by E. Jamie
Caleb’s disgust grew while they went over the sprawling estate for the next few hours, picking up anything that could be used as evidence or could be a lead.
“Thinking the same thing I am?” Laura asked, flipping through the papers in one of two offices.
“How many children had to suffer to pay for all this wealth?” he sneered.
“Yep. That was it,,” Laura grumbled.
When they finally left the house, Caleb watched Laura shudder. “I know we didn’t find anything gross in there, but I just feel like I need a shower after being in that place, knowing where it all comes from. How the hell does he sleep at night? I mean…Jesus.” She leaned against the seat’s headrest and picked at one of the clear plastic bags of evidence they had gathered.
“What do you say we drop this stuff off and then grab a pizza and call it an early night?” Caleb offered, seeing the tension in Laura’s rigid posture. He wanted to reach over and take her hand but didn’t dare.
“I can’t wait until this damned case is over.”
He said nothing.
“Pepperoni?” she asked after a long silence
He gave a short chuckle. “Of course.”
****
“No, you cannot have a beer. You’re still on pain medication,” Laura insisted, smacking his hand away when he tried to reach for the beer she set on the counter.
Caleb scowled at her. “Geez, Mom. Thanks a lot.”
She handed him a Coke and picked up the pizza box. “Go turn the TV on. The baseball game is about to start, and I want to watch you cry like a little girl when the Yankees lose yet again.”
They sat on the carpet, forgoing the couch, leaning their backs against it with the pizza box between them.
“We’ve got an undercover guy over in Thailand who managed to track down one of the people who was on the other end of the wire transfers. An aide to one of the diplomats at the Portuguese embassy over there,” Laura informed him.
Caleb stared at her. “Are you kidding me? A goddamned diplomat?”
“One of the aides. Karl’s guy says he’s connected to the orphanages in Portugal that were involved in that sex abuse scandal over the past forty years.”
“Jesus Christ.” Caleb shook his head. “No wonder Phillips was talking about how high up this went.”
“Well, they caught the aide and are extraditing him back to Portugal. If we can nail Mankell and prove the connection between the two men—”
“Happy days,” Caleb said with a determined nod. “We’ve gotta get this bastard.”
“Oh, we will,” Laura said. “This might put you in a better mood. You’ll never guess who Karl picked up the other day on a robbery. Jerry Stephenson,” Laura added with a smile.
Caleb stared at her. “No. Seriously?”
“Hand to God,” she vowed. “There’s a surprise, huh? I think everyone in our school knew that bully would end up in prison some day.”
“Christ. What an asshole he was,” he said, shaking his head and remembering how Stephenson liked to pick on his small size.
“The day you kicked his ass is still the stuff of legend,” Laura said, meeting his gaze.
Stephenson had been picking on Laura, taking her backpack, and Caleb had jumped in. He remembered being so furious that the older boy always got away with picking on the smaller kids.
His anger had given him the extra advantage, and Caleb had beaten the jerk bloody. “Right. I remember you getting pissed at me for butting in.”
Laura gave a sheepish grin. “Well, I didn’t want people thinking I needed you to come in and rescue me like I couldn’t take care of myself.”
Caleb snorted. “Yeah. Good thing you outgrew that, huh?”
Laura shrugged and rolled her eyes, then leaned her head against the couch. “This is nice, isn’t it? Just sitting here and talking. Kinda like we used to.”
Caleb felt a lump in his throat. “Yeah.” Too many things were like they used to be. He worried that the way they hurt each other would be repeated too, but this comfort with her, sitting next to her and joking around, talking, was proving an irresistible pull into the past.
“Do you think we can ever get back there?” Laura asked in a small voice. “I don’t mean …you know…together. I mean as friends?”
Friends. Caleb pondered that safe boundary. He definitely didn’t want to put his heart at risk again. Putting the friendship wall up seemed like the best way to get that good part of their past back. He nodded and tried to feel happy about it.
He’d have to be an utter moron to want more.
Chapter Eleven
Laura doodled on a pink notepad while Caleb and the other officers examined the various pieces of evidence they had grabbed from Mankell’s house. She was copying the bird image from a piece of stationary they had taken amid other documents. There was nothing on the paper but some kind of to-do list, but the bird held her attention for some reason. “Maybe it’s somebody’s tattoo?” she asked out loud.
“What?” Caleb asked, moving the phone he was talking into away from his ear.
“No, nothing. Just thinking out loud. Sorry.” She pushed the notepad aside and focused on the other items. There were checks signed to various charities, household bills and payrolls for his strip club. Her attention went back to the bird. What the hell did it mean, if anything?
While they worked, talk inevitably turned to last night’s baseball game, and Laura suddenly froze when the image of the bird instantly clicked and found a home in the puzzled musings in her mind. “The commercial!” she exclaimed, bolting upright in her chair.
