“Can you get equipment tonight?”
“Let’s head back the way we came and I’ll call my partner when we get back to the house. We’ll figure out the best plan to lay out to my boss. He has to get on board after this.”
…
Graham stepped back into the basement, and his sudden appearance had the two officers downstairs lifting their weapons in his direction. He held both hands in the air and dipped his head in greeting. “I’m Special Agent Grassi. I’m going to grab my badge slowly.”
The guns trained on him didn’t make him break a sweat, but they had Mickey trembling close behind him. He reached into the pocket of his pants and pulled out his badge, lifting it high for the officers to inspect. The closest officer took a couple steps forward, studied his badge, and nodded his acceptance.
Graham reached behind him until his hand found Mickey’s. He wove his fingers between hers and led her out from behind the tunnel and next to him.
“I’m Officer Fisher,” the young man who’d studied his badge said. “We’ve cleared the house and are combing through for fingerprints, paper trails, and anything else we can bag for evidence.” A smile touched his face and his gaze flickered to Mickey. Jealousy burned Graham’s veins and he cleared his throat to gain the man’s attention. “Sorry, but who’d you find?”
“This is Ms. O’Shay. If you’ll excuse me, I need to get her upstairs. I’ll be back down after I fill my lieutenant in on what I’ve found.” He made a beeline for the stairs and pulled Mickey along behind him.
Controlled chaos greeted them at the top of the stairs. Curious glances slid their way, but Graham ignored them as he passed through the kitchen, through the hallway, and escaped out the front door. The moon still shone bright and the rain had passed. A sprinkling of stars littered the sky and humidity hung in the air like a blanket. Graham briefly wished for the coolness of the tunnels to chase away the suffocating heat.
“You need to go inside and work. I’ll go home.” Mickey’s small voice floated through the quiet night. Red and blue lights twirled through the dark sky and highlighted the paleness of her face.
“You need a minute to calm down. The adrenaline’s leaving your body.” He led her to the porch step and sat down beside her.
“We have to find them.” Her breaths came out in short gasps and her chest rose and fell rapidly. “We have to find Becca.”
Not knowing how else to comfort her, he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. Her body shook and he rubbed his hand up and down her arm. “I’ll figure it out. This isn’t my first rodeo. I’ve taken down bastards like this before, and I plan on doing it again. I won’t give up.”
“I just…it’s all…I can’t.” A sob broke free and her words become a jumbled mess. Tears streamed down her cheeks, mixing with the dust that had clung to her face from the tunnels.
“Hey, everything’s going to be fine.” Her hair had fallen from the messy bun she’d worn earlier, and he ran his hand through her matted mane. Clumps of dirt and dried sweat mangled the long strands. Pressure built in his chest as he held her in his arms. Tonight had been tough for him, but he’d been through worse. It was part of the job. Processing it was part of his training. But Mickey hadn’t been prepared for what she’d found. For the first time, he was absolutely sure she had no part in any of this.
Her tears fell unhindered as she faced him. The usual fire in her eyes had been replaced with a hopelessness that split his heart in two. “How will it be fine with people like that in the world? I never thought this stuff happened here, it was somebody else’s problem. But being down in the basement and knowing what they made those poor girls do… I don’t want to live in a world where that’s okay.”
“Look at me,” he said as he cupped both of her cheeks in his palms. His thumbs moved over her cheeks, wiping away her tears. “What they’re doing is not okay. That’s why I do what I do. I stop them and I make things right. I’m sorry you had to go through this tonight, but now you know this shit happens. A lot more than you think.”
“How do you do it?”
The side of his mouth lifted. “I’m saving lives. I’m making a difference. And you can too.”
She laughed, but it bordered on a hysterical snort. “How?”
“Keep your eyes open. Look for things that don’t make sense, situations that leave you with a bad feeling. Especially while you’re working. You never know when you’ll be able to help.”
A shaking breath blew through her parted lips, warming his face. “Okay. Does it make me a horrible person if I just want to forget about it for tonight?”
He pulled away and dropped his hands from her face. “Not at all. Let me call my boss and fill him in on what we found. Then we’ll get you home.”
Mickey rested her elbow on her knee and then dropped her cheek to her hand. “I can get myself home. They need you here.”
“I’ve been working for twenty straight hours. I need some sleep.” He leaned forward and pressed his lips to the smooth skin on her forehead and then called his boss.
Graham bit back a sigh and waited for his boss to answer the phone.
“Did you find the girls?” Even at this late hour, fatigue didn’t lace through Harper’s gruff voice.
“No, but we did find tunnels leading from the house.”
“Did you find Bogart or Difico?”
Graham bit into his cheek. “No, sir.”
“Is this conversation of the utmost importance, or can it wait until morning?”
Graham wanted to argue that anything to do with this case was of the utmost importance, but he’d rather wait until morning to have this conversation. He needed a decent night’s sleep to regain his composure and put his thoughts in order. And he needed to get Mickey the hell out of here. “The morning’s fine.”
“Good. Come to my office first thing.”
