by Gerri Hill
Paige let her hand run through CJ’s hair, caressing it. “If Hoganville hadn’t happened, if we weren’t lovers…I don’t know. Even then, why would I doubt you?”
“Okay, say we all three went into the house and Billy was the one who said he felt something. Then what? I’d probably say he was crazy.”
“And maybe that’s why you were the one targeted today.”
CJ leaned back against the cushions, her eyes closed. “Was it trying to tell me something? Was it trying to scare us away? Was it playing games?” She shook her head. “Hell, maybe it was all my imagination. Maybe there was nothing there.”
“So maybe we should go back,” Paige suggested as her hand fell from CJ’s hair.
CJ turned her head, meeting her gaze, her expression serious. Then it changed, back to the playfulness that CJ normally sported. “Yeah, maybe I’ll have a new career. Ghost hunter.” She took Paige’s hand and pulled it to her lap. “You want to be my assistant?”
Paige put her wineglass down, moving closer to CJ to snuggle. “I don’t know. What are the qualifications?” She tucked her head against CJ’s shoulder, snaking her arm across her waist. She sighed contentedly when she felt CJ’s lips brush her forehead.
“This will definitely be on the job description,” CJ murmured as her lips nuzzled her again.
Paige raised her head, smiling as their mouths met, the kiss light and playful. Then it deepened, the playfulness gone as she felt the fire between them come to life. She pulled back just enough to meet CJ’s eyes.
“I accept.”
“It doesn’t pay well,” CJ warned.
“No?” Paige’s hand moved between them, cupping CJ’s small breast. Her thumb raked across the nipple, noting the change in CJ’s breathing. “Then I suppose we’ll have to agree on compensation.” She moved closer, kissing CJ again, letting her tongue tease CJ’s. “I can think of a couple of things.”
CJ shifted, pulling Paige on top of her as she lay down fully on the sofa. Paige slipped between her legs, their hips pressing into one another.
“Wouldn’t the bed be more comfortable?”
“Yes, but I don’t want to take the time to go there,” CJ said, her mouth cutting off any other protest Paige may have had.
Their kisses turned heated as they battled for control. Paige gave up the fight when she felt CJ’s hand slip past her waistband. She lifted her hips a little, giving CJ more room. It apparently wasn’t enough as CJ’s other hand fumbled with the zipper.
She pulled her mouth away, gasping for air, then jerked hard into CJ when her fingers brushed against her clit.
“Do you want me inside you?”
“No,” Paige said, moving against CJ’s fingers. “Like this.” She kissed CJ, drawing it out. “Just like this,” she whispered as her eyes slipped closed.
Chapter Fifteen
CJ found Ice exactly as she imagined—kicked back at his desk reading the morning newspaper. It was quiet at this early hour, none of the other teams were in yet. He glanced at her as she headed to the coffeepot.
“Kinda early for you, isn’t it?” He lowered his feet to the ground. “You don’t look like you’ve been to the bar, though.”
She grimaced as she took a sip of coffee. She had to admit, Paige’s gourmet blends had grown on her. “Why would you think I’ve come from the bar?”
“Because it’s not even seven. The only time you’re early is when you didn’t go home the night before.”
Yeah, that seemed like a lifetime ago. God, how did she survive those nights? But she shook her head. “I already got in a five-mile run. What about you?”
“Took the stairs instead of the elevator,” he said.
“Sure you did, baldy.”
He folded up the newspaper and put it aside. “So what’s up?”
She shrugged, then pulled out her chair and plopped down. She couldn’t sleep and had finally given up, leaving Paige’s bed at three thirty. At her own apartment, she found piles of dirty laundry and took the time to wash two loads, but she couldn’t shake her restlessness. The five-mile run hadn’t helped either.
“It’s that damn house,” she finally said. “I can’t stop thinking about it.”
He leaned forward. “You really…felt something in there?” he asked quietly.
She nodded. “I’d rather say it was my imagination and be done with it, but I can’t make myself believe that.” He studied her, and she wondered if he thought she was just jacking with him.
