Riker

by Mandy Bee

  “Inside job?” Riker asks Greg.

  “Could be.” Greg answers him.

  “Hold up.” I stop both of them. “No way in hell is this an inside job. No one in my office would do this.” I look around at all the girls. “I’ve known these women all my life. They wouldn’t do anything to hurt me.”

  “Darcy that’s not what he is saying.” Riker tries to calm me down.

  “Really? Because it sounds like both of you are trying to say someone inside my office is helping Bradley.” I snap at him as I climb off his lap. He tried to hold on to me, but I smacked his hands away. One thing I’ve never been ok with, and will fight anyone who tries to do it, is someone disrespecting people I love and care about. I will protect, stand up for, and fight for the people in my life. My family by blood and my family by choice. They stand with me and I stand with them.

  “They may not know that it’s him they are helping.” Greg defends himself. “Just let me ask everyone a few questions. I’m not singling anyone out right now. But this woman had the code to your office. A code you yourself told us that only your workers have. Please Darcy just let me do my job. I don’t want to believe that someone in this room is helping Bradley, but I can’t just check them off the list because they’re your friends.”

  I want to believe that no one in this room would ever do anything to hurt me but Greg is right. He has a job to do and the sooner he figures out that none of us are involved the sooner he can find out who really is.

  Scanning the room, I say. “Answer everything as honest and as detailed as you can. I don’t believe for one minute that any of you are helping that sick freak.” I turn to glare at Greg. “You watch how you word your questions. You disrespect any of us and we are out of here, got that?”

  “Darcy he’s just doing his job!” Riker snaps at me. “He’s not trying to disrespect anyone!” I know he’s just standing up for his brother but why can’t he see that I’m just doing the same for my family?

  “And I’m just protecting my friends and family from this bullshit!” I snap back at him.

  “Ok, that’s enough.” Greg yells over us. “I’ll be respectful Darcy, I promise. I agree with you, I don’t truly think anyone in this room is involved. However, if the police start to think someone here is involved then it will save them, and us, a lot of time if I already have the answers they’ll need. We can record this like an interrogation. I can send a copy to Erik and that will be that. Everyone here will be in the clear and then we can hunt for who really is helping Bradley, because we know someone has to be helping him. There is no way he can be working alone.”

  Damn it, that actually makes sense. “Whatever.” I mutter as I squeeze in between Heather and Missy on one of the sofas. Riker shoots me a hard look but I’m not dealing with him right now. I do believe with everything in me that he only wants to protect me, keep me save, and only wants me happy, but right now I feel a little betrayed. These women are my family, the ones who have been there for me long before Riker came back into my life.

  “Steve turn on the cameras.” Greg tells Steve who is standing by the door. Steve pushes a few buttons on a panel on the wall and we all hear a beep sound. “We are here to do a group interview to find out if there is any new information in the case of Bradley Smith. The people being interview are, Darcy West, Melissa West, Heather Yost, Kristy Grace, Tonya Tomlin, Riker Deeks, Demon Gates, Steve West, Porsha Yost, and Gigi Yost. Myself, Greg Deeks, will be in charge of today’s interview. Is everyone ready to get started?”

  “Do you need to take a breath after all that?” Gigi sneakers. That was a mouthful. I’m sure he had to list who was all here for the record but that was weird hearing all our names being called out like that.

  Greg rolled his eyes at Gigi before continuing. “I need to do a small recap as to why we are here before I start asking any questions. This morning Darcy found a package on her desk that wasn’t there last night when she left. The last worker to leave the office last night was Porsha and she left after the cleaning lady showed up. Only no cleaning lady is employed by Darcy’s company. Porsha has told us everything that she remembers about this woman and has agreed to work with a sketch artist later today. As of right now we have no information on the package, I’m waiting to hear from Captain Marshall about that.” Greg picks up a folder off one of the end tables. “Right now, I mainly just need to know about who’s been in and out of the office other than the daily workers. Has there been any visitors? Clients? Maintenance workers? Delivery people?”

  I try to think back over the last several weeks. Delivery people are out because we always meet Mark, our UPS guy, down at the main door to get out packages. We have had a couple visitors but they’ve all been family members, either mine or one of the girls. My parents have stopped by at least twice a week to check on me. Tonya’s brother Zack has had to drop her off several times because of car trouble. Each time he came up to say hi but never stayed long. The only client that has been in the office is the lawyer from upstairs and that was only once. He likes to get his wife a something new each month from us. As for maintenance workers, we have had a couple of them.

  I tell Greg the list of people who have been in the office. When I get to the maintenance people he starts asking more detailed questions. He wanted to know why they were there to fix. How long they were there for, did they have helpers with them, did they have to come back several days in a row, did they have company shirts on.

  I tried answering everything as best I could. Some of the girls remembered a little more than I did so they filled in what I couldn’t.

  “Did you contact your landlord to request any of this work to be done?” Greg asks me.