The call disconnected before Graham could reply. He stood and extended a hand to Mickey. She curled her fingers around his and he helped her to her feet. The warmth of her hand heated his blood. He glanced at her as they crossed the yard and pride swelled inside him. She was a tough cookie. He’d been attracted to her from the beginning, but now she’d earned his respect and trust. That was one hell of a combination.
Mickey yanked on his hand, halting his progress toward his car. “Wait, I need my shoes.”
He dropped his gaze to her bare feet and winced. He’d forgotten she didn’t have any shoes on. Dirt stained the tops of them, but at least it hid the dried blood from where the rat had scratched her. “Were those your shoes I found in the yard?”
“At the corner of the house, in front of the shrubs? Probably. One got stuck in the mud, so I took the other one off and left it outside so it wouldn’t slow me down.”
A soft chuckle tickled his throat. She was one of a kind. “Hold on a second.” He dropped her hand and his body screamed in protest at the lack of her warmth. He walked toward the spot she’d mentioned and his gaze scanned the long blades of grass until he found her heels.
He jogged back to her and handed her the shoes. “There you go. Now get in your car and follow me to my place. I’ll sleep on the couch and you can take the bed.”
“What? No, I want to go home.” Exhaustion made her words come out heavy.
He reached over and captured her hand again. “Listen to me. You just experienced something no one should ever have to. You shouldn’t be alone tonight.”
Her body sagged and a yawn tore from her mouth. She widened her eyes as they locked with his. “That’s really sweet, but I’ll be fine, really. I desperately want my own bed.”
She shifted her gaze to face their cars parked on the street and he studied her profile. Her shoulders drooped forward and her eyes closed, as if needing privacy to fight an internal battle. She’d been through enough tonight, she didn’t need him arguing with her. But dammit, her apartment wasn’t safe and who knew what terrors would come for her in the night. He couldn’t stand the thoug
ht of her dealing with it all alone.
“Mickey, I don’t want to scare you, but Connie’s still out there. We have her face and her name now, but who knows how long it will take to track her down. She might come after you again. You might have had your locks changed, but that doesn’t mean your apartment is safe.”
Her hand tightened in his. “So much has happened tonight, I didn’t even think about that.” She opened her eyes and faced him once more. Her chin lifted and a hard glint sparked in her irises. “You believe me?”
Guilt pressed down on his chest like a weight. Mickey had been through hell the last couple of days, and he’d only added to her problems. “Yes. About all of it.”
Tears filled her eyes and she drew in a wobbly breath. Shaking her head, she said, “You’re right. Staying at my place isn’t a smart move.”
He squeezed her hand before letting it go and reaching for his keys. “Good. Do you want to ride with me? Driving might not be the best idea right now.”
Taking a deep breath, Mickey squared her shoulders and shook her head. “I’ll need my car to get to work tomorrow. Just don’t drive too crazy, and I should be able to keep up.”
Excitement ran through him at the thought of Mickey sleeping in his apartment, but he pushed it away. She needed a safe place to stay for the night, and nothing more. At least that’s what he told himself as they walked toward their cars. The memory of her touch burned his skin. He had a fifteen-minute car ride to get his head on straight. Even if he believed Mickey was innocent, she was still off limits. He suppressed a groan.
Nightmares of what they’d found tonight wouldn’t be the only thing keeping him awake.
Chapter Fifteen
Graham opened the door to his apartment and ushered her inside, his hand pressed to the small of her back. Exhaustion weighed down every muscle in her body.
She needed a shower and she needed sleep, but fear lingered in the forefront of her mind. No doubt ghosts waited to greet her as soon as she closed her eyes. Images of Becca, cold and afraid, waiting for someone to help her. She blinked the thoughts away. At least for the moment. She glanced around. His apartment was small, but nice. Granite countertops and gleaming hard wood floors enticed her forward, and she traced a finger along the smooth surface of the counter that jutted out from the wall, separating the kitchen from the living room.
“Why don’t you have a seat, and I’ll make us something to eat?” Graham nodded toward the backless stools in front of the granite peninsula.
“I’m not hungry.” Food was the last thing on her mind, even if she hadn’t eaten in hours.
“Sit down anyway. I’m starving, and you need to unwind a little before you go to sleep. Trust me, if you don’t try to let some of what happened tonight leak from your mind, it will just make things worse.”
His gentle tone prodded her to sit down on the stool. Mickey settled her elbows on the hard surface and held her head up with her palms. Her gaze followed him around the kitchen as he grabbed leftover lasagna from the refrigerator and heated it up. Despite her earlier refusal, he grabbed two plates and slid the warm food under her nose and then took a seat beside her.
The combination of garlic and oregano was too tempting to resist, and she grabbed a forkful of food and took a bite. “This is really good.”
“I’ll let my mom know you think so. She tries to make sure my freezer’s always stocked with something to heat up.”
A smile touched her mouth. “That’s nice. I wish my parents lived close enough to do that. Not like I’m home much anyway.”
“They don’t live in Chicago?”
Mickey shook her head. “No. They live a few hours away. Close enough to visit when I get a chance, but not close enough to supply food on a regular basis. I moved here when I started working for the airline.”
“How long have you been a flight attendant?” Graham stood and grabbed two bottles of water, setting one by each of their plates, and sat back down.
