Swerve

by Michelle McGriff

  I missed the opportunity to sleep with her…What a thought at a time like this, he realized, feeling his body reacting instantly to the thought of Romia under better circumstances. Her uncommon smile. Her rare laughter. The opportunity to make her his…

  He missed that the most.

  “Aw, Romia, why’d you run?” he asked aloud. His mind was too cluttered with too many thoughts.

  Deciding to wash his troubles down the drain, he headed down the hall toward the bathroom. Stripping down, he stepped into the shower, sudsing up and washing down, dipping his head under the water flow, before shampooing his woolly mess. The water was hot and the bathroom steamy. “Why did you kill Mike? What’s happening to you? Why did you run?” he asked. He leaned into the wall of the stall, feeling the water against his back.

  “Because I had to run,” Romia said then, startling him. He threw open the shower door without thinking.

  “How long have you been standing there?” Keliegh asked before snatching his towel from the bar and wrapping it around himself.

  “Long enough to know you doubt me,” she said.

  He stepped completely from the shower now. “I would never doubt you. How long have you been standing there?” It was obvious she’d been watching him shower. The glass was marbled, but she could see his body. He wondered now for a moment if perhaps tonight they would find comfort in each other’s arms. But Romia said nothing. It was as if seeing him naked had not even affected her as a woman. “Why’d you come here if you think I’m not your friend?”

  She looked around nervously and then back at him. “I’m tired,” she admitted. “And—”

  “And you’re scared?” He wrapped a towel around his middle.

  “No,” she answered quickly.

  She was lying. Keliegh could see it in her eyes, but didn’t push it. She looked tired and dirty. He fanned his hand toward the running water. “You wanna? I mean, you might as well, just in case someone is listening from outside to the water running. I mean, I’m normally in there a lot longer.”

  “They’re still out there watching you, I see, well, at least one car,” Romia said, sounding serious as usual. All business, that was Romia. “They probably followed you all day. Not sure if you were gone long enough for them to bug this place but they coulda…Nah, they woulda been in here by now if they had bugged you,” she rambled, sounding suspicious and disjointed.

  “But then again, that’s if they are even cops. I have to wonder, ya know.” She’d stepped out to the hall suspiciously before moving back into the bathroom. She pulled off her jacket and hoodie underneath. Keliegh moved out of her way while she began to undress. He noticed her torn hoodie and the nick on her arm. “Things are coming together in my head. I was at the church and some crazy stuff ran through my head—”

  “Do you need me to, um,” Keliegh stammered, pointing toward the hallway, fighting his erection as she slid down the strap of her bra.

  “You can turn around,” she answered, still holding a straight face.

  “Oh, yeah,” he said, turning his back to her while she got naked. He knew she was naked because he could see her from the corner of his eye in the mirror over the sink. He tried not to watch, but he couldn’t help it. She was so beautiful—her Mediterranean coloring. The way her dark hair fell between her shoulder blades nearly drove him over the edge. Her small waist and long legs…

  Former partner or not, Romia was still a woman and he was still a man and tonight she was all woman and more. She showered quickly, sudsing up and rinsing off, copying him by dipping her head under the water flow as well. She didn’t shampoo her hair, however, but simply rinsed it. He watched her through the mirror’s reflection. She then shut the water off.

  Thinking quickly, he grabbed his robe off the back of the door and reaching backward handed it to her.

  “You can turn around now,” she said before her eyes glanced downward. Finally, as if just noticing his erection tenting the towel, she blushed slightly. She quickly picked up her clothing, walking past him into the dark hallway.

  Keliegh couldn’t keep the embarrassment and naughty grin from flashing across his face. “Sorry about that. Hey.”

  She turned to him before heading into his bedroom.

  “How do you get in here?” he asked, impressed again with her talents of getting in and out of his apartment unnoticed. He clicked off his bedroom light and peeked out the curtain to see who he might see staking out his place. The area looked clear and the streetlight shone through the slats of the blinds helping him to see Romia fairly easily in the room.

