Stone's Mistake

by Adrian J. Smith

  Amya was as much a morning person as she was. It didn’t take long for her sister’s soft and sweet voice to fill the other end of the line. Morgan kept her volume down as she smiled into the phone. “Morning.”

  “Why are you calling me so early?” Amya pouted.

  “I’m working a busy case. If you want me to call you, now is when I have time to call you.”

  Rustling echoed on the other end of the line, and she figured Amya was moving some place away from Grace, who was no doubt still sleeping hard as a rock. “What case are you working?”

  “You know I can’t tell you that.”

  “I know…it just…you worry me sometimes.”

  “I worry you?”

  “Yeah. I mean, you can never talk about anything. You bottle it all up. I know you take the brunt of the family drama. Who do you have to talk to and let it all out?”

  Morgan rubbed her lips together and stared at her reflection in the mirror. Amya wasn’t wrong. She’d relied on Pax for the better part of a decade for that, but even he didn’t know everything going on in her life. “Well, maybe it’ll please you then to know I’ve had a date the last two nights.”

  “What!?”

  Chuckling, Morgan spun and turned the shower on. “Yes, and it’s been wonderfully good even if it won’t last.”

  “Won’t last?”

  “Well, yeah, duh. I live in Chicago, and she lives here.”

  “You could always transfer back.”

  Morgan scoffed. “I love Chicago. I finally have all four seasons, Amya. I can’t give that up.”

  “I know. Just hopeful, I guess.”

  “You’re always the hopeful one. Always the one who looks toward the future. You’ve got a future, Amya. You have a wonderful future with Grace. I’m…I’m not sure I’ll ever have that or that I want it. I enjoy my freedom and being single. I don’t need someone else to make my life better. It’s pretty damn good as it.”

  “That’s why I love you.”

  “I love you, too, baby sis. I gotta get ready for work. Long day, hoping to finally have some success.”

  “I’ll pray for it.”

  “Uh…yeah. You do that. I’m just…going to work hard and focus harder. Love you.”

  “Love you, too.”

  Hanging up, Morgan set her phone on the counter and stepped under the hot spray of the shower. It felt glorious. As much as she loved her free time with Lollie, she definitely needed a night of actual sleep so she could think clearly at work. Taylor would only give her so much time in Seattle before he would insist the Seattle office take over the case until her perp moved to a new city again. Morgan didn’t want that to happen.

  She finished her shower and wrapped a towel around her after running it through her hair to dry it off. When she headed into the bedroom area, Lollie was awake and touching herself seductively on the bed. Morgan’s chest warmed, and her heart jumped. She was so tempting.

  “Want to come join?” Lollie’s voice carried over to her.

  Morgan bit her lip. On one hand, she definitely wanted to join; on the other, she knew her time was growing short before she’d have to be off to work. Giving in, Morgan dropped her towel and crawled onto the bed. “Just a quick one.”

  “Absolutely.”

  Morgan pressed her mouth to Lollie’s, and Lollie flipped them so she was on top. Morgan knew it was her preferred position at that point with how often they ended up in it. Morgan ran her hands up and down Lollie’s sides and tugged her down for a kiss. With their mouths pressed together, Morgan focused on how she wanted to get this done efficiently.

  Lollie had other plans. Her fingers trailed up Morgan’s chest, into her wet hair, and down to her neck. Her thumb and forefinger from each had circled her neck. Morgan’s back stiffened and goosebumps rose on her arms. She looked up into Lollie’s eyes. While strangulation was not something she hadn’t experienced before, it was not a particular sex act she enjoyed, and to do it without talking first was beyond her.

  Reaching up, Morgan brushed her fingers over Lollie’s cheek and implored her. “I don’t really like that.”

  Lollie ignored her, her grasp tightening. Morgan swallowed and breathed in, knowing if Lollie got much tighter she wouldn’t be able to speak or breathe. Preparing for what she may have to do, Morgan clenched her jaw.

  “Lollie. Stop.”

  Smirking, Lollie shook her head and leaned down to whisper. “No. You’re going to leave me, and I can’t have that.”

