[Harbinger 01.0] Plain Jane
Page 22
He was actually gentle as he tended to her wound. Concern framed his features. Was this really Kent? Quickly he rigged a makeshift bandage, and the blood flow stopped.
Then he looked up, and their eyes met. So many life-changing moments had come to pass this night, and very few of them had to do with bringing a serial killer to justice. There was so much to say, yet, she couldn’t get her lips to work. Not when Kent was looking at her like that. Like he used to. Like he did that weekend they went away together to the beach. Like he did when she thought they might actually make their relationship work.
“Nikki!” That was Ruben.
“Here,” Nicole yelled back but not quite so enthusiastically as before. Could she and Kent just have a little time alone? Time to sort through the mess of their relationship before Internal Affairs got involved?
Kent patted her good leg. “I’m telling you, he’s no Magellan. I better go get them before they end up needing to be rescued.”
Nicole couldn’t let him go. Not yet. Not until at least one thing was cleared up.
“Wait,” she said as she took his hand in hers. “Before…” how could the feelings she had be so strong inwardly, yet so difficult to say outwardly? “Before when you said you’d never stolen anything of mine…”
Kent’s eyes searched hers, his expression unreadable as usual. It was up to her. If they were going to break this deadlock, it would be up to her to do it. Kent was absolute crap at expressing himself.
Not that she was all that much better.
“Nic, you need an ambulance.”
She ignored his words. “You did steal this…” Nicole brought Kent’s hand up to her chest and laid it gently there against her breastbone. “You stole this.”
Kent got defensive. “Your bra? No way… Okay, maybe one pair of underwear, but that was for—”
Nicole shook her head, quieting the nearly panicked profiler. She moved his hand over her heartbeat then looked up. She didn’t have the words. Would he understand?
CHAPTER 112
Kent could feel Nicole’s heart beating beneath his touch. So fast. So strong. Given the complete look of anguished sincerity on her face, he was a little ashamed about the underwear admission.
“Oh, that…”
More than embarrassment, he was tongue-tied. How many ways had he practiced telling her how he felt? His therapist had insisted that women needed to hear about a man’s feelings, not just be helped to have a lot of orgasms. Which to the profiler did not seem fair. Wasn’t that kind of attention proof enough? Obviously Nicole needed something more. Something he had never given another woman.
Kent squeezed her hand. “Then you’re quite the thief yourself.”
He leaned over as his lover tilted her head, parting her lips, ready to receive his kiss. His hand cupped her cheek and he held her eyes until the very last second when their lips met, then he could not help but close his eyes.
Everything he loved about her was summed up in that moment. Her soft lips, without a hint of shyness. The horrors of the day melted away, leaving only their kiss.
“Nicole!” Ruben shouted, sounding farther away than he did the last time. Leave it to the idiot to not only be lost, but ruin the moment as well. Yet Kent knew from the warmth of that kiss that they’d have plenty of time to work things out.
He pulled back and met Nicole’s smile. “I’ll go fetch him before we have to bring out the search dogs.”
She nodded bravely, but frowned. He knew that look. The look of well-deserved mistrust.
“I’ll be back.”
“Promise?” she asked.
“Promise.”
CHAPTER 113
It took Kent five minutes and seven switchbacks to find the wandering cops. Not only were they lost, they were a very mobile bunch of lost cops.
Ruben didn’t even bother to apologize or ask what had happened. “Where’s Nikki?”
“Where in the hell have you been? We left you a blood trail as wide as the Mississippi.”
“Where’s Detective Usher?” Ruben growled.
“She’s been choked and stabbed, but, you know, other than that, stable.”
Ruben pushed past, but Kent was not quite sure where the guy was going. Wasn’t the point of this whole exercise that Ruben was directionally challenged? Kent turned to Glick and gave a friendly nod as if they had just met on the street.
“Why don’t we catch up with Ruben and collect Usher?” the captain suggested, but Kent shook his head.
