At one A.M., the downtown Laurelwood nightspots were alive with lights and sounds. Chatter from the crowd enjoying the outdoor terrace at Johnny’s filled the air. Bramole and Good Time’s brimmed with friendly exchanges.
Not that it mattered. People can party or not, it makes no difference to me. Sterling drew the cocoon tightly about herself.
The lights and sounds of downtown faded behind her as she paced off the blocks.
Suddenly aware she’d wandered mindlessly quite far from the downtown, Sterling glanced around the dimly lit street. A figure cloaked in the shadows behind her stopped and looked into a parked car, then turned off down an alley bordered by an abandoned building.
Feeling vulnerable with the crowds blocks away, a shudder slithered down her spine and the same creepy feeling she’d felt at the condo set off warnings in her gut.
Nonchalantly, she stepped around a building into another alley and hugged the wall. Pressed against the cool concrete blocks, Sterling’s heartbeat pounded loudly inside her head as she waited. Her ears tuned to approaching footsteps, she still waited. Was someone following her?
Nothing but the sound of dripping water from a nearby storm sewer answered her question. Drawing a deep breath, she let it out and cautiously stepped back to the main street. Except for a passing car, the street stood empty. That’s what I get for listening to Ben and all his talk about how ruthless the perp may be. Now I’m paranoid. I’ll never accomplish anything if I don’t get a grip.
Turning back toward home, Sterling picked up her pace. The eeriness still clung to her, prickling her skin. The downtown offered small comfort to the fear twisting her insides. It wasn’t logical, but it still felt very real. Whatever this thing, this feeling, was, it seemed to be alerting her senses to danger.
Sterling stopped in front of a store window display, but the contents were a blur as she focused on the glass. Her heart skipped a beat. The window’s reflection told her what she didn’t want to know. A figure had slipped into a darkened doorway across the street and stood watching her from the shadows.
Her thoughts raced as she stood frozen to the concrete. She couldn’t tell if the watcher was a man or woman. Why would someone be following me? Sterling’s police training told her to stay in public. Her private investigator instincts prompted her to challenge the watcher, bring him or her out into the open to expose an identity.
In a flash, the decision was stolen from her as the figure stepped from the shadow and swiftly pulled a handgun from his coat, aiming it at her.
Sterling flung herself to the pavement, instinctively covering her head. From above, splintered glass rained around her.
Chapter Eleven
Sterling shook off pieces of glass and rose to her feet, taking only a split second to glance around for witnesses. The evening sounds of the downtown drifted from a distance as she stood alone in the muted glow of a nearby streetlight.
Already the figure from the shadows had a sizable lead, Sterling thought as she took off in a sprint in the direction she’d last seen the gunman. Paramount in her mind was finding the person who’d fired the gun at her.
Her senses tuned to any sign of the perp, Sterling heard the splash of a footstep landing in a puddle and turned down an alley in time to see the dark figure scrambling into a car.
“Stop!” she demanded. “Who are you? Why were you shooting at me?”
The bright beams of the car headlights aimed at her, but Sterling stood her ground and shielded her eyes. She had to see the shooter’s face. “Stop!” she cried.
Forced to jump out of the path of the careening car, Sterling chased after it for one block and then another, all the while wondering what the hell was going on. He could have taken another shot. He could have tried to run her down. Instead, he’d run away.
Desperately trying to get a license plate number, Sterling felt her legs giving out. For the second time today, I’ve missed a key figure in solving the case. The perp was right there, steps away from me, and I missed him. How could I have been so blind?
But Sterling knew the answer to her question. With the sound of her feet slamming against the city streets, she knew her slip was the payoff for letting Ben take her to places inside where pain engulfed her. In those throbbing places, she had no instincts, no defenses. There was no room for anything but mind-numbing loss and abandonment.
Breathless, Sterling stopped under a streetlight and leaned, tired and drained, against the pole. She was forced to accept that she had no witnesses and no clues. She’d lost the best lead yet to the Witt murder. In the darkness, the figure had slipped away as quickly as he had appeared.
• • •
Lacey pulled the car into the drop-off zone at Laurelwood Elementary School, her stomach queasy. All the children running up to the main door seemed a little too rambunctious for her liking, considering Tyler’s condition. Only a day out of the hospital, her son still seemed so fragile and she wanted to wrap her arms around him and take him back to the safety of her home. Instead, she planted a kiss on his forehead as he struggled to gather up his book bag.
“Here, let me help,” she offered, but Tyler pulled away.
“It’s okay, Mom, I can do it.” Tyler’s face screwed up in a determined scowl as he tried to manage the bag and the door alone, despite the cast on his arm.
“Okay, okay. But promise me you’ll be careful and if you need help you’ll ask?”
“Sure, Mom,” he tossed over his shoulder and slammed the car door closed.
Lacey quickly stuck her head out the window. “I’ll pick you up after school, don’t forget.”
“I’ve got soccer practice, so be here about five o’clock.”
“You’re not going to soccer practice, Tyler!” Lacey exclaimed. Leave it to Tyler to push to his limits.
“I’m not going to play, Mom. I’ll sit out, but I have to go. I’m part of the team and I’ve already missed practices.”