  Without another warning, Lollie’s fingers tightened against Morgan’s neck. Morgan squirmed as fear ratcheted up in her stomach to her heart, making it even harder to breathe. She gasped. Digging her fingernails into Lollie’s wrists, Morgan tried to twist her body and knock her off, but Lollie clenched her thighs down.

  As Morgan looked up, the cold stare down at her was shocking. It was so unlike the Lollie she had come to know. Grunting, Morgan let go of Lollie’s wrist and shoved her forearm between Lollie’s, bracing her palm just above Lollie’s wrist. She pushed her hand down and her elbow up, forcing Lollie’s arms to buckle and her grasp to loosen.

  Lollie let go, and Morgan took her chance. She shoved her palm up straight into Lollie’s nose and threw her off the bed. Standing, Morgan went straight for where she knew her weapon was—the safe in the closet. Her bare feet padded on the floor, her heart racing as she turned her back on her attacker, but she had no other choice.

  Flinging the door to the closet open, Morgan reached in and up on her tiptoes. The slam against her head knocked her all the way inside the closet. When she turned around, Lollie breathed heavily over her with wide eyes, lamp on the floor, and knife in her left hand.

  “Shit,” Morgan muttered.

  Kicking out with her foot, she caught Lollie’s knee and sent her backward. Morgan reached forward and grabbed Lollie’s wrist with the knife in her hand and bent it sharply, pivoting it down so that the angle forced her to let go of the weapon or else she would break her wrist, which Morgan was tempted to do anyway.

  Before Morgan had a chance to grab the knife, Lollie socked her in the side of her head with a closed fist. Grunting and trying to see past the white stars littering her vision, Morgan leaned against the door frame to the closet. Her eyes locked on the safe. It was open. Reaching up, she grabbed her gun and spun around, aiming it at Lollie.

  With her jaw clenched, Morgan dared Lollie to take one more step toward her. “Don’t bring a knife to a gun fight, bitch.”

  Lollie’s chest heaved. Morgan stayed put, her line of fire exact on Lollie’s head. She was close enough there was no way she would miss. Lollie lowered to the ground slowly, and Morgan wondered if she was about to give up. Without warning, she gripped the lamp and threw it at Morgan. Screaming, she raced out of the room, the door slamming shut behind her.

  Morgan let out a breath. She shut and locked the door, grabbing her phone that still sat on the counter in the bathroom. Immediately, she called the local police department to report a naked lunatic on the run out of her hotel who had just tried to murder her during the heat of the moment.

  When she hung up with them, she grabbed the robe from the back of the door. With shaking hands, she swung it around her body and tied it tightly in front of her. She had another phone call to make, well more than one, but one she really didn’t want to make. It would start her life into a living hell, but it wouldn’t be long until they found out anyway.

  Opening her phone, Morgan dialed the first number she could think of. The sun peeked over the horizon, her room lightening up. Morgan’s heart still hadn’t stopped pounding as she sat in the chair at the desk with the phone pressed to her ear. Local PD would be there soon enough, asking a million and one questions, and the FBI needed to be shortly behind them.

  “This better be good, Stone.” Geraldine’s voice filtered through the line, gruff from sleep.

  Morgan rubbed her lips together, not quite sure what to say or how to put it. Tears slipped down her cheek
s as she bolstered herself.

  “Morgan?”

  “She…I need you to come to my room. She was here.”

  “She? Who is she?”

  “Lollie.”

  “I’m confused.”

  Morgan knew from Geraldine’s tone she had her full attention at this point, and that she wasn’t doing a good job explaining what was going on. “Lollie is the killer.”

  “Your killer?”

  Morgan nodded, but then she remembered last minute Geraldine couldn’t see her. “Yeah. Pretty sure.”

  “What’s your room number?”

  “Six-thirty-nine. I already called Seattle PD.”

  “What? Why? What happened?”

  “Just…just get here. Please.”

  “I’m coming. I’m coming right now.”

