by Radclyffe
“Here,” Allie said, handing Bri a beer. She gestured to the sofa with her own bottle and the two young officers, both still in uniform, sat down side by side. They drank in silence for a few moments.
“You doing okay, for real?” Bri finally asked.
“I’m not so sure,” Allie confessed in a small voice. She kept her eyes down, staring at the beer bottle that she turned around and around between her clasped hands. “It was weird. When I saw her, I thought she was sleeping. I thought, what a stupid place to sack out. Then it hit me. All at once. And I knew she was dead.”
“That must’ve been hard.” They had been in tough situations together, including a life-threatening fire. Bri had been in a takedown that had resulted in gunshots and death. But she’d never walked up on death alone. Secretly, she was glad.
“You know,” Allie went on, “you always read about cops throwing up or something when they find a body, but I didn’t feel that way. I felt...cold.” She shivered, set her beer bottle down, and moved closer to Bri on the sofa. “I still do.”
When Allie took her hand, Bri closed her fingers around Allie’s in silent comfort.
“Reese and Jeff both said I did okay.” Allie leaned her shoulder against Bri’s and pulled Bri’s hand into her lap, holding it between her own. In a low, tortured voice, she asked, “Don’t you think I should feel something else? Like...maybe there’s something wrong with me because I don’t?”
“No,” Bri said comfortingly. “No. I think you’re tired and stressed and maybe...a little freaked out. I think that’s pretty normal.”
Allie laughed shakily. “Jeez, I don’t feel normal.”
“I think you did great too.” Bri squeezed Allie’s fingers. “I’m sorry you had to go through it, though.”
“Part of the job, right?” Allie shrugged and tried to sound tough.
“Yeah. A really rough part.”
“Thanks.” Allie rested her cheek against Bri’s shoulder. “For bringing me home.”
“Maybe you should call Ashley,” Bri suggested tentatively. “Tell her about it.”
Allie shook her head. “No. We’re sort of...cooling things off for a while.”
“Why?”
“Oh, you know. Things run hot for a while and then...” She shrugged again.
“So you broke up?” Bri tried to remember the last time she had seen Allie with Ashley Walker, the private investigator with whom they had all worked a case earlier in the summer. She realized that it had been a few weeks at least. She’d thought that they were a couple, or at least headed in that direction.
“Ashley said...oh, fuck...” Allie moved one hand from Bri’s, sat up, and grabbed for her beer bottle. She drained it in one long swallow. “Ashley’s decided that she’s too old for me. Do you believe that?”
“So she broke up with you?” Bri’s voice held a note of incredulity. “For something like that? What is she, ten years older or something?”
“About that. So she’s decided that I’m too young to make a commitment and that we should take things slow.” She grunted derisively. “In my book, that means screw other people and forget about each other.”
Bri frowned, recalling the attractive redhead who had not seemed like a woman who would be interested in casual encounters. “Did she say that?”
“She didn’t have to. I got the message.”
“Uh, maybe that’s not what she meant. You know, sometimes, women are hard to figure out.”
Allie regarded Bri with a slow smile. “Is that right? I never noticed that you had much trouble.”
Bri blushed. “Half the time I’m not certain what Carre needs. I’m just happy to get it right whenever I do.”
At the mention of Bri’s girlfriend, Allie’s smile wavered. “You’re pretty crazy about her, huh?”
“Yeah. Totally.”
With a seductive purr, Allie leaned close again, one arm sliding around Bri’s waist and her lips close to Bri’s ear. “But you’re not married, right? I mean, she’s going to be gone a long time.”
When the warm breath tickled her ear and a very practiced hand smoothed over her abdomen and came to rest on her fly, Bri felt a familiar spark of arousal. This wasn’t the first time Allie had touched her, and she remembered exactly how good that had felt. The last time they’d been naked in bed together, and she’d almost come while Allie touched her. Gently, Bri covered Allie’s hand as she had done on the bike and moved it up a safe distance. “I’m not into fooling around. But if I was, I’d be begging at your door.”
