“That’s great, but we’re still a step behind this guy,” Brody said, aggravated.
“We haven’t been tailing him as long as you, but it’s pissing me off. How did he know to bounce when we just got the tip?” the other officer said.
They talked about their frustration for a minute and compared notes on the West Virginia drifter we were pursuing.
“Do they have a security camera? Did he pay with a credit card and have to list his license number?” I said.
“At the Evergreen? You kidding me? They only take cash and they don’t ask questions,” Brody said ruefully. “She’s been hangin’ out at the Ritz in Charleston I guess,” he said to the other cop, and I scowled at him briefly.
“Look, we know she was here, that she may still be alive. This is good news,” I said stubbornly.
It felt bad though, knowing he was on the loose with those girls. That we didn’t know where to look for them next.
22
Brody
That earring should’ve been our breakthrough. If this were an episode of CSI, we would’ve been able to trace that earring to somehow recover the missing girls within minutes. Instead, two days had dragged by with no fresh leads. No trace of the drifter on any security cameras, no sightings or tips called in. We were all on edge, frustrated, knowing that the longer it took, the less chance we had of finding them before it was too late.
Bobby and Clint were arguing over the last Cherry Coke in the break room refrigerator like we were all in high school again or something. I had Mrs. Rook call for pizza delivery, hoping if I fed them, they’d all be reasonable again. By the time the sausage and pepperoni deep dish arrived, I’d had to take the single can of Coke away from them and handed it to Carl because he wasn’t acting like a damn child. Carl shrugged, popped the top and drank it in front of them. They cussed and blamed each other. I had to laugh to keep from knocking their fool heads together. Laura was on the phone again, probably bugging Max in Charleston for anything he could do to help. I think she believed she should have some magic insight on this case because she’d been targeted or because she came from the city. She was as helpless as the rest of us.
For my part, I’d combed that drifter’s file like I was a trained criminal profiler—which I wasn’t—to see if I could find any way to predict his next move. He could be in Florida by now, or Tennessee. There was no guarantee he was sticking around the area, except for his interest in Laura. That’s what I was betting on. That he hadn’t taken off because he hadn’t been able to grab her yet.
We all ate pizza and struggled to talk about anything but the case. I mentioned the Little League game last night, but since our team had lost, it wasn’t a great story. Clint asked Laura how her dad was doing. She shook her head.
“Thanks for asking,” she said. “He’s got an appointment with the nephrologist next week. I’m gonna take him if that’s okay. My mom will want to go, but she doesn’t need to have to hear this alone. He was stable for a few months on the meds and dialysis, but we know he’s starting to go downhill. He needs a transplant, but a man of his age and condition isn’t going to the top of the list when there’s little kids whose kidneys got trashed by chemotherapy and stuff.” She cleared her throat.
I looked at her with concern. She’d been staying with me and never said a word about it. The only place she ever went was seeing her parents or saying hi to Rachel at the diner. So she was keeping this inside, worrying about it on top of the missing persons case we were working. I wasn’t surprised she didn’t feel like she could talk to me about with the way things were between us though. It made me miserable.
When the pizza was gone, we cleaned up and headed home. At the house, I handed her a beer and asked her to sit down at the table with me.
“I know it’s been weird,” I said.
“Yeah,” she said, taking a drink. “I’m confused about what happened between us. By confused, I mean hurt and pissed off. Because you acting like I’m a leper staying at your house isn’t the most comfortable I’ve ever been. I mean, being stalked by the kidnapper has been less terrible.”
“I’m sorry. We shouldn’t have been together like that. I shouldn’t have. You’re Damon’s sister and my officer.”
“And you knew those things about me before you took off your pants, Peters,” she countered. “So don’t go acting like you were shocked to find out I work for you, or that I used to write ‘wash this piece of crap’ in the dirt on your truck when you were in high school.”
“I thought that was you,” I said with a wry half smile.