“Sorry, if the detective wants to find the girl, he’s gotta learn to ask for directions.”
Glick glowered, “Harbinger.”
Given what they were going to find deeper in the tunnels, Kent realized maybe he shouldn’t piss off the captain right now. Kent would prefer to stay out of the psychiatric ward for a while.
“Okay, okay,” Kent said as he easily found Ruben. Once again off course. “She’s this way.”
Kent took a little too much pleasure in the look of embarrassment and frustration on the tall detective’s face.
Quickly Kent navigated the labyrinth-like tunnels. Which wasn’t too hard if you just knew what arterial blood looked like. Within a few minutes they were back to where he had left Nicole.
“Ta-da!” Kent announced with a flourish. “This is how you rescue a fair maiden.”
Great barb, only there wasn’t any maiden there.
“Damn it, Kent, this isn’t funny.”
He knelt over, searching the floors for clues to where she might be. “She was here.”
Kent knew he wasn’t lost. There was the torn uterine ligature. Nicole’s gun. A large blood pool and the remains of a tattered sleeve they had used as a bandage for her leg. Everything was here. Everything but Nicole…and Rebecca’s knife. Kent was certain he had dropped it near the detective. Kent had also been pretty damn sure Rebecca was dead.
“Nic!” he yelled as he rushed deeper into the tunnels.
Her response was pained, but close by. “In here.”
Ruben burst past Kent, reaching Nicole sitting next to Rebecca’s body. Ruben skidded to a halt when he took in the scene. Scalpel in hand, the detective looked like hell. Shit, they both looked like hell, but Nicole was alive, and her bandage looked like it had stopped the tide of bleeding.
“I told you to stay put,” Kent reminded her as he strode past the stunned Ruben.
“I just…” Nicole looked over at the body. “I had to make sure she was dead.”
As did the captain. He knelt down and felt Rebecca’s neck. Glick nodded. “She’s gone.”
Kent went to help Nicole up, but Ruben elbowed him a good one. He stumbled as Ruben offered his partner a hand.
A hand that Nicole declined.
“It’s okay,” she said as she reached out to the profiler. “Kent’s got me.”
In perhaps the single most satisfying moment of his life, Kent helped Nicole up, then supported her as they walked past the ruddy-faced Ruben.
“So if you don’t mind, I’ll get her to the hospital.”
Elbow that, ya prick.
CHAPTER 114
It was what Kent didn’t say that stung Ruben. The profiler didn’t have to give his feelings voice. His expression was crystal clear.
Fuck you. I won.
And the profiler was right. Ruben had lost. In so many ways that he couldn’t even keep track of them anymore. Kent had been right about Plain Jane. He had been right about Nicole’s feelings.
Still, his pride would not let Harbinger off the hook. Ruben stepped in front of the couple. “We’ll need statements.”
“The whacko’s dead, and we’re alive,” Kent said as Nicole moaned, a hand on her bandage. “In pain, but alive.”
Glick stepped in before it could get nasty. “It’s all right. We’ll get their statements at the hospital.”
Angry at his captain, but also a little relieved that his superior had stopped him from embarrassing himself further, Ruben stepped aside and let Kent
and Nicole by.
He stared at their backs, Nicole leaning heavily into the profiler’s chest, until they disappeared around the corner.
“Don’t go facedown yet, Torres. We’ve still got another killer to catch.”
Crap. In the flurry of activity, Ruben had forgotten to relay the news. “No. I got a call. Martin went back to his place. Unis picked him up a few minutes ago.”
Glick shook his head and patted Ruben on the back.
“The ugly and the stupid.”
Yep.
Not surprisingly, Kent was right, yet again.
CHAPTER 115
The sun crested the horizon as Kent drove Nicole home from the hospital. She leaned back in the seat. Her cheek rested against the headrest.
Half asleep, half awake.
It took some effort for him to keep his eyes on the road when she had her bedroom eyes like that. Bedroom-and- morphine-for-the-pain eyes, Kent reminded himself. There would not be any makeup sex this morning.
