by Lynette Mae
"So, we are under investigation again?" Devon's stomach churned with anger.
"I'm not worried, I'm leaving. It's you and Ann that I'm concerned about. That's why I called you tonight."
"Do you think this has anything to do with my meeting with the colonel last week?" Devon asked.
"I'm not a believer in coincidences." Mac said. "I have a friend who gave me a tip. Do you know a guy named Honeycutt?"
Devon thought hard. The name seemed familiar, but she couldn't place it. She shook her head, "I don't know. Who is he?"
"Well, he knows you because he's been asking around. He is the new guy in charge of the CID investigations in the Baltimore/D.C. area."
The awareness hit Devon like a slap in the face. "I do know him." She rubbed her hands roughly over her face and slumped back against the counter in frustration. It felt like the demons from her past were closing in on her again. "He was investigating my ex-lover up in Boston. She actually laid her hands on him."
Mac studied Devon's distant pained look, wondering not for the first time how many lives CID had fucked with in the name of moral integrity and unit cohesion.
"She must have been pretty gutsy," the admiration in her voice was clear. "So what happened to you two?" The two women had grown very close during their time in Lebanon, the fast friendship growing out of their many similarities. Now, Mac understood with even more clarity how they were most alike. Neither one of them ever spoke of the women who had broken their hearts.
Devon was at a loss of how to begin. She still had no answers to her questions. Did Jillian really care about her the way that she had thought? Or was she another conquest, soon discarded after the chase was over? If she cared, she certainly didn't make any attempt to let Devon know it. Devon always believed that you could tell a lot about someone's true makeup by the way they act under adversity. Their truth comes to the surface. Jillian's truth was that she didn't stand by their love, she ran when it got tough.
She pulled herself back from the painful thoughts to regard her friend again. "Sorry," Devon downed another shot. "Jillian. My first love," she smiled sadly and shook her head. "What a fool I was. I fell hard. I thought that love would conquer all." She laughed bitterly, "When the investigation heated up, she hauled ass. At least she didn't pimp me out."
"That is something redeeming." Mac offered.
"I guess," Devon shrugged. Devon looked out the window to the past, the pain radiating from her as she spoke. "Anyway, she did tell me about Honeycutt. She said he was a real prick."
"Well," Mac said, "at least this time around, you're not involved with anyone, so there shouldn't be much for him to investigate."
"Yeah, he might die of boredom watching me this time around."
"Maybe it's nothing. I'm getting out, so there's no way he can touch me. Just be careful around your new colonel, Dev, I hear he and Honeycutt go way back."
"Yeah," Devon replied sullenly, "but so do Honeycutt and I."
Chapter 37
Even in the predawn darkness the air was thick with humidity on the last day of July as Mac carried the last box of her belongings to the pickup truck. She and Devon had loaded up everything except the last essentials the night before so that she could get on the road early today. Her footsteps echoed off the empty walls as she made one last check to make sure that she wasn't forgetting anything. As she passed the kitchen doorway, she caught sight of a yellow envelope in the middle of the brown butcher-block counter top. Her name was written on it in a large bold script and as she raised it in her hand, Mac caught the scent of Ann's perfume. Smiling, she held it in front of her face and breathed in the fragrance.
The front of the card depicted a beautiful sunset over the ocean as a sailboat drifted in the forefront, closer in to the beach. Inside, Ann wrote, whenever I see the beauty of a sunset over the water or a sailboat gliding gracefully through the waves, I will remember our special time together. Be happy. Always, Ann. With a heavy sigh, Mac replaced the card in the envelope and looked around one last time. Satisfied that she had everything and was ready to go, she flipped the light switch, tossed the key onto a stand by the window for the landlord and stepped out the front door.
"Hey." Mac heard the familiar voice as she strode toward the driver's door of the truck. She turned in the direction of the greeting, surprised to see Devon leaning against the side of her jeep, arms crossed over her chest and legs crossed at the ankles, a very serious expression on her face.
"Whatcha doin'?" Mac was pleasantly surprised to see her friend.
"Couldn't sleep," Devon shrugged, "so, you all set?" her voice broke a little and she looked away quickly.
She hadn't intended to get emotional in front of Mac. It seemed so simple when she thought about coming to see her friend off, now that she was here the thought of actually saying goodbye seemed impossible. Mac was the only real friend Devon had ever made, except Alex, and after all they had been through together, she was pretty sure that Mac now knew her better than anyone on this earth. Devon wasn't sure what she wanted to say, but she wanted Mac to know how grateful she was. In the distance, a flock of birds chirped noisily heralding the coming dawn.
Yep, just threw in the last bag and locked up." Mac raised a dark questioning eyebrow at Devon. "Forget something last night?"
Devon stuffed her hands in the front pockets of her shorts and shifted her feet, moving some pebbles around with the toe of her sneaker, then raised her eyes to look at her. "Yeah, I did," she stepped forward and wrapped her arms tightly around Mac's mid section, burying her face in the other woman's shoulder. Mac responded by firmly squeezing her in a fierce bear hug and letting out a loud growl as she did. When they stepped back, both sets of eyes were watery and the large lump in Devon's throat hurt as she spoke, making her voice sound oddly thick.
