The Deadly Thief (Stolen Hearts Book 7)

by Mallory Crowe

  Toni looked questioningly at Hunter and he just shrugged. “I wasn’t exactly invited to see the organization chart.”

  “Well then. This has changed from an attempted murder investigation to a full-blown murder.”

  Gabby really wished Toni didn’t seem so happy about that.

  Hunter looked over the crime scene and frowned. It would’ve been easier to do this if the judge was still here, but the coroner had long since taken the body away. Considering he’d already been to the police department, he couldn’t pass himself off as a cop or talk his way into the crime scene. So an afterhours, more subtle investigation was called for.

  He started at the most obvious spot. In the library, where the large rust-colored stain was spread out on the expensive carpet.

  Though he wasn’t able to insert himself into the investigation, Gage had access to the police records and knew plenty of the gruesome details. Cooke had been shot point-blank. From what the police could tell, he’d been on his knees at the time. He’d been executed.

  Which was telling. Hunter thought back to the man who had come after Gabby. He thought back to the men he’d killed. Never once had he ordered someone on their knees before doing the deed. He did what needed to be done as soon as possible. Ordering someone around and ramping up that fear was for a different reason. It was to assert dominance and to make the victim as scared as possible. It was personal.

  Usually people thought personal crimes meant fifty stab wounds or a brutal beating before the murder. But sometimes the simple crimes were the coldest.

  Whoever did this hated Cooke and wanted him to suffer before death. The police were looking into the various criminals Cooke had put behind bars, but because a lot of the crime in Brighton wasn’t too bad, he hadn’t dealt with a lot of violent criminals. Which, on one hand, made the suspect list small, but also not very promising.

  Hunter didn’t know whether he’d be able to find anything that the police had missed, but he didn’t want to rely on an untried police force to take care of it.

  The house was a behemoth for a man who lived alone. From what Toni had said, the judge had had two previous marriages: his high school sweetheart who he’d had two kids with and the younger woman he’d left his first wife for. Both marriages ended in divorce, leaving the man living alone with too much money.

  The house would take hours to search properly, especially considering Hunter didn’t have a particular direction to work toward. But the guy was killed in the library, so that seemed like a good place to start. Hunter walked around the desk and took everything in, checking to see whether there were any hidden nooks or crannies that would be the best place to look first.

  Unfortunately, it was just a normal desk. So he sat down in the chair and opened each drawer. He was halfway through looking at each of the pieces of paper in the drawer when the phone in his pocket started to vibrate. He debated ignoring it but figured that wouldn’t make anything better.

  “Yeah?” He already knew who was on the other end.

  “Are you trying to say something to me?” asked an annoyed Gage on the other end.

  “Silence is golden,” said Hunter dryly as he continued his search.

  “You know I’m not big on the whole talking thing either. But with you running off without telling anyone in the first place, you’re already on thin ice with Toni. So I thought the fact that you parked your girlfriend with Toni and brought me along was a good step. But you have this fancy ass earpiece that would allow us to keep in touch that I see you neglected to use, which has relegated me to using this ancient ass phone. I can’t tell you enough how much I hate talking, literally. I don’t want to talk to you that much, but I still find myself here wanting an explanation from you.”

  Hunter pinched the bridge of his nose and decided pointing out how much Gage had just spoken wouldn’t be productive. “I forgot.”

  “Bullshit you forgot. You’re so detail-oriented it’s infuriating. Don’t lie to my face.”

  “Your face isn’t here.”

  “Do you want me to lose my temper? I feel like you want me to lose my temper.”

  “No, Gage. I’m very, very sorry for having an attitude. Please don’t lose your temper,” he said sarcastically.

  There was silence on the other end, and Hunter wondered whether Gage was about to abandon his spot as a lookout to come in here and kick his ass. Or at least try to.

  “Put your damn earpiece in,” he said finally.