“You haven’t threatened my job or a promotion if I didn’t have sex with you, and Damon is my brother, not my keeper. Those are bullshit reasons.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“Yeah, it fucking is that simple,” she said hotly. “Either you want me or you want an excuse not to be with me. Pick one.”
“You don’t understand what it’s like for me.”
“I took a bullet for the last man who said that to me,” she snapped. During one of our conversations, she’d admitted to a relationship with a fellow officer in Charlotte. They’d gotten together after a breakup of a long relationship and when things got serious, he freaked and told her it was too soon for him. The next day, she’d used her body to shield him from a perp and took a bullet in the shoulder. He’d put in for a transfer a week later.
“This isn’t the same thing,” I told her.
“No, it isn’t. This is worse. Fact is I’d rather have another bullet dug out my shoulder than deal with the same crap with you that I went through with him.”
“I’m sorry, Laura. I just can’t.”
“Bullshit,” she said. “I can see who I want and so can you. What you’re saying is you don’t want me.”
“You think I don’t want you? You think I’ve slept decent since I had you in that bed? The only time I fall asleep I dream of burying myself inside you, the way you looked when I had you in my lap, when I was driving into you. Laura, it’s killing me not to have you.”
“Then quit being so fucking dramatic and take me!” she said. “Unless you’d rather be a coward and a saint and never allow yourself to feel anything too deeply. Look, it was terrible that she died and she didn’t deserve it and neither did you. But do you think she wanted you to spend the rest of your life like the goddamn walking dead?”
I shook my head, getting angry now. “You don’t know a fucking thing about it.”
“Of course I don’t because you won’t talk to me!” she yelled.
“I’m talking to you now and you called me a coward. Why would I wanna say more?”
“Because you feel something for me, dammit. I know you do. You’re just too chicken shit to do anything about it. And I’m not gonna do this with you, have sex and then you run and hide and feel guilty. You have to choose. Me or the past.”
“It’s not that simple. How many times do I have to tell you before you get it through your head, Vance?” I shouted back, stepping closer to her.
“Yeah, I forgot. I don’t know how it is for you. I don’t know how it is to feel lonely and terrified of letting myself get swept up in something that has the power to pull me under like a riptide, right? I don’t know what it’s like to risk a relationship with my brother, right? I don’t know what it’s like to watch someone I love dying before my goddamn eyes, right? I don’t know what it’s like to know that a fucking serial kidnapper was at my fucking house, right? You’re the only one with a goddamn complicated life, RIGHT?” she shouted, louder and angrier by the word.
I grabbed her then and kissed her, crushed her lips and plunged my tongue into her mouth. God, she felt amazing, hot and soft and sweet, clinging to me, both of us breathless from fighting, from lust. I backed her up to the kitchen counter and kissed her cheek and ear and neck, my hands going to her breasts and fondling them through her uniform. They were heavy and sensitive, her hooded eyes telling me how badly she wanted me. Her hands were in my h
air, and I bent her back over my arm and plundered her mouth with mine. Kissing her was like falling into the darkness, velvet and intoxicating. I didn’t need to breathe as much as I needed this, the way kissing Laura made me feel alive again, made every part of my body light up on fire with one purpose, to worship her, to make her scream my name. I got hard every time I remembered her saying my name while I was thrusting my cock inside her, so tight and hot and soaking wet. Like honey.
I was going to have her again right here. There was no stopping the combustion between us once we touched. I would make it so good for her, so incredible that she’d be too weak to stand when I was done with her. She’d been right. It was simple, as simple as this, as holding her close and never letting go. As simple as needing her all the time.
“It was never that I didn’t want you,” I said raggedly, taking her mouth again urgently.
She kissed me back, her passion, her touch were too much for me. I unbuttoned her shirt and she did the same for me. We kissed, panted with want. I slid my hand inside her shirt along her rib cage and felt her shudder.
“Please, Brody,” she said into my mouth, galvanizing me. I worked on her belt, clumsy with desire.
