Those baby blues went cloudy with worry. “You say that now, but—”
“Tempie, the captain took me off the case. Leo and Micah are the ones workin’ Harley’s murder. Trick and I are just consulting.”
“He did what?” she snapped, going from worried to downright pissed in one second flat.
“Jesus, baby.” I gave her a shake, humor lacing through my words. “You gotta slow down. I’m getting whiplash tryin’ to keep up with your mood swings.”
“I can’t—” A puff of air blew past her lips. “You’re a great cop,” she spit vehemently. “No offense to Micah and Leo, but what was that moron thinking, pulling you off a murder investigation?”
“It’s okay—”
“The hell it is!”
“Okay, stop,” I commanded before she could go completely off the rails. One thing I knew about my girl was that once she got on a roll, it was damn near impossible to get her off the tracks. Lifting my hands, I rested my palms on either side of her neck and brushed my thumbs along her jaw. “Listen, I love that you have my back, but there’s no need getting worked up about this. I was pissed when it first happened, but I get it now. When we catch this asshole, the whole case could be fucked if the defense found out I’d slept with Harley.”
Understanding dawned on her beautiful face. “Oh.” She flinched at the reminder. Her eyes began to shutter, and I could see that wall beginning to come down, threatening to close me out.
“No,” I ordered, forcing her chin back up when she tried to lower it. “No, we don’t do that, baby. We don’t shut each other out. You’re the one who told me that, remember?”
Her chest rose on a deep inhale as those shutters lifted. “Sorry, I know. It’s not right being jealous, especially now.”
“It’s okay.”
“God,” she grumbled, dropping her forehead against my chest. “I’m a terrible person. Harley’s dead. She was killed by a psychopath, and I’m jealous.”
“Sweetheart,” I coaxed. “You have to quit beating yourself up. It’s okay. You’re entitled to your feelings.”
I held on to her as she silently summoned her strength. Finally getting control of herself, she lifted her head and looked up at me. “Yeah. Okay. You’re right.”
Slipping my hands beneath the flannel, I gave her another second, brushing my fingers along the cool silk of her nightie before asking, “You good?”
“Yep.” Tempie nodded. “I’m good.” She wasn’t, not completely anyway. But she’d get there. “Now finish your breakfast and get your ass to work. The extravagant wedding I have planned isn’t gonna pay for itself.”
At that, I threw my head back and roared with laughter.
I hadn’t been looking forward to going into the station, but just like always, my Tempie made everything better.
My boots hit the bullpen and Trick’s head came up, giving me a chin tilt in greeting. I returned the gesture as I hit my desk, spotting the paper coffee cup with the Muffin Top logo stamped across the side. Trick and I had been partners for years, and we’d made a deal a long time ago that we’d switch off coffee duty every morning.
I tipped my head toward the coffee. “Fuck, man. Totally forgot today was my day for caffeine pickup.”
“Figured you would, so I went ahead and hit up the bakery before headin’ in this morning since rumors have been flyin’ all over town the past twenty-four hours.”
“Rumors?”
His lips quirked up. “Yeah. Tempie’s posse’s been busy. Word’s spreadin’ like wildfire. Figured you’d have other shit on your mind now that you got your ring on your woman’s finger, so I took today’s run. You can get tomorrow.”
I couldn’t help the smug grin that took over my face as I sat at my desk and lifted the coffee cup to my lips, all the while thinking of just how... enthusiastic Tempie had been the past couple days. “Appreciate you lookin’ out, brother.”
“Congratulations, man. Happy for you both.”
“Thanks.” I booted up my computer and grabbed the mail that was sitting in the basket on the corner of my desk. Sorting through the memos and documents that had been delivered earlier that morning, I paused when I reached the thick file folder near the bottom of the stack.
Five years back, the department had gone digital, but seeing as it was a small town and we weren’t a big operation, the process of converting all the old case files was slowgoing, so I’d had to put in a request to get this file from archives. That had been over a week and a half ago, and with Harley’s murder taking precedence, it had been pushed to the back of my mind.
