by Jae
"I hope it's okay that I brought her here?" Dawn asked cautiously.
"Of course it is. This is your apartment, Dawn," Aiden said. "You can invite whoever you want."
Dawn pressed her cheek against Aiden's shoulder. "Not if you're uncomfortable with it. I want my apartment to be Aiden-friendly," she mumbled against Aiden's skin.
Aiden chuckled and rested her chin on Dawn's strawberry blond hair. "You've been watching that TV show with the girlie bloodsucker killer again," she accused, poking Dawn with one gentle finger. "The APA really shouldn't allow its psychologists to watch so much TV."
Dawn just giggled.
The bathroom door opened, and Aiden reluctantly removed her arms from around Dawn and stepped back.
Kade emerged from the bathroom in a dress that almost made Aiden drop the clothes Kade handed her.
This time, Dawn poked her in the ribs. "Thanks for accompanying me to the exhibition," she said to Kade.
"Thanks for the cooking lesson," Kade answered with a smile.
Aiden stood watching. She had a feeling that there was a lot that the two younger women weren't saying as they smiled at each other. "I'll drive you home," she offered in Kade's direction.
"No," Kade said immediately. "You just finished your shift plus overtime. I'll take a cab."
"It's no trouble, really," Aiden tried again. She didn't want to leave Dawn so soon, but she also didn't want Kade walking around on her own at night. "I'm on my way home too, and it's practically on my way, so..."
It wasn't, and they both knew it.
"You didn't come over after a fifteen-hour shift to drive me home," Kade said. She looked at Aiden, then pointedly at Dawn.
Aiden sighed. It was hard to win an argument against someone who argued for a living. "All right. I'll see you tomorrow."
* * *
No! Aiden opened her eyes with an annoyed groan when the cell phone on the bedside table next to her began to ring. It can't be more than half an hour since I went to sleep.
Next to her, Dawn stirred as Aiden sat up. "M'ne?" she mumbled sleepily.
Aiden smiled despite her frustration at being pulled from sorely needed sleep. Dawn's lack of coordination when first awakened was adorable. Years of being woken at odd hours had taught Aiden to clear her sleepy mind within two rings of the phone, but Dawn didn't have the same training. "No, it's mine. Go back to sleep." She smoothed back a strand of blond hair from Dawn's forehead while her other hand reached for her cell phone. "Carlisle," she said.
"Aiden, it's me." It was Ray's voice.
"Hold on a second." Aiden rolled out of bed, not wanting to wake Dawn, and padded through the dark bedroom. Her still sleep-fogged mind tried to remember if Ray had been on call tonight. "All right, talk. What is it?" she said when she had closed the bedroom door behind her.
She could hear Ray take a deep breath and instinctively braced herself for what might be coming.
"There's been a rape," Ray said.
Being called in at night because a rape had been committed was nothing new, but the hint of tremor in Ray's voice was. A cold numbness spread through her body. "Who?" she asked, already dreading the answer.
"The victim's name," Ray said, stopping to clear his throat, "is Matheson."
Kade. Aiden's hand with the cell phone fell limply to her side. No. That's not possible. She was just here, not even an hour ago. She was fine. Not Kade. God, I should have insisted on driving her home! She sank against the nearest wall. Finally, she lifted the cell phone to her ear again. "What happened, Ray?" she asked and realized that her voice was now trembling too.
"They didn't tell me much. An old buddy from Central Precinct called me. One of his friends was the first officer on scene," Ray said.
Only secondhand information. We have to get there. "I'll meet you at Kade's." Aiden hurried back into the bedroom to pick up her clothes.
"No. They gave me another address," Ray said.
Another address? I thought Kade was heading home. Where did she go at this hour? Aiden wondered.
"Stay where you are. I'll come and get you," Ray said. "I'm already halfway there."
Aiden struggled to pull up her jeans one-handedly. "I'm not at home."
"I know. I tried calling you at home. I'll pick you up at Dawn's in ten minutes." Ray ended the call, neither of them in the mood for further conversation.
Dawn flicked on the light and sat up groggily. "Do you have to leave?"
"Yes." Aiden shoved her gun into its holster. She was trying to stay in cop mode and pretend this was just another call out.
"Aiden?" Dawn crawled across the bed and reached out a hand to touch her.
Aiden jerked away. She stopped in her frantic dressing and looked down at Dawn for a moment. "Kade has been... attacked," she said, the whisper still much too loud in the silence of the bedroom.
