Violence of the Father (A Trinity of Death Romantic Suspense Series Book 2)
Page 13
“For the record,” she says, taking a deep breath. “I was in on that whole plan.”
“Were you?” I tease. I kiss her temple, despite knowing that I shouldn’t. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
She wraps her arms around my waist and presses her face against my chest. Her body begins to shake, so I set the gun down and rub her back.
Nothing is going to be okay, but that can change with time.
* * *
I once had a case where a Buddhist monk was killed. While interviewing his fellow monks, one of them asked me what I most wanted out of life. He was troubled when I couldn’t name anything, but I spend a lot of time since then, wondering about his question. Happiness is an obvious answer, but if happiness was really my goal, I don’t think I would be a policeman.
And now a father is dead by his own hand, three forensic scientists were killed, two more victims were killed, and a serial killer was killed by my hand. I still have a serial killer on the loose, and my girlfriend of the last five months has broken up with me. If my goal in life is to be happy, I am failing so miserably, I might as well not be trying.
“Are you going to change out of your clothes at some point?” Lauren asks, as I step down to the sidewalk in front of the police station. I check my shirt—stained with blood from Patrick’s suicide—and then look back up at her.
“Nah. It freaks out Captain Mattinson and keeps him away from me. I managed to fill out my papers for everything that happened without him bothering me once.”
“Well, he did say he was leaving after our killer for Glenn and Philip were found, so I guess he gets to leave this mess,” she says.
“Do you want to leave it?” I ask. “I mean, if you had a job offer somewhere else, would you leave?”
“No,” she says. “I would never leave a serial killer to some future detective. We know this case better than anyone and we’re going to solve it.”
“You keep saying that.”
“I also keep believing it.”
I cross my arms over my chest, the blood on my shirt spreading from the physical contact. Since she had cried after I shot Christopher Lush, she’s returned to acting like we need to keep our relationship platonic. I should know it was too much for me to hope that she would change her mind after a life-altering moment, but I suppose her optimism has rubbed off on me too.
"Some officers went to Patrick White's house," she says. "Apparently, Christopher watched over Bobby and some of Patrick's other kids while Patrick was working, and Christopher convinced Bobby that Julia was the one dragging the body to the baseball field."
"He was very smart," I say. "I don't want to know what that means about this guy, The Son."
"It means we're one step closer to finding him," she says. "His two accomplices are finished. He has to come out in the open now."
"And how many people have to die while he does that?"
"We'll catch him before he kills," she says.
I shake my head and look away from her.
“My apartment was done being investigated this morning, so I’m going to go home and shower for an hour,” I say. “Hopefully, I won’t find any of Patrick White’s brain in any of my orifices because the image of it against the wall is already more than I can take. But Christopher Lush’s death doesn’t really bother me. Maybe it just hasn’t kicked in yet.”
“Tobias, you know you can still confide in me,” Lauren says.
“I did confide in you,” I say. “About my ex-girlfriend’s miscarriage. And you brushed it off.”
“I didn’t mean to make it seem like it was unimportant,” she says. “I just don’t want something like that holding you back from what you want.”
“You don’t know what I want,” I say. “And I know that you don’t know what I want because I don’t know what I want. Lauren…you should go home, too. There’s nothing left for us to do today. Everyone will be done investigating by tomorrow morning and journalists will be swarming us to find out what happened with Patrick White’s death and Christopher Lush’s.”
“I’m going to stay here,” she says. “I just needed some fresh air. I need to look over all of Christopher Lush’s information, see who he’s been in contact with, all of it. The same day that we sent Mary Fitzgerald to prison, Christopher or this other serial killer left a body for us to find. I need to find this third guy before another murder is committed.”
I shake my head. “Half a day isn’t going to make a difference, especially after what we witnessed. It’s going to bother you and you’re not going to get anything done.”
“Just go, Tobias,” she says, walking back up to the station. “Try to get some rest. I’ll call you if I find anything significant.”
The door snaps shut behind her. I would have preferred if she slammed it shut.
I take out my cell phone, wanting to reach out to someone—anyone—and have a conversation that isn’t carried by confusion and stress, but there isn’t anybody for me to call. I’ve never had a close relationship with anyone.
It’s amazing Lauren tolerated me for this long. I turn and walk away from the station. At least I have my apartment back, although I’ll have to be on the lookout for anybody strange lingering in the building. We would normally have another police officer watching out for me in a case like this, but we don’t have any concrete proof that there’s a third serial killer involved. In fact, for all we know, this third person hasn’t killed anybody.
We could just have an accessory-before-the-fact asshole.
As I’m about to open my car door, there’s a noise so loud that I feel like my eardrums are broken. But they can’t be broken because I can hear the sound of concrete crashing to the ground. As I turn around, dust is already flooding the street and consuming the back half of the police station.
Somebody set off a bomb.
“Lauren!” I scream. “Lauren!”
* * *
Find out what happens in the final book of this series.
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About the Author
Charlotte Raine is a best selling romantic suspense author. She lives near Vail, Colorado with her cat Jackson. If she isn’t writing her next novel she is skiing, meditating, gardening or chatting up the locals at her favorite coffee shops. If you are ever in the high country of Colorado look for her at Yeti’s Grind or Loaded Joe’s.
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A Trinity of Death (Romantic Suspense)
Do You Want To Play (Prequel)
Voice of the Spirit
Violence of the Father
Vengeance of the Son
Titanium Blood Series (Paranormal Romance)
Blood Family
Blood Run
Blood Honor
Blood Bound
Blood Oath
Blood Rite
Grace Ellery Series
Teacher Beware - FREE
Disturbed Mind
Grant & Daniels Series
Midnight Sun
Devil’s Dawn
Blood Moon
Complete Series Box Set
The Gun Runner - Short Story Series
Major Threat
Trigger Point
Safe At Last
Complete Series Box Set
Use the links below to find me online…
@crainebooks
ILoveRomanticSuspense
www.charlotteraine.com
crainebooks@gmail.com
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