“Be still my heart,” she heard Acklin say under his breath.
At least Joy figured it was supposed to be under his breath, but whether he realized it or not, he’d all but breathed the words out in a heated rush. Dr. Roswell was walking down the corridor with a stride that would definitely garner male attention. She looked more like a model than a medical examiner. And who would show up at a crime scene wearing stilettos?
Since Acklin was apparently tongue-tied, Joy said, “You’re on duty tonight, Dr. Roswell?”
Dr. Roswell smiled as she placed her black bag aside. “Yes. Nothing better to do.”
Joy found that hard to believe. Given how Acklin and a lot of men around headquarters lusted after the woman, Joy would think Dr. Roswell had plenty of dates lined up on a Friday night. “Well, I’m glad you’re here. Double homicide.”
Dr. Roswell nodded as she took clear gloves out of the pocket of her lab jacket. “Guess I’d better get to work, then.”
“Hey, I’m Detective James Acklin. I don’t think we’ve met,” he said, offering her his hand.
She gave Acklin a quick smile, accepting his hand. “Oh, hello Detective Acklin. I’m Dr. Lennox Roswell. Nice to meet you.”
“The pleasure is mine,” Acklin said, smiling all over the place like the kid who’d hit a home run at a baseball game.
Joy was convinced Acklin would have held tight to Dr. Roswell’s hand if she hadn’t pulled it away. The gesture reminded her of the night she’d met Stonewall and how he’d held her hand hostage. “You’re ready to check things out, Dr. Roswell?” Joy asked her.
The woman nodded as she slid the gloves onto her hands. “Yes, I’m ready.”
* * *
STONEWALL SAW THE crowd of people the moment he stepped off the hospital elevator. He shook his head at the thought that so many were here to await the arrival of one baby. But then, this wasn’t just any baby. It was Sheppard Granger’s baby.
Everyone turned when they heard his footsteps. “We wondered if you were coming,” Striker said, grinning. “I figured if you didn’t show it that meant you were ahh...unavailable.”
“Whatever,” Stonewall said. He greeted everyone—Roland; Sheppard’s three sons and their wives; Striker and Margo; Quasar and Randi; Ben and Mona, who were Jace and Dalton’s in-laws; and last but not least, Hannah. The older woman had been the Grangers’ former housekeeper and nanny but was more like family.
It seemed they were given their own private floor, but when your family had donated this particular wing of the hospital, the Ava Granger Wing, then Stonewall figured you could get anything you wanted.
Glancing around, he said, “I take it Shep’s with Carson.”
“Yes, Dad’s back there with her,” Sheppard’s oldest son, Jace Granger, said. “It’s been a few hours now.”
“If you want a cup of coffee, I suggest you get it now before Dalton drinks it all,” Caden, Sheppard’s middle son, said, grinning.
Stonewall chuckled. “Good idea.”
He was about to head over to the coffeepot when a smiling Sheppard emerged through a set of double doors. “It’s over. Ava Serena Granger has been born.”
Cheers went up and congratulations were given to Shep. “Thanks, everyone. Carson and our daughter are fine. And she’s beautiful, just like her mother.”
“We thought you and Carson had decided on the name Ashley Jade,” Roland said, grinning.
“We had...until we arrived here. Then we decided to name our daughter after our mothers.”
“Imagine that. Ava Granger was born in the Ava Granger wing. Kind of nice,” Dalton said, pulling his pregnant wife, Jules, to his side.
“So, are you and Carson going to call her Ava?” Stonewall asked.
“Yes,” Sheppard said.
“Call her whatever you like, but I’m going to call her Wild Child,” Dalton Granger declared proudly.
Stonewall saw Caden frown at Dalton. “Wonder Woman, Wine Lady, Whirl Wind, Wedded Bliss and now Wild Child. Can you please run out of these ridiculous nicknames?”
Dalton chuckled. “No. Besides, Wild Child fits her.”
