Long, Lean and Lethal

by O'Clare, Lorie

  “You’re leaving.” She didn’t make it a question.

  “Like hell.” He had her on his lap but grabbed her hair and came down on top of her, almost throwing her to the ground and then pressing his body over hers. “You don’t want me to leave.”

  She stared wide-eyed at him without blinking. If it weren’t for the rapid beat of her heart against his chest and the way her breasts swelled and nipples poked against him, he’d question her mind. As hard and neutral as she tried making her expression, Noah was starting to see Rain as an open book. It wasn’t anger that laced her pretty face but fear. Fear of him going away and hurting her.

  “Tell me that you don’t want me to leave,” he demanded.

  “Why? Lincoln isn’t your home.”

  “I don’t have a home,” he growled, raising himself off of her enough to grab her arms. He wasn’t sure why he didn’t see it over the past few years. He’d never been anxious to return to D.C. just to see Laurel. It didn’t make him crazy in the head when he went days without being with her. “But I do have you.”

  Her cell phone buzzed and Rain pushed against him, looking away from him quickly. If she was going to denounce that fact he’d pounce on her in a second, challenging her until she admitted to the truth he saw on her face, in her actions, and in how she made love to him.

  “Let me up.” She pushed hard against his chest, the small muscles in her bare arms bulging and flexing under her smooth flesh.

  Noah shifted, sensing her irritation and noting that admitting something existed between them that was stronger than just an affair that would last the duration of the investigation was harder for her to do than it was for him. Rain had lost her father and Noah imagined the wall around her heart was in place solidly to prevent her from feeling more pain from loss. He wasn’t the most patient of men, but he was always up for a good challenge. He reminded himself that he already knew Rain would always challenge him.

  Pulling her back into his arms, he sat up and then leaned and grabbed her phone. Rain took it from him but then pushed her way out of his grasp and stood. She attempted straightening her hair while answering the call.

  “Hello?” When she turned around and looked at him, her expression was all business. “Who is this?”

  Noah stood and moved closer, able to hear the stressed tone of a woman on the other end of the cell but not quite grabbing what she said.

  “No, it’s okay. We’ll be right there.” Rain hung up her cell and hurried out of the room.

  He was right behind her when she raced up the stairs and into her bedroom. “What’s going on?” he demanded.

  She didn’t have any qualms about yanking off her workout clothes and re-dressing in front of him in a pair of jeans and tank top with no bra. “That was Brandy Flynn. She showed up at the Gamboas’ and said that Jan had been shot but was refusing help. Brandy called me because she’d heard we were working undercover and said we needed to get over there right away.”

  Fifteen minutes later, Rain cursed when they walked across the yard to the front door of the Gamboas’ and stared at the car in the driveway. The driver’s side door was opened, and there was blood in the seat. He guided Rain away from the car when the front door opened.

  “We’ll get a team out here in a few,” he let her know under his breath, but then straightened when he saw Butch standing at the front door. “Is this where she was shot?” Noah asked, not bothering with salutations.

  Butch nodded stiffly once and stepped back to allow them into the house. “Show me your badges,” he said after closing the door behind them.

  Rain produced hers, holding it at his face without releasing it, her attention on the rest of the house. “Where is she?”

  “Upstairs. Stupid twit wouldn’t let us call an ambulance. Go on up,” he added after nodding at her badge. “She’s going nuts that we don’t call nine-one-one. She’s about to piss me off whether she’s shot or not.”

  Rain didn’t wait but hurried to the stairs, bounding up them without another word.

  Butch took Noah’s badge from him and glanced at it a moment and then turned it over before returning it to Noah. “I’ll be fucking damned,” Butch swore under his breath, giving Noah a hard look. “I don’t know if I’m an idiot or to be praised for allowing you two into our group.” He rubbed his thick fingers over his short hair and studied Noah with that all too familiar query on his face that Noah had seen more times than he could count over the years.

  “It would probably depend on if you’re guilty or innocent.”