"I…I just wanted to make sure you didn't leave without telling you-thanks for well, everything. Your friendship, understanding-hell, my life. I will never forget you." A tear escaped from behind the blond lashes and Devon brushed it impatiently away. "Sorry I'm being such a marshmallow."
Mac laughed out loud at that, a tears threatening at the edges of her own eyes. She hugged Devon tightly again, "Listen, you and I are going to be friends for the rest of our lives, so stop with this 'I'll never forget you' stuff. Of course you won't because we are going to be in touch and see each other again before you know it. I expect you to take some leave time and visit me in Florida, you know." She felt Devon draw a deep breath and nod. "Good, now that that's settled, you have nothing to thank me for; we were there for each other. Don't ever think I didn't need you just as much over there."
Mac gave her one last squeeze and stepped back. She reached out and took the tip of Devon's chin between her thumb and forefinger, lifting her face so their eyes met. "I love you too, buddy." Then she swiftly stepped from the embrace and hopped behind the wheel of her idling pickup. With one last look and a grin, she pulled away from the curb leaving Devon staring after the taillights until they faded from view.
Chapter 38
Honeycutt stared disbelievingly at his two lead investigators who had just finished giving him the verbal summary of their latest report. Apparently it must be full of blank pages because they had just admitted to him that several hundred man-hours of surveillance had given them nothing on their subject.
He fixed them with a hard stare, "I could have gotten nothing all on my own. What the hell do I need you two for?"
He could almost understand that the male agent had come up empty, but he had specifically requested the female for this assignment to take advantage of her good looks. "Miller," he addressed the female agent, "You are supposed to be the bait. And, I thought you already knew about the pilot. McKinley, is it?" He couldn't believe his luck when he had learned that Captain McKinley was a previous subject of investigation. What he couldn't understand is how
that investigation had just stopped without explanation.
"Sir, I told you I don't know her. I was assigned to another case during the McKinley investigation. My boss closed the investigation and everyone involved was reassigned."
"Yes, and now she shows up again. She's a close friend of James, and the two of you are too incompetent to make a case before McKinley out processes. She was the key to making a case and you blew it." He fumed. "Can somebody please explain to me why six months into this case we are no closer to our goal?"
"Sir," the male agent said, "if we just had a little more time, I'm sure we can get something on her. After all, we do have the pictures from the club in Baltimore, a known lesbian bar."
Honeycutt looked disgustedly at the two agents. "And James can just say she went there with her friend. We already know that McKinley is a dyke, but I can't go after her, now can I?"
"We also have the softball team-" Honeycutt slapped his beefy hand on the desk, causing the junior investigators to jump.
"I need more than that, you idiot!" He turned to Miller, "I thought you were supposed to get us something from inside the club?"
Susan Miller willed her voice not to shake, "Sir, I did make contact, but she wasn't interested."
"What do you mean? Your job is to make her interested." Honeycutt's eyes bored into her.
"I tried." She looked away from her boss' glare.
"Well, sweetheart, you will just have to try harder. Listen you idiots, McKinley left yesterday, so that will leave James alone. My guess is it won't take her long to seek out some companionship away from the softball team. Christ, she's been back in the states over six months!" his voice was booming.
"Chief, she did get shot and lost a friend over there, maybe there's nothing to find." Susan suggested weakly. She was beginning to dislike what felt like a personal vendetta on the part of her chief.
"Please don't remind me that one more deviant received military honors for service before we had the chance to expose them."
Suddenly, Susan really detested the fat man. He continued, ignoring the distasteful look on her face, "You just get back to that bar when she goes and get me something I can use. She'll slip up. You just make sure your there to capitalize on her mistake."
After the two agents left his office, Honeycutt opened the file on the desk before him. He stared at the picture of the one subject who had eluded him in recent years. He remembered how the other one-what was her name again? Gray. That's right. Gray, her girlfriend, had actually struck him, and that soft SOB Martin had made a deal with her anyway and James had walked away. Well, this time, there will be no deals. This time he would get her. He smiled to himself as he closed the folder.
Chapter 39
Devon sat absently flipping through the channels on the TV with the remote, hoping something on the box might catch her attention for a couple of hours. No such luck. Even the movie channels were showing old B rated flicks and Devon wasn't the type to sit and mindlessly watch whatever was on the screen just because. After cycling through the channels three times without success, she snapped off the set and strode across the apartment to the kitchen. Jerking the refrigerator door open, she grabbed a Heineken, popped the top and drank a long drink. She flipped the cap into the trash can as she passed the breakfast bar, restlessly pacing.