  Hunter wasn’t a great talker either, but it was so out of character for Gage to back down that he knew something was off. “What’s going on out there?”

  “Toni wanted me to tell you that Melissa is coming to town.”

  Everything clicked into place. No wonder Gage was extra pissy today. Melissa always had him on edge. Hunter understood Gage in a way he never had before now. Whenever Gabby was around, everything was turned up to the highest level. Every threat was more dangerous; every fight was higher stakes. A week ago, he would’ve told Gage to just fuck her already and figure it out.

  But after last night with Gabby... there was nothing figured out. If anything, there were more questions now than there ever had been before. They were still too different to ever think anything could happen. As soon as this whole mystery was cleared up, he would leave.

  What were his choices? Live here and help Gabby run a florist shop? What other jobs was he qualified to do? He had no formal education. He had no job history he could put on a resume. And as much as he couldn’t deny the connection between him and Gabby, he couldn’t see it lasting.

  Before long, she would realize exactly what kind of bastard he was. The things he’d done, the things he’d turned a blind eye to. She deserved better than that. Better than a son of a bitch like him or Ryan. It was only a matter of time before some white knight came into the picture and swooped her up.

  His hands curled into fists at the thought, but even as it killed him to admit it, it was an undeniable truth that he was bad for her. He couldn’t come into town to save her and then sentence her to a life with him.

  He shook his head as he pulled the earpiece out of his pocket and stuck it in his ear, turning it on in the process. “I’m here. Are you happy?”

  “Happy as a clam,” said Gage.

  Hunter sighed. It wasn’t as if he needed backup right now. The house was on a secluded street, and the current police force didn’t know enough to post a guard at the crime scene full-time. But if it made Gage get off his back, he’d keep the earpiece in. He kept up the search and when the desk yielded nothing, he turned on the computer.

  He might need to take the computer out to Gage or Toni to get to the secrets held within, but considering Cooke lived alone, there was a chance.... Boom. There were no passwords to access the computer.

  He did a quick scan through the saved documents, but nothing popped out to him. He didn’t have time to look through everything, so he’d take the entire computer out for Gage to go through more thoroughly. While he had it open, he decided to scan through the email.

  Once again he did a quick scan, but this time he saw something. An email with the subject line “i see you.” Hunter opened the email and it was just as ominous inside.

  You sit high and mighty on your wooden throne, judging the sins of others. But you can’t run from your own sins. Prepare to meet your ultimate judge.

  Well, that was one hell of a death threat. He looked at the sender’s email address, but it appeared to be a random mix of numbers and symbols. Maybe Toni could get a lock on where it was sent from. He sent the email to the printer and waited for the machine to spit out the document. He looked for any more emails from the sender, but there was nothing and no other emails screamed out for his attention. He closed the laptop and unplugged it from the desk before tucking it under his arm.

  He did one more search through the house, but because of limited time, he couldn’t go through in the detail that he wanted and didn’t find anything else of interest.<
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  “I’m done here,” he said to Gage through the earpiece. “Heading out now.”

  “I’ll pick you up street side. Did you find anything interesting?”

  “I think so. It seems like the judge got himself judged.”

  “And sentenced,” pointed out Gage grimly.

  Gabby read the paper with dismay. Of course the murder was front and center, the entire town shocked by the violence. The attack at Edna’s was a shock to the town, and now the murder was a whole new level of depravity. “I can’t believe Judge Cooke is dead.”

  “Did you know him well?” asked Scott thoughtfully.

  Gabby shook her head. “No. I really avoided anyone who was friends with my dad. At first, I didn’t. But my father was so well respected around town. Half the folks thought he was wrongfully convicted, and that made his death all the more tragic to them. And I couldn’t stand them telling me how bad they felt that I’d lost my father like that. They didn’t realize what kind of man he really was, and I didn’t feel like being the one to tell them how wrong they were.”