Allie grew very still, then after a minute, edged away until she could look into Bri’s face. “That was a really nice thing to say. You’re sweet, you know that?”
“Not really. It’s the truth, what I said about you. You’re hot. But I can’t cheat on my girl.”
Curiously, Allie asked, “Even if she never knew?”
“I’d know. I already don’t deserve her.” Bri shrugged and looked away, embarrassed. “But I’m trying.”
“Will you stay here tonight?”
Bri’s head snapped back. “Huh?”
“Not for sex. I just...I’d just like not to be alone.”
“I can’t sleep in bed with you.” Bri wasn’t crazy enough to think that she could sleep next to a gorgeous, hot woman who wanted her and not be tempted.
“You can take the bed, and I could sleep out here on the couch.”
Bri laughed. “The couch will do me fine. But I’m only staying on one condition.”
“What?” Allie asked playfully.
“You’re making the breakfast.”
“Oh, Officer Parker,” Allie cooed, leaning close and kissing Bri’s cheek. “You are so easy.”
Chapter Five
“Uh-oh,” Nelson Parker muttered.
Reese followed her boss’s gaze down the hospital hallway and saw a woman rise from a chair in the seating area outside the intensive care unit and start toward them. Swiftly, Reese took stock. Nearly her height, but not as muscular. Shoulder-length dark hair, looking as if it had been subtly cut to hold its casual style no matter the wind or weather. Light makeup, clear, pale complexion, hazel eyes gleaming even in the dim light. Piercing eyes—hard, unreadable eyes. A faint smile that might have been welcome or warning. At just after four in the morning, the woman, dressed casually in tan slacks and a cream-colored short-sleeved blouse, looked remarkably fresh and alert. She also looked, Reese thought, as if she were enjoying herself. Uh-oh is right.
“You must be here about Robert Bridger,” the woman said in a rich, smooth alto, her eyes moving slowly from Nelson to Reese.
“I’m Chief Nelson Parker and this is Sheriff Reese Conlon,” Nelson said. He held out his hand, which the woman took.
“How do you do? I’m Trey Pelosi, the Bridgers’ attorney.” She smiled again, and turned to Reese with an extended hand. “Sheriff.”
“Counselor,” Reese said quietly. “Vacationing in the area?”
“Why, yes,” Trey answered, her eyes sharpening as she gave Reese an appraising glance. “I have a summer home in Truro.”
“Yours must have been the taillights we saw ahead of us all the way up here.”
Trey laughed. “Actually, I’ve been here a few hours.”
His parents must have called you as soon as I finished talking to them, Reese surmised. You probably got here before Robert arrived. Gives a new meaning to the term ambulance chaser.
“We called the boy’s doctors on our way up from Provincetown,” Nelson stated. “They informed us that Robert was awake and could answer some questions. Are his parents here?”
“They are. Yes.” She hadn’t moved and her smile hadn’t wavered. She stood comfortably, but quite obviously, in their path. “The doctors were partially correct. Robert is awake, but I’m afraid he won’t be answering any questions.”
“Is there some reason you don’t want him to talk to us, Counselor?” Reese asked in a steady, even tone.
“Are you charging him w
ith a crime, Sheriff?”
“At the moment, we’re simply trying to find out what happened. He’s the only one who can tell us.”
“And at the moment, Robert isn’t up to being questioned,” Trey responded firmly without raising her voice.
“The doctors said—” Nelson began.
“I’m sorry that you both came all the way up here in the middle of the night,” Trey interjected, her tone still reasonable. “However, I’m afraid that at the present time I can’t allow Robert to answer any questions. Sometime tomorrow, I expect that his parents will retain permanent counsel. If you give me your contact information, I’ll be certain that you’re notified.”
“You’re not a criminal attorney, then?” Reese asked
Once again, a smile flickered at the corner of Trey’s mouth and was quickly gone. “No. I’m a corporate attorney. Robert’s mother is...an old friend. I was nearby, and they asked me to serve as temporary counsel.”