Glancing up at the clock on the wall above the sink, she sighed heavily. Eight thirty. Friday night. Usually, she and Mac would play cards or catch a movie or even go to a club with some of the ladies from the team, but her friend had been gone two weeks and Devon was feeling the loss of her companionship. Mac had called to say that she had arrived in Tampa and things were going well and Devon was happy for her. When Mac heard the edge in her voice, she had encouraged her younger friend to go out, but Devon had balked at the idea.
"What would be the point?" She had asked.
Mac laughed, "What was the point of you introducing me to Ann? You said I needed to get out, remember?"
"Yeah, well…" Devon's voice trailed off.
"You don't have to marry anyone, Dev. Just let yourself have some fun. Believe me I know what you're feeling. You need to take your own advice. So what's wrong with enjoying some adult company?"
Swallowing the remainder of the beer, Devon considered that statement. Adult company. Looking around the empty apartment, she considered her options. She could stay home, watching some stupid movie or re-read a novel. She could get in the car and drive to Pittsburgh. No, it would be midnight when she arrived and her sister and the kids would be asleep. There was a good possibility that someone she knew would be out at the club; she could hang out awhile and have a couple beers. With another sigh, she tossed the empty beer bottle into the trash and headed upstairs to change.
At nine thirty-five Devon parked her jeep in the parking lot a block from the club and tried to remember why she thought this was a good idea. She wasn't the type to go out alone and she considered pulling back out of the lot and heading home again. I'll just have a beer and see if anyone else is here, if not I'll head out. She hopped out and walked purposefully toward the doors of the club before she changed her mind.
Devon entered the club and was immediately enveloped in the pulsing beat of the music and dim lights of the interior. The lights of the dance floor flashed in time to the music, irregularly illuminating the dancers and casting multicolored shadows around the rest of the space. Devon climbed onto an open bar stool and signaled the bartender. The pretty brunette responded immediately, taking in the striking blonde who just graced her service area.
Devon ordered a beer and couldn't help but notice the bright smile the woman gave her as she delivered her order. The woman's dark eyes held hers and her hand lingered momentarily, lightly touching Devon's on the bar before lifting the five dollar bill and heading for the cash register. As Devon took a drink from her beer, she saw the woman watching her in the mirror behind the bar.
"That's yours," Devon told her when she returned with the change.
"Thanks, darlin', look me up when you get thirsty again." The playful brown eyes danced.
"I will," Devon nodded and turned on the stool to face the rest of the club, surveying the patrons. After a few minutes, she heard some laughter and shouts that were loud enough to be heard over the music. Looking in the direction of the commotion, she recognized several members of the team raising their glasses in a toast of some kind. One of the women at the table saw her and waved her arm in the air, beckoning Devon over to join them.
"Hey, girl!" A petite Hispanic woman wearing a red polo shirt and jeans shouted, as she gave Devon a warm hug. Carmen Santiago was a physical therapist and the Sergeant First Class in charge of the PT rehab at Walter Reed. She had pushed Devon to her limits in the gym during her first six months back from Beirut and Devon would forever be grateful to Carmen for a quick and full rehab of her injured arm and leg.
"Hi Carmen," Devon returned the embrace. Carmen's skin was a rich bronze color from hours spent outdoors. Her smile was contagious and Devon grinned back.
Carmen's girlfriend, Elaina, stepped in between the two and slid an arm around both women's waists. "Oh, my," Elaina cooed playfully, "ain't I the envy of every woman in this bar right now, holding the two most beautiful women in the place." Her hand slid down to Devon's rear and slapped playfully before squeezing, causing the blonde to jump and a blush to darken her face a deep red. Laughing, Elaina kissed Devon on the cheek and released her.
"How come you don't come around more often, Dev? You need to get out more." Carmen gestured toward the empty chair at their table, indicating that Devon should sit.
"I don't know Carmen, we're a bit busy at work," Devon offered a lame excuse.
Carmen shook her head, "A girl has to get out, chica…" she raised her hands palms up as she shrugged. They moved toward the table where the rest of the Army softball team sat con
suming pitchers of beer. The others called out greetings as Devon took the empty seat, turning the chair around so that the back was in front of her and she rested her forearms on top. She found herself drawn into their jovial celebration, as they discussed the previous week's game, complained good naturedly about their bosses, and speculated about various women in the bar.
Throughout the evening, Devon looked toward the bar and each time, the woman tending bar seemed to be looking her way. Several of the women at the table went to ask someone to dance and others made their way to the pool tables. Devon headed back to the bar to order another beer, smiling appreciatively at the sight of Carmen and Elaina on the dance floor who were flawlessly moving together in a sensual style. She was startled when she felt something cold touch the side of her hand.
"This one's on me, honey," the brunette was leaning over the bar toward her, so close that if Devon leaned in just slightly their lips would meet. Devon's blue eyes met the dark gaze before allowing her own to wander over the rest of her upper body visible above the bar. Her rich brown hair fell in ringlets around her tanned face; her full, rose colored lips were pulled up in a mischievous grin, causing a deep dimple to form on the left side of her mouth. She was wearing a black leather vest that buttoned just below her full breasts, revealing the exposed cleavage as she leaned over the bar.