Terraformed Skies

by Anna Lewis

  A clean up truck pulled in just then, and Lilly glared at the man. He hopped out, his wide, toothy grin almost too much to handle.

  “I see you’re your normal, perky self, Lilly,” Dave Walsh said.

  “And I see you’re still making money off the misfortune of others.”

  “Hey, someone has to clean up the murder scenes when the department is done working, and my clients pay top dollar to get it done quickly.”

  “Come on, Lilly. We’re done here.”

  “Bye guys,” Dave said, his smile mocking. “It’s been a pleasure as always.”

  “I hate him,” Lilly said as they drove away.

  “Where to now, Boss?”

  “Any luck with the video feed yet?”

  “I’m thinking no. Lilly, it’s not even lunch time yet. No one has been in the office for more than a few hours since the last time you grilled them about their progress.”

  “You’re right. I just feel like so much more time has passed. I want to be done with this so we can move on.”

  “Man, oh man,” Adam said, chuckling softly.

  “What?”

  “You. You’re so frustrated.”

  “This case is important, and it’s such a—”

  “Not, that kind of frustrated. Sexual frustration. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you like this. It’s refreshing,”

  “Refreshing? Are you kidding me right now?”

  “It’s like you’re almost human. It’s a nice change from the typically perfect Lilly that we’re all so used to.”

  “You’re an ass, Adam.”

  “And you’re in love. Or at least in lust.”

  “It doesn’t matter. I have a job to do, and there’s nothing that’s going to stop me.”

  “Maybe not. But I hope for your sake that Jason isn’t the guy.”

  “You don’t think I can handle it?”

  “It’s not you I’m worried about.”

  “What is it then?”

  “The rest of the world. If this is how you act when you’ve had sex in the last twenty-four hours, I don’t want to see you desperate.”

  Lilly groaned.

  “I’m done with this day and this conversation.”

  “Suit yourself.”

  “Let’s go check on our star witness.”

  “That sounds like a great idea. Where did he end up going?”

  “Pinewood Spa.”

  “Spa?”

  “That’s the new thing now. Instead of calling it what it is, they call it a spa.”

  “Great. Well, let’s check this spa out.”

  Lilly punched the accelerator and eased onto the highway, heading east towards Arlington.

  “Should we call ahead?” Adam asked.

  “No way. Let’s surprise our golden boy and see what he has to say.”

  “A woman after my own heart. I like it.”

  “I just think we’ll get more out of him if he’s not ready for us.”

  “Amen to that.”

  He was grinning ear to ear.

  “You live for this, don’t you?” Lilly asked, regarding him out of the corner of her eye while she drove down the highway.

  “I do. Interviewing a witness, especially one I don’t trust, really gets my adrenaline pumping. I can’t wait to trip them up and catch them in a lie. It really is my favorite part.

  “I can see that.”

  “What’s your favorite part?”

  She took a deep breath.

  “My favorite part is when we catch the murderer.”

  ***

  “What do you mean he’s gone?” Lilly ground out.

  The man at the reception desk was flustered, trying to keep his composure while he searched the database for the answers Lilly was demanding.

  “I’m sorry, Ma’am—”

  “Detective,” Lilly corrected.

  “I’m sorry, Detective. He was a voluntary guest, so he was able to sign himself out.”

  “And when did that happen?”

  “He was here about thirty minutes.”

  Lilly pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to keep her temper under control. Tom had played them. He’d checked in, waited for the officer to leave, then had someone come pick him up. Where he’d gone from there was anyone’s guess, but Lilly was certain that he’d gone to ground and would be nearly impossible to find.

  “Great, just great,” she muttered. Turning her attention back to the receptionist, she asked him, “Did he leave any forwarding information, or do you have the name of the person that came to get him?”

  “No, Detective. This isn’t a mental health facility. People come here because they want to beat an addiction. Our entire premise is that they have the power over themselves and the addiction. That starts from the moment they check in until they leave. We don’t question them.”

  “So someone can come here, say that they’re an alcoholic and need help and then just leave and you say nothing?”

  “We tell them that we’ll be here when they’re ready and we’re proud of them for taking the first step, you know, by coming up here and all.”

  “That’s ridiculous.”

  Lilly spun on her heel, walking out of the lobby and storming towards the car. The receptionist gave Adam a pleading look. Adam responded by shrugging and walking away.

  He caught up with Lilly in the parking lot.

  “I can’t believe how careless they are.”

  “I get it, Lilly, I do. But you can’t blame them. They don’t work for us and they don’t have the same priorities.”

  “Of course they don’t. But what if he’d been drunk? Would they have let him drive?”

  “I doubt it, but we won’t ever know.”

  Lilly got into the car, taking one last look at the building, which looked like a high-end spa.

  “Where to now?” Adam asked.

  “I’m dropping you off, then I’m going to go talk to Jason.”

  “Do you think that’s a good idea?”

  “Probably not, but I need to explain. I also want to ask him why Tom would accuse him of murder and then disappear.”

  “I wonder what he’ll have to say to that.”