  “I don’t know. I just…walked in,” she answered. “I’ve always been good at it. People see what they expect to see. They are out there waiting to see me, yet when they do, they don’t. Get me? It’s just too obvious for their brains to comprehend. I asked my sensei about it and he told me I had a gift for the optical illusion.”

  “Well, you’re damn good,” he admitted before turning back to her. She was sitting on his bed now, untangling her under-garments from her clothing. Again an erection formed. She didn’t seem to notice this time. Keliegh couldn’t control his feelings tonight, but he knew he’d have to get a grip. He had questions that needed answers. Turning from her, he pulled on his sweats, dropping the towel to the floor and adjusting himself the best way he could.

  “Hey, aren’t you gonna ask me how I got my helmet and jacket back?” she said, pointing to the helmet that lay on the floor by his bedroom door, showing that she’d been in his room. He could only figure she’d gotten there before him, perhaps arriving earlier that evening.

  “I didn’t know you didn’t have it.”

  “Yeah, the Shadow took it,” she said.

  Her words sounded sincere, yet Keliegh flinched at the content of them. “Shadow?”

  “Yeah, I told you last night; dude was waiting for me when I came from The Spot. He was behind the bar by my bike, we tussled, he popped my chops, and then I heard the scream. Oh, yeah, another thing, I never heard the shot. Did anyone even hear a flippin’ shot?”

  “Aston apparently said he did.”

  “He’s a damn liar then,” Romia cursed, catching Keliegh off guard. “Because there was no shot. There was no way that dude was shot!”

  “What? Romia, now come on, I was there too, baby. I saw the body. He was shot. He was bloody.”

  “No.” Romia fanned her hand over her belongings. “I saw him today. He gave me back my jacket. Somebody that night took my bike and my jacket and the Shadow took my helmet and, well, look, I’ve got it all back! So it wasn’t the cops, and, oh, yeah, did anybody get my piece? Was it checked for powder? Check it for powder…well, on second thought, somebody’s probably fired it by now, considering all this is just a damn setup.” She cursed on, sounding less and less like the Romia he knew. “If my piece even makes it to evidence.”

  Keliegh was worried now. Was Romia really losing it? Could she be as crazy as they said? When she fled the night before, she had on her jacket and her helmet, and was on her bike. When had she lost those things and regained them? And of course her gun was in evidence. Maxwell Huntington had it that night during the interrogation. “Romia, when’s the last time you slept?”

  “I got in about three hours at Tommy’s.”

  “Your place is trashed. Did you do that?”

  “Why would I do that? When would I do that?” she asked.

  “Dunno. Maybe you were looking for something.”

  Her eyes were wide. He could see that, even in the dimly lit room.

  “Why would I trash my place looking for something?” Romia asked. “Them jokers that followed me to The Spot musta done it. You are not listening. I said I saw the guy everybody thinks I shot. I’m debating meeting with the IA guy. I mean, this is big.” She spoke excitedly, although in a quiet voice. “Keliegh, it was those dudes at The Spot. They killed Mike and I killed them for killing Mike. They had accents.”

  Keliegh put caution to the wind now and walked
over to where Romia was sitting. He put his hands on her shoulders firmly. “Romia, baby, you’re not making sense. You’re in trouble and I wanna help you, but you gotta make sense.”

  She pushed his hands off as if dusting her shoulders. “Listen to me, I know what I saw! Today I saw him and that chick who was screaming. He had blood on his shirt and she had on the same dress and everything. I tried to get up the hill to talk to him but I couldn’t catch them because they split on a bike. I think it was a Harley but…” She sounded manic now. “But he left my jacket and check this out. I went to the church to eat and guess what I saw on the ceiling.” She began looking through her clothing for the tapestry. Thats right, it was gone. “I can’t find it, but it was on the ceiling of the church. Why would there be pictures of a phoenix on the ceiling of a church, for goodness sake. It must mean something. I mean, I was drawn there and I remember my mother taking me there as a child and it must mean something.” She rambled on, still looking for the tapestry, not accepting that she’d lost it.