“Look, we’ve seen a lot of shit in our job. But I never thought I’d see anything like what happened in Hoganville,” he said. “After that, well, the idea of a ghost or a spirit or something, hell, why not?”
“Does that mean you’ll go back inside with me?” She nearly laughed as the color drained from his face.
“If it came down to it, if I had to, I’d go in. Do I want to? Hell, no.”
“Well, maybe Howley won’t send us back. We got shit. Maybe he’ll just hand it back to the locals and we’ll be out of it.”
“Yeah, except Howley’s in the doghouse. What better way to get out than to solve an old cold case? I think he has us work it.”
“He’s in the doghouse because of us,” CJ reminded him. “He might only send us back as some sort of punishment.” She shoved her coffee cup aside. “This tastes like shit.”
“Yeah? Well, maybe Paige will be a sweetheart and pick up Starbucks this morning.”
As if speaking the words made it so, the elevator doors opened and Paige and Billy came in, Paige holding a tray with three cups. Billy already was sipping from his.
CJ and Ice exchanged grins as they each reached for a cup.
“Thanks,” Ice said.
“Yeah, thanks, Paige.”
“You’re here early,” Paige said. Her statement had a bit of a question in it. CJ had left without as much as a note.
“Took my run earlier than usual,” she said. “Figured Howley would want to meet with us first thing.”
“And he does,” Howley said as he came up the hallway, a cup of coffee in one hand and a thick file in the other. “Conference room. Now.”
When they were all seated, he opened the file he carried and slid papers across the table to all of them. It appeared to be a report on Edith and Herbert Krause.
“Before we go over this, tell me what you found out about the boy,” Howley said. “I looked over your report briefly.”
“ME’s report is not final,” Ice said. “Inconclusive.”
“Why is it still inconclusive?”
“Whether blunt force trauma killed him or he died as a result of strangulation,” Ice explained.
“We now know he was hit by a car. That was the assumption to begin with,” CJ said.
“Okay. So what’s your theory?” Howley asked.
They all looked at CJ. “Well, the only theory we have is a drunk driver,” she said. “Thompson got some of the kids to talk to him. They said after Juan was hit, the guys got out of the car, picked him up and put him in the trunk. Drove away. So maybe he was drunk and he panicked. Thompson said there were two guys in the car.”
“Why take him to the Wicker house?” Paige asked.
“It would have to be someone who remembered the earlier case,” Billy said.
CJ shook her head. “It doesn’t make sense, though. You’re drunk. You hit a kid. Who in their right mind is going to have the presence of mind to think, oh yeah, remember that kid who was found strangled fourteen years ago? Yeah, I’ll mimic that.” She shook her head again. “Come on, that doesn’t happen. Even if the guy wasn’t drunk, he’s not going to think of that.”
“What if they took the kid to one of their homes?” Ice asked. “He’s injured but still alive. They have time to think. Do they take the kid to the hospital? Do they drop him off somewhere and hope he lives? If he lives, can he identify them?”
“So they panic,” Billy said. “Maybe they argue. Decide to kill him and dump the body. Maybe it’s
a coincidence that it matches Paul Canton.”
“Dropping him at the Wicker house? I don’t think so,” CJ said.
“Maybe they live in Pecan Grove,” Paige offered. “Everyone there thinks the Wicker house is haunted,” she said with a quick glance at CJ. “Why not put the body there? Maybe Billy is right. Maybe it has nothing to do with Paul Canton.”
Howley looked at them all and sighed. “So you got nothing, basically.”
“We only had two days,” CJ reminded him.
“Yes, I know.” He motioned to the papers in front of them. “Take a look at the report there. We didn’t find much. Herbert Krause was laid off from his job seven months after his son died. We were only able to find that because his company’s human resources department doesn’t purge old employment records. Anyway, that would have been about three months before the disappearances. There were no divorce records. There were no hits on his Social Security number since. No job, no credit card, no banking info.”
“Disappeared?”