“Why would you think such a name fits my baby sister?” Jace asked.
A huge grin spread across Dalton’s entire features. “Because this has been a wild night. What other baby could get this many people out of their homes on a Friday night just to be here for her birth? Like we don’t have anything better to do.”
“You probably don’t,” Jace said to his younger brother.
Stonewall couldn’t help but smile. Everyone was used to the three brothers’ tit for tat. Roland turned to Sheppard, clasped him on the shoulder and asked, “So, when can I see my goddaughter?”
“You can all see her now.”
“Is Carson up to it?” Jace’s wife, Shana, asked.
“Yes, she’s fine. In fact, when I left she was on the phone talking to her best friend, Roddran. Letting her know our good news.”
Stonewall smiled as he followed the crowd. Dalton was right. This was one wild night, and deep down a part of him wished Joy was here to share it with him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“GOOD NIGHT, LIEUTENANT. Be careful getting home. There’s a fog settling in.”
“I will. You, too, Henson.”
Joy opened her car door and slid onto the seat. Members of the media were still in the parking lot, but most looked as if they were closing shop and breaking down their equipment. Earlier, the place had been swarming to the point where it looked like opening night for the circus. Several networks were doing on-site live reporting. News reporters had asked questions and plenty of them. She’d given a statement. A robbery gone bad. Innocent lives taken. Case still under investigation.
Before starting the car, she scanned the parking lot and surrounding areas. Yellow crime scene tape had been put up, and a number of uniformed officers had canvassed the area. Since this was a business district there were no residents to be interviewed, just grounds to examine to see if the bastards had dropped or discarded something. Like the murder weapon.
She continued to scan the area. It wasn’t unusual for those who committed horrendous crimes to come back and be an onlooker. Damn sickos. Anger always filled her when it came to senseless killings, and these two were as senseless as it got. Two people who contributed to society with their medical knowledge had been gunned down for what? Drugs.
There had been more taken than just the handful Acklin had originally assumed, but even the pharmacist who’d shown up had been perplexed. Some of the drugs that could bring in a pretty penny on the streets had been left behind. It was as if the intruders hadn’t been aware of the pot of gold at their fingertips. Why? Amateurs, perhaps? Rookies? She found that hard to believe. The robbery had been too well planned. From the dismantling of the surveillance cameras, to the torching of the entry door in a way not to set off the alarms, to the masks worn to conceal their faces from interior security cameras. Who did all of that without taking at least a garbage bag full of narcotics? Anything less didn’t make sense to her.
But then the reason could very well be that killing that pharmacist and doctor had spooked them. Scared them shitless to the point that they took what they’d collected already and hauled ass. The possibility made sense. But still, something about this entire homicide didn’t add up. She wasn’t sure what. It was just one of those gut feelings she got at times.
She started her car and pulled out of the parking lot. The next of kin had been notified. It was always hard when they arrived. Their lives changed forever in a moment. The pharmacist had been a black male, age thirty-four, married, father of two. They’d had to call rescue for his wife. She’d collapsed right then and there. No one was supposed to have been allowed to enter the crime scene. But the cops hadn’t been able to hold her ba
ck. The little wisp of a woman had broken through the barrier and raced inside, determined to make liars of the people who’d shown up on her doorstep to say her husband had been killed. When she saw it hadn’t been a lie, saw him lying on the cold floor, dead in a pool of blood from a gunshot to his chest, she’d lost it. Joy didn’t think she’d ever heard anyone scream so loudly and so tormentedly. The look of anguish on the woman’s face had made Joy determined to solve these damn homicides and bring the murderers responsible to justice.
They knew there were two intruders. The inside security camera had picked them up. But because they’d worn hats, masks and gloves, they couldn’t even tell from the camera the intruders’ gender or race. They’d covered their tracks well. And the security cameras at Skinners Pharmacy five miles away showed the same. The only thing the cops knew for certain was that the same two had hit both places. And without leaving a single clue behind. Or had they?
