He would take the pain away with pleasure.
First, he offered her kisses and the gentle strokes of fingers on flesh. When she began to respond to his hands and lips, he knew that they both needed this.
“I love you, Vivian,” he whispered.
She kissed him back, as her hand found him and stroked his heating flesh. “I’ll never love anyone but you.”
The words erupted in his heart. Here was the softer side of his life, his better half, and she needed to be soothed.
Lifting her up, Vivian immediately wrapped her legs around his hips as he leaned her against the shower wall. “Are you sure, baby?” he asked, one last time.
“Yes, please,” she answered back. “Make me feel.”
Slowly, he slid into her. When she moaned in contentment, his body shook. The long smooth strokes came next as he worked at giving them both what they needed.
His wife responded to him, and that’s all that mattered. They would get through this, thanks to love. Justin stopped doubting it and went with his heart.
Vivian stared into his eyes and saw the emotions that lived in him, and they mimicked everything she felt. This man was her sanctuary. By some miracle or the hand of fate, she had found the one who completed her.
“God,” he whispered, as he drove into her a little more forcefully. When she quaked around him, he used his fingers to drive her wild.
Pleasure was offered, and where he had feared that she would reject him, due to the horror of the dream, Vivian didn’t. There was nothing but want and need.
“Oh, Justin,” she whispered, as everything broke apart around her, and she fell into the desire.
He continued sliding into her until he was very close to falling. “Vivian,” he called, as he drove into her once more and exploded apart.
Slowly, they slid down the wall.
On the floor, she left kisses across his face. When he finally looked up at her, his face said it all.
“We’re partners, Vivian. We’re stronger together than apart.”
After all this, she believed it.
Finally, she’d found the only man who would make everything all right, and she wasn’t going to let it go.
Ever!
Chapter Twenty One
Sunday Morning
It had been a long night for everyone.
After finding comfort in her husband’s arms, they caught a few hours of sleep there, and then made the two hour drive back at six in the morning. Vivian was tired and cranky, and she didn't want to be at work. She really would rather be with Justin at his office. If there was ever a day to play hooky, it was today.
Even though they worked through the entire situation, there was still this lingering worry in the back of her mind. After dropping her off at work, Justin headed to the office. When he offered, she contemplated turning him down to keep their secret, but she could tell by the look on his face that he needed this.
So, as she hopped down out of his truck, she prayed her partner was nowhere to be found.
Vivian had to admit that it was kind of nice to have a goodbye kiss and to be escorted to work by her husband. She might have him do it every day.
Once inside, her partner was sitting at the desk with a cup of coffee and a grim look on his face. It was obvious that he had more news.
Vivian would like to be surprised, but she already knew what was coming. Now, it was time to face it as a cop, not the woman who had to live the nightmares.
“Hey, Tom, how are you today?” she asked, taking her seat.
“Well, it’s Sunday, and I’d rather be home in bed nursing a hangover than dealing with this shit.”
“It’s good to see that you’re cheery as ever.”
He snickered. “We had a call from dispatch. Someone called in an abandoned car alongside the road. We need to head out there, because it may be another abduction.”
“Okay, I’ll call the Littlemoons to meet us there.”
His mood just got even crankier. “Why the hell do you have to call them?”
She stared at him incredulously. “Were you not here when our boss told us that we had to play nice with them?”
“I don’t give a shit what he says. Anders has been sitting his ass behind a desk way too long to have a clue what it’s like out on the street.”
Vivian shook her head at the bitter tone in his voice. Yeah, someone definitely pissed in his Cheerios today. “I happen to care what he says. He hired them to find the first victim, and if we have another, they’re involved in that too. They really could be an asset in this entire thing.”
It piqued his interest that his partner was suddenly so ‘pro Littlemoon’. What had brought this on?
“Then, you babysit them. I have no time for this shit. I’m going to the scene to make sure we find everything. You get the idiot Indians there yourself.”
She stared at him as her blood pressure spiked. “Idiot Indians? Really, Tom? Maybe we’d get somewhere, if we all worked together.” What she wanted to do was say something nasty about the man trashing her new family’s ethnicity. Fortunately for him, she was good at keeping her calm.
Obviously, her words entertained him, since he began laughing, like she had just told a joke.
“You can play nice with the Indians. I’m going to do my damn job.” He slammed his desk drawer after pulling out his gun. “See you there.”
“I’m supposed to be lead detective,” she called after him. When he made a dismissive wave with his hand, Vivian’s temper began brewing. This was turning out to be one hell of a bad day. First, there was her partner’s attitude, his derogatory comments, and now, his blatant dismissal.
Yeah, this was going to be coming to a head at some point, and it wasn’t going to be pretty.
Tori sat behind her husband’s desk while he was on his phone with Mayor Lagerfeld. He was giving the man an update on what they knew about his daughter’s disappearance.
By the expression on his face, he could tell that the man wasn’t happy with the answers that they were giving him. It had been over a week since his daughter had gone missing, and he wanted results.