  She was at Toni and Scott’s room at a local bed-and-breakfast. The master suite was the third level, with a king bedroom for them and another smaller bedroom that Gage was using. The bed-and-breakfast was run by local widow Mrs. Baker. Gabby was sure Mrs. Baker had a first name, but she couldn’t for the life of her remember it. The large historic home had three levels and a small loft at the top where Hunter was staying. Toni made a point to let Gabby know exactly where she could find him.

  Toni was busy at work and staring intently at the computer. She was looking through all the violent crime in the past ten years and trying to see how Gabby, Hunter, or Judge Cooke were connected.

  Gabby let her head fall back against the recliner and tried to figure out how they’d gotten into this mess. She looked at her watch and waited for the hands to move to nine thirty. As soon as it hit, she was on her way to the jail to pick up Kate. That was when the seventy-two hours was up and she could finally rescue her friend.

  Assuming the police didn’t actually charge her with murder. The thought was as terrifying as it was crazy. Kate, a murderer? Who were they kidding? But considering Kate had already been put behind bars, the impossible seemed much more possible.

  She looked over to where Toni was working and willed the woman to turn around and give her some sort of update on Hunter. It seemed as if, after their night together, Hunter wanted any excuse to avoid her. She hadn’t even known that he was going over to Judge Cooke’s house until Toni had told her.

  Which was ridiculous. They’d had a hot night together, true, but it wasn’t as though they made a commitment. He didn’t owe her a schedule or explanation. But she did want to know where he was. If he was in danger.... If she should be worried....

  That was a laugh. Of course she was worried. She was worried about how few answers she had. She was worried that Kate was dragged into this. She was worried that someone had been killed. It was pure luck that it wasn’t someone she was closer to. She hated to think that anything about murder was lucky, but it was true. What if it had been Kate or Edna? Or even Ryan, for that matter. He wasn’t her favorite person, but she wouldn’t wish murder on him at all.

  Finally her watch showed nine thirty and she jumped up. “All right. I’m going to get Kate.”

  Scott stood too. “I’ll go with you.”

  Gabby’s first instinct was to protest, but then she remembered that she could still very well be in danger. Which was all the more frustrating, because she might not be in danger but there was really no way of knowing. “All right,” she said reluctantly.

  Scott led the way outside and to the large black SUV. Gabby sat awkwardly silent during the first part of the drive. “So.... You do this stuff often?”

  “More often than I used to,” he said cagily. She didn’t really know how to respond to that, but she didn’t have to as Scott continued, “Toni and I set this up to help people.”

  “How, um, how did you two meet?”

  “You know, the age-old love story of having a common enemy.”

  It took Gabby a minute to realize he was telling a joke. Odd, because he didn’t seem like the joking type. “It’s nice of you.”

  He shrugged. “It’s in my nature. I was a cop before I started all of this. I’ve wanted to help people for as long as I can remember.”

  Now that didn’t surprise her. Scott had the confident, authoritative air of a cop. However, considering the number of laws she had seen Toni break in front of him and the knowledge that Hunter was actively interfering with a police investigation had her questioning his moral compass. “How can you be okay with all of this if you’re a cop?”

  “Because there’s an innocent victim who has been arrested and the police don’t seem too concerned about it.” She couldn’t argue with that. “Listen, I believe in the law. I believe in the force. But as much as I believe in it, that doesn’t mean there aren’t powerful people who like to abuse that power. Sometimes the police are the ones doing the abusing. Sometimes it’s someone a lot higher on the food chain who is using the police to their own ends. I’m just here to make sure justice wins out no matter what.”

  “That is very moral.”

  “Well, on my first job ever, I happened to get enough money in my bank account to let me live comfortably for a few hundred lifetimes, so that helps on the bad days.”

  Somehow she had a feeling that Toni was involved with however that happened. But before she could ask any more about it, they pulled up to the police station where Hunter and Gage were waiting.

