt a little off center.
He searched her eyes across the room, and his words disappeared before he had a chance to speak them, vanishing somewhere in the pit of his throat.
Veda froze in the doorway, eyes wide, growing wider still by the second, riveted to his.
Linc looked down at her shuffling sneakers and up to her bobbing knees. He lingered on her jittery fingers before finally meeting her eyes.
“I’m just here to numb Mr. Masterson for his sutures…” Veda managed. She looked at Eugene, and as her gaze fell to the ‘8’ tattooed on his wrist, she couldn’t seem to tear her eyes away. They widened so much the whites took over. Her nostrils flared. The red undertones in her dark brown skin seemed to glow brighter. Every fidgety bone in her body came to a halt, and she was frozen. “Heard you won’t be needing surgery, Mr. Masterson.” Her voice grew tight as she lifted her eyes to Eugene’s. “Lucky you.”
“Yeah, I’m over the goddamn moon,” Eugene grumbled.
Veda seemed to narrowly avoid rolling her eyes, turning her attention to Linc. “I can come back if you guys are still questioning him.”
Linc swallowed thickly. His lips parted to respond, but when nothing came, he covered them with the beds of his fingers and cleared his throat, chin jutting down.
“We just need another ten minutes,” Sam jumped in, giving Linc a side eye.
“Any chance of finding this guy?” Veda asked.
“We’re working on it.” Sam nodded.
Veda nodded too, and with one more look at Linc, turned to leave the room.
Just as Veda made it to the door, a blond man charged in from the hallway, barreling into the doorway and blocking her exit.
Veda gasped at the unexpected entrant.
He looked young, perhaps in his early twenties. His broad chest heaved wildly under his business suit—which was a few sizes too small. His flexed arms strained against the fabric. The savage scowl curling his full lips and shrinking his blue eyes—which flitted all over the room—tried to add ten years to his face.
Breathing heavy, nostrils flared, he slammed his fists into the plastic door frame when his eyes landed on Eugene, making a boom rumble through the room, loud enough to cause some of the people passing in the hallway behind him to slow their stroll and gaze in curiously.
Fists still tight, he took hold of the doorframe and catapulted himself inside the room, his fiery blue eyes riveted to Eugene.
“You miserable piece of shit!” he screamed.
As he plowed toward the bed, he didn’t seem to notice his massive shoulder bulldozing Veda on the way by, hitting her so hard she tripped over her sneakers, stumbled backward, and fell to the floor, narrowly breaking her fall by pressing her hand into the linoleum. A gasp left her, and after she’d steadied herself, she lifted her hand up and checked her manicure.
At the sight of a broken nail, Veda gasped in horror and looked up at the kid, resentment staining her eyes.
Linc didn’t know when he’d circled the bed and crossed the room, but it happened in a flash. Ripping his badge from around his neck, making the chain jingle, he took the kid around the neck with a growl from the deepest pit of his stomach and forced him back towards the door.
“You’re in a hospital,” Linc spat, pushing him backward, making him trip over his own feet the same way Veda had. Distantly, past his pounding ears, Sam and Veda’s voices ebbed into Linc’s psyche, calling his name, begging, but Linc didn’t relent. “You need to calm the fuck down.”
Unmoved, even as a man twice his size sent him propelling backward, the kid threw his arms out and took hold of the doorframe. His biceps exploded as he fought to stop Linc from pushing him out into the hallway. His feathered, dirty-blonde hair tumbled down into his eyes, and he bared his teeth at Eugene. The tears in his eyes bubbled over and
tumbled down his reddened cheeks.
“You deserved what you got,” the kid bellowed, moaning as he hurled himself forward, leaning into the hand Linc still had clapped around his neck. “They should’ve finished the job!”
The tears jetting down the kid’s face transferred to Linc’s hand. Feeling the moisture racing down his skin, Linc released his neck and instead seized the flaps of his jacket, trying to ease him out the door.
“Let’s relax, alright?” Linc asked, tilting his head to try to catch the kid’s eyes. “Let’s go outside and talk. Just you and me.”
It was as if the kid couldn’t even hear him, his knuckles turning crimson from the hold he kept on the doorframe, his nails digging into the plaster as he continued to fight against Linc. “You told the police I could be a suspect? You sent them to my fucking job interview? Told them I’m a predator?” He jabbed a trembling finger over Linc’s shoulder at Eugene, voice hoarse with emotion. “You’re the predator! I lost out on that job because of you! You will never stop. You will never stop taking from me. Fuck you!”
Tightening his hold on the kid’s jacket, Linc couldn’t help his eyes going over his shoulder and locking onto Eugene. Sam and Veda gazed at Eugene too, every chest in the room heaving from the words their unexpected visitor had just spewed. Side-eyes locked on Eugene from every angle and remained for several heavy moments, waiting for his response.
Eugene remained calm under their scrutinizing looks as if this kid’s explosion was nothing out of the ordinary. Fingers clasped in his lap, he shrugged his shoulders with a snort, eyebrows raised high, lips spread into a condescending smile that grew wider by the second.
“Fuck you, man…” The anger that had previously been setting the kid’s voice on fire fell away as if Eugene’s tranquil manner had defeated him. “Fuck you…”
After a long silence, the kid thrashed out of Linc’s hold, ripping his jacket free before hurrying around the corner and disappearing from sight.
Linc looked over his shoulder and shared a “what the hell was that?” look with Sam. She raised her eyebrows and nodded after the kid.
Tingle (Revenge Book 2) Page 5