“So he went to the press?”
Alice shrugged. “Maybe, but it didn’t look that way. If he wanted people to know about it, why would his reps give a ‘No Comment’?”
Robert thought for a moment. “Did the person who delivered the check leave a card?”
—
We need to talk. Now. Robert texted Hannah as soon as he left Project Pride. He didn’t give a damn if she was still mad at him for Emily, the club, the museum, or just being a cop.
I’m with Josh and Mariela she texted back. Mariana’s coming home
Fine. Robert texted back, hoping she could see how pissed he was through the screen. When can you meet?
Six
Meet me at the underground diner in Kenmore
Bob had been there since five-thirty when Hannah arrived at six. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she said as soon as she sat down.
“Maybe I didn’t make myself clear,” Robert said as he clutched his coffee. “I’m the one who’s mad at you now.”
“It came across as obviously as everything else you do,” she said coldly. “But really, meeting me at the place you like to take your conquests? For some reason, I thought you could do a little better.”
“All my—what?” Robert spluttered.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Hannah said sarcastically. “Was this just your special place with Zainab Hendrickson? I don’t want to cheapen any precious memories.”
Was she serious? “What the hell is going on?”
“Ask me your question, Robert,” she demanded. “Now. Because I’m busy. And if you want to do it somewhere else, like your station, then you’re going to have to wait until my attorney can join me.”
“You mean Graham, or this guy?” Robert tossed the card he’d taken from Alice Lu onto the table. “You know what gave it away? He doesn’t work for White.”
She didn’t break eye contact with him. “You caught me,” she said dryly. “I donated a quarter of a million to a place that actually managed to help some of the most pathetic victims I’ve ever met.”
“That’s bullshit,” Robert said heatedly. “The cashier’s check was definitely Sheldon’s. But he didn’t give it to them, you did. Which means that Sheldon gave it to you. Why?” She didn’t blink. “God damn it, I asked you a question!”
She clutched the napkin on the table so hard, her knuckles turned white. “Because he wanted me to leave town. Threatening me with assault charges for not shooting his stupid little girlfriend wasn’t enough to scare me, so he thought he could bribe me. Because he’s a cocky asshole. Ever meet one of those?”
His nostrils flared. “And you planted that story in the Globe so he’d get the message? That’s really all there is to it?”
“He’s one of those ‘Go Big or Go Home’ guys, and if anyone’s leaving, it’s going to be him.” Her lip trembled slightly. “But I’m not going to go to that much trouble to make sure you get this: don’t call me again.” She threw down the napkin as she slid out of her booth.
“Damn it.” He fumbled for his wallet as she ran up the stairs.
The owner came over. “Go get her, Bob. You can pay next time you’re here.”
“Thanks,” Bob said as he grabbed his coat.
“And try not to be such an idiot with this one,” he heard the owner mutter when he was near the top of the stairs.
“Hannah!” Robert shouted as he chased her down Commonwealth Avenue. “Stop!” Of course she didn’t. Fortunately, Baptiste had forced him to pass his physical every year. He caught up with her when she was at the corner of Commonwealth and Gloucester, but only because there were too many cars for her to run across the street.
“More questions, Detective?” Hannah snapped. “Fine, I’m calling my attorney.”
“Would you just stop?” He put a hand on hers as she reached for her phone. “Why didn’t you tell me about Sheldon?”
She flinched but didn’t pull away. “Because....” She looked away. “What would you have done? You can’t arrest someone for giving someone money.”
“Not because I’m a cop,” Robert said uncomfortably. “Because we’re...because I’m—”
She pulled back her hand and ran it through her hair. “And what could that guy do?”
“The guy with the badge doesn’t get to throw any punches. The guy without one is another story.”
She grabbed her left shoulder with her right hand and looked down. “And I’m sure Baptiste will see the difference.”
He cupped her chin and tilted her face up so she had to look at him. “I’m a big boy and I can take care of myself.”
“And I’m a big girl and I don’t want anyone to rescue me.”
“Then you’d better stop getting into so much trouble.”
“I am trouble,” she whispered.
“Is that why you keep walking away from me?”
“That, and you’re a hothead.”
“Well, I wish you’d stop.” The sun was setting in the sky. Her eyes looked more golden in the pink light. “I can’t stop thinking about you.”
“Have...you tried?” she said haltingly as he closed the distance between them.
“Tried what?” he asked as he moved her hair off her face.
He felt her fingers on his hands. “Tried to stop thinking about me.”
He took her face into his hands and bent in to kiss her. “Why would I do that?”
—
If Hannah had been smart, she wouldn’t have found herself back in Robert’s apartment. But Hannah already knew she wasn’t smart, because she couldn’t stop thinking about him, either.
His jacket and shoes were off before they’d left his hallway. Her sweater and shoes had come off in the living room. His tie came off in his bedroom doorway. His shirt was on the floor by the time they fell onto his bed.
He unbuttoned her pants. “I want you to know something about me.”
She grabbed his belt as he pulled her t-shirt over his head. “You sure I don’t already know it?”
