Libby stared out idly, leaning against the passenger window. Bay sat tall in the back seat and observed his humans.
“Honestly, Coop, don’t think you have anything to worry about,” Libby could hear Armando say on the other end of the phone. “But wanted you to know he’d be talking to Daisy. The tat was definitely hers. But here’s the thing. The guy had scars on him, like he was a nut job.”
Libby froze in place. Nut job? Who was Daisy?
“Scars?”
“Southern Cross.”
Libby saw Cooper stiffen at first and grip the steering wheel. “I don’t know anyone with one of those who’s on any of the Teams. Do you?” he asked his friend.
“Not a one. Not possible, I’m thinking.” Armando’s voice was tinny. Armando ended the call by telling Cooper Fredo had a package for him.
Cooper hung up, and pulled out into traffic. Libby wanted in the worst way to ask him about who Daisy was. She bit her tongue and continued to watch the shops glide past them as they wound through the commercial district along the strand. She twirled her hair and tried to think about anything else, but hearing the name of someone Cooper had obviously been involved with bothered her. She didn’t like the immediate wave of jealousy that threatened to ruin her day.
Finally, Cooper cleared his throat. “I used to date this girl named Daisy. She owns a tattoo parlor on Coronado where a lot of us get our tats done.”
Libby could tell there was more to it. “Uh huh. So why did he call, then? How come she’s involved in all this—whatever this is?”
“The picture of the arm holding Noodles had tats on it like these.” He rolled up his sleeve and showed her the frog footprints going up the inner side of his right forearm.
“The guy who killed Noodles had these?”
Coop nodded.
No wonder Riverton had considered Cooper a suspect. Thank god she’d never seen that picture. She had no idea. She’d seen these frog prints, of course, as he’d reached up to her while lying in bed, when he’d pressed his forehead to his arm while his hand rested at the top of a doorway, and while he pulled his shorts up and over that flat abdomen and those non-existent hips. They were as much a part of him as the dusting of light brown hair on his tanned chest.
Libby touched the little prints with her fingertips, as if checking to see if the ink was three-dimensional. “She did these?”
“Yes.” Coop exhaled.
“And you think she gave a tat to the man who killed my cat?”
“I’m fairly certain, yes.”
Libby didn’t like thinking about Cooper with another woman, but she had a hard time removing the vision of his long lanky frame in bed with another anyone else. It wasn’t possible to be casual about this, but she really tried.
“So, Cooper, was it serious?” She didn’t look at him, but stared straight ahead.
Cooper’s head whipped around Libby felt his eyes on her profile. “No,” he said. “Never. Not like—“
Libby turned to face him. “Us?” She hadn’t wanted to ask, but she had to.
“No. Never serious. She didn’t expect much from me. It was uncomplicated.” Cooper’s eyebrows squinted together. He was barely moving his head as he shook it back and forth. Traffic forced him to turn back to focus on his driving.
“It was just sex, then?”
Cooper didn’t answer, which spoke volumes. She could see he was thinking about how to answer her. Do I really want to know?
Cooper grabbed her hand and kissed it, keeping his left hand on the steering wheel. He continued to grip her fingers as he shifted gears. Libby didn’t pull away. He kissed her cupped palm and then released her.
“It’s never just about sex with me. I’m not that way.”
This was going to hurt. Libby braced herself.
“But it was what I needed at the time. And I found I just grew out of it. I changed. I consider her a friend still, but I have not seen her since I met you. That’s the truth, honey.” He reached out his right arm. “Come here.”
Libby scooted beside him and rested her head against his shoulder. She concentrated on the raising and lowering of his chest and the sound of the wind fluxing through his lungs. With his arm around her, she did feel safe.
And yes, loved.
They had agreed to talk later that night. Cooper would be spending the night at the Brownlee house, and Libby would stay at the hotel with her parents. She begged to come join him there, but he insisted she stay out of his way until he got everything set up at the house and finished working out his plan. He explained he had a lot to do and needed to concentrate. She reluctantly agreed.
On the way to the Hotel Del, Cooper stopped by Fredo’s and picked up a large black plastic case that looked like a keyboard carrier. Bay, sitting in the back seat, looked as interested in it as Libby was. Cooper removed a metal panel from the front of the bench seat down by the floorboards and slid the case under the seat cushion. Then he replaced the metal strip and snapped it in place.
“What is it?” she asked.
“What?” Cooper smiled.
“That,” she said as she pointed to the floor at their feet.
“I didn’t see anything.” Cooper leaned over the steering wheel and stared at the floor. “Gum wrappers and a toothpick.”
“No, the thing—”
“First of all, you didn’t see anything, okay? I mean it, Libby. You don’t need to know what’s inside that case. You don’t want to know.”
She sat back and considered her options. She didn’t like secrets. She’d already learned about an ex-girlfriend, but for some reason, the black case beneath her butt bothered her more.
“Is it a weapon?” It wasn’t a wise question, but she had to know.
“No. It is most definitely not a weapon.”
“Then why can’t you tell me what it is?”
“Can we just leave this alone for now?”