“What do you have there?”
“It’s the file on Tempie’s parents.”
The energy coming off Trick suddenly changed as he got up, rounded our desks, and came to a stop beside me. “You had the file on their murders pulled? Jesus, Hayes. Why?”
“Gut instinct,” I muttered. “I’m just prayin’ I’m wrong.”
“You think her folks’ death is tied in with Martin’s and Harley’s?”
I flipped the file over and started thumbing through the crime scene photos. “That’s what I’m tryin’ to find out.” The images of Bob and Yvette Levine lying dead in pools of their own blood created a sour knot in my gut. I’d never seen these photos. Their case had long since gone cold before I joined the force, and considering there hadn’t been another murder in more than twenty years, it had been chalked up to a robbery gone wrong. But knowing what I knew now, I was beginning to question everything.
Trick went back to his desk to finish up some paperwork, and I started scouring the file. Reading through Tempie’s statement left me wrecked. For the first time, I got her account of that awful night, and I knew I was never going to be the same. No wonder she’d been plagued with nightmares most of her goddamn life.
Her strength after witnessing something like that blew me away. I was in awe of not only how she picked herself back up, but how she proceeded to build a life for herself. Something like that would have damaged most people beyond repair, but my woman was a force to be reckoned with.
An hour later, my instincts were proven right, and my stomach sank like a rock.
“Fuck me,” I breathed, reading and rereading the words on the page.
Trick looked across the desk, his expression serious as he asked, “What did you find?”
I passed him the page I’d just read, watching his eyes as they scanned the lines on it. “Goddamn it.”
“How the fuck have we all missed this the entire goddamn time?”
Cops had suspected a burglar had broken into the Levine house through a side window in the middle of the night and was interrupted by one or both of Tempie’s parents. The assumption was that he killed them both in a fit of panic, then ran before he had a chance to loot the place, taking only two items with him.
Bob’s and Yvette’s wedding rings.
I flipped through the photos, turning one to face Trick and jabbing it with my finger. “That’s a fuckin’ Rolex on Bob Levine’s left wrist,” I snarled. “The son of a bitch took a gold band that couldn’t have been worth more than a couple hundred bucks and left a fuckin’ Rolex.”
I went back through the file, digging around until I located the medical examiner’s report. Then I compared it to the one from the Henderson murder.
“Christ,” I grunted, shooting from my chair so fast it went flying backward. “Leo,” I barked as I crossed the bullpen with Trick on my heels. “You got the ME report back on Harley’s murder yet?”
“Yeah, just came in this morning. Why?”
“What was she done with?”
I caught movement from the corner of my eye and saw Micah flipping a folder open. “Looks like it was an eight-and-a-half-inch hunting knife with a serrated edge.”
Laying the pages down side by side on Leo’s desk, I pointed to the weapon used in Martin Henderson’s murder. “Martin Henderson was killed with a serrated knife roughly eight to eight and a half inches long, and according t
o his daughter, the only thing reported missing from that scene was a picture of him and his wife that he kept in his wallet. Harley Madison was killed with the same weapon and was missing one earring.” Then I pointed to the other page. “This is the report from Bob and Yvette Levine’s murder twenty-one years ago. Wanna guess what they were killed with?”
“You’ve gotta be fuckin’ shitting me,” Micah muttered, his and Leo’s eyes both going wide. “And in a so-called robbery gone wrong, the killer only took the couple’s wedding rings, bypassing the Rolex on the husband’s wrist, as well as at least half a dozen valuables between them and the window he went in and out of.”
“Fuckin’ shit,” Leo hissed, his eyes darting between the papers on his desk.
“We need to talk to Linc,” I stated, pulling their attention back to me. “I put him on something a few days ago, and if I’m right about this, we’re lookin’ for a goddamn serial killer who’s rackin’ up bodies from here to Chicago.”
Micah looked at me incredulously. “Why Chicago?”
