by Sahara Kelly
Here they were with the best suspect they’d had yet, he had all but admitted to being involved, and Lou was about to let him walk out the fucking door? Immediately her brain connected the dots. Sean might possibly be able to incriminate Lou if he was actually behind or part of this scheme.
No wonder Lou was ready to let him loose.
Barbara seethed. “I’m not sure, Inspector Franconi. It seems that our investigations might be helped by any little bit of information friend Sean here could offer.” She glared at Lou across the expanse of table, surprised to find her stare returned by a solidly unblinking one from Lou’s dark blue eyes.
“Ma’am…Detective…please…I don’t know anything, okay?”
Sean’s shaky voice quivered into the silence that had fallen between Lou and Barbara, making her jump. She’d nearly forgotten his presence.
Wrenching her gaze away from Lou, Barbara noticed sweat breaking out on Sean’s face. He was gnawing at his lip and there was a definite tremble to his hand as he lifted it to wipe his forehead.
If ever she’d seen someone with “guilty” written clearly across his expression, it was this kid. And Lou wanted to let him walk? There was something very wrong with this picture, but at this point Barbara was angry enough to go along with it. If she gave Lou enough rope, sure as shit he’d hang himself with it.
And she’d be there to hold the other end of the noose. Hell, she’d kick the chair over for him.
Didn’t matter that she was in love with him. Well, okay, yeah it did.
It made the whole fucking thing worse.
Chapter Ten
Lou would have smiled as he took Barbara’s arm to lead her from the building, but he could sense the anger roiling inside her. They’d let Sean go, watched as he’d all but bolted from the room and now it was time to deal with his erstwhile partner, lover and possibly murderer.
At least that was the look she had in her eyes, anyway.
He swore he heard her teeth clench as they reached the quiet parking lot. Then she spun around and let loose. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing? Are you out of that peanut-sized mind of yours? That kid knew something - and whatever he knew would have been a help. He was ready to talk too - what the hell is going on with you?”
She wrenched her arm free, planted her boots down firmly and crossed her arms as she glared at him in fury.
Lou counted himself lucky. At least she hadn’t reached for her weapon. Yet. He took a breath. It was time to clear up some details about this case.
“Look, honey, I’m sorry.” Her chin snapped up a notch or two. Okay. Wrong approach.
“Inspector Franconi. We are presently working a case. I’m trying to be professional and not knock your nuts up around your tonsils with my knee. It’s an ongoing battle since you’ve demonstrated some kind of major mental incompetence. Calling me anything but Detective Fremont isn’t going to help your cause.” She gulped back a growl of anger. “You either tell me what’s going on right here and now or I’m gone. You can find somebody else to work with.”
Lou ran his hand through his hair. “Okay. I’m sorry. You’re right. It’s time I leveled with you.”
“I’m listening.”
“There’s more to this case than just bootlegged DVDs.”
“Go on.” Her stance hadn’t changed. If they’d been at the OK Corral instead of a porn studio parking lot she’d definitely have shot him by now.
Lou stretched his shoulders. “There’s a chain of command here. The DVDs are bringing in some cash, but there’s also drugs, prostitution and quite a nice little market in stolen goods as well.”
Barbara’s head tilted sideways a little as she considered his words. “You mean this is part of some crime syndicate?”
He nodded. “Yep. Small, right now, nothing that could compare to the big boys in the big city, but it’s growing. It’s well organized, technologically advanced, and showing the potential for turning more and more profit as time goes on, especially in the third world markets. Unless we nip it in the bud now. The last thing us State boys want is another budding syndicate sending out tentacles into every illegal pie there is.”
“And you think the DVD angle will…what? Get you an in? A name?”
“Possibly. It’s only one of the avenues we’re pursuing. I let Sean off the hook in the hopes that he’d walk out of here and place a call. As soon as we got his name I pulled a cell-phone warrant so we can track him. I’m gambling that he’ll call whoever he reports to - ”
“Thus giving you another link in the chain.” Barbara finished his thought for him.
“Exactly.” Lou nodded. “So now you understand why I let him go.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Sure. That I understand. Now. Why the hell you couldn’t have told me this before, I don’t know.”
Unwisely, Lou answered from his heart not his brain. “Because I wanted you.”
“What?” Barbara all but shrieked at him.
Lou tried to recoup. “Look, I didn’t intend to get a bad case for you, Barbara. But I did. Soon as I saw you, soon as you went down on your knees, I was lost and I knew it.”
“So fucking what?” The hands were on the hips once more and that “look” was back in Barbara’s eyes. “You get a hard-on and all of a sudden you decide that means don’t tell me the full details of the case we’re supposed to be working together?”
Lou paused. “There’s a chance your department has a leak.”
The silence following that statement was overwhelming. Then the natural progression of Barbara’s brain took her to a place Lou was dreading.
“And you…thought…it…might…be…me?” The outrage in the hushed words of fury boiled into Lou’s ears. “You fucked me anyway, even though you thought I might be the leak?”
“No, Barbara - listen, honest…”
She was so not listening. “You haven’t told me the truth from the start, you jerk.”