  Butch’s serious expression lasted a moment longer before he smiled and laughed dryly. “Good point.” He rubbed his head again and then looked away first, nodding at the stairs. “I was sure as hell that Ted and Jan finally had that fatal fight when Brandy called me.”

  “You aren’t so sure now?”

  “Brandy said Jan was in her car, slumped over the console between the seats, when Jan found her. Ted’s been at work since five this morning. He didn’t do it.” Butch gave Noah a strange look, his expression growing paler. “I think our Swinging Killer struck again,” he whispered, anger and fear hardening and darkening his expression.

  “That’s a pretty harsh accusation.” Noah watched Butch straighten, his strength and resolve showing in his face. “Did you see anyone or anything that would give you an idea as to who it was?”

  “I just got here about twenty minutes ago. Left work when Brandy called me in a panic about Jan. I guess she’s absolutely refusing medical attention or any involvement with the police.” Butch shot another worried look at the stairs. “I told Brandy that Jan might talk to Rain, since she views her as part of the group. You know, man, it still blows me out of the water that you two are cops—and you’re FBI. Shit.”

  “I wasn’t called in until the case started receiving too much news coverage. Otherwise, we usually let local law enforcement handle matters like this.”

  “And Rain? Is that her real name? I would have remembered seeing her in a uniform here in town.”

  Noah headed to the stairs when he heard Jan cry out. “Yes. It’s her real name. She’s a detective and it says a lot that you haven’t seen her. Means you’re keeping your nose clean.”

  “Well, we know each other now,” he said seriously.

  Noah glanced over his shoulder at the stout man. Butch didn’t look pleased about any of this. But then, he shouldn’t look pleased, not if he was innocent. Noah didn’t think for a moment that the local butcher had anything to do with these murders.

  “Did Jan say why she didn’t want the cops called or to go to a hospital?” Noah asked, pulling out his cell. They needed forensics on that car ASAP.

  “Not that I’ve heard. My guess is she saw who shot her and doesn’t want her arrested. She’s not sober, but then lately, she never is.”

  Noah placed a quick call while Butch listened silently. Regardless of what Jan wanted, it was imperative they gather all information while it was fresh in her head, even if she wasn’t sober.

  “ ‘Doesn’t want her arrested’?” Noah put his cell back on his belt and started up the stairs with Butch in tow.

  “Brandy has been trying to get Jan to tell us who did this to her since she arrived. Jan told us again and again that it wasn’t Ted. I put a call in to him, though. He will probably be here soon.”

  Noah didn’t say anything. The women were in the bathroom, and when Rain glanced over her shoulder when he approached, her tight expression told him what he feared. She didn’t have any information to offer.

  “She needs to go to the hospital,” Rain told him quietly.

  “I’m not going anywhere!” Jan announced. “This is my house. I’m staying right here.”

  “Let me talk to her,” Noah whispered, taking Rain by the arm and guiding her out of the bathroom. He saw Brandy give her husband a worried look but then focused on Jan, who sat on the closed toilet. She wore a short dress with spaghetti straps and a bandage was wrapped around her left shoulde
r. Blood soaked through it and she looked incredibly pale.

  Noah backed into the hallway, pulling Rain into his arms. “I’ve put a call in to have the car dusted and photographed. I’m sure your chief will be notified and have a crew out here as well soon.”

  “Good thinking.” Rain leaned into Noah, placing her arm on his shoulder and then pressing her lips to his cheek. “She knows who shot her,” she whispered, using the intimate moment to share the news with him. Then relaxing and putting some distance between them, she turned to Brandy. “Give Noah a minute with her.”

  Brandy glanced at her husband, who nodded and gestured for her to come to him. Brandy’s cheeks were stained with tears when Butch led her downstairs.

  “Go stay with them and I’ll be down in a minute,” he told Rain, and brushed his knuckles along the side of her face, pushing her hair away from her eyes while she stared up at him. Something tightened inside him, fierce and demanding. It was so overwhelming that it stole his breath and hardened every muscle in his body. “Be careful,” he added, and finally managed to move and allow her to pass.