  Gabby took a deep breath as she stepped out of the SUV to see Hunter once more. The first time she’d seen him since she’d left this morning. It seemed so long ago. What was she supposed to say to him? She supposed not mentioning their night together would be the best way to approach it, considering the company. But not mentioning it didn’t seem right either. What if that was just what they did? Never mentioned it. Pretended like nothing ever happened.

  They would sort all this mess out and then he would leave and everything would revert back to the way it had always been. No. She knew sending out the original email to Hunter might have been a mistake, but she had sent it for a reason. She missed him. She wanted to see whether there was a chance to have what they’d missed out on when they were younger. If he left now, especially after they’d more than confirmed that there was something between them, how could she move on with her life? Start dating again or going to bars?

  How was she ever supposed to move on from Hunter Cornell?

  Scott stepped out of the car and looked at Hunter and Gage. “You finished already?” he asked.

  “Lover boy wanted to be here when we picked up the girl,” said Gage.

  Hunter’s arm shot out and rammed into Gage’s ribs, earning a pained grunt in response.

  Hunter, as though nothing happened, handed a laptop over to Scott. “I have a suspicious email that needs to be looked into. It’s a definite death threat to the judge that was sent a week ago.”

  Gage reached out and took the laptop before Scott got it. “I will look into it.”

  Scott narrowed his eyes but didn’t move to mediate between the two. “Gage, I’ll give you a ride back to the B&B. Hunter, are you okay?”

  That had Gabby narrowing her eyes. Was she really that much to handle that she needed more than one bodyguard? Apparently she didn’t because Gage and Scott both headed back to the car. Before Gabby could ask how they were supposed to get anywhere, Hunter leaned toward her and said, “We’ll take Gage’s car.”

  His warm breath brushed her neck and goose bumps spread from that spot and down her arms. She stiffened and turned around to look at him, which really didn’t make her feel more at ease as she looked at his handsome face. The reddish-brown locks of his hair were just long enough to flop down his forehead and fall perfectly even though she knew he didn’t do a damn thing to style his hair. Just naturally perfect. He wasn’t play
ing fair, damn it.

  “Want to go inside?” he asked.

  It was then that she realized that she had probably been staring silently up at him like a moron for the past minute. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and muttered a quick yes before he led the way in. She didn’t really know what she was going to do to get Kate out, but she didn’t have to. Hunter led the way inside with his strong, confident stride. When the officer behind reception started to give him the runaround, he started to list out the legal code and various lawsuits that other police departments had lost after holding someone too long without pressing charges.

  After a bit of back-and-forth and talking to some higher-ups, the department finally gave up and started to process Kate’s release.

  Gabby stood in the background and let Hunter do his thing. It took about an hour and a half from them first storming in to when Kate was finally led out to meet them. Gabby had been having nightmares about the horrors that Kate had faced behind bars, but her friend had a cheerful smile on her face as she ran over to Gabby and wrapped her up in a hug. “Gabby! Girl, I’ve been so worried about you. Are you okay?”

  Gabby hugged Kate incredibly tightly and savored the fact that Kate was actually there in front of her and okay and in good spirits. “Oh my goodness, I missed you so much.”

  “Oh, I was okay. There was this girl in there who told me the best way to make my pores smaller and I can’t wait to get a chance to try it.”

  Gabby stared in shock at her. “I’m sorry, were you in prison or at a day spa?”

  “Pshhh,” said Kate. “It’s a jail in Brighton, not Detroit. I’m not saying it wasn’t terrifying, but I’m a master at suppressing my feelings. You know I’ve been working with Hot Realtor for months now without saying anything, right? As I said, a master....” It was at that moment that Kate seemed to notice Hunter, and her mouth fell open. “Speaking of hot. I assume you’re Hunter?”

  He smiled awkwardly and stretched his hand out.

  Kate met it in a handshake but then went a step forward as she put her other hand around his bicep and squeezed. She looked over at Gabby and mouthed, “OMG.”