  “No, but that’s not unusual. If something is messing up in one of the other offices, he usually sends someone over to check on our office just to make sure nothing is wrong there. I remember the plumper saying that a pipe had busted in the yoga studio and he needed to shut the water off for a couple hours. He came back about two hours later saying it was all fixed and turned the water back on. We did turn down one guy, he was an exterminator. He claimed that the lawyer had found some roaches in his office. He wanted to spray but Porsha has a bad allergy to heavy chemicals. We told him we would keep a watch out and if we found any bugs we would call him. We haven’t seen any roaches so far.”

  “Anyone else?” Greg asks us all.

  “Darcy, what about the guy that came to change all the light bulbs.” Tonya reminds me. “He said your landlord wanted all of them changed to LED lights because they are safer and don’t burn out as fast.”

  “Oh yeah, I forgot about him.” I nod.

  “Did all of these people have work orders? Did you have to sign anything before they left?” Greg asks me.

  “I know the plumper did, but I don’t remember about the other two.” I answer him.

  “Did you see any work orders Demon?” Greg asks Demon.

  “Just the plumper’s, the exterminator didn’t make it through the door, and the guy with the lights said the landlord had taken care of everything.” I can tell by the look on his face he’s upset with himself.

  “Don’t do that Demon.” I tell him softly. “Don’t go blaming yourself.”

  He smirks at me. “Reading minds, now are you?” He teases before frowning. “It’s my job to keep all of you safe and I missed something. I let someone get inside that shouldn’t have been there. It won’t happen again I can tell you that.”

  “She’s right,” Riker chimes in. “You do keep them safe. We had no clue Bradley had help until a few days ago. This isn’t on you dude.”

  “Wait, what do you mean a few days ago?” Missy asks. Yeah, what does he mean?

  “You didn’t tell them?” Greg glares at Riker.

  “I didn’t want them to worry.” Riker mumbles.

  “Riker Deeks you promised me you would keep me in the loop on all that was going on. You can’t keep trying to protect me like this. You hiding things from me could end
up getting one of us hurt!” I’m up off the sofa and pacing around the room. My emotions are all conflicted again. I’m angry at him for keeping things from me and no matter how many times I tell myself that he thinks he is keeping me safe by lying to me it doesn’t help calm my anger. I need to find a way to make him understand that this can’t keep happening. I don’t want to come across as the bratty bitch who wants everything her way and will throw a hissy fit at the drop of a hat.

  Strong, warm arm wrap around me, stopping me from pacing. “If you think for one second I would put you in harms way you’ve lost your damn mind.” He leans down and nuzzles my neck. “All we found out was that someone had been delivering Bradley’s messages for him. The time stamps on the newer videos show that he was making those videos when the first round of videos were being delivered. No one can be in two places at once, so we now know he has someone helping him.”

  “That’s something I needed to know Riker.” I sigh in defeat. I don’t try to move away from him. As soon as he holds me like this I feel safe. I love this feeling. Yes, I’m still hurt and a little upset at him but not enough to leave the warm safe place his arms bring me.

  “Sorry to interrupt but I only have a few more questions. After that we can deal with what to do from here on out.” Greg says. Riker once again pulls me down on his lap after sitting back down in his chair. I cuddle closer to him, laying my head on his shoulder.

  “What more could you need to know?” Gigi asks.

  Greg goes on to ask about what each person looked like who came into the office. Also, if we have any for delivered to the office. We had some pizza delivered a couple time but just like with Mark our UPS guy we met them down at the main door. Each of us tell Greg all that we can remember about each person that stopped by the office. Greg takes notes on everything we say. Over an hour later he turns off the camera and tells us we are free to go. I’m so tired it’s not funny.

  Going back to work isn’t an option for any of us right now. Erik messaged Greg during the interview and said that they had cleared the box, all that was in it was another note with a new web link. Erik said the link was to a live video feed of my office, so they did another sweep of the office. They found two new cameras and three microphones that weren’t part of our new security system. Erik has already put a call into the FBI to have them do another sweep as well. He’s also going to check on the other girls and see if they’ve had any new visitors and do another sweep on their places.

  I told the girls to take a couple days off until we know when we can go back to work. Missy said she’d email the clients who are waiting for their orders and tell them that due to a situation out of our control their packages would be late. I also told her to offer them their money back on the shipping and to give them the option to cancel without paying the cancellation fee.

  Riker had to go back to work, so I told him I’d just see him at home later. He made me promise not to try and cook dinner. He’s still giving me cooking lessons but I’m not really picking up on anything. Demon let me pick up a pizza on the way home. I ate a few pieces before going to my room to take a nap. It’s not even noon and I’m worn out. All this stuff with Bradley is driving me crazy. I also wish Riker wouldn’t hide stuff from me. I made a mental note to have a longer talk with him about it tonight.

  Crawling into bed I try to push away everything that’s happened today. Instead or worrying about it I think of Riker. I can’t lie to myself or him anymore. I’m truly falling in love with this man. But does he fell the same way?

  Chapter Fourteen

  The last two days have been horribly stressful. When Riker got home the same day Greg questioned all of us we got into a massive fight. And when I say massive I mean throwing things, screaming at each other, and threatening to break things off. He confessed to knowing more than I thought he did. Greg has been keeping him updated sometime three to four times a day. He claims that me knowing every little detail about my case will only upset me. He just doesn’t get that keeping me in the dark, and me finding out he’s lied to me upsets me even more.