Their only hope was the traffic cam in the intersection Joy first noticed when she arrived.
If they had, she was determined to find it.
The second victim had been a female. Dr. Kelly Langley, Fertility Specialist. Dr. Vanders wasn’t sure why she was working late since she usually didn’t. Her next of kin was a brother who was presently on assignment in Turkey. He had been notified and was on his way to the States.
Dr. Langley had been a very attractive white female with auburn hair and brown eyes. She was about five-eight and weighed no more than a hundred ten pounds, if that. According to Lennox, like Fowler, Dr. Langley had been shot at close range.
Lennox.
The ME had suggested Joy drop the formalities and just call her Lennox. Joy didn’t have a problem with that and extended the same courtesy. She told Lennox she preferred being called Joy instead of just Ingram. They’d shared a chuckle, knowing it was a woman thing. The two of them would meet Monday morning to go over Lennox’s report, as well as those of the officers involved in the investigations of both pharmacies and the medical complex.
Joy tried to do everything to not have her male counterparts notice her looks. Lennox was just the opposite. Beneath her lab coat were short skirts or fitted dresses, and those stilettos hadn’t hindered the woman’s movements one bit.
Joy had made it to the corner when her thoughts shifted to Stonewall. At that moment, she needed a diversion...and a drink. She had seen two lives snuffed out. Their bodies lying on the floor in pools of blood. Loved ones being told. Pain. Anger. Hurt.
It was after midnight. Around three in the morning. She should go straight home, take a shower and get into bed. It wouldn’t be a crime if she decided to sleep all weekend. There was no doubt in her mind Monday would be a doozy, and she definitely needed to be up for it. She might even have to call a news conference before Monday. She would watch the news and gauge the community’s reaction.
But at that moment, all she could think about was that she needed a diversion the likes of which only Stonewall Courson could provide. Before she could talk herself out of it, she dialed his number through her car’s system, and lush sensations came over her the moment his voice answered.
“Hello.”
“You don’t sound like I just woke you up.”
“You didn’t. In fact, I’m just returning home. I’ve been out.”
“Oh.” He was just coming in? After she’d left, had he found a willing woman, one with more time on her hands to take out on a date? Was that why it hadn’t seemed to bother him when she’d left his place earlier?
As if he’d suspected the questions floating around in her head, he said, “I decided to go to the hospital. The entire gang was there for Carson’s delivery.”
His definition of entire gang meant those she’d been introduced to the night of the charity ball. She’d gotten the chance to meet Roland Summers a couple of months later.
“How’s Carson?”
“She and her daughter are doing fine. Shep’s ecstatic. They named her Ava Serena.”
“I like that. It’s a pretty name.”
“I think so, too.” There was a pause and then he asked, “Where are you?”
“I just left a crime scene in the Park Ridge area. Double homicide. One a pharmacist and the other a fertility specialist. Senseless killings for drugs.”
She drew in a deep breath. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”
“What do you want, Joy?”
Joy nibbled at her bottom lip as she came to a traffic light. She knew that she was taking casual sex to a whole new level with Stonewall with this diversion thing, but at the moment her needs were overtaking her common sense. “You. I want you, Stonewall. I want to finish what we started earlier. I need a drink. A glass of wine. Then I need you to make love to me until we both collapse in exhaustion.”
“That can be arranged without any problems,” he said in a deep, husky voice that sent a rush of heat through her veins.
“You sure?”
“I’m positive.”
She nibbled on her lips when her car began moving again. “In that case, I’ll see you in a few.”
“I’m up...literally. And ready for you,” he said.
The thought sent a spark of desire pulsating between her legs.
“Okay.”
“Drive carefully.”
Joy clicked off the phone and hoped Stonewall knew what he’d agreed to, because she wanted him, and in a bad way.