Tyler aimed innocent and sweet eyes at her and Lacey caved. “Okay. But I’m calling the coach to make sure you sit out.”
“Sure, Mom.”
Lacey couldn’t help but linger until after Tyler had disappeared inside the school.
“He’ll be fine, Lacey.” It was Nicholas, sitting beside her in the car.
Lacey pulled out into the street, a smile forming on her lips. “I knew you were here.”
“Good morning, sweetheart.”
A luscious delight rose in her heart, like a balloon rising to the clouds on a spring breeze. “Life is so much better when you’re around, handsome. What do you think of our son and his shenanigans with the swing?”
“He’s a character. You’re doing a great job with him, Lacey.” Nicholas’s face glowed, touching Lacey’s soul.
“He reminds me of you,” she whispered. Nicholas fingered the red curls dancing around Lacey’s neck, prompting a flutter in her heart.
“He reminds me of our love.”
“I can’t wait for Sterling to see you,” Lacey bubbled. “This will so blow her mind.”
“Sterling won’t see me.”
Lacey took her eyes away from the moving traffic long enough to gaze at Nicholas’s profile — the wave across his forehead, the nose with a small bump on the bridge, the solid jaw — and her heart clenched. “Why not? She loves you, too. Not like I do, but … ”
“Sterling doesn’t need to see me, Lacey.”
Nicholas leaned over and kissed her cheek. It was such a familiar gesture, one he’d done a million times — before he died. She breathed in deeply the serene comfort of his presence. “Is that why you didn’t let Tyler see you? He doesn’t need to see his father?”
Nicholas stared blankly at the road ahead. “I told you, it’s complicated. But in a way, yes, that’s exactly why. No one but you can see me.”
&nb
sp; “So anyone who notices me talking to you right now would see that I’m talking to — thin air?” Lacey glanced around at other drivers, suddenly feeling very self-conscious.
“Trust me, few people will notice. Everyone’s too busy with their own thoughts.”
“Okay. But it’s too bad Sterling won’t see you. She’s always so certain that life is logical, that there is no magic, nothing inexplicably mysterious. I would have the last laugh, that’s for certain.”
• • •
The clock on the wall chimed out nine morning bells into the heavy silence.
“I’m fine, Lacey, really.” Sterling glared at her sister as she continued to insist the fuss was unnecessary. “There was no need to call the police.”
“I didn’t actually call the police, plural. Strictly speaking, I called only one.”
“I’m grateful Lacey called me,” Ben said from the couch, but Sterling ignored him, directing all her attention to Lacey.
“Your first day back to work and already you’re sticking your nose into places it doesn’t belong.”
“What do you expect? I’m a PI. Nosing around other people’s business is my job, you know,” Lacey retorted. “Besides, the length of your life-line is something I’m keenly interested in, little sister.”
“If it had been left to you,” Ben said, pointing his finger accusingly at Sterling as she finally turned to face him, “I probably wouldn’t have known anything about the whole incident until after I planted flowers on your grave.”
“Don’t you think you’re overreacting just a bit?” Sterling shot him an impatient eye roll. “The police were called to the scene last night, I just didn’t stick around. That’s one of the good things about being a PI — you can slip away pretty undetected. It was probably a random thing. I’m fine.”
Ben had all he could do to keep from jumping off the couch. “I know you, Sterling. You went after the shooter, didn’t you?”
“You wouldn’t have done the same thing?” she protested, determination brightening her blue-green eyes.
Slamming his fist against the couch, Ben could hardly handle the cold fear of knowing how badly these things could go. “I’m a cop! You’re not. Not anymore. You need to stop acting like one.”
“What you mean is, let you beat me to the perp, let the ‘real’ professionals take care of things for the ‘fake’ wannabe cop. Me.”
“This isn’t a game, Sterling. And it’s not a competition.” Ben’s heart went out to Sterling, knowing her deep need like he knew his own hand; being the best was a place to hide. It kept her from having to face her pain. But right now he had to make her see the truth of the matter. He drew in a deep breath and regrouped. “So you followed the shooter, then what happened?”
“He’d already gotten a good lead while I waited for the glass to stop falling around me. I went after him, but he got the slip on me when he disappeared down an alley. Then he drove off. I couldn’t catch him and I didn’t get a look at him.” A look of complete regret darkened Sterling’s lovely face.
“He could have turned on you. You got lucky. But what about the next time? These people mean business.”
“These people? You know who shot at me?” Sterling’s eyes instantly glinted again with interest. “What do you know?”
“No, I don’t know, but a few suspects come to mind. They must think you know something. The shooter might have been just delivering a warning. This time. These people don’t miss.” Ben let his head drop against the back cushion and tried to steady his breathing. Sterling had no idea the forces she was up against.
When he’d gotten Lacey’s call at work this morning, Ben’s knees had gone weak as she’d reported Sterling’s brush with death the night before. It was exactly what he’d feared would happen. Sterling’s involvement in the Witt case had put her in the path of a raging tornado: the turbulent cold-hearted path of a criminal.
Ben tried to swallow, but his mouth had gone dry. When the moment had come, he hadn’t been there to protect her. “Tell me again how it went down,” he asked, trying to put the pieces together.