  “I don’t know, but it will be easier for me to get a read on him if we’re face to face. And if I show up at his house, he’ll already have his guard down.”

  “Nothing could possibly go wrong then,” Adam teased.

  “Shut up. Seriously. I’ve got this under control. I’ve got myself under control. It won’t happen again.”

  “Good luck with that,” he said, and he sounded sincere.

  “What are you going to do?”

  “First, I’m going to see how Trent is getting on with the video evidence. Then, I’m going to try and find Tom and see if I can flush him out. He couldn’t have gotten far, and he seemed like a guy who has already burned all his bridges. I doubt that he has people lining up to help him, so the lists of possible places he’s hiding can’t be long.”

  “His girlfriend is probably a good place to start.”

  “Exactly. I have her name and contact info in my notes. I’ll give her a call and see if she has any ideas.”

  “I bet she’ll give him up in a heartbeat. I’d be sick of his shit if I were her.”

  “Or, his sob story and the fact that he’s convinced his life is in danger will complicate things further. This might be just the thing he needed to rekindle their relationship.”

  “That would throw a wrench in things.”

  “That’s what I was thinking.”

  “Maybe you can turn on the Tremaine charm and flirt the information out of her.”

  “I’ll do my best. But you know as well as I do, once they get it in their head that we’re the bad guys, it’s almost impossible to get anything out of them.”

  Lilly’s hands gripped the steering wheel, knuckles white in frustration.

  “I can’t believe that we let him slip away.”

  “We can’t put a security de
tail on a guy that’s that wishy-washy. Sarge wouldn’t have approved it, and there’s not enough funding for a babysitting detail in a situation like that. I know you think we should have found a better way, but with Tom being fall down drunk daily, we really don’t know what we have in the way of evidence. He wasn’t worth the risk and there was no way to know he was a flight risk.”

  “I know, I’m just frustrated. I don’t even believe him.”

  “I noticed.”

  “I don’t know how to explain it. But I know Jason didn’t do it.”

  “It’s your gut.”

  “I don’t go with my gut. I deal in facts and evidence. Letting your emotions rule you is a recipe for disaster.”

  Lilly took a deep breath, trying to sort everything out. Her entire case was going to shit and they hadn’t been able to anticipate anything to try and stop it. If they didn’t solve this one, it was going to make the department look incompetent and Brook Ridge’s first female detective was going to be out of a job.

  “If it’s any consolation, my gut is telling me the same thing with Jason. The guy is genuine. There aren’t many good people out there, and he’s definitely one of the few. I don’t think he had anything to do with it.”

  He looked at Lilly, but she kept her eyes on the road. Adam watched her hands as she clenched and unclenched.

  He sighed.

  “You can’t win them all, Lilly. Life in Homicide gets easier when you accept that.”

  “I don’t want to accept that. It might not be today, but we’re going to solve this case and the next one and the next. I’m not giving up on this. Leroy deserves closure.”

  Lilly pulled into the garage and let Adam out next to his car.

  “I’ll text you as soon as I have something. Get some rest. Tomorrow, we’ll look at this with fresh eyes and start from scratch. There’s something there, we’re just overlooking it. We’ll find Tom and we’ll find Leroy’s killer. You just have to have faith in the system.”

  “I do.”

  Adam smiled at her.

  “A little faith in me would be nice, too.”

  Lilly smiled back at him.

  “Fine. I trust you.”

  “I’m the best partner you’ve ever had; you’d better trust me.”

  “You’re the only partner I’ve ever had, and that’s because no one else wanted to have a female partner.”

  “Their loss. The view is nice.”

  “You’re a mess,” she said, laughing at his joke.

  “But I made you laugh. It’s a good look for you, you should do it more often.”

  “I’ve gotta get out of here. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  “Will do.”

  Adam waved her off and jogged inside to grab his notes.

  Lilly drove through the streets, taking the scenic route to Jason’s house. More than once, she decided seeing Jason was a terrible idea and almost turned to drive to her house. But something tugged at her.

  “Don’t be a wuss, Lilly. You’re just going to ask him a few questions; nothing more,” she said out loud, but she knew she was lying to herself.

  She wanted to see him. Sure, she’d ask him those questions. But a big part of her was completely unwilling to believe that he was anything but innocent.

  And there was the matter of breaking off—

  Breaking off what, exactly? They weren’t dating; they’d just slept together. Maybe she was overthinking it. Was it possible that Jason had no interest beyond casual sex? If that was the case, not only would she be walking into to an embarrassing conversation, but her ego would be bruised. She’d jumped into bed willingly, but she wasn’t a one night stand kind of woman. If she told him that she couldn’t be in a relationship right now and he laughed at her, she didn’t know what she would do.

  Her cheeks colored at the thought, and she kicked herself mentally for falling into bed with him so soon. What had she been thinking?

  Too soon, Lilly was on Jason’s street, just blocks away from his home. It was too late to turn back now.

  She parked, jogging up the steps and knocking on the door. She held her breath, listening for footsteps on the other side of the door. When the locks tumbled and Jason opened the door, she sucked in a quick breath and smiled before she could stop herself.