  Keliegh squatted down in front of her. He wanted to hold her. He knew she needed to be held but he didn’t dare. He just rested his hands on her bare thighs, wanting to explore higher. He wanted to be inside her right now. Not for the orgasm, but for the peace. He wanted to give her peace and calm. She needed it.

  “Something weird is happening to me…”

  Just then, his cell phone rang. He looked in the direction of the phone and then back at her. She nodded. He stood and left the room to answer it.

  “What’s up?” he asked.

  It was Tommy. “Don’t know where to start.”

  “Start? Start at the start.”

  “To start, Romia killed a buncha people today!

  “Yeah,” Keliegh said in nearly a whisper.

  “Yeah, that and uh…you’re not suspended.”

  “What the hell?”

  “That’s what I said. Just heard Captain ranting and raving around here about you not calling in.”

  “That’s bull. I’m calling the captain myself. They told me I was suspended.”

  “They who?”

  “That Maxwell cat, I told you that! Better yet, I’m on my way in,” Keliegh said, reaching for a shirt that hung on the back of a dinette chair. “I’ma bring—”

  “No, now wait; you say this cat, Maxwell What’s-His-Name told you that you were suspended?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, nobody knows who that cat is. IA is headed up by some dude named Roberson. I checked that, too.”

  “Okay, but what about the shooting last night at The Spot? Where is the body?”

  “Nobody seems to know about that, either.”

  “What about Hank and Aston?”

  “I never did see Aston. Aston never did show up and now, poof, can’t get my hands on Hank either. No reports. Nothing happened, and I can’t find Aston or Hank to confirm anything.”

  “Okay, so you’re trying to tell me that this is some big hoax or gag? What about today? Mike…I just went out there to The Spot. Mike’s dead!”

  “Oh, he’s dead all right. I got that verified for sure. Now that news is all over the joint—with Romia’s name in the same sentence.”

  “Yeah, but Rome said—”

  “You’ve spoken to her?”

  By then Keliegh had walked back into his bedroom to let Romia know he was talking to Tommy and that they were both prepared to help her. But she was gone. There wasn’t a trace of her. There was just an opened window. “Shit!” He stomped his foot in frustration looking around, under the bed, in the closet. “No,” Keliegh lied, sounding instantly deflated.

  “Where is she, Keli?”

  “She didn’t do it,” was all he could say.

  “She was in my place last night,” Tommy said.

  “Yeah, so?”

  “So! I went home and guess what? My place was trashed, tossed, and otherwise destroyed.”

  “What were they looking for?”

  “Who is they? It was her. She’s nuts, Kel. Maybe she was just pissed at me for interrupting your little shower thing. Just like she killed Mike for giving her the wrong drink. I heard about it…”

  “Come on, Tommy, she’s not shallow like that and there was no shower thing. Besides, her place was trashed too.”

  “Maybe she trashed her own place and then mine. The cushions were ripped to shreds as if someone took a knife to them. It was like a crazy maniac jealous bitch took a knife to them. Look, she could really be nuts.”

  “Are you on a drug? What the hell is wrong with you? I never knew you hated her so much.”

  “I don’t hate her, but look, you could be in danger. You’re my partner, and I don’t care if it was your mother—nobody is gonna…” Tommy seemed to catch her words. “I’m getting in this thing. If nothing else to keep you safe, whether I like it or not.”

  “I’m sorry, Tommy, I’m sorry about all this,” Keliegh said, rubbing his head. “But I can’t have—”

  “Sorry? No. Don’t ‘sorry’ me out of this. I know what you’re about to say, but no.”

  “Fine! But if you’re going to ‘help’ you have to believe she’s innocent!”

  “No, I don’t. I have to believe in what’s right and pursue that. If she falls on the wrong side of it then there ya go. But for now, nothing seems right and I can’t work with that.”