They got his frustration, but what could they do?
When Justin walked in, he too looked exasperated and out of sorts.
“What’s wrong?” she whispered, trying to keep her voice low.
“I wish Vivian was here. I hate dropping her off at work and not knowing what she’s doing all day.”
“It’s her job,” Tori replied. She was well aware of the angst brewing in her brother-in-law’s gut. Tori had to live it when she was in the FBI and Julian wasn’t. If anything, the Littlemoon men were protective of their own. Sometimes, it was borderline obsessive.
Julian hung up his cell and rubbed his temples. “The mayor has informed us that he wants his daughter back or his money refunded.”
Tori started laughing. “Well, good to see his priorities are straight in life. Next time he calls, I get to talk to him.”
“Or me,” Justin volunteered.
“We need something,” stated Julian.
Justin’s phone began ringing, and it was the tone he set for his wife. “Are you okay, baby?” he asked, immediately.
“Yes, Justin. We have another abandoned car. Do you want to meet me there?” she asked.
“We’ll pick you up.”
“But…”
Justin cut her off. “It’s not happening, Vivian. We’ll see you in five minutes.”
When he hung up, his brother was watching him. “What’s up?”
“The cops were alerted to an abandoned vehicle, and they’re headed there. We’re on ride along.”
Tor grabbed her keys. “We’ll take the SUV,” she stated.
“We need to pick up my wife.”
She grinned at him. “I know. That’s why I picked the vehicle with the darkest tint, so she can kick your ass after she gets in.”
On the way out, he was laughing. “Come on! She isn’t going to be mad.”
<
br /> Julian patted him on the back. “Bro, you have a lot to learn.”
All the way to the scene, there was peace in the vehicle. If Vivian was pissed off at the way Justin bossed her around, she didn't let it show. When she came out of the precinct, there was a smile on her face when she found him standing by the SUV.
On the ride to the scene, she wasn’t able to let them in on anything more. Her partner didn't really give her much information when it came to the vehicle. For now, they were going in blind, which was okay with Julian since his plan was to look at the ground and not the car.
As they arrived, there were the three officers monitoring the comings and goings of all the cars and people. Beside the vehicle stood Detective Lester, and when he saw his partner getting out of the SUV, he didn't look all that happy.
“I see you made it,” he practically growled in contempt.
Tori was used to hostility from the police and opted to handle the man. “We did, and thank you for having Detective Graves call us. It makes our job easier if we can see the scene when it’s fresh.”
Lester scowled at Justin. “I’m watching you,” he said, his voice low.
Justin didn't let it bother him. “Good to know. If you think I did this, and need an alibi from me, I was with my brother and Tori two hours away in Red River. We went to see our mother.”
He stared at the man menacingly. Of course his twin was going to be his alibi. Why was he surprised?
“What do we have, Tom?” Vivian asked as she pulled on a pair of gloves. Now, she wanted the man’s attention on her and not her husband.
“We have a vehicle registered to Bridget Green. Someone driving by thought it was suspicious when they saw the door open and no one inside. A good Samaritan called it in.”
She scanned the interior. “When was this?”
He looked at his notes. “Dispatch got the call around six this morning.”
Vivian pulled out the woman’s purse and placed it on the hood of the car, since the techs had already dusted for prints and evidence. “Can you log this for me, Tom?” she asked, pulling the items out one by one. “We have makeup, a cell phone, wallet and bottle of perfume.”
He typed it into his phone.
Vivian glanced over. “Mr. Littlemoon, feel free to look around,” she offered. Vivian knew that he needed to check the woods, since that’s what her dream had shown.
“Wait a minute,” Tom objected. “He’s not wandering around and neither is the other one.”
Vivian felt her blood pressure rising as she scrolled through the phone. “Really, Tom?”
“They need an escort.”
As Vivian was about to rip off some uncomplimentary comment, she saw it. “Uh, you need to see this,” she said, pausing in the photo section of the missing woman’s phone.
“What?” he said, moving towards her.
She handed him the phone and immediately noticed that it registered.
“Son of a bitch!”
The three Littlemoons all stood there silently, waiting for someone to let them in on what was going on.
“I’ll escort them into the trees to look around. You can head back to the precinct to handle this situation,” she offered. They were trying to keep it to themselves, since there were other cops on the scene.
“Good idea.”
Vivian motioned towards Tori. “Can you head in with my partner? You were a Fed, and you might see something that I won’t in an interview.”
She nodded and moved forward. When Vivian whispered in her ear, she understood why they were keeping it quiet.
“We need to bag the phone and have someone check it for email and messages,” Tori added.
Tom Lester gave her a look. “Yeah, it’s not my first day, little girl. I think I remember cop one-oh-one.”
Julian took a step forward and was blocked by his brother. “He’s trying to get you thrown off the scene. Let it go,” Justin whispered. “Tori can handle herself. She’ll go Army all over his ass and school him.”