The food sank to the pit of her stomach and mixed with the fear that had taken residence there. Mickey dropped her fork and stared at him. “Really? That’s what we’re going to talk about right now? I don’t think I can sit here and pretend like I didn’t just walk away from a living hell.” She hated the way her voice shook, but she couldn’t stop it. The dam was about to burst, and she didn’t care.
Graham set his fork down and twisted to face her. He cupped her cheek with his hand, and she closed her eyes and leaned into his warmth. A tear slid down her cheek, and Graham used the pad of his thumb to wipe it away.
“I know this is hard, but the best thing you can do for yourself right now is try and think about something else. Just for five minutes. Give yourself a small break so you can get your head on straight.”
Opening her eyes, she sucked in a deep breath and focused on the tiny specks of aqua in his gray eyes. She could do this. Blinking away the moisture on her lashes, she said, “I’ve been a flight attendant for six years. I studied political science in college, and when I couldn’t find a job my friend and I decided to work for the same airline for a few years. We figured it’d be a good opportunity to see the world before we settled down with our careers. We fell in love with flying, and haven’t thought about quitting yet.”
Graham nodded, the side of his mouth hitched up in a half smile, and he dropped his hand from her face. A rush of cold air slid against her now-bare cheek, and she wished like hell for his touch again. He kept his gaze locked on hers, as if he understood she needed that connection to cling to in order to stay calm. “It’s good to do what you love. Makes a tough job easier.”
“Does loving your job make it easier to deal with the horrors you see every day?”
“It will never be easy to see what I see, but it does make it easier to keep showing up. I can’t imagine doing anything else.”
“When does it become too much? When do you get to the point where you’ve seen too much, witnessed too many bad things?” She couldn’t help but ask the question. Graham might think talking about her job and other mundane things could help her keep it together, but nothing would. What she needed was his calm reassurance that he was going to find Becca.
Graham shifted in his seat and glanced down at his half-eaten pasta. Silence lingered between them, and she sensed something brewing inside him. Something he wasn’t willing to share. She wanted to press him, but she was desperately trying to keep her head above water in a lake of her own emotional turmoil. Whether it was fair or not, she couldn’t handle some else’s baggage right now.
Clearing his throat, Graham lifted his gaze to hers once more and shrugged. “The day it becomes too much is the day I need to find a new job.”
The raw pain in his beautiful gray orbs nearly knocked her off her stool. The ache in her heart grew, but this time it wasn’t because of Becca. She ached for him and whatever secrets he’d buried inside. She placed her hand on top of his on the counter, and Graham twisted his wrist so his palm faced up. Their fingers linked, and a rush of heat flooded her body.
“I’m sorry you’re in the middle of all this, and I’m even more sorry I made things worse by not trusting you,” he whispered.
Relief had her leaning forward and resting her head against his hard chest. He’d told her before they’d left the house in Old Town he believed her, but hearing it again was like salve on a burn. She could stop fighting so damn hard to prove her innocence and concentrate solely on finding Becca.
“Thank you.” His dirty shirt muffled her words, and she glanced up, her chin still resting against his collarbone. His warm breath slid across her forehead, and he skimmed her arm with his free hand. He was so damn close that the rapid beating of his heart echoed against her.
She leaned back and the gentle touch of his long fingers against her stopped. He lifted his hand and tipped her chin up with his index finger. His eyes searched hers, as if waiting for some sort of signal or answer to an unasked question. Her pulse picked up and she moistened her lips
, preparing for what she hoped was to come.
Graham’s mouth pressed down on hers, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. For a split second the nightmare of the last few days fled her mind, and she focused on the feel of the warm-blooded man in front of her. But the moment ended, and Graham pulled away. Reality crashed back down on her, and she glanced down. Her mud-caked feet and streaked skirt stared back at her, and humiliation heated her cheeks. No wonder Graham only wanted to give her a small peck on the lips. She had to look like death, and no doubt didn’t smell much better.
“Umm…could I grab a shower? I don’t want to sleep before I wash away the filth of the day.”
Graham shot to his feet, and the legs of his stool scraped against the hard wood. “Absolutely,” he said, his voice coming out thick and sexy as hell. “Everything you need is in the bathroom. I’m going to clean up the kitchen really quick. Do you want something to sleep in?”
“A shirt would be great. I need to wash my clothes, too. I have to work in the morning.”
Graham nodded and grabbed the dishes, clearing them before placing them in the sink. “No problem. I’ll take care of it.”
“Thanks.” Mickey stood and turned to search for the bathroom. Two doors occupied the wall on the opposite side of the living room. She swept her gaze around the tidy living space. Nothing out of place except an opened laptop on the coffee table surrounded by scattered papers and files.
All the blood drained from her face as she stared at the computer screen. She lifted a finger and pointed at the screen. “Who’s that?”
Graham stepped up beside her. “Who?”
Her gaze never left the computer. “Who’s the woman on the screen?”
Graham turned toward the computer and tilted his head to the side. “Paula Williams. Her mom used to live with Pete’s father. Why?” He narrowed his gaze at her.
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