All four officers around the table turned their heads to her in unison.
“Say again?” Caleb asked, cocking an eyebrow after hanging up his cell phone.
“This bird. It was on the commercial yesterday!” Laura informed him, getting more excited by the second.
“What commercial? What are you talking about?” he pressed when she slid the notepad across the table to him and turned it so he could see the bird.
“We were watching the game yesterday and that commercial came on, for the chartered planes? This bird was in the logo.” Laura lifted her drawing and showed it to him.
“And this is important because…”
Laura picked up Mankell’s list, showing him the bird in the letterhead. “Because of this.”
“I’ll be damned,” Officer Perry remarked, his dark face lighting up.
“He’s using a chartered plane service to ship the kids,” Caleb remarked, his eyes now lit with the same excitement Laura felt.
“I bet my life on it. But, we have to prove it,” she said, biting the edge of her pen.
“Pay the owner of the airline a visit?” Perry suggested.
“No.” Caleb shook his head, and Laura gave a small nod of agreement. “They might notify Mankell we’re poking around. He thinks we’re just canvassing his house and businesses. If we can connect him to the chartered planes without him knowing, we might be able to catch him red-handed.”
They went back to the Western Union where Mankell was having his men pick up money. He used different ones across the city, and Karl called Laura when they tracked one of Mankell’s men to a kiosk in The Bronx.
With the money received by the criminal, Laura and Caleb estimated that a shipment of children would be leaving through the airline soon.
“We have to intercept that flight,” Laura said while they had lunch at a diner. “He has to be paying off one of the pilots to keep his mouth shut and wipe it off the flight plan.”
Caleb nodded and took a bite from his burger.
“I’m going to call one of the receptionists at the airline and tell her to call in sick and—don’t look at me like that—yes, I’m replacing her,” Laura said.
“Now, hang on a sec. Look, for once would you just not throw yourself into the pit and let someone else risk their life?” he urged.
“No,” Laura replied.
“No? Just no?”
/>
“That’s right. This is my job, and I’m doing it.”
“I’ll be the one showing up there. I’ll replace one of the guards or something,” Caleb said.
“Mankell is going to recognize you.”
“And he won’t recognize you?”
She smiled. “Okay, you win. I won’t replace the receptionist.”
He narrowed his eyes at her, not trusting her easy acquiescence.
“I’ll be on the plane. I’ll call one of the flight attendants and tell them to stay home. That way, it won’t matter if he recognizes me because by the time he sees me he’ll have got on the plane, and we’ll have the proof we need that he intends to ship those kids to God knows where.”
Caleb stared at her, and before he could object yet again, Laura reached across the table and covered his mouth.
“And you being there as a guard on the ground is a great idea. Now let’s call Karl and make sure we have enough men on the ground to make sure Mankell can’t run when we bust him.”
He scowled at her, and she stiffened. “I appreciate your concern, but knock it off before I knock that scowl off your face. This is what we do, right? Catch the bad guys? So let’s go catch them.”
He sighed but didn’t comment further. Part of her was relieved about that. She was just as good a cop as he was. Part of her wondered what was behind his concern. Laura told herself it was just Caleb’s ever-present ‘hero-gene.’ Nothing more. Certainly not based on any romantic feelings for her. That was over and done with.
They brought the flight attendant of the aircraft Mankell had chartered in for questioning and explained about their investigation. Once Carrie Shaw got over the initial
horror of what was taking place, she informed them that Mr. Mankell had chartered a plane with them that would be taking off that Thursday.
Laura explained that she would be taking her place. Ms. Shaw seemed only too happy to relinquish her connection to the airline from then on.
The young blonde promised to go home and say nothing of what was soon to take place.
****
Laura’s body went rigid when a hand clamped over her mouth, and she made a grab for her sidearm when a soft, familiar voice hissed in her ear.
“Shh! It's me.”
Caleb pulled his hand away, and she socked him in the chest on principle. “Where the hell have you been?”
“Getting my uniform and making sure everyone’s in place and out of sight.” He lifted up the black garment.
“And?”
“All ready to go.” He hung the guard’s suit and handed her the flight attendant uniform on the hook in the janitor closet before pulling off his t-shirt.
Laura bit her lip, adrenaline mixing with uncertainty. She spared a moment to grumble that the supply closet was so damned dark. They didn’t take the risk of turning the light on in case someone passed by and noticed the light coming from inside. It was a tight enough fit that they were constantly brushing against each other while clothes come off and on.
Living together for the past few months, they'd pretty much gotten over the modesty issue, but her whole body still crackled with electricity when Caleb's tight-muscled shoulder brushed against her stomach. Her mouth still watered when she imagined and remembered running her fingers down the tight, bulging skin of his arms.