“From what Paige told me,” Howley said, “he and his wife, Edith Krause, moved to Midland. Paper trail is a dead end.” He pointed at Billy and Paige. “You two fly out to Midland. See if you can interview her mother. Norma Manning. She’s in a nursing home. Talk to her old neighbors too.” He slid two packets to each of them. “Flight is already booked. You leave at two. What little we could find on the mother is in there.”
CJ dared not look at Paige. She’d left in a funk that morning, and they’d not had a chance to talk. It looked like they wouldn’t get one.
“What about us?” Ice asked.
“You get to stay and do paperwork. Try to come up with something more plausible than a drunk driver.”
“So you want us to work the case?”
“If you can even call it a case,” Howley said. “Any chance you can get out there to question the witnesses who saw the car?”
Ice shook his head. “To quote Deputy Brady, ‘they’ll scatter like fleas on a dog’s back.’”
“Thompson told us they wouldn’t talk to us,” Billy said. “They think we’re immigration officers.”
“And did it occur to you to report Thompson’s Plants to immigration?”
“The only way we got Thompson to help us was to promise no raid,” Ice said. “Besides, the man’s just trying to make a living. The people working for him, they’re just trying to get by.”
“Come on, Ice. Don’t tell me you’re one of these damn bleeding hearts wanting to grant immunity to them?”
“I’m just saying—”
Howley held his hand up. “I know what you’re saying.” He turned to CJ. “What about this house? Any evidence someone was there?”
“It didn’t appear breached,” she said. She glanced at Paige, wondering if she should tell him about…well, about what she felt. Paige gave her a subtle shake of her head. “We didn’t get a chance to check the exterior, though. Thompson called, said he had something, so we left.”
“Maybe you and Ice should head back there. Check out the house thoroughly,” Howley said.
“Me…me and CJ? You want us to check out the house?” Ice asked. “Alone?”
“I just want to cover all our bases. You need to share what we learned about the car with the locals. Call Deputy Brady and make sure he’s in the loop.” He turned to Paige. “Your return flight is tomorrow afternoon. That should give you enough time in Midland. When you get back, give me your report, then head to Cleveland. Hopefully, CJ and Ice will have something.” He looked back at CJ. “If it comes down to it, fleas on a dog’s back or not, see if you can at least talk to some of the kids who saw the car.” He stood. “I know we don’t have much and we’re grasping at straws here, but let’s try to find something.” He paused. “I want this one.”
“Fourteen-year-old cold case,” CJ said. “All we have is Edith Krause and her husband. And an eighty-nine-year-old woman who mentioned that the boys picked on their son.”
“Yes, I know. But Larry Figures was originally assigned to the case. He dumped it off after a week.”
“Whoa,” Ice said. “Figures? As in your new boss?”
Howley nodded. “My boss. Your boss. Yes. So I want this one.”
“Bad blood?” CJ guessed.
Howley’s smile was humorless. “We came up together. Went to Quantico together. He’s an ass-kisser, always has been. Therefore, his promotions happened more frequently than mine. He was a field supervisor then.”
“And now he’s your boss,” Paige said. “So this case got away from him?”
“I think he knew it was a dead-end and dropped it in Duran’s lap. Anyway, as you all know, since the Hoganville debacle, we’ve been—”
“Wait a minute,” CJ said. “Debacle? We cannot be held responsible for the mass suicide,” she said. “I told you—”
“I know what you told me. I know what’s in your report. They know what’s in your report. However, someone had to answer. That fell on me.” His smile this time was genuine. “Shit rolls downhill.” He turned to leave, then stopped again. “We close up the cold case. We clean up the new one. Maybe we get back in good graces. Probably not with Figures, though. Not when I make it known that my bunch of misfits closed out a case he gave up on fourteen years ago.”
“Misfits?”
“Yeah. What was that again, CJ? ‘Yellow rock in the clock’?”
“Look, I didn’t know it was a goddamn suicide trigger.”
“Yeah, yeah. And some big fella named Belden was choking you. Was that before or after the big scary monster was chasing you?” Howley shook his head. “I know the damn file by heart, I’ve read it so many times.”