A phone rang. I swore and then went back to kissing her. She tore her mouth from mine and went for her phone, her shirt hanging open. I stared after her, drunk with need.
23
Laura
Part of me wanted to kill whoever was calling me. But somewhere in my brain that ring registered as the one I used for my mom’s calls. I answered. She was crying, talking fast, so hard to understand.
“Slow down,” I said.
“He won’t wake up!”
I got a few more words out of her and then hung up.
“She went to check on Dad and he’s unresponsive. Mom and Damon are following the ambulance. I’m going to Damon’s to pick up some stuff for my mom. She wanted some clothes and her book—we don’t know how long they’ll be there.”
I darted into the guest room and changed into leggings and a t-shirt. I grabbed a hoodie so I’d have pockets for my keys and phone. I looked around, wondering what else I might need. I shook my head, wondering if my dad was going to make it, if by the time I had my mom’s stuff together and got to the hospital, it would be too late.
When I came out of the room, Brody was right there, waiting on me. He reached for me.
“Let me take you,” he said, his hand on my arm. I shook my head. I shook my head, frantic to be gone.
“No. Just—go wait with Damon. He’s gonna be scared and trying to help Mom. They need you there.”
“Laura—”
“Go. For me. Please. I can’t waste time arguing with you when my dad is—” I broke off and grabbed my keys.
I’d just gotten my car back that afternoon, and this was the first trip it would be making—to grab stuff for my mom and go to the hospital. This car was fucking bad luck, I was starting to think.
I was at the door when Brody swamped me from behind, hugged me hard. “I’ll be at the hospital waiting for you. It’s gonna be okay. I can’t promise your dad will be okay, but you don’t have to do any of this alone. I’m here.”
I wrapped my arms around his and leaned back in his chest for a second, wishing I could stay there forever, his strong arms around me, his broad, muscled chest behind me. I felt so protected, and it felt so right. He kissed the top of my head, “I’ll meet you there, darlin’,” he said.
I opened my vandalized driver’s door and slid into the seat and I drove to Damon’s house. I ran around, aimless and muttering to myself, until I had the stuff together for my mom. I even took a fleece blanket off the back of Damon’s couch because I knew she’d be cold waiting around in a hospital. I rolled it up and shoved it in her tote bag which was bulging because I’d stuffed in some snacks and her electrolyte water she liked as well. My mom deserved better than bitter hospital coffee in a paper cup—better than a life of fighting off death from her husband’s door and having to depend on her kids to even get a damn break. I blinked back the burning in my eyes. I could do more to help her, spend more time with her.
I dropped the keys while I was trying to lock Damon’s house back up. I was clumsy and distracted. Bending over to pick them up, I noticed the feeling too late, the prickle on my neck, the sense of wrongness, of somebody near me. I whipped my head around. A man was looming over me, too close, a cloth in his hand. I struck out with the heel of my hand, crouched as I was, and got him right below his kneecap. It wasn’t enough to stop him, but it would hurt. I rolled sideways instead of getting to my feet.
I kicked out with my legs as he reached me. Instead of trying to scrabble away, I was going to fight. No fucking way was I going to let this dude just carry me off. He feinted to the side so I struck his shoulder and jaw instead of his chest. Desperate, I reached in my pocket, punched the emergency call button on my phone and then threw it at his face as hard as I could. He gave a shout, and I rolled away and tried to get to my feet to run.
I started shedding things, throwing my hoodie back behind me, key fob in my hand, so he couldn’t grab me by the hood and it might slow him down. I yanked off the thumb ring Rachel gave me for graduation as I ran and tossed it into the yard next door. I was leaving a goddamn trail if I had to. I had made it half a block, terrified, when I felt the jerk of a hand on my ponytail. This was why I kept my hair pinned back at work. Because if somebody grabs your hair, you’re going wherever they pull you. I twisted, tried to wrench away and ignore the pain tearing through my scalp, but a hand and a cloth closed over my face, pressing hard. I tried to bite, thrash, kick. I hoped my call had gone through, hoped someone would come and see the clear signs of a struggle, the bag I had dropped and the hoodie, the phone, the ring. Everything that said I had been there and put up a fight. I cursed myself for changing out of my uniform where I would’ve had pepper spray, a stun gun. I fought against his hard grip and tried to hold my breath.