“I just want acknowledgment that I was right,” Nicole said out of the blue. Was it the drugs talking?
“Right about what?”
Nicole smiled a broad, lazy, sedated smile. “You stole my car… Again.”
Kent kissed her hand. “It’s not stealing if it’s ours.”
Her lips spread into a full smile as the car stopped.
“We’re home.”
Normally not the gentleman, Kent thought stabbing victims might demand slightly more attention, so he hopped out of the car and ran to the other side, opening the door for Nicole. He then helped her up the steps, through the door, and onto an oversized chair.
“My, my,” she said as he lifted her leg and set it upon the ottoman, then gave her a selection of some of his very finest comics to read.
“Now don’t expect this kind of service forever.”
“Why not?” Nicole asked. “You owe me.”
That he did, Kent thought as he leaned over and kissed those lips one more time. Could life get any better?
“I’ll go fix us some breakfast.”
“The meat is from the store, right?”
Kent didn’t let his expression change.
“Funny. Now read up.”
CHAPTER 116
Ruben squinted. Where was that light coming from? He glanced over. Shit, it was the sun rising. He’d been up for nearly twenty-four hours, with no end in sight, as Glick approached. Ruben got up out of his seat and stretched.
“Turns out you were right, Captain.”
“How so?”
He pointed to the towering stacks of paperwork on his desk. That’s what happened when your profiler gutted your suspect. “Harbinger ended up needing me for something.”
Instead of giving a grin, Glick shuffled his feet. “Yeah… Well… Speaking of Kent…”
No. He couldn’t deal with anything else from that man. But his captain didn’t look like he was going away soon.
“What now?” Ruben asked.
“Rebecca’s uterus…”
“Showed signs of an abortion, right?”
“Well, we don’t know,” Glick said.
What was the captain getting at? And what did it have to do with Kent? “So the report isn’t back yet?”
“No, it’s back. It’s Rebecca…” Ruben’s look prompted Glick to finish his sentence. “She didn’t have one.”
Okay, that didn’t sound right. Rebecca’s abortion was the linchpin of Kent’s theory. It was the thread that sewed the entire case together.
“She’d had a hysterectomy, then?”
“Um, yeah. On the day she died.” Glick strongly emphasized the next part. “After she died.”
“Oh my…” The implications ricocheted. Kent’s last case. His self-admitted cannibalism. “He took it?”
Glick shrugged and toyed with a paper clip on Ruben’s desk. “There were a lot of people who had access to the body before the coroner got to it.”
Ruben just gave his captain a “you’ve got to be kidding” look. “So are we going to go over there and bust him?” When Glick didn’t answer, Ruben emphasized, “Again?”
But all the captain did was shrug.
CHAPTER 117
Kent nudged the meat with his spatula as it sizzled and crackled. Nicole wasn’t going to be too thrilled by his selection, but hey, he had to use what was on hand.
“Do you want OJ?” Kent called over his shoulder.
He waited for her response, but it didn’t come.
“Hey, Nic,” Kent said as he slid the meat onto a paper towel-lined plate. He didn’t need her whining about the fat content as well.
“Hon?”
Figuring she must have fallen asleep, the profiler buttered the toast and set it out on the table. The scrambled eggs and fruit were already in their serving dishes. It was a table even Martha Stewart would have approved of…well, except for the meat. Hopefully with all that food, Nicole would not notice that portion of the breakfast.
“Darlin’, the doctor told you to eat with that medication,” Kent said as he entered the living room.
Not only was Nicole not asleep, she was up, digging through her purse. He rushed over. Kent knew she wasn’t used to his new and improved knight in shining armor gig, though surely she must have known he would’ve gotten her purse for her.
“Babe, I’ve got it.”
Just as he came up next to her, he noticed she was cramming something back into the purse. His profiler senses began to tingle.
“Whatcha got there?”
Biting her lip, Nicole lifted the sealed baggie from her purse. The contents were pink, bloody.