He left them then, closing the door rather loudly behind him. CJ leaned back in her chair. “I’d say he’s still pretty bitter about the whole thing.” She tossed her pen down. “Why does he still call it a monster? In my report, I said ‘unidentified creature,’” she said.
“Me too,” Paige said.
“I put ‘monster,’” Ice said. “Big, scary monster.”
“Yeah. And now you get to go into a big, scary haunted house,” Billy teased.
“Oh, man,” Ice groaned. “I’ll give you a hundred bucks if you’ll switch places with me,” he offered.
Billy laughed. “Make it a thousand and we’ll talk.”
Chapter Sixteen
CJ tried to be as inconspicuous as possible as she followed Paige into the ladies’ room. She raised her eyebrows as she walked in and Paige smiled.
“We’re alone.”
CJ walked closer, hesitating only a moment before pulling her into a tight, albeit quick hug.
“Are you okay?” Paige asked. “You left kinda early this morning.”
“Yeah. Just couldn’t sleep. I went to my place and did some laundry.” She made a show of washing her hands when she heard the outer door open. “So Midland, huh?”
“Yes. Just what I want to do—interview someone in a nursing home.” Paige nodded a greeting at Teresa Beckett, a woman from one of the other teams.
“Ladies,” Teresa said. “How goes it?”
“Still pulling the dead-end cases,” CJ replied dryly.
“Yeah. That’s what happens when you kill fifty people,” she said as she disappeared into a stall.
CJ rolled her eyes. “Will that ever go away?” she asked quietly.
Paige grasped her arm lightly and squeezed. “Doesn’t matter. They weren’t there. They don’t know what all went down.”
“I know. But—”
“It’s over with,” Paige said. “We’ve got to move on.” She headed out and CJ followed. “I need to go pack. Billy’s going to pick me up at my apartment.”
CJ nodded. “Okay.” She looked around, seeing no one watching. “I’m gonna miss you,” she murmured.
“Me too. I’ll call you tonight.” Paige locked eyes with her. “I mean, if you want me to.”
There was suddenly awkwardness between them that hadn’t been ther
e before. CJ wasn’t certain when—or why—it had sprung up. Right now, what she really wanted to do was find an empty office and drag Paige in there. She wanted to hold her and kiss her and tell her she loved her and…whoa. Her eyes widened. Jesus. Love?
“Okay. Well…call me, then, if you want,” Paige said as she turned on her heels.
CJ sprang into action, realizing Paige had taken her hesitation the wrong way. She grabbed Paige’s arm, turning her around. She searched her eyes, seeing doubt and uncertainty there.
“I do want you to call me,” she said. She swallowed. “And if it’s okay with you, I’d kinda like to sleep at your place tonight. In your bed.”
Paige’s eyes softened and she nodded. “I’d like that.” Paige took a step away, then paused. “Do we need to talk?”
CJ tilted her head. “I don’t know. Do we?”
Paige was about to say more when Billy called out to her.
“I’m leaving. Pick you up in an hour?”
Paige nodded. “Yes. I’m heading out too.” She turned to CJ. “I’ll…I’ll be in touch.”
CJ watched her leave, not turning away until the elevator doors closed on her. Damn. What was happening with them all of a sudden?
“Hey.”
She met Ice’s questioning stare with raised eyebrows. “Yeah?”
“Let’s whip through this report and head out of here early. Go grab a beer or something,” he said.
“Sounds good. It’s been awhile since just you and I hung out,” she said.
“Yeah. That’s what I was thinking.”
Chapter Seventeen
It was a quick and uneventful flight into Midland. Paige had taken a cue from CJ’s packing and only brought a carry-on, as did Billy. They were in their rental car and on their way to Edith Krause’s old neighbor by four.
“Man, the weather is nice here, isn’t it? I could get used to no humidity.”
“Yes, cool and dry,” Paige agreed.
“I’d miss the trees, though. It’s kinda barren here.”
“Uh-huh.”
Billy glanced at her. “You’ve been really quiet,” he said. “Everything okay?”