“Because that’s where Tempie lived,” I admitted, bile rising in my throat as I said, “And this fucker’s got my woman in his sights.”
That was when it dawned on them. “Jesus Christ,” Leo rumbled. “You don’t think—”
“Not sure yet,” I interrupted. “But you need to find every fuckin’ thing you can on Perry Frasier, and you need to do it now.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Temperance
The snow that had fallen the night before still blanketed the ground as I bundled up and headed out the back door toward the barn.
Cat wasn’t there to give me her usual morning attitude, but I chalked that up to her being too persnickety to waltz her butt through the snow for some kitty chow. I had no doubt I’d hear all about her displeasure as soon as the ground thawed.
“Hey, girl,” I called to Stargazer the moment I hit the barn.
She lifted her head in greeting and I moved to scoop fresh oats into her bucket when the phone in my back pocket began to vibrate, giving me a jolt. I pulled it out and frowned at the unknown number on the screen before swiping it and lifting it to my ear. “Hello?”
“Well isn’t this a pleasant surprise.”
At the sound of the voice on the other end, everything in my body froze solid. “Perry.” My voice came out in a frightened whisper.
“You know, I half expected that asshole you’ve been fucking to answer again. Gotta say, that stung a little, Temperance.”
Panic began clawing at my insides, gluing me to the spot and making it impossible to move.
“Then you go and file that goddamn restraining order,” he bit out, his voice growing angrier with every word. “Did you know the cops served me at work? Right there in front of fucking everyone. I lost my job because of you, you stupid bitch.”
The creepy feeling I had a couple weeks back finally started to make sense. And it chilled me to my core. “Perry, have you been following me?”
“I just had to see for myself,” he replied. “After that fucker answered your phone and called you his woman, I had to see what I was up against. Didn’t picture you goin’ for an uptight suit, baby.” My lungs began to burn and ache as all the air rushed out of them. My mind took me back to that day in the hospital parking lot, that moment I felt like someone was watching me. It happened again at the restaurant with Carl.
Carl. That was when I knew for certain Perry had been in Hope Valley. He was stalking me.
“If I’d known that was your type, I’d have played up to it.”
And suddenly it was like a switch had been flipped. I was no longer terrified. Oh no. I was absolutely, unequivocally pissed. “Fuck you,” I hissed, my anger washing over me and lighting a fire deep in my belly. “Fuck you, Perry!”
In the past few months I’d been on one hell of an emotional rollercoaster, some of it bad, but a lot of it good. After more than two fucking decades, I was finally happy. Finally, and there was no way in hell I was letting this asshole swoop in and ruin it.
“You got it all wrong. That guy you saw me with isn’t the man I’ve been fucking,” I spit back at him, my lips curling in disgust and fury. “On top of being a psycho and lousy in bed, you can also add a shit stalker to your résumé. The man I’m sleeping with, the man who answered the phone when you hung up like a coward, is a police officer. He’s also the man whose ring I’m currently wearing on my finger.”
When he said nothing in response, I continued. “You fucked up, Perry.” I let out a caustic laugh. “Man, did you fuck up. See, not only is my man a cop, but he’s also incredibly protective of me. I’ve told him all about you, Perry. And let’s just say, he’s just itching to meet you face to face. I’m glad you lost your job, because you’re a crazy asshole! And now I’m gonna make sure you lose everything.”
With that, I hung up. It took all my energy not to lift my hand and launch the phone across the barn. I was breathing so heavily that each inhale came out in a smoky, angry puff, like a dragon about to breathe fire. And that was exactly how I felt. I wanted to know where that son of a bitch was so I could hunt him down and rip his goddamn head off.
Squeezing my eyes closed, I stood in place, working to control the fury bubbling inside me. Once I had it under control enough that I could talk without screaming a litany of curses, I lifted my phone back up and swiped the screen before bringing it to my ear.
Hayes answered halfway through the second ring. “Angel. Everything okay?”
“No,” I gritted between clenched teeth. “Everything is not fucking okay.”