  Just then he heard a noise coming from outside his condominium. It was the sound of an engine shutting off. The unmarked car had just returned from somewhere. What kind of surveillance is that? What’d he do, leave for donuts? “Hang on, Tommy,” he blurted, tossing the phone on the couch and marching out of his house toward the parked car. The man inside looked at him as if suddenly nervous. Keliegh had never seen him before. He wasn’t from his own precinct, nor did he look like anyone he’d seen at his uncle’s precinct.

  Keliegh grabbed at the locked door. “Open the door! Open it, you mother!”

  “What? What?” the man asked, lowering the window slightly. Keliegh could hear Top Forty music coming from his radio. He was nowhere near set up for police surveillance.

  “Who are you? Why are you watching my place?”

  “I’m a security guard. I work at the mall. I took this gig for some moonlighting money.”

  “What? Who hired you?”

  “Some dude. I don’t know his name,” he explained.

  “Big black guy?” Keliegh asked, jerking at the door again.

  “Maybe…maybe,” the guy answered, holding tight to his side of the door. “He told me to watch your place and then he’d check in with me periodically to get a report. He told me to leave when you leave and follow you around. So I did. But I took a little, you know, break. Had to go…you know. Too much coffee, I guess,” the guy explained.

  Keliegh slammed his hand on the window forcefully. “Get outta the car!”

  “What? Hell no.”

  “I said, get outta the car!” Keliegh barked.

  Instead of obeying, the guy started the car and peeled off, causing Keliegh to spin off the car and stumble a little bit. Catching his balance, Keliegh stomped and spit. “Shit!”

  Storming back into his place, he knew he had to call Tommy back now. He’d screwed up. There was no doubt. He’d let Romia get away and it was more than clear now that nothing was what it was appearing to be.

  Stepping inside and slamming the door behind him, he glanced over at his sofa, noticing the shadowy figure sitting there. The man reminded him quickly of the pictures he’d seen of ninjas. Surely this wasn’t a true ninja. Was it? With all the other crazy shit going on, he could only hope not. Keliegh immediately took assessment of his mind and his weapon…neither was where he wanted them to be. Suddenly, he remembered Romia’s description of the man who attacked her behind the tavern.

  “You’re the Shadow?”

  “Nice name. You make that up?” the man asked, jumping to his feet and taking a fighting stance. Keliegh was a sharp shooter, not a fighter. This wasn’
t gonna be pretty, he could tell.

  “You are so going to kick my ass, huh?” Keliegh asked.

  The Shadow chuckled wickedly.

  Chapter 21

  Tommy loudly explained that she was leaving to follow a lead she had on a case she was working. She’d been talking in a low volume to Keliegh, hoping nobody had been paying attention, because she didn’t want them to know what she and Keliegh were up to. They were flying solo on this case and not sure what side they were fighting for: Romia’s or the law.

  “Turner, meeting, let’s go!” The captain snapped his fingers as he stepped from the glass elevator that brought him down from the second-floor perch. Everyone hated this new addition to their building. If the captain didn’t feel as though he was a demigod before he sure did now, with the way he could look out over the low sides of the balcony above. He would watch without anyone really noticing until it was usually too late. The captain pointed toward muster room three.

  “But I was…” Tommy sighed, realizing she was talking to the back of his head as the short man headed down the hall.

  In the meeting room

  “Okay, everyone, listen up. I know this is really a tough one, but it has to be done. We got a swerve on our hands and so our duty as officers of the law is to pick her up and bring her in. No heroics, and by the book,” the captain said, aiming his comment toward Aston. Tommy realized then he was present.

  “At this point, we’ve had IA dentify the folks killed at The Spot and, unfortunately, they were not from our neighborhood. They were dignitaries from the government of a friendly country just out for a stroll,” the captain went on. Everyone groaned as if realizing the political implications.

  “So, folks, this case is no longer entirely in our hands. IA is working with foreign secret service to get this thing taken care of before it escalates to…” the captain looked around as if searching for a word to represent how bad this could get. “Whatever,” he said instead. “So for them to play their political games, and since officer Romia Smith is one of our own, we’ve been asked to bring her in for them. Now, with that said, it is not gonna be easy. She’s on the fly and—”