  I begged him to try and look at it from my point of view. I tried to stay as calm as I could but he pulled a caveman attitude on me and said he knew what was best and that I should just trust him to take care of me. It was the straw that broke the camels back. I didn’t need someone to take care of me. I was fine on my own before him and if needed I would be fine without him. I didn’t want to lose him but having a man tell you he basically wants to rule your life doesn’t work for me.

  The fight got so bad that while Riker was in the shower I called Demon to come get me and take me to my parent’s house. Riker was pissed when he found me gone but I stood my ground and stayed at my parents that night. The next day he was there before the sun came up. My mother had no problem letting him not only into the house but into my room. She has been on team Riker since the day she found out about him.

  Riker promised me, repeatedly, that he would no longer keep things from me. I want to believe him, but I think his need to keep me safe and happy will always trump his need to be honest with me. I know he is not doing it to truly hurt me but at the same time it does hurt. We’ve been walking on eggshells around each other ever since I came back. It’s awkward, and I don’t like it.

  Erik called last night to tell me that we could go back into my office today. The girls and I decided to come in around nine, do a quick walk through, clean up what needed cleaning, then get back on track with our orders. But when I woke up at five this morning and couldn’t get back to sleep I decided to go in early.

  Riker tried to talk me out of it, even tried to take me out to breakfast but I just wanted to get back to my office, back to my work. All this shit going on has taken me away from what I love. I love making jewelry. I love coming up with new designs. But lately I’ve been too busy to get anything new done.

  Not anymore, today that changes. I’m going to talk to Gigi about taking over both the books and the payroll. I’m going to show Missy how to do the ordering, so she can help me with it, and I’m going to turn all the website work over to her. I’ll still be checking on what they’re doing but I need to get back to what I’ve always loved about my business, the jewelry.

  Riker insisted on coming with Demon and me to the office. Really, I think he just wants to see for himself that everything is ok and that nothing new has been left for me.

  When I finally open the door to my office I’m surprised to see everything is spotless. Even when we do our Saturday cleaning days this office has never been this clean. I slow start walking around like I’m in a foreign land.

  “Who cleaned this place?” Demon asks from behind me, making me jump.

  “Greg sent over a crew after Erik’s people left.” Riker answers him.

  “Why?” I ask, still walking around my super clean office.

  “Because he wanted you to be able to come back to work with one less worry. And before you say anything about me keeping this from you, Greg asked me too because he wanted it to be a surprise.” Riker says, I don’t even have to look I know he’s smirking.

  “Demon, remind me to call and thank Greg later today. You know once his annoying brother leaves.” Demon laughs at me teasing Riker but Riker didn’t find it so funny. I hear a loud growl right before I’m picked up and spun around.

  We are both out of breath when he finally stops. He steadies me with his hands on my hips once he sets my feet back on the ground. I wrap my arms around his neck and smile up at him. He leans down, resting his forehead on mine. We are grinning like silly kids at each other.

  Right then I feel a sense of peace wash over me. This wonderful feeling of everything is right, right at this moment. Right here with Riker, everything just feels perfect. Then it fully hits me, I’m in love this man. I’m in love with Riker Deeks.

  “Riker Deeks is in love with you too.” He whispers softly.

  “I really need to work on not saying what I’m thinking.” I mumble to myself. Wait
did he just say he loves me too? “You love me?”

  “Yes, I love you Darcy.” Riker starts to kiss me but I pull back.

  “Are you sure? I mean this could just be the honeymoon stage or just the excitement of the moment.” I’m sure he can hear the worry in my voice.

  “I’ve known for a while now that I loved you. I just didn’t want to scare you by saying it too soon. We haven’t really had a normal start to our relationship but I knew that night at Cali’s that you were it for me.” He brushes the tips of his fingers down the side of cheek. “The ‘honeymoon’ stage will come after the ‘I do’ stage, which comes after the ‘you saying yes’ stage.” My heart stops. He can tell I’m about to freak out because he says. “Don’t worry we aren’t ready for those stages yet. But one day we will be.”

  “That’s a lot to take in.” I tell him honestly. “I mean I do love you, I wasn’t lying when I said that, even though I didn’t know I was saying that out loud. And you’re right, we didn’t have a normal start to our relationship. That’s what I’m worried about. What if after all this is over, after Bradley is caught or killed, and everything settles back down, what if you see that I’m not really what you want? You’ve taken on the roll of protector, but what happens when I don’t need protected anymore?” I lay my head on his chest, not wanting to look in his eyes as I ask the questions that have haunted me.

  “When Bradley is dealt with, whether caught or killed, we will start our own normal. We will have days where we fight, we will have days where we play hooky and call in sick because we don’t want to be apart from each other. Then rest of the days we’ll be like any other couple. We’ll go to work, come home, I’ll cook, and we’ll just be us. You won’t always need protecting, but I’ll always be your protector. I’ll protect your heart, body, mind, and spirit.” His words bring me to tears. I can’t stop them, so I just let them fall.