“But you would tell me if it was a weapon, right? I mean, wouldn’t I have a right to know if a bomb or something could explode underneath me and blow us both to high heaven.”
“It’s not a weapon or a bomb.”
“If it was, would you lie? Would you tell me a lie?”
“No, honey. I am not lying to you.” He pulled up into the Hotel Del parking lot, parked and leaned over, pulling her into his arms. “It isn’t anything dangerous. Equipment. But I can’t show you and I can’t talk about it, okay? Just leave it be, Libby.”
His expression also contained that resolve she knew so well. There wasn’t any way in hell she’d be able to find out what was in that case until he was good and ready to tell her.
What was he up to?
Cooper needed to gather some things he kept in a ministorage locker near the base. He’d bought some used surveillance equipment on eBay several months ago, and he befriended an ex-intelligence officer who was freelancing in civilian life and having difficulty making ends meet. Cooper managed to buy some sensitive recording devices and paired them with spare parts he had on hand, as well as some little microphones Fredo had gotten hold of.
Those little flag pins had worked successfully the last time they needed them in the states, when Armando and Mia had been kidnapped. They had Kyle wired up while they monitored everything from several hundred yards away.
He picked up one of the little pins and admired it. Unless you were trained in this sort of equipment, the average person would never notice the little black dot mounted on the underside. The dot was barely larger than the size of a beauty mark on a model’s face.
All he had to do was set up the recording devices in central locations.
He brought his two large, black duty bags into the foyer of the Brownlee home. Bay had followed him and began casing the whole downstairs. He set the bags down on the granite tile and listened to Bay’s tap-tap-tap on the polished stone floors. Outside, the sun had begun to set, bestowing a glow like dripping honey on the leaves in the back yard. He could still see water on the deck ne
xt to the steps where he and Libby had dripped after leaving the pool, flush from their lovemaking and completely naked.
Bay came back and sat next to him. “Everything okay, kid?” He padded the dog’s head. “Good boy. Now, you stay here while I work upstairs.”
Bay didn’t obey, and instead climbed the steps with Cooper, who began work in Libby’s bedroom. Libby had left one of her black panties on the floor and her underwear drawer was still ajar. He almost felt like she’d be making her entrance at any moment. The bed was straightened, like they’d left it, but the fact that they’d missed putting away the panties bothered him for some reason.
He heard a sound out front and saw Kyle drive up in his small SUV. He brought several more black cases of equipment Cooper had planned on going over to pick up later. His LPO entered and called out to him.
“I’m up here,” he called.
Seconds later, Kyle set the bags on Libby’s bed, surveyed the room, and whistled.
“So this is how the other half lives, huh? Can you imagine growing up in a house like this, a room like this?” He fingered the dotted Swiss canopy and leaned over to sniff the lacy fabric.
“No. Don’t want to.” Cooper was unzipping one of Kyle’s bags. He was trying to push out of his mind the afternoon’s caper, the vision of Libby riding his cock as he bounced on the white coverlet top.
“You bring the boosters?”
“If they were in the bag, they’re there.”
Fuck. “No, they were in a FedEx box next to the bag. You even look inside?”
“Nope.”
“Ah, hell. Nothing I can do until I get those.” Coop stood with his hands on his hips, looking down at the bed covered in black zipper bags of various sizes and shapes.
“C’mon, lover boy. I’ll take you over there, and we can grab a bite, then I’ll come back and help you,” Kyle said.
Coop did admit he was completely starving, for food this time. He hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast. He nodded his agreement and the two came down the stairwell, followed by Bay.
“Can you leave Bay here?”
“Nope. I’m not leaving him alone in this house.”
“Gotcha. Everything out of the truck?”
“Yessir.”
The two of them left the green beater where Cooper had parked it in the street.
Chapter 38
The call came in to Riverton just as he was about to suggest he and Daisy might be able to retire to the Pink Slipper or some other hotel. She’d had two margaritas, and much as he hated to admit it, even to himself, he liked his women drunk. Besides, it took some of the pressure off if they didn’t remember his performance. Not that he was ashamed, but he wasn’t used to having lots of sex with more than just a couple regulars. He wanted to make sure Daisy had a good time, so he could have another.
“This better be good.” He had recognized the number from the dispatcher at the precinct.
“All good, Clark.” She insisted on calling him by his first name, even though he had reprimanded her several times for doing so. She did seem to be pleased with herself. “You’re gonna love this news.”
“Oh yeah?” he looked at Daisy, who had just begun her third margarita.
Christ. Hope I’m not going to have to miss anything. He wondered if he would have to be staring at a dead body instead of Daisy’s luscious breasts. But he was a cop, and this wasn’t a real date, and if the office was calling at 6:30 at night, it was important.
“Go ahead,” he said as he watched Daisy lick the salt off the rim of the glass and then smile at him, with a few flecks of the white granules at the edge of her upper lip. God, he wanted those lips on his pecker something fierce. Salt and all. He wanted to taste that margarita second hand and needed to smell the perfume between her legs. He adjusted his pants with his right hand and Daisy smiled again.