Tori turned to her husband. “I’ll call you later, babe. I’m going to the precinct with the old geezer.”
There was some unrecognizable sound from the detective, and it almost made her and Vivian laugh.
She winked at her husband. “Catch you later.” This wasn’t her first time dealing with an asshole, she wasn’t even flustered. In fact, she missed the game of ‘Fed and uncooperative cop’. This might make her day after all. The man was a plethora of possible insults in the making.
As they walked to the detective’s car, Vivian told them what they found. “In the phone, there’s a picture of our victim cuddled up to one of our officers.”
Both men stared at her.
“Maybe cuddled isn’t the right word. They were passionately kissing in a selfie.”
Julian spoke, “Who was the cop?”
“It was one of the cops that searched the woods behind Tawny James’s house, the day before Justin found the body.”
Both Littlemoons knew what that meant.
“A cop would fit. Who had the area where I found her?”
“I don’t know the specifics. I only know the names of the cops that were on the scene that day. There was Officers Jersek, Peters, and Weston. I’ll have to ask Tom where they were sent to search. He handed out the assignments.”
Julian could feel it all starting to make more sense. “This could be the piece that we need to put this all together.”
She nodded and hoped he was right. “Shall we head into the woods?”
Vivian didn't have to say it twice. Julian was itching to get in there and start digging around for evidence. “Be careful where you step and stay behind me.”
Justin placed his wife protectively between them as they entered the woods. Chances were that she would be completely safe, but he wasn’t taking any risks.
They both remained silent, as Julian did his thing. Vivian found it fascinating that he was following something that was practically invisible to the naked eye. What they were seeing in the form of crushed leaves and sticks, he was seeing as a path the victim took as she ran from the abductor.
“Can we talk or does he need silence?” she whispered to Justin.
Julian started laughing. “I don’t go into a trance. You can have a conversation, and it won’t distract me.”
Vivian grinned. “Well, this looks relatively familiar. If I were to guess, I’d say that Bridget ran that way,” she said, pointing to the left.
“That’s where the trail leads,” Julian answered.
Justin continually scanned the area above where his brother was searching, just in case the person who was chasing Bridget left something behind.
When they arrived at a small clearing, Julian held up his arm so that they wouldn’t move into it and destroy any evidence. “Here’s where he caught her.”
She looked around and then closed her eyes.
Justin wrapped his arms around his wife and offered her support as she worked through this. It had to rattle her a little, since it was making him sick to his stomach.
“This is it.”
Julian looked back at her. “Do you have a pair of gloves that I can use?”
She pulled a pair from her blazer pocket. “Here you go.”
Bending down, he snapped them on and gently moved the trampled greenery back to see the dirt. “You have some excellent boot patterns here that you can have cast for evidence.”
Vivian pulled out her phone and sent a text to one of the crew members to head into the woods with a kit.
“They’re the same boot treads that I saw at the first car,” he offered.
“It looks like she struggled,” Justin said, pointing at the broken plants. “Maybe it happened when he tried to drug her again.”
Julian glanced over. “Or it could be from him stomping around out here. If you look at the mark over here,” he said, moving to the one pointing back in the direction they had just come. “It’s deeper in the ground.”
“So, he was carrying her.”
Julian nodded. “Yeah, the pressure pushed the boots deeper into the soil.”
Vivian knew that’s what had happened. Before the dream ended, she had the feeling like she was being lifted.
“Wait,” he said, as something caught his eye. “Look.”
Justin and Vivian stared down at the ground under the leaf. There was a used syringe.
“Holy shit! He left us evidence.”
Vivian took a picture of it with her phone and sent it to her partner. This was important evidence. If there was a fingerprint on it, they were in luck.
“I’m excited,” stated Justin.
They all were.
Just then, a tech came up behind them. She showed him the needle and the tread mark. “I’ll send in an officer to help you secure the scene,” she offered.
Julian objected, “I’d send in another tech, just in case.”
She took his advice and had the CSI call for backup. Finally, they were getting closer. The perp was screwing up and leaving a trail. Now, they only had to follow it.
“I’m going to go search the victim’s house. Do you two want to join me?”
Neither man would miss this for the world.
Sunday Mid-Morning
Back at the police precinct, Tori stood in the observation room as Officer Tony Jersek sat in the interrogation alone. She had seen and done many questionings in her life, and this one was going to be nothing new.
Although, there were feelings that she hadn’t felt in a while. Tori realized that she kind of missed being on the other side of the glass. Part of the fun of being a Fed was the terrorizing of the suspect and getting them to talk.
Oh well, that boat had long since sailed. What she might miss and what she was willing to do, were two different things. Her life took a different path for a reason.
She watched the detective move into the room carrying a legal pad and file folder in his one hand. In the other, there was a cup of coffee.
As he sat, the cop across from him squirmed. “I want my legal rep in here with me.”
Blood Red Rage (LIttlemoon Investigations Book 1) Page 32