  “Lilly, hi. I wasn’t expecting you.” He stepped back. “Please, come in.”

  “Sorry I didn’t call before. I was in the neighborhood and thought I’d stop by. Is it a bad time?”

  “No, of course not. Have a seat. I’ll be ready in a minute.”

  He was fresh from the shower, damp, and wearing only a towel. She watched him walk down the hall, towel slung low on chiseled hips. She could feel the heat rising inside her already.

  This conversation was going to be harder than she thought.

  ***

  Jason came back into the living room, still smelling of a manly body wash with a hint of lime. Lilly inhaled deeply without realizing it, stopping abruptly when she caught herself.

  Jason’s bare feet padded softly on the plush carpet, his strong hands running through his damp hair as he looked at her, sitting on his couch. Plaid pajama pants clung to his hips, and his chest was still bare.

  “I wasn’t expecting to see you so soon. Especially after you blocked my number.”

  Lilly’s cheeks turned pink, but she didn’t bother denying it. After the first text, she’d panicked and blocked his number to give herself time to think.

  “I wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t texted you a couple hours ago about Tom. But hey, I get it. I came on too strong and I’m sorry about that. I just really like you, Lilly.”

  “Why were you texting me about Tom?”

  Jason laughed.

  “I guess you’re just going to ignore that I poured my heart out to you?”

  “I heard you, but what about Tom?”

  “I was texting to ask if you’d seen him,” he said, his voice changing, eyes narrowing with concern. “I wondered if you knew where he was, because Coach was flipping out over not being able to find him. Did something happen to him?”

  His eyes grew wide and Lilly instantly waved away his fears.

  “No,” she said, “he’s not dead or anything like that. I actually came here to talk to you about Tom. And about us.”

  “So there is an us,” he retorted.

  “I wouldn’t say that, but I have to talk to you about what happened.”

  “You regret it?”

  “No. Nothing like that. I’m really busy with this case and I really need to wrap it up before—”

  “Don’t give me a line and blow me off. Be honest with me. If you’re not interested, just say so. It’s okay. You’re not the first woman to sleep with me and run.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, really. That happens to guys too. More than you would imagine. Just because I play rough on the field doesn’t mean I’m a playboy. I love deep and fall hard. I see it’s backfired on me again.”

  “Jason, if you would just let me finish, it’s really not that at all. I like you. I’m not trying to blow you off.”

  “Then, what is it? Just tell me. I’m not some child you have to coddle.”

  “The department has rules,” she began after taking a deep breath. “You weren’t a suspect at the time, and not involved in the case, but—”

  “At the time? Does that mean I’m a suspect now?”

  “Please, let me finish. But, I still crossed a line sleeping with you while the investigation was still ongoing. I should have waited, but things got out of hand.”

  “Is that how you’d describe it?”

  She ignored him and continued on. She had to get what she wanted to say off her chest or she would never get it out.

  “And now, there’s a hiccup in the case and if my boss finds out, I could lose my job.”

  “So I am a suspect now.”

  It wasn’t a question.

  “Yes and no. Tom identified you as the man he s
aw leaving the locker room the day Leroy was killed. And, you were covered in blood.”

  “No I wasn’t. I wasn’t there and I have an alibi that checked out.”

  “I know that, but alibis have been known to lie.”

  “So you’re going to take Tom’s word over mine? You know he’s an alcoholic, right?”

  “That’s where the issue comes in. We’re working on repairing the damaged security footage, and DNA is in the lab and will be here in a week or so. Even without alcohol as a contributing factor, eye-witnesses are notoriously unreliable. Add to that the fact that Tom admits that he was completely blitzed out of his mind when he saw you, and it’s easy for me to believe that he’s either wrong, or he’s got an ulterior motive. Either way, I don’t believe him.”

  Relief spread across his face almost instantly.

  “You don’t believe him?”

  “No. One, your alibi was rock-solid. Two, I’ve been dealing with homicides for a long time. You develop a bit of a sense about people.”

  “Your gut is telling you that it’s not me.”

  “Would you people forget about my gut. There’s a perfectly logical explanation and it has nothing to do with mythical intuition.”

  Jason smiled, his grin lopsided and warm.

  “What?” Lilly asked.

  “It’s really sexy when you do that.”

  “What?”

  “Try to explain away your feelings using science. It’s alright to have emotions and to follow your intuition.”

  “I’d rather deal in facts than feelings.”

  “Of course. But there’s something to be said about a balance of both.”

  “Science always trumps feelings.”

  “If you say so. You didn’t seem to think that yesterday.”

  Lilly blushed.

  “I love it when you blush like that. It’s in complete opposition of your tough exterior.”

  “It’s a physiological weakness that causes me a lot of issues.”

  “It’s adorable and endearing and sexy as hell.”

  “If you say so.”

  Jason stared at her for a moment, then sighed heavily.

  “I suppose you have to take me in, even though you don’t think I did it.”

  “Actually, I’m not sure where we’re going with that.”