The years had done nothing to diminish her desire for the damn man. If anything, knowing there was this invisible line between them now that neither dared cross made the desire sharper, every feeling of want that much more potent. Forbidden, frakking, fruit.
Laura had to remind herself that they’d fought too hard for the close friendship they were now building between them. To give in to old feelings would just wreck what they'd built. The easy camaraderie, confidence, trust; Laura would die before she gave that up.
“Okay. Shit, Caleb! Shoes!” Laura hissed, realizing she had nothing but the sneakers she was wearing.
“Shit. Shit!” Caleb exclaimed. “I'll be right back.” He waited a minute, and when he was certain the corridor was clear, he opened the door and stepped out. A second later he turned back. “What size are you again?”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake! Never get a man to do a woman's job. You stay here.” She shoved him back in the closet.
****
Caleb smiled and shook his head, silently sending a prayer that she made it back quickly. He could still feel her skin against the palm of his hand when he reached for her hip to right himself after changing his pants. His sense memory kicked into high gear, and he remembered when he would hold her hips in his hands while moving inside of her and she would make soft panting cries that vibrated through them both. He never dared to ask, but he often wondered if she ever thought about those times, when everything was right and all that mattered was the feel of them against each other, bodies and hearts so in sync they were like one person.
Now they were still in sync, but there was a wall there. In big capital letters. FRIENDSHIP. That was all they could have now, and Caleb told himself it was the way he wanted it. As much as he wanted Laura sometimes...most of the time, you lying horndog, he admonished himself…he was in no rush for a replay of her tearing his heart to shreds.
He knew it was the right thing to not tell Laura that for him, nothing had ever changed. No. Things had changed. He wanted her more now. The girl he’d loved had grown into the sexiest, strongest woman he'd ever known. Damn her, Caleb thought irrationally, why couldn't she have grown into an ugly goddamned hag? That would be much easier on his nerves.
But no, fate had to butt its nose into his orderly, safe life and bring Caleb and Laura back together. Working, fighting, living, and with the exception of that one drunken night, with no relief in sight.
He'd tried to wipe Laura from his heart by being with other women, but after Eve, he'd learned his lesson. Get in, get out and make sure she wanted nothing more.
Laura Thatcher stayed firmly entrenched in his heart. Damn woman.
Since the moment he’d first realized he loved her, Laura’s hold on him was like an iron casing around his heart. Solid.
****
They sat in silence for a while, eating their fish sandwiches, when Caleb looked away from the lake and over at her. Laura turned and caught his gaze. Then he looked away. He grinned at her and then started digging through the basket of food he’d brought. “I got a surprise.” Caleb pulled out a pink bottle. He made a great show of popping open the bottle and grinned with satisfaction when the stopper sailed into the lake.
Laura leaned over and read the label. Strawberry Wine. “Caleb McKinney, you pilfered from your dad's liquor cabinet? There may be hope for you yet,” she said while he filled their plastic cups.
“Not exactly.” He tapped his cup against hers and took a drink.
She took a drink as well and almost choked on the terrible taste. “What the hell is that?” Laura asked, shuddering. She reached for the bottle again.
“It's not so bad, when you get used to it,” Caleb assured her.
“Strawberry Wine. Non-alcoholic. How about non-edible? Lordy, Blue Eyes, you
trying to poison me?”
“I used to hate it too. Mom gives it to us at parties ’cause we can't have the real stuff. Drink it again; it'll start to taste better,” he promised.
By the time Laura finished her cup, she admitted that it wasn’t too bad.
“You read that poster by the gym door about the dance on Friday?” Caleb asked through a mouthful of bread and fish, gathering up his nerve.
Laura stiffened beside him. “No. You going? I'd pay money to see you shake your ass on the dance floor.” Her tone was glib and snarky and for once, he wished it wasn’t because that made this all the more difficult.
“Kelly McGrath asked me,” Caleb told her.
She looked at him for a long time. “Congratulations. She finally noticed you're alive.”
His nervousness increased. Maybe this was a bad idea. She didn’t seem to care.
Maybe that meant she didn’t like him back ‘that way.’ He sometimes wondered if she might like him as more than a friend. When she didn’t think he was looking, he sometimes thought the way she looked at him was kind of moony-like. Caleb picked up a green apple. He liked those better than red, so Laura always picked a lot of them off Travis Dorsey's trees.
Well, friends did that kind of stuff, didn’t they? Stuff that made their friends happy. It didn’t mean she ‘liked’ him. It just made sense seeing that she lived next to the trees that grew them and he didn’t.
He rolled the apple along the knobby bump of his knee then and took a bite. “I turned her down,” Caleb said. The apple juice made him lick his lips, and he again glanced at her and then away. Something funny happened inside his chest, and for a second he couldn’t breathe.