“Look, I never meant…”
“No you didn’t, did you? You bastard. I should shoot you where you stand.”
Lou sighed. If she’d just calm down, they could discuss this like two adults instead of shouting at each other like kids on a playground.
Making things worse was a woman who walked uncertainly towards them.
Barbara was in full spate. “You damn near ruined everything, you incompetent asshole.”
Lou’s lips twisted. “Are you mad because of just now…or because of last night?” He reached out and just brushed a fingertip over her cheek.
As the stranger approached, Barbara lost the last vestiges of her control. Lou saw it coming, but figured she needed to blow off some steam.
The sound of her hand slapping his face rang around the almost empty parking lot. She spun on her heel and stalked away, boots sounding loud on the pavement.
“So does this mean tomorrow night’s off?” He couldn’t resist calling the jibe after Barbara.
She never even turned around, just flipped him the finger over her shoulder.
He turned to the woman, a flash of recognition hitting him - a great deal more gently than Barbara’s hand. It was the girl from the video store - the one who’d disappeared with Big John Johnson.
He rubbed his cheek and grinned. “Gotta love a woman who knows the value of physical action.”
“Um…gosh…I’m sorry. I wasn’t…I mean…um…” She sounded embarrassed and uncertain.
“Don’t sweat it, babe. Just a lover’s tiff. She can’t get enough of me.” Lou chuckled to himself. And don’t I hope that’s the truth.
“Actually, I’m trying to find the front door to…” She nodded at the building behind her, the color creeping into her cheeks as she admitted to wanting to enter a porn studio.
“Looking for Big John’s place?”
She nodded.
“Right around the corner, honey. Entrance is tucked away in back…”
“Thanks. I hope everything works out for you.” She nodded at the car roaring away w
ith a scream of tires.
Lou smiled. “It will.” He tucked his hands in his pockets and strolled off, trying to ignore the fact that Barbara had just left him stranded.
The grin stayed on his face. She was one hell of a woman and the more time he spent with her, the more he was growing to need her.
He needed her fire, her passion, her sexy body and her challenging mind.
He even needed her temper - the incontrovertible sign of a spirit that matched his own.
His cheek throbbed at the memory of her blow and he figured he probably had a nice red handprint there as a souvenir. But he wouldn’t have changed a thing. Lou had found Barbara when he wasn’t expecting to ever have a relationship this intense, or in fact to need one.
But within a very short period of time he’d come to the realization that she was exactly what was missing in his life. Now all he had to do was convince her of that fact and not get himself shot in the process.
*~~*~~*
Barbara had gone less than a mile from the studios when she realized she’d stranded Lou without a car.
Well, fuck him. Let him find his own way back to the station.
Her temper still boiled high as she came to terms with the fact that he’d withheld information from her, included her on the list of possible leaks and then, to add insult to injury - slept with her.
It was the last item that rankled, along with the solid knowledge that she was completely wrapped up in him, had enjoyed the best sex of her life and would probably wither away into miserable and lonely spinsterhood without him.
Unusual tears pricked the backs of her eyes and she steered the car to the side of the road, slapping it into “Park” and digging in her bag for a tissue.
“Stupid idiot woman.” She stared at herself in the rearview mirror. “He’s not worth it.”
Oh yes he is.
“He lied to me.”
No he didn’t. He just didn’t tell you everything.
“He should have trusted me.”
Why? He’s working a case. He’s only known you for a few days and you leaped into bed with him. What’s to trust? You probably looked pretty slutty to him.
“Oh fuck.” The tears fell at last, dripping over Barbara’s cheeks as she stared blindly through the windshield. “I’m scared.”
Of what?
“I’m in love with him.”
Her inner voice had no answer for that comment. Barbara hadn’t really expected any. It seemed that when love finally arrived it didn’t bloom like the proverbial rose, but smacked her upside the head - painfully and savagely. It hurt, with a wonderfully terrible ache that wouldn’t respond to an aspirin or a shot of whiskey.
This was a pain that went deep - a mingling of fear, self-doubt and heated desire for Lou’s touch. And his smile.
And his fucking trust.
It was this last that hurt the most. The knowledge that he could fuck her to the edge of insanity yet not trust her. Especially when she was ready to trust him.
Or was she?
Blowing her nose, Barbara sighed. Trust was a two-way street. She’d rummaged in his bags and found things that she hadn’t expected. She’d been quite ready to suspect him of being a slimeball crook.
Was she any better than Lou?
Oh fucking shit. This was why love, sex and male-female interactions were a real bad idea all around. They were complicated, fraught with traps and pitfalls that were only too ready to swallow up the unwary and Barbara wanted to groan at the unfairness of it all. Where was the roadmap through this stuff? Where was the “Guide to Loving” type thing that would have helped her negotiate a truce with her fate?
And where, come to think of it, was the man himself?
She’d left him high and dry - not exactly guaranteed to endear herself to him. And this was after landing a punch that could well have loosened a couple of molars.
Barbara sighed once more and put the car into drive. Time to go collect Lou, see if any permanent damage had been done to his teeth and perhaps try and fix any of the other damage she’d done to their relationship.