* * *
STONEWALL HEARD JOY’S car the minute it drove up, and he was downstairs at the entry door, waiting. He’d opened it and watched her park her car and get out of it. He noticed how slowly she was walking and figured she didn’t need sex to exhaust her. She was already tired. Joy had left his house around nine and now it was close to three in the morning.
When she noticed him, she squared her shoulders as if that would give her more energy. Driven by a need to touch her, give her some of his strength, he moved toward her. As they met he leaned down and kissed her lips. “You’re beat.”
She nodded. “Long night. Sad night. I need that drink. I need you.”
Instead of letting her move another inch, he swept her off her feet, into his arms. “Stonewall, put me down. I can walk.”
“I know, but I want to carry you,” he said, entering the building and heading straight for the elevator. He maneuvered her in his arms while he pressed the button for his floor. Even in the elevator he refused to place her on her feet. When the elevator opened to his floor, the door was right there. He’d left it open and walked inside, using the heel of his foot to close the door behind them.
He stood her on her feet long enough for her to remove her Glock and place it on the table. Then he swooped her back into his arms again. He kept moving through the kitchen and out onto the terrace. He’d already set a bottle of wine and a glass on the table.
Without loosening his hold on her, he slid into a chair, her in his lap. He then reached out and handed her the glass filled with wine. “Here, take a sip.”
She raised a brow. “Where’s yours?”
He smiled at her as he fumbled with the band holding her ponytail until it was gone, making her hair tumble around her shoulders. “We’ll share.”
She didn’t say anything, just looked at him, held his gaze while she took a sip. When she licked her lips and handed the glass back to him, he felt a tightening in his groin.
He took a drink, deliberately placing his mouth at the same spot on the glass that she had. He preferred beer to wine, but for some reason, tonight the wine tasted good. After taking another drink, he did the same thing she’d done. Licked his lips. He noticed her gaze holding firm and watching every movement of his tongue.
She whispered, “Take me to bed, Stonewall.”
He stood with her in his arms and headed toward his bedroom.
&nb
sp; CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
JOY FORCED HER eyes open and squinted against the glare of the sunlight. She closed them and slowly opened them again. Her mind felt fuzzy as she glanced around the bedroom. Not hers—that was for sure. Stonewall’s. She shifted in bed only to lie back immediately. She’d gotten just what she’d asked Stonewall for. He’d made love to her until she’d become exhausted. And then some.
She’d forgotten about his stamina. His never-ending energy. His ability to persevere. His unwavering resilience. He’d used all of them on her last night, and now, this morning, all she could do was lie there, still feeling the exhaustion she’d begged him for. He had definitely delivered.
They’d tried so many positions last night she couldn’t remember them all, but her body could, which was why she felt so achy. Not sore but achy. There was a difference. Each ache had been brought on by pleasure, pleasure and more pleasure. And it made her forget, for a short while, what had happened at Park Ridge Medical Complex. She was a cop but she was also human.
“You ready for lunch?” Stonewall asked from the doorway.
“Lunch?” She checked the clock on his nightstand. It was afternoon. It was hard to believe she’d slept away the morning. She rarely slept so late and so soundly.
“Yes,” he said. “Now you know how I felt that morning I woke up in your bed and hadn’t known when you’d left it. Sometimes exhaustion can get the best of you.”
Joy wouldn’t deny that. She had needed him to love her into oblivion and he hadn’t disappointed.
Glad she was under the covers, Joy pulled herself up in bed and pushed her hair away from her face. “You’ve been out jogging?”
He was wearing jogging shorts. Or they were wearing him. It was quite obvious from the fit of the shorts that he was a man very well endowed. And he had on a shirt that showed every single muscle of his tight abs.
“This is my usual attire for a Saturday morning when I’m just hanging out here.”
“Oh, I see.” She was glad to hear that. She could imagine the women who wouldn’t hesitate to follow him home if he went out on the streets dressed like that. First and foremost they would be seeking verification that what he was packing was real.
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