“I think we caught your cat killer.”
“You’re fucking with me,” Riverton said before he could edit his thoughts. Daisy looked up at him with wide eyes.
Stella was all cool and proper. “We got a call, a complaint, from a parent this afternoon. Officers went over to check it out. Seems that one of Dr. Brownlee’s doctor friends is a pedophile. Goes for young girls. Patients of his.”
“How do you figure he’s the cat killer?”
“They went to his home. His housekeeper let them search his office, and they found a closet papered with pictures of Libby Brownlee, along with what could only be described as a shrine to his daughter. Candles and everything. They found semen everywhere.”
“They got permission to do this?”
“Apparently the housekeeper had found it earlier, one day when he forgot to lock it up. She volunteered the information. She was creeped out by it.”
Riverton was fully back into cop mode. “You getting an arrest warrant?”
“The uniforms are laying low down the block. The housekeeper expects the doctor any minute now. I think if you stop by you can pick up the warrant before you head over. It should be here within minutes.”
“Thank God,” Riverton said before he hung up.
The three Brownlees got the call from Riverton while they were having dinner downstairs in the coffee shop.
“That’s great news.” He cradled the phone and told Libby and his wife that the police had arrested Dr. Dolan on sex charges and were prepared to charge him also with the death of Libby’s cat.
“Dr. Dolan?” Libby was shocked. She had never thought of him as a sexual predator. He was wired tight, especially after the deaths of his family, but not leaning that far to the sexual deviant scale.
Her father snapped his cell phone shut jubilantly. “Let’s celebrate! Champagne, shall we?”
“Thought you were going to stop, Austin,” Carla reminded him.
“But this is a celebration. This is a special day.”
“Are they sure, Dad?” Libby asked.
“I think so. There will have to be a trial, of course. They found your pictures everywhere. He had a full-on fetish about you. You were Stephanie’s best friend, you remember that, don’t you?”
“Of course.”
“He transferred his feelings—“ Brownlee stopped. “Oh, my God! I never thought about this. When she came to see me, I knew there was something going on at home that she didn’t want to tell me. I didn’t recognize the signs, but now—“
Libby’s stomach was starting to turn.
“Who are you talking about, Austin?”
“Stephanie. I think she was having an inappropriate—”
All thoughts of celebration flew right out of the room. Libby thought about the pretty girl she had called friend, who apparently had had demons she’d been wrestling with all alone. How awful it would be to have the one person in your life you thought would protect you be the one who haunted your dreams at night?
In a small way Libby knew how Stephanie had felt. She had trusted Dr. Gerhardt. She knew what it was like to have to run from someone you trusted completely.
If only I’d known. She wished Stephanie had reached out. Perhaps she could have helped. But, if her father hadn’t suspected, how could she?
Just the same, she felt partly responsible, and very sad.
Libby couldn’t reach Cooper to give him the news. She decided she’d go over to the house and tell him herself. The idea that they would have the whole place to themselves all night long filled her with excitement. She could hardly wait.
Turning down the familiar, tree-lined street, she was heartened to see the green truck parked in front of the house. She was delighted Cooper was there. Perhaps she’d sneak in and surprise him.
But she knew he probably had already heard her car pull into the driveway. She grabbed her bag and danced up the pathway to the front door.
The door was locked, which seemed odd at first, but then she realized Cooper was probably not wanting to be interrupted while he got his surveillance equipment up and in place. Looking into the foyer through the gla
ss and metal front door, she couldn’t see any sign of him. Her finger sat atop the doorbell but, at the last minute, she decided not to ring it. She still wanted to surprise Cooper if she could. Perhaps he was doing something wonderful like showering. Yes, that must be it.
Libby ran to the side of the house and went through the unlocked gate to the rear yard. The garden shed door had been blown ajar, as usual, and leaves had scattered over the concrete decking area around the pool. The blue water looked crisp and azure blue and contrasted with the bright orange of the sunset. She couldn’t wait to be naked with Cooper, swimming, playing, loving the way they had earlier this afternoon.
Stepping carefully on rounded stepping stones, several of them with her childhood handprints embedded in the concrete, she hopped up to the concrete patio and headed toward the rear kitchen sliding glass door. She expected it to be locked as well. But it was not.
Inside the kitchen she expected to hear water running, but the house was silent. She decided to quit trying to surprise him and called out to Cooper. Her nerves were getting a little frayed.
“Cooper? Where are you?”
A strong arm with frog print tats grabbed her from behind and a large hand slammed over her mouth. At first she thought Cooper was trying to scare her on purpose, and she didn’t resist. But then she felt the roughness of his skin. Something smelling like acid hit her nostrils. Confused, she started seeing black splotches before her eyes and realized, as her world was tunneling down to one small pinhole of light, that she had been drugged.
And the arm definitely did not belong to SO Calvin Cooper.
“Coop—“ she croaked just before she passed out.
Chapter 39
Dr. Brownlee clicked the TV on to see if there was any breaking news about the arrest of Dr. Dolan. He was disappointed to find nothing. Then he decided to check for a news update on his computer.
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