He kissed her neck and reached for the clasp of her bra. “I don’t think you do.”
She rolled over and he kissed her face, neck, and collarbone. She wrapped her legs around him and licked his ears. He moaned and let her push him onto his back. She unbuttoned his pants as she kissed his lower belly and started to work her way down.
He dug his fingers into her shoulders and pulled away after a minute. “Wait,” he gasped.
She moved her tongue from his navel to his chest. “Sorry, was there something you wanted to tell me?”
He rolled her onto her back and slid her underwear off. He kissed the outside of her leg from her knee to her hip. “I’ve been going to that place since I was an undergrad.”
She froze, but before she could move away, he grabbed her hips. She put her hands on her chest. “But you haven’t been there since she dumped you there.”
“Okay, you caught me.” He grabbed one of her hands and brought her fingers to his mouth, sending a shock of pleasure from her hands, through her lower belly, down to her toes. He put his full weight on her. “It used to hurt to be there. But now it doesn't.” He half-smiled and moved her hair off her face. “It doesn’t hurt to be anywhere because I’m happy.”
She wrapped her hands around his neck. “Liar. You’re not capable of being happy.”
“We really need to work on your profiling skills,” he said before he brought his lips to hers.
If Hannah had been smart, she wouldn’t have stayed in his arms until they fell asleep. But Hannah didn’t want to be smart just then. She wanted to be happy.
—
Robert woke up later that night and reached for her in his sleep. He dreamed she wasn’t there. He forced himself to wake up and there she was, sleeping next to him. He put his arms around her. “Stay,” he said sleepily.
Chapter Fourteen
Alex smirked as he sat in his study that night. He took a swig of his drink and picked up the picture.
Did sh
e really think she was going to scare him? No, sweetheart, if I know you don’t have it in you, it doesn’t matter how many times you put on a show of bravery for me. She was all talk.
All he had left to lose was money, and money was so easy to make if you lost it. At least she was smart enough to know that and hadn’t embarrassed them both with some kind of pathetic, maudlin appeal for her loved ones.
She prided herself on how smart she was. But what was smart worth if it didn’t keep you from losing the things you loved?
She was all talk, and now less. Because she knew that he knew she didn’t want to lose anything she finally had.
But the other one... He pulled her picture from the pile. She could be resourceful and unpredictable, and she played the way he did: to win, rules be damned. She could hurt him if she wanted to, but that wasn’t what she wanted.
He wondered if he’d overplayed. Perhaps he’d overreacted, but it had been a long time since someone had come close to injuring him. This back and forth might end up costing him more than he would get back, and he’d known that, hadn’t he? He’d been so close to ending this once and for all, but she was lucky and smart.
He smiled to himself. What a shame the same couldn’t be said for the people close to her.
Alex looked up when he heard a knock at the door. He looked at his watch. Damien had already gone home for the night. Who the hell would that be right now? And why hadn’t he heard the alert?
Chapter Fifteen
Hannah was sleeping in Robert’s bed when he woke up. She murmured as he reached for her and kissed her neck. “Where’d you go last night?”
“Nowhere,” she said as she ran her fingers sleepily through his hair.
He was sliding the sheet off of her when his phone beeped. “Oh, come on,” he whined as he reached for his phone. “Teague,” he snapped.
“Are you already having a bad morning?” Baptiste asked on the other end. “Sorry, because it’s about to get worse.”
He sat up. “What’s going on?”
Baptiste cursed under his breath for twenty seconds before he replied. “Someone murdered Alex Sheldon last night and the cleaning staff just found his body.”
Robert froze and looked at Hannah. “I’ll be right over.” Robert hung up and jumped out of bed.
Hannah sat up and rubbed her eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“Where did you go last night?”
“Nowhere, I promise,” Hannah repeated, tilting her chin down as she stared at him. “What happened?”
“Alex Sheldon is dead.”
Her eyes teared up and she bit her lip. “Tell me they found him locked up in one of his warehouses, starved to death.”
Robert softened. “Looks like he was in his big, comfy house when it happened.”
“I guess I’ll take it,” she whispered.
—
There was only one police car and two officers stationed outside of Sheldon’s home when Robert arrived half an hour after Baptiste’s call.
One of the officers directed him upstairs. “Careful, he’s spitting nails.”
“Captain, what are you doing here?” Robert asked as soon as he saw Baptiste pacing in the second floor hallway.
“What am I doing here? I’m letting the crime scene unit do its job.” Baptiste stopped pacing. “The question is, what are you doing here?”
“Sir, you called me,” Robert said carefully.
“And what the hell was I thinking when I did that?” Baptiste asked no one in particular. “The press is going to be swarming in about twenty minutes and I want to do damage control. This is need to know only until the official release.”
“What is going on?” Robert turned around to see Richard Hendrickson, slightly breathless, standing behind him.
“Or not,” Baptiste muttered.