  Then putting the strong emotions out of his mind, or at least on a back burner where they continued simmering, he moved to the bathroom doorway.

  “How are you feeling?” he asked, keeping his tone soft and nonthreatening.

  “I’m getting a headache.” Jan’s mascara spread down her cheeks, making it look like she had black eyes. “And it’s really cold in here. I don’t know why it’s so cold.”

  He walked into the bathroom and opened a cabinet in the wall next to the medicine cabinet. Finding a washcloth, he soaked it with warm water. Then squatting in front of her, he gently applied it to her face. She closed her eyes, allowing him to wash her face.

  “I know why you won’t tell them who shot you,” he whispered, and placed his hand on her noninjured shoulder. Noah moved the washcloth, having gotten most of her eye makeup wiped off, and saw her bloodshot eyes and the panic that brewed in them. “There’s so much to lose. I know.”

  Jan licked her dry lips and moaned when she tried straightening. “I’m just in the way. Ted is going to be so pissed when he gets home. He’ll know I was already late to work when … it happened.”

  Noah nodded as if he already knew everything. “Does coffee sound good?”

  “With Baileys in it.” Jan smiled, and dimples appeared in her pasty cheeks. It would take some work, but Jan could be a very pretty woman. Right now her wavy brown hair was in strings and clung to her face where he had wiped it with the washcloth.

  “Do you have any?” The alcohol would numb her pain a bit and possibly make it easier for her to talk to him. Not to mention, making her feel he was on her side was imperative. Jan had the one piece of information they needed to close this case.

  “In the kitchen. I should get out of this bathroom. I just don’t understand why it’s so cold in here.” She put a fair bit of her weight on him when she tried standing.

  When she started falling, Noah scooped her into his arms easily enough, being careful not to touch her injured shoulder, and then headed for the stairs. Jan wasn’t light, but he made it downstairs.

  “I remember when Ted used to hold me like this,” she said, her eyes watery when she looked up at Noah. “That’s back when he would make love to me. Now the only time we have sex is if others are there, too. Maybe you and Rain should join us. I bet you’re really good.”

  “Sounds like fun.” He entered the kitchen and glanced over at Rain, who stood in the doorway to the rest of the house when he entered from the stairs. “Think you can get some coffee going?” he asked Rain.

  If she overheard any of Jan’s ramblings, she gave no indication but nodded and started searching cabinets until she found coffee and then poured water into the coffeepot.

  “We’re going to have to change this ban dage soon.” Noah tried placing Jan in one of the kitchen chairs, but she stiffened and ended up standing in his arms. “It’s got to hurt like hell.”

  “It does.”

  She collapsed against him and for a moment he thought she’d passed out. Rain moved quickly, apparently drawing the same conclusion. Noah noticed that Butch and Brandy weren’t around and glanced toward the front of the house.

  “Maybe some wine while I’m waiting for coffee,” Jan muttered, her words slurred while she grabbed his shirt.

  Noah nodded to Rain, and although she frowned, she complied and found a box of wine in the refrigerator. When Rain brought a glass of the cold peach-colored alcohol to her, Jan let go of him and found strength to stand on her own while downing the wine, at least as much of it dribbling down her chin as she managed to swallow.

  “There are two special agents outside with Butch and Brandy,” Rain informed him.

  He acknowledged her with a slight nod but then managed to help Jan into a chair. “You know I can protect you,” he told her, pulling another chair from the other side of the table around and sitting facing Jan. “I get why you don’t want to squeal on her, but do you really want her trying to shoot you again? She might be more successful next time. What would happen to your children if you died?”

  Jan held her glass to her lips but didn’t drink, instead staring at him while she appeared to digest his words. “If she doesn’t, then Susie will. Steve won’t, but only because he’d rather fuck me than kill me.”

  Noah’s heart stopped beating in his chest. Joanna! Crap!

  Already Rain left the room, pulling her phone from her hip as she went.

  “You’ll be protected, but if we don’t get you to the hospital, with the amount of blood you’re losing you’re going to pass out.”