“Ms. Pelosi,” Reese said sharply, “I have a dead teenager whose name I don’t know. Somewhere, that girl’s parents are wondering where she is. I need to answer their question, and to do that, I need Robert to tell me who she is. That’s all I want right now.”
Nothing showed in Trey’s eyes now as she met Reese’s—not sympathy, not irritation, not anger. Her expression remained remote. “I appreciate your situation, Sheriff. I’m certain that Robert’s attorney will do everything possible to assist you at the appropriate time. But for tonight, Robert is unavailable.”
“Thanks,” Nelson said quickly as he caught the rigid set of Reese’s jaw out of the corner of his eye. She’d been up all night, and although she didn’t look it, he knew she was wrapped pretty tight. He felt a little sick himself, and he hadn’t been the one to find a dead girl in the dunes. When Reese had awoken him to advise him of the situation, the first thing he’d flashed on was the night they’d found Bri out there, beaten and nearly dead. The swift surge of nausea still hadn’t left him, and he could only imagine what the frustration and distress was doing to Reese. Ordinarily, his second in command was the picture of equanimity in a stressful situation, but some things just got to you more than others. And being stonewalled at this point in the investigation was tough to swallow. “Here’s my card. Please tell Robert’s family that we’ll be in touch tomorrow and will need to speak to him.”
“Certainly,” Trey said, taking the card and sliding it into her left breast pocket. She nodded before turning away. “Good night, Officers.”
Reese watched her walk away with a combination of admiration and supreme irritation. It was difficult to be angry with someone who was simply doing her job very well, but at the moment, she was furious. Every minute that passed without her having a name for the girl lying under a white sheet in Tory’s clinic awaiting transfer to the morgue in Barnstable for autopsy added to her sense of helplessness and rage. “Son of a bitch.”
Nelson’s eyebrows arched. Reese rarely cursed in his presence or, to his knowledge, much at all. It wasn’t because she was too proper or too uptight; she was simply too controlled. “I’ll bet she’s hell in a courtroom.”
“I suppose I should just be glad that I’ll never find out,” Reese muttered. Turning away, she rubbed a hand over her face wearily. “God damn it.”
As they walked down the hall toward the elevators, Nelson clapped Reese briefly on the shoulder before putting his hands in his pockets. “Look, it makes sense for her to advise the family not to let him talk. Once we get a better handle on what happened out there—get some of the lab reports back, check the scene by daylight, get a little leverage on our side—we’ll try again. We might have nothing to charge him with, and even if we do, in all likelihood the state boys will take it over anyhow.”
Reese cut him a look of disgust. “I’m not thinking about the charges. I’m thinking about a dead girl with no name.”
“I know.”
His voice was edged with pain, and Reese sighed as they stepped out into the dawn. “Sorry, Chief.”
“No need to apologize. It pisses me off, too.” He slid into the cruiser and waited while Reese climbed into the passenger side. “I’ll drop you off home.” At her look of protest, he shook his head firmly. “Nothing is going to change in the next few hours, so you might as well get some sleep. If anything comes up, I’ll call you.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Are the kids okay?”
She knew what he meant without asking. “Bri’s fine. She handled herself perfectly during the vehicle surveillance and search. Allie, too. She was a little bit shaken up after finding the body, so we’ll need to keep an eye on her for the next day or two. But she was solid in the field.”
“Glad to hear it. Christ, how the hell did I end up with a force that’s half women?” he muttered under his breath.
For the first time in hours, Reese grinned. “Just lucky, I guess, Chief.”
*
Forty-five minutes later, Reese let herself quietly into her house through the back door. She stopped in the kitchen and made a small pile of her equipment belt, keys, and hat on the breakfast counter. When she slipped as quietly as possible up the stairs, loosening her tie and unbuttoning her shirt as she went, she heard a tiny whimper from the nursery. Moving quickly, she entered the room and leaned over the crib. Reggie, waving one tiny fist in the air, regarded her with solemn eyes and the ghost of a smile.