Richard Hendrickson was possibly Robert’s least favorite person, and he had plenty of people to choose from. He thought they’d parted on, if not good terms, at least amiable terms, but when Richard had seen Robert at the MFA, he could feel his disapproval and superiority emanating off of him. He had a lot to apologize for, he knew, but he’d be damned if he was going to apologize to Richard after the way he’d treated Zainab.
Why the hell had she gone back to him again? He wondered for the thousandth time.
“What are you doing here?” Robert asked testily.
“I got a call about twenty minutes ago—”
Baptiste sighed. “Mister Hendrickson, we appreciate your concern, but this is an active investigation and I don’t need it to be any more complicated than it’s going to be.”
Richard looked like he’d literally rolled out of bed and run over. “So it’s true? Someone killed Alex last night?”
“As of now, we are still trying to establish the time of death. But to answer your question, yes, Mister Sheldon was murdered.”
Richard closed his eyes for a moment and exhaled. “You’re sure it’s murder?”
Baptiste frowned. “It’s very difficult to commit suicide by blunt force trauma to the head—from behind.”
Richard almost laughed. “Someone bashed the back of his head in? Not exactly the way we all thought he’d go out.”
Robert didn’t care who the victim was, no one was supposed to laugh when someone was murdered—especially not an entitled, self-pitying hypocrite like Hendrickson. “Really? What were you thinking should happen instead?”
Richard whipped his head to face Robert. “So help me, you are not going to railroad anyone—”
“That’s not what Teague meant,” Baptiste said quickly, but Richard didn’t seem to hear him.
“If you don’t have a time of death, I can’t give you an alibi,” Richard said tersely. “But in case you were wondering, my mother and stepmother left for the Cape yesterday morning and I bet you can check that pretty easily.” Good to know, Robert thought. “And I was either in my office—with two of my employees—or at home in bed. With my wife.”
Robert had resented leaving Hannah in his bed after last night, but that didn’t mean he had to like it when Richard tried to push that button. “You’re sure it was your wife?”
“You fucking—” Richard lunged for Robert. Had Baptiste not stepped in front of Robert and put his hand on Richard’s shoulder, his fist would have connected with Robert’s jaw. Again.
“Mister Hendrickson, everyone needs to—”
“How is he still on the force after everything he did to my family and friends?” Richard shouted. “Did someone decide he should have some time to stalk my employees too?”
“Detective Teague’s actions during the investigation into your aunt’s murder were unfortunate.” Robert set his jaw. “But had he not reopened the case, her killer would still be at large.” Richard narrowed his eyes but didn’t reply. “Mister Hendrickson, right now, I need you to clear the scene, and I also need you to keep whatever you have seen—”
As he spoke, the medical examiner came out of another room behind the gurney bearing Alex Sheldon’s corpse, mercifully covered by a sheet. Richard held his breath, and Robert remembered with a twinge of sympathy that he had seen his Aunt Josie’s body taken away as well.
Baptiste gestured to the M.E. “Cortez, what have you got?”
“Two blows to the back of the head. Let’s wait for the exam before I give the final word, but as far as I’m concerned, the first blow should have been enough to do it.”
“Can’t blame them for wanting to be thorough,” Richard said as the body was taken away.
“Mister Hendrickson,” Baptiste tried again, “as I was saying, I need you to keep whatever you’ve seen to yourself so we can get this done properly, alright?”
“Anything you want as long as you keep that son of a bitch—” He pointed to Robert. “—away from us.” He turned to leave. “And by the way, it looks like a couple of things are missing,” he said over his shoulder.
Baptiste turned on Robert. “You idiot.”
Robert bit t
he inside of his cheek. “It won’t happen again.”
“You’re goddamned right it won’t; you’re off the case.”
—
Robert barged into Baptiste’s office as soon as he returned from the crime scene.
Baptiste was sitting at his desk, opening his bottle of Tums and ignoring Robert’s dramatic entry. “I wish I had a drinking problem,” Baptiste muttered. “Tell that kid at the desk to get me some more coffee. That ought to finalize the ulcer I’ve been working on and then someone can start giving me the good stuff.”
“Captain—”
“Don’t,” Baptiste said sharply. “And so help me, if you think you’re doing any kind of investigation on this, I will reassign you to traffic duty permanently—the kind without any overtime.”
Robert gestured with his hands as if he was holding something down. “I can stay out of Hendrickson’s way—”
“Can you be smart?” Baptiste snapped. “The only person I called aside from you was the commissioner, and I am positive that she contacted the mayor. Someone in his office alerted someone in Hendrickson’s circle. Why? Because Alex Sheldon was up in their faces for a few decades and they probably wanted to celebrate. Hendrickson just came over to make sure they weren’t popping the bubbly over nothing. This investigation is going to involve them.”
“So you’re playing politics now?”
Baptiste slammed down the bottle. “You’re a fool, Bob, but then so am I. I never should have called you, but I thought your knowledge of Sheldon’s associates might be enough of an asset to outweigh your inability to keep yourself out of trouble.” He crossed his arms. “But I was wrong. You’re there for less than five minutes and you get into a scrap with the victim’s family!”
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