It was a uterus.
To be more exact, it must have been Rebecca’s uterus.
Kent stood shocked. Pinned in place. His lips wouldn’t move. Nicole hadn’t gone back to check Rebecca’s pulse, she went back to take her womb.
Quickly shock transformed to pride. That was doctoral- level stalking in action.
He kissed her forehead. “Coffee, hon?”
Nicole’s worried look transformed into a grin. “Maybe some milk?”
“Whatever the lady wants,” Kent said as he walked back to the kitchen. Out of the corner of his eye, the profiler watched Nicole stroke the tissue through the plastic, then toss it into the crackling fireplace.
That was his girl, all right.
Afterword
Thank you so much for trying out an indie author like myself! Hopefully you were as shocked, horrified, and as slightly disturbed as I had hoped to make you!
If you enjoyed Plain Jane, I would love to ask you a favor and go back to Amazon and leave an honest review. We indie authors live and die by our reviews!
I’d also like to ask that if you find any typos/errors to please contact me directly. Even though this and all of my books have been put through a gazillion rounds of edits, we are all just human. It really helps if you catch anything to email me at authormccray@aol.com
If you are looking for more of my thrillers (including the complete Harbinger collection, cycles 1 &2), check out the books listed in the next section.
Other Works by Carolyn McCray
The Harbinger Mystery Thriller Collection
Hard-boiled mysteries not for the faint of heart
Anatomy
The greatly anticipated prequel short story to Plain Jane. See where the Harbinger Mystery series began!
Plain Jane
Harbinger’s first novel the #1 Bestselling (Police Procedurals and Hard-Boiled Mysteries)
Dark Lullaby *exclusive to the collection
Is a 12,000+ word stand-alone short story (with no spoilers) that takes place after the Plain Jane: A Patterson-style thriller with a dash of Hannibal.
Soul to Keep *exclusive to the collection
A post-Plain Jane suspense short story.
Wallflower
Pray you aren't noticed - (Book 2 of the Harbinger Mystery Series)
Shallow Grave *exclusive to the collection
>
A 15,000 word Harbinger Mystery Series short story
Buzz Kill *exclusive to the collection
the full-length conclusion to the Harbinger Mystery Series
Pallor *exclusive to the collection
the “wrap-up” short story, featuring Lucky 37
More praise for The Harbinger Mysteries…
“Wickedly macabre and blisteringly paced, Plain Jain marks the debut of a thriller for the new millennium. Brash, funny, terrifying, and shocking, here is a story best enjoyed with all the lights on. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!”
NYT Top Ten Best Seller
James Rollins
Bloodline
“This book is so creepy. I made the mistake of starting in one night before bed. Not only did the story line keep me turning pages, it freaked me out to the point that I didn’t want to turn off my light.”
The Book Goddess
Book Reviewer
“If you think you know what is going to happen, your wrong. I have read so many suspense and crime books that guessing the end gets easier and easier. NOT this time. Be prepared to be hooked from the fist page and loose some sleep because you just can't put it down.”
Michelle Delgado
Amazon Reviewer
To purchase of sample the Harbinger Collection, just click here.
* * *
The 2nd cycle of the Harbinger Mysteries Series
Yes, the bestselling Harbinger series is continuing, with a whole new trilogy!
Kent and Nicole are married, but that doesn’t mean their cases will get any easier!
Praise for the 2nd Cycle of the Harbinger Mysteries…
“From the first sentence in the latest Harbinger series, “Killjoy” I was hooked…Each chapter brings a new twist and the shocking revelations at the end left me stunned. I couldn’t put this one down and stayed up all night to finish it. Carolyn McCray has done it again!”
Elizabeth Newton
Amazon Reviewer
“Kill Joy starts with the incredulous news of Kent's death - and goes on steroids from there… I could not figure out what was going to happen next. I NEVER saw the end of this one coming. What a great twist! Thank you Carolyn - this one was awesome.”