I even tried to go limp like the sedative had already worked, but he didn’t loosen his grip on me or take the cloth away. Before long I was dizzy, everything going black at the edges. Then, I was out.
24
Brody
An hour passed. I sat in the waiting area while Damon shifted in his seat and checked his phone.
“Where is she? Mom is bugging the crap out of the nurses at the desk. She needs a sweater and a book or she’s going to keep fixating on wanting an update they can’t give her yet. Jesus, did Laura forget how to get to the only hospital in town?” he asked, sounding fretful.
“I dunno,” I said. “I thought she’d be here. Did she text?”
“Not since she said she was getting ready to leave and had a bag full of stuff for Mom. That’s been—“ he checked his phone, “like fifty minutes. It’s ten minutes away.”
“So call her,” I said, getting anxious myself.
“No, she won’t answer if she’s driving. Little miss good cop would never talk on the phone in her car,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “I don’t see why it’s all on me. She moved back here to help with Dad. And so far, they’re living in my house and now I’m the only one at the hospital.”
“Damon, get a grip. She probably just decided to make sure she had everything for your mom and she’s double-checking,” I said. I was trying to keep him calm, but I didn’t like it one bit.
A doctor came out, and Mrs. Vance rushed toward him. Damon went to join her. I took the opportunity to dial Laura’s number, but it went straight to voicemail. I called Carl at the station.
“Hey, Laura was supposed to be at the hospital almost an hour ago. I want you to run to her brother’s house and check the route to St. Judith’s Emergency, see if you can find her or if she had car trouble. Her dad’s here and we’re waiting on her.”
I hung up and waited to hear back from him. I knew he’d jump in a squaddie and go straight to Damon’s. Mrs. Vance was crying, and Damon had an arm around her. He met my eyes, looking like a wreck.
I went to them and helped settle her in a chair.
“He had a stroke. They’re transferring him to ICU. They won’t know anything else for a couple hours. Where is my sister?” Damon asked, despair in his voice. He was a grown man and a firefighter, brave and strong. But his dad was sick and maybe dying, and he wanted his family around him. I did what I could to console him, but he needed Laura here.
“I’ll go get us some coffee. Tea, Mrs. Vance? With honey?” she nodded through her tears.
I was in the cafeteria getting coffee and tea and a muffin for Mrs. Vance. My phone went off and I answered.
“Brody, she’s not at Damon’s. No sign of her car either—but there’s a bag of clothes spilled out on the driveway and her phone was broken on the sidewalk in front of the next-door neighbor’s house.”
“Shit,” I said, “he got her.”
I grabbed the metal rail the tray was on and held it to steady myself. I couldn’t even think. He had her. He had Laura.
25
Laura
Before I even got my eyes open, I noticed the smell. Wherever I was, it smelled like mold and mice. That filthy, musty stink of rodents. I rolled onto my back on the rough floor. It was drafty, which meant either the temperature had dropped with a storm rolling in or we were up in the mountains. I didn’t know how long I was out or where I was.
How could I have let this happen? I was a cop. I was always aware of my surroundings, even in the grocery store. I curled onto my opposite side and managed to sit up. My hands were zip-tied behind my back, and there were cable ties securing my ankles. The guy was sloppy. I knew about eight ways to get out of zip ties. First I would see if the easy way—a sharp tool—was available. I couldn’t see in the pitch-black room. I listened and could hear male voices in the next room arguing. Beneath that, if I concentrated, there was a smaller sound. I had been listening for water rushing to see if we were near the river or the falls, but instead I heard a soft whimper off to my right. I edged closer.
Hot Cop: A Brother's Best Friend Romance Page 15