  “I don’t feel very good.” Jan’s hand lowered and the wineglass almost fell.

  Noah grabbed it, placing it on the table, and moved fast enough to catch Jan when she crumpled out of the chair.

  As Noah was lifting her again into his arms, Jan mumbled something before he carried her to the couch. Rain stood in the living room, her thick dark hair twisting down her back in its ponytail. She stared out the front door while speaking quietly on the phone.

  “I’m positive,” Rain said. “I need a warrant and I’ll bring her in. But we need an ambulance here … ASAP.”

  Noah placed Jan on the couch while she continued mumbling incoherently. She was fading fast. She didn’t hear or didn’t have the strength any longer to argue when Rain demanded an ambulance arrive at the scene.

  “As soon as medics show up, we’re out of here,” he told her, deciding he wanted to stay with Jan just in case she was more coherent than she appeared. He’d told her he’d protect her, and he would. “After we bring in Joanna, we’ll head down to the hospital. Hopefully once they have Jan cleaned up and on pain pills we can get more details out of her.”

  “Good idea. I’m getting a strange feeling here.” Rain brushed a stubborn strand of hair out of her face that didn’t want to comply and stay in the ponytail holder. “Something tells me this isn’t going to wrap up easily.”

  Noah stood outside the house a few minutes later, listening to the forensics team leader explain their findings while glancing at the yellow tape that now enclosed the Gamboas’ property. Two women stood down the block, whispering to each other while watching the circus act take place in their neighborhood. He and Rain needed to wrap this up by the end of the day; nothing else would do. He could almost count the minutes before the first news-channel van pulled around the corner and stopped across the street.

  “The warrant is ready.” Rain walked over to him after standing by as Jan was loaded into the ambulance, her husband by her side, acting anything but how she had described he would act.

  “Let’s go.” Noah didn’t have any desire to shield reporters, and the Gamboas’ marital problems were their own.

  After grabbing the warrant and dealing with the annoying minutes of paperwork, Noah and Rain headed over to Joanna’s house. Rain sat next to him, alert and tense, her energy rippling off of her and charging the
air around him. He understood how she felt. They were closing in on the kill, and the final moments mattered as much as all of their investigating did.

  Rain glanced over at him, obviously sensing him watching her, and sucked in her breath. Then nibbling her lower lip, she didn’t look away. There wasn’t any need for words. He sensed her emotions as strongly as he did his own. Not only did their next actions matter, but other feelings, thoughts, and concerns weighed heavily between them.

  The thought of leaving Rain made him sick. For the first time in his life, someone mattered to him more than his own life did. In a way, he owed Laurel a lot for craving a type of relationship he wasn’t capable of having and for being woman enough to admit it. As much as he originally hated her, he was now in her debt. If it weren’t for his relationship with Laurel, Noah wouldn’t understand today what love truly felt like.

  “Are you ready?” He stroked Rain’s face with the backs of his knuckles, ordering himself at the same time to worry about their relationship later.

  “More than ready,” she whispered.

  He accepted that putting Rain completely out of his thoughts was impossible to do. Noah swore it was the same with her. The way she looked at him now, answering him but not moving, allowed him to see deep into her soul, into those sensual blue eyes that glowed with emotions he also felt sizzling in the air between them.

  And because she didn’t move but continued staring at him, Noah leaned into her and kissed her, tasting her and growling when she sighed softly.

  “Let’s go,” he said, and got out on his side the same time Rain opened her door and then waited for him to come around before walking with him to the front door.

  “I knew she wouldn’t answer,” Rain grumbled when they’d both taken turns knocking.

  “I’m going around back,” he decided. “Let’s see if her car is in her garage.”

  “She won’t be here,” Rain mused, again glancing at him with those baby blues. “Sucks we didn’t put a tracker on her car, too.”

  A quick search showed Joanna’s car wasn’t there. He led the way around the house, glancing in windows, and decided Joanna wasn’t home. Not that he was too surprised.