That was, if they still had one.
I am soooo not good at this stuff.
See? This is why you need to get out more.
Barbara took a quick look at her reflection in the mirror and told herself to shut the fuck up.
*~~*~~*
While Barbara was indulging in a fit of serious self-recrimination, Lou was walking back towards the station. He knew he could’ve grabbed a cab or an Uber, but he appreciated the opportunity to be alone and do some serious thinking.
About Barbara.
She’d crept into his heart through his fly and turned from the hottest bedmate into a woman he didn’t want to live without.
It was a done deal. No appeals, no requests for leniency - he was sentenced to life with her. If she’d have him. There were things they had to talk about - things he had to tell her, to ask her and then listen to see if she was anywhere near the page he was on.
If she wasn’t, he’d just take her back to bed and make love to her until she was. He blinked at himself as his thoughts made the stupidest kind of sense.
I am scaring myself.
His cell phone rang. “Franconi.” He listened to the information being relayed to him. The surveillance on Sean’s phone had paid off. A call had been intercepted and Sean had set up a meet with a name that set off alarm bells in Lou’s head.
This was not a guy some college kid with a bad case of greed should be dealing with.
Looking around, Lou searched for a cab, only to see a familiar car heading for where he was standing.
Thank you God. Barbara had come back for him.
She stopped next to him and he bent down to open the passenger door. “Barbara…”
“Lou, I…”
They spoke over each other, stumbling to get the words out, frustrating Lou to no end. “Shit. This’ll have to wait. Sean’s on his way to a meet.” He slid into the car and slammed the door shut. “Oak Street and Third. Can you get us there quickly?”
“Yes.” She snapped into action, pulling away into the traffic with scarcely a horn blaring to mark her passage. “Fasten your seat belt.”
Lou grinned as the car swayed and did a couple of maneuvers that might have gotten another driver a ticket or two. “Already did.”
“Who’s he meeting with?” Eyes firmly on the road ahead, Barbara tossed out the question as casually as if she was asking what was on sale at the supermarket that week.
“Bernie Rostovich.”
Her eyebrows flew up and she glanced at him for a microsecond before gunning the engine even harder. “Shit, Lou. I’ve heard that name.”
“Yeah. Me too.” His tone was grim.
Mr. Rostovich was well-known to “authorities” as the newspapers liked to say. The head of a Russian crime ring, he was slick, had a lawyer who had thus far kept him out of jail and was growing ever richer off the backs of those who worked for him. He’d kept out of the official “eye” for some years, but eventually his organization had increased in size to where it attracted attention - aided by a couple of deaths that had recently been linked to his employees.
“Hookers. Dead hookers.” Barbara was thinking and driving at the same time. “Something about a couple of Russian women lured into prostitution and ending up dead?”
“Yep.” Lou nodded. “Don’t like the sound of this guy. Or his associates. I doubt he’d be there in person to meet with Sean, but whoever comes, the kid doesn’t stand a chance.”
Barbara skillfully wove her way through traffic and made a couple of turns that left rubber on the asphalt. “Only a couple minutes more and we’ll be there.”
“Good. And after this is all over, babe, we’re gonna take a couple hours for us and talk, okay?”
“You got it.” Barbara nodded as the car slid to a halt. “We’re here.”
*~~*~~*
Lou was out of the door before she’d turned the engine off, l
ooking around him for a glimpse of Sean. It wasn’t the best place in the world, that was for sure and Barbara was glad they were there in daylight.
If it had been after dark, she’d have drawn her service weapon by now. Boarded-up windows faced the street, a few bits of paper skittered along the gutters and there was an overpowering stench of garbage in the air.
As it was, she touched the gun nestled into the curve of her spine, making sure it was clear and accessible should she need it. Then she left the car and joined Lou. “I don’t see him, do you?”
Lou frowned. “No. He should be here by now.” He looked up the street. There were few people around, and those who happened to be walking past kept their eyes down.
Barbara’s skin prickled. “You sure this was the spot?”
“Yeah. Wait up - here he is.” Lou moved forward. “Cover me, okay?”
Barbara opened her mouth but he was gone already, hand poised near his hip, striding towards a rather surprised-looking Sean Donaldson who had just rounded a corner and was walking their way.
Barbara remained next to the car, senses attuned to her surroundings, looking for anything out of the ordinary - anyone out of the ordinary. Given where they were, that wasn’t an impossible chore, but there didn’t seem to be cause for alarm in the hastily shut doors or the blinds that were pulled down over a window or two.
Apparently one didn’t need a squad car with lights blaring to be identified as a cop in this part of town. And it sure didn’t look like anyone wanted to establish cordial relations with their official police representatives.
The street cleared in rapid time.
Lou had reached Sean and there was some kind of impassioned dialogue going on. Barbara watched them with half her attention, keeping the other half on the street either side of them.
Sean was shaking his head - Lou was gesturing with his hands. It was an oddly animated conversation for two men to be having, but then again - Lou probably had that Italian thing going for him.
Barbara spared a moment to wonder where the others were - the person or persons that Sean was supposed to meet. Associates of Mr. Bernie Rostovich, perhaps.