  Morgan hung up the phone and blinked back even more tears. Geraldine would be there. Taylor and Pax would likely find out in the next thirty to sixty minutes, and maybe Pax would even show up in the next day or two. Morgan sniffled and brushed at her face to wipe the tears away. When she moved her hand down, she noted the blood.

  “What the hell?”

  She stared at her hand and the slice mark cutting straight across it. Blood dripped from it onto the white robe. Morgan looked at the floor, noting the trail she had left behind.

  “Fuck,” she said on a breath.

  She wasn’t sure she could stand enough to get a towel, but just as she was about to attempt it, there was a loud knock at the door and call out of Seattle Police Department. Morgan pushed herself up, knowing she looked a fright but not caring in the least. They knocked again, but she couldn’t make her voice work.

  Morgan was startled when the alarm on the night stand blared into the room, loudly beeping at her. She breathed heavily and ignored it. She got to the door and unlocked it. They stared down at her, and she about broke. The next twenty minutes was a whirlwind of descriptions and recollections of what had happened. They had her weapon in their possession, and it made Morgan feel barer than she had the entire time she’d fought Lollie off. She heard Geraldine before she saw her.

  Her voice was strong and powerful as she forced her way through the throng of uniforms and into the room. One look at Morgan and Geraldine twisted back around to the Sergeant in charge and barked at him. “Where the hell is the medic?”

  “They’re coming.”

  “Get them here now.” Geraldine grabbed a towel from the bathroom and wrapped it around Morgan’s hand tightly. “Where else did she get you?”

  “She knocked me on the head with the lamp.”

  “Let me see.” Geraldine moved Morgan’s head down so she could look over her. “You’re going to need stitches. A lot of them.”

  “Fuck.”

  “Yeah.” Turning once again to the Sergeant, Geraldine glared. “Medic. Now.”

  He put his hands up in the air and spoke into his radio. Morgan shook her head and looked up at Geraldine, not sure what to say or what to do. Geraldine bent down and looked Morgan straight in the face.

  “You don’t say a fucking word. Got it. You say nothing.”

  “I—”

  “No. There will be an investigation. You will be on leave. We will figure this out. Until then, you don’t say anything that isn’t useful. Got it?”

  Morgan nodded, her head spinning. It wasn’t long before a medic arrived and knelt down before her where Geraldine had once been. They took the towel off and replaced it with gauze and tape. Then held something to the back of her head.

  She was ushered onto a stretcher, and Geraldine grabbed her hand before they pushed her out of the room. “Want me to call someone?”

  “No.” Morgan set her face. “No one finds out about this at all.”

  “Morgan, you’re pretty beat up.”

  “No.”

  “All right. I’ll meet you at the hospital. Garces is coming up here to deal with the uniforms.” Geraldine squeezed Morgan’s hand. “You’ll be fine. You just let the doctors do their thing, okay?”

  “Yeah, okay.”

  Morgan let out a breath and let the paramedics take her to the elevator on the stretcher. She would have preferred to walk out of the hotel with a bit of dignity, but at the same time, she wasn’t sure she had it in her to even take the steps needed to get out of the room itself. Closing her eyes, Morgan relaxed at let the systems in place do what needed done.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Morgan was stuck in the hospital overnight for observation, not that she really wanted to go back to the damn hotel room anyway. Every time she thought of returning, her heart would race and her blood pressure would rise—the stupid machine she was still hooked to told her every time. Doing some deep breathing exercises, she closed her eyes and tried to distract herself with the television in the corner.

  It wasn’t working. When Geraldine showed up with Morgan’s suitcase in her hand, Morgan could have hugged her. She would have if she’d been allowed out of the damn bed without assistance because of her concussion. “I thought you might like some of these.”

  “Thank you!” Morgan rested. “They give you my gun back?”

  “No. Not yet.”

  Something in the way Geraldine said it made her think that wasn’t the entire truth, but she let it slide. She hadn’t fired her gun, as much as she’d been tempted to and wanted to, so she wasn’t going to lose possession of it for very long.

  Geraldine sat on the edge of the bed. “How you feeling?”