There was no missing the concern in his tone when he asked, “What’s wrong?”
And that was when I lost it all over again. “Fucking Perry fucking Frasier! That’s what’s wrong. I just had a call with him. That asshole’s in Hope Valley, Hayes. He’s been following me!”
“What?” he barked so loud I had to pull the phone away from my ear. “Tempie,” he continued a second later when I didn’t say anything in reply.
“Yeah, I’m here,” I said, returning the phone to my ear.
“Tell me everything,” he commanded, his anger nearly eclipsing my own.
I told him everything, from the feeling of being watched the other week to the confrontation I’d just had with Perry.
“Jesus fuckin’ Christ,” he grunted. “Where are you right now?”
“What?”
“Right now, Tempie. Where are you?”
“I’m, well….” I dropped my head, studying the dusty ground beneath my fur-lined boots. “I’m at home.”
“You in the house?”
“No, I’m in the barn.”
“Get in the house,” he ordered with a voice so hard it sent a shiver down my spine that had nothing to do with the cold and snow.
“But I still need to muck Stargazer’s stall.”
“I want you inside with the doors locked, you hear me? I’m leavin’ the station now. I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
I’d flipped from fear to anger back to fear so fast in the last few minutes that I was starting to feel dizzy. “Hayes, what’s going on?”
“Inside, Tempie. Right now.” Then he hung up, and I rushed back into the house and officially freaked the hell out.
I spent the ten minutes it took Hayes to show up pacing the entirety of the downstairs, checking and rechecking all the locks until I thought I’d come out of my skin. The second I heard tires on the gravel, I rushed to the front window and pulled the curtains back. Hayes’s Sequoia came whipping up the drive, followed by Lincoln’s black truck and what looked like a police-issued sedan.
By the time his feet hit the front porch, I was standing just inside the entryway, chewing my thumbnail to the quick.
He used his key and entered a moment later with Trick, Leo, Micah, and Lincoln behind him.
“What’s going on?” I demanded to know the minute the door clicked shut behind the men.
“Baby, let’s go sit.”
I let him come to me, place his palm on the center of my back, and guide me into the living room. Lowering me to one side of the love seat, he sat beside me. Leo and Micah sat on the couch across from us, Trick was in my comfy, overstuffed chair, and Lincoln stood a couple feet back with his feet shoulder-width apart and his arms crossed over his chest like he was standing sentry.
“Will someone tell me what’s happening?”
I had no way of knowing that question was about to open up Pandora’s box and unleash a pain like I’d never known.
Hayes
Watching the tears pour down Tempie’s cheeks as she tried to comprehend everything we’d just laid on her was a kind of torture I’d never experienced in all my life. I wanted nothing more than to be able to take all that pain away, but I couldn’t. I’d never felt so goddamn helpless in all my life, and I couldn’t fucking stand it.
“This… this doesn’t make any s-sense,” she sniffled, batting at the damp on her cheeks. “You’re telling me that the person who killed my parents twenty-one years ago is the same person who killed Martin and Harley?”
“We don’t know for sure,” Trick said, trying his best to placate her.
She lifted her head and looked his way. “But you think it is.” She took his non-answer as an agreement. Raking her hands through her hair, she muttered, “Oh my god. I can’t believe this.” Her back went straight and jerked toward me, her eyes wild and pained as she asked, “Why now? Why is all this happening now? I mean, my parents were killed years ago. Why’d this… this psychopath start back up again now?”
“Tempie,” Leo said in a calm, soothing voice. “If it’s okay with you, we’d like to ask you a couple questions about Lance Marcum.”
Her forehead puckered in a frown as she shook her head in confusion. “Lance? What does Lance have to do with any of this? He was killed in a bad drug deal.”
It was Lincoln who spoke then, relaying what he’d found after I’d asked him to do some digging. “We can’t know for certain because of where he was killed, but there’s reason to believe that he might also be a victim of this same guy.”
Come Back Home Again (Hope Valley Book 2) Page 20