“Hey, Tiger. You’re awake already, huh?” Reese reached in and lifted her out. Cradling the baby on her left shoulder, she used her right hand to open a fresh diaper on top of the bassinet and arrange the other necessary supplies. Then she laid her daughter down to change her. “So, did you dream about something special last night? You have dreams, right? I bet you do. Exciting ones.” With swift economy, she closed the sticky tabs to hold the diaper in place and maneuvered the baby into a clean onesie. “Hungry yet? Sure you are. You’re always hungry.”
Reggie made a gurgling sound of assent.
“Okay. Breakfast, then. What do you say we let Mommy sleep and get some of the stored stuff out of the refrigerator?”
“Mommy’s awake,” Tory said from the doorway where she’d been leaning watching her lover take care of their daughter. There were times that she looked at the two of them and feared her heart would burst.
Reese turned with the baby in her arms. “Hey.”
Tory crossed the room and kissed Reese on the mouth. “Hi. Are you all right?”
“Yeah. Just a little tired.”
“Why don’t you get ready for bed, and I’ll take care of her. I’ll be there as soon as she’s settled again.”
“Feed her in bed. I like to watch.”
Tory held out her arms for Reggie. “All right. Go get out of your uniform.”
A few minutes later, Reese crawled under the covers and turned on her side next to Tory and the baby. She propped her head on one hand and rested the other hand on Tory’s abdomen, her fingers just touching the baby’s leg. “She looks so content.”
“She is,” Tory said with a small laugh. She ran the fingers of her free hand through the hair at the back of Reese’s neck. “Want to tell me about last night?”
Reese shook her head. “Not until she’s done. I don’t want to think about anything except how beautiful both of you are.”
Tory drew a sharp breath. “Honey, it’s probably best that I not be aroused in the middle of this.”
“You think she could tell?” Reese asked seriously.
“No,” Tory laughed again, “but I can only handle so many conflicting stimuli at once.”
“Oh.” Reese was quiet for a few seconds. “That’s a pretty sexy thought.”
Tory tugged on Reese’s hair. “I think your daughter isn’t the only one who’s hungry. Can you stay awake long enough?”
“I’m not the slightest bit tired.”
“Give me ten minutes to get her fed and back to bed.”
When Tory returned from the nursery, Reese lay on her b
ack with both arms behind her head, watching Tory with an appreciative expression as she crossed the room. “That was eleven.”
“Was it?” Tory asked as she drew the sheet aside and stretched out on top of Reese. She braced herself with her bent elbows on either side of Reese’s head, once again threading her fingers into Reese’s hair. With her mouth hovering above Reese’s, she murmured, “Then I’ll have to take a little longer doing what I plan on doing to you to make up for it.”
Reese’s moan was lost in the depths of Tory’s mouth as their lips met and Tory settled her hips more closely between Reese’s legs. Their joining was as seamless as two halves of a whole slotting together, their bodies and hearts blending effortlessly. Tory allowed the weight of her body to press into Reese’s firm muscles and soft skin, loving the solid feel of Reese beneath her. Reese—so strong, so tender—everything she’d dreamed of, everything she counted on, everything she needed.
“Reese, I love you.”
Almost dizzy with the heat of Tory’s passion against her, inside her mouth, surrounding her, Reese opened her eyes and searched her lover’s. “I need you so much.”
Tory lifted her hips and slid her hand between their bodies, cupping Reese in her palm. Slowly, watching her lover’s face, she slid into her, claiming her as she had been claimed. “I’m here, baby. Always.” She settled her hips once again, her own wetness warming the top of her hand as Reese’s flowed into her palm. When she began to thrust, Reese groaned and her eyelids flickered closed.
“Reese,” Tory gasped, rocking harder, exciting herself as she entered Reese more deeply with each plunge, “watch my face. Watch my face and know how much I love you.”
With supreme effort Reese opened her eyes. “I’ll come just from looking at you.”
“I want you to come watching me love you.” Tory’s voice was throaty and fierce as her hips bucked harder. Reese was everywhere—under her, around her, filling her heart to overflowing.