  “Been better. I’ve got this wicked headache.” Morgan grinned and raised her hand. “And I don’t know what happened here, but man, it stings. Seriously, I’m not doing too bad. Sore, that’s it.”

  “Good. They said they’ll release you tomorrow. Where do you want to go?”

  Morgan shrugged. The only thing she knew was not back to that hotel room and probably not back to that hotel. Maybe she’d eventually go there, but not in the near future.

  “I’d say you held your own pretty damn good.”

  “Sure. You can say that if you believe it. Any idea where she got off to?”

  “No. They lost her before they found her. Cameras show her running out of the building through the side door emergency exit, after that, she went south and vanished.”

  “Great.”

  “There’s a protective detail outside.”

  “Oh, I’m aware.” Morgan glared at the door. “It’s unnecessary.”

  “Really? Don’t fight me on that one.”

  Morgan closed her eyes. “I doubt she’ll come back and finish me off. I’m out of her hair, she’s gone, there’s no reason for her to come back.”

  “No reason?”

  “I should probably finish her profile now that I have some major insight into how her brain works.”

  Geraldine’s hand was on her thigh, and Morgan jumped but calmed herself as quickly as she could. She knew Geraldine had noticed it, but she couldn’t help herself. It had been the world’s longest day, and she wasn’t even allowed to sleep for most of it.

  “You’ll come home with me. At least until we get you back to Chicago.”

  “They’re sending me home?”

  “You know they will as soon as they’re done taking statements and when you’re still on leave. You’ll need to be cleared before you can come back to duty.”

  “Great. My sister-in-law went through something similar, if I remember.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  “Yeah. I’ll deal with it. But your place sounds lovely. Scott still your main man?”

  “You know it.”

  They fell into a gentle silence. Morgan’s brain already spinning to complete out her profile of Lollie, especially now that she had a name and a face to go with the killer. Morgan reached out and grabbed Geraldine’s hand to get her attention.

  “Let me finish the profile at least.”

  “That’s it, though. Then you’re off the case.”

  “For now.”

  “We’ll see,” G
eraldine answered. “You get some rest. You need it.”

  Morgan chuckled. “Like anyone can rest in a hospital.”

  “True, but just ignore the nurses. They like it.” Geraldine took a deep breath. “You’re sure she didn’t know you were the agent on her case?”

  “I highly doubt it. I’m not sure if she’s even figured it out now. I never mentioned where I work or that I was even in law enforcement. Sometimes it’s a big turn off. You know the drill. So I sidestepped that conversation every time. She seemed utterly surprised I had a gun.”

  Geraldine nodded. “Well, if she doesn’t know, that is a bonus.”

  “Won’t be hard to find out if she’s good with Google, which we know she is.”

  “True. Last name?”

  “I didn’t tell her, but it doesn’t mean she didn’t snoop.”

  “You realize, Morgan, that you are one of the luckiest fucking women on the planet right now.”

  “Yeah. Yeah, I do.”

  The mood turned somber, and it wasn’t much longer until Geraldine left and Morgan attempted to get some sleep. She easily saw the uniform outside her door every time he shifted his stance. She felt more like a prisoner than someone who was protected, but Geraldine had been right. There was a slim chance Lollie would come back to finish the job, though she doubted it would happen at all. She strictly followed her plan, and since Morgan had thrown that plan completely awry, she would be looking for calm and order again.

  She knew Geraldine was already looking into Lollie more now that they had her phone and her purse. It hadn’t had much information in the wallet minus all the stolen cards she still had on her, but at least they had the phone. It would hopefully prove to be somewhat useful.

  Until Morgan was cleared to return to duty, she would be on the outs with knowing about the case until Geraldine or Pax kept her in the loop. It wasn’t a place she was longing to be in. This was her case. It was the thing she had been obsessing over for the last three weeks, and it wasn’t something she was going to give up easily. Gripping the notepad and pen she had next to the bed, Morgan wrote out a full and complete profile for Lollie, her serial killer looking for love in all the wrong places.