“The shooter followed me for a short distance first, but I didn’t get much of a look,” Sterling said, walking from behind her desk to stand in front of him. “I would guess a medium build man, Caucasian.”
Standing, Ben looked down into her resolute face and felt the familiar quiver in his stomach. She meant so much to him. How could he have let her down so? “I’m putting twenty-four hour close patrol on you until we figure all this out.”
“No way! There’s no justification for wasting that kind of manpower.” Sterling’s eyes flamed and her chin rose defiantly.
“I don’t consider keeping you alive a waste of manpower.”
“I don’t need special attention to keep me safe. And I don’t want any uniformeds getting in the way of my investigation, either.”
“That’s all you care about, isn’t it?” Ben crossed his arms over his chest. Sterling wasn’t winning this one.
“Are you any different, Detective?”
He looked toward Lacey sitting silently at her desk, then back to Sterling. Anger still burned in Sterling’s eyes, but it didn’t matter. Keeping her safe meant more to him than massaging her ego. “We’re not talking about me. We’re talking about you, a citizen, and your safety. I’m the cop, so what I say goes. End of discussion. I’m not leaving you uncovered. I’m not making that mistake twice.”
“Ben — ” she started, her eyes softening as she put her hand to his arm.
“Don’t.” He knew her thoughts as she knew his. She knew his remark referred to his partner’s crippling accident. He knew she’d argue the differences. But death was death, no two ways about it.
Walking to the door, Ben opened it to leave. “I’m sending a patrol right over. You stay here until he arrives. Do you understand me?”
“Yes, Detective,” she cracked, the softness gone.
“Don’t go out to get air. Don’t go down the hall. Don’t go to the drinking fountain. Stay here,” he said, slamming his palm to the wall.
As he soundly shut the door, Ben paused briefly, pain pounding hard inside his chest. If only Sterling could be trusted to sit tight, maybe he could keep her alive.
• • •
“You know he’s only doing this because he cares about you,” Lacey said. “And you’re acting so defiant because you care about him.”
“Thanks for the analysis, Doctor Lacey.”
Lacey rolled her eyes emphatically. “It’s just that I can see how right you are for each other, sis.”
Sterling felt like she was being painted into a corner, and she didn’t like it. “You of all people should understand. No matter how I may feel about Ben, I can’t be with him.”
“Me of all people?” Lacey’s eyes widened.
“You know what Mom went through after Dad was killed. And I know how you’ve suffered since Nicholas’s death.” Sterling struggled with emotions welling up in her throat.
Lacey came to her, placing a gentle hand to her shoulder. “I’m sorry, Sterling. I know it was hard after Dad died. Something like that doesn’t just go away. And I’ll admit it has been hard with Nick being — gone. But you’ve got it backwards.”
“Backwards?”
“I’m the person who truly understands why you should be with Ben, no matter what.”
“I don’t follow,” said Sterling, running her hands through her hair.
“You haven’t ever heard the saying ‘I’d rather have been in love and lost it than never have been in love at all’?”
“I’ve heard something like that.”
Lacey walked back to her desk and gazed softly at the snapshot of Nicholas sitting on her desk. “I know when Nicholas died you saw my grief. I would never discount the pain I’
ve felt. God, not a day has gone by that I haven’t wished he were here with me and Tyler. Still, I have wonderful memories, Sterling. Memories of loving and living and so much happiness. All of it is still alive.” Turning glistening eyes on her sister, Lacey continued, passion giving life to her words. “No, I didn’t get the happy ever after we all want. But I would never trade all the great moments with Nick, even though they were brief, in exchange for mediocre moments with someone else. Someone safe. Trust me, love never dies.”
Sterling worked to swallow back the tears threatening to spill onto her cheeks, and let Lacey continue.
“Nothing in life is a sure thing. You can’t isolate yourself in the hopes that what happened to Mom and me won’t happen to you. Geez, Sterling, you could marry an accountant and he could be strangled by reams of calculator tape or thrown out of a third story window by a disgruntled businessman.”
Sterling grabbed a tissue and dabbed at her eyes. “You and Ben have something in common,” she said quietly.
“Our mutual love for you?”
“Your ways of oversimplifying things.”
“It is simple, sis. Maybe you need to stop thinking so much and just let it happen.” Lacey’s attention drew back inside, a slight smile lighting her lips.
Mulling over Lacey’s words sent cold shivers through Sterling’s body. It was one thing to say you believe the joy is worth the possible pain. It was quite another to live with the fear. Inside Sterling, a young voice spoke up, sounding the warning and reminding her how very large and palpable the pain felt inside her heart, and instinctively she pulled the walls of her cocoon safely around her.
The only sure thing she had going for her was her work. It alone could be trusted to keep her at a distance from any painful emotions. If she just did her job, and did it well, everything else would be fine.
Interrupting her thoughts, Lacey spoke up. “You plan to do what Ben says, right? You’re going to stay here and wait for the officer?”
Sterling leaned her elbows on the desk, resting her chin on her clasped hands. “Who do you think would want to shoot me?”
Dancing with Detective Danger Page 12