"What? What happened?" Dawn was fully awake now. She scrambled off the bed.
"I don't know. Ray's picking me up." Aiden slipped the nearest sweatshirt over her head, and then bit her lip when she realized it was the shirt Kade had worn just a few hours ago.
"I'll come with you." Dawn announced. She began to search for her own clothes.
Aiden stopped her with a single touch. "No. This is police business."
"But –"
"No," Aiden said with finality. She didn't want Dawn anywhere near whatever had happened. She wanted her safe in her apartment. "I'll call you as soon as I know anything, okay?"
"O-okay." Dawn stood and watched her snap the handcuff case to her belt. She silently followed Aiden through the hallway and handed her the badge she had left on the dresser next to the door. "Be careful."
Aiden touched her hand before it could retreat, wanting to take one last reminder of what was good in her life with her to the ugliness of the crime scene that awaited her. "I will."
CHAPTER 12
THE SHRILL RINGING of her phone woke Del. She flopped onto her back and, for a moment, debated whether to pick up the phone or throw it against the wall. She hadn't had a good night's sleep in over ten days. Either work or her private Kade Matheson surveillance project had kept her busy at night.
She had spent more time in front of Kade's apartment than in her own bed lately. After seeing nothing out of the ordinary for a few days in a row, she had decided to take a break before Kade could become suspicious and notice that she hadn't stopped watching her apartment after the one night on which they had agreed.
The phone rang again.
Del flicked on the light and glanced at the phone's display. She recognized the number immediately. Dawn! She snatched up the receiver. "Dawn?" she said, a little panicked. She hadn't received a phone call from Dawn in the middle of the night in a long time. Since she met Carlisle, she realized. "Are you okay?"
"What? Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Dawn said, sounding everything but. "I'm sorry to call you so late, but..."
"It's fine," Del said. "You know you can call me any time, grasshopper. Tell me what's going on."
The clanking of a pot could be heard over the phone. Dawn was either making tea or cooking. Either meant she was upset and trying to calm herself. "Aiden just got a call from her partner," Dawn said.
"She'll be fine." Del had said a similar thing to Dawn or Grace so often it had almost become a reflex by now. She knew that losing Carlisle to her job was the biggest fear Dawn had to live with. "You know these late-night call outs to crime scenes are part of her normal job routine. Nothing to worry about. The crime scenes are always well secured by the time the detectives arrive and –"
"I'm not worried about Aiden," Dawn interrupted. "I mean... of course I am, but that's not why I'm calling you. There's been an attack. I know you've both been trying to keep it quiet for now, and I tried to respect that, but now it means no one knows and no one's gonna call you."
What on God's green earth is she talking about? Del's confusion grew with every word. For a woman who made her living with words, Dawn wasn't making much s
ense. "Dawn, Dawn, calm down and start at the beginning, please. I don't understand what you're talking about."
Dawn's shuddering breath echoed through the phone. "I know you didn't want anyone to know about the relationship yet, so you're probably not one of the people she gave to notify in case of emergency."
All Del had understood so far was that someone had been attacked and she hadn't been notified, which made sense because the only two people to whom she was close enough to be listed as a contact in case of emergencies were Dawn and her mother. And unfortunately, I'm still not in a relationship.
"I'd come over and keep you company while you wait for news on Kade," Dawn was talking so fast her voice almost cracked, "but Aiden said she would call as soon as she knew anything and –"
"What?" News on Kade? She's talking about Kade? For some reason, Dawn seemed to think that she and Kade were in a relationship they had kept secret. Del's mind worked overtime to catch up with Dawn's words – and then she realized what they meant. "Kade has been attacked?"
"Yes, that's what I've been telling you the whole time," Dawn said.
Icy fear paralyzed Del for a second. "Is she all right?" she asked the only question that was important to her right now.
"I don't know, Del," Dawn said, her voice tender and compassionate like a caress. "I hope so."
"I have to go. Call me on my cell phone if you hear anything from Carlisle." Del hopped out of bed and dressed with trembling fingers. Thirty minutes and three frantic phone calls later, she stopped her car with wailing sirens in the driveway of a house whose address had been provided by one of her friends on the job.
She was still cursing herself while she kicked the driver's side door shut and stormed up to the house. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!"
The uniformed officer who stood guard at the edge of the property wasn't one of her own people, but he recognized her and knew better than to try stopping her when she was this angry.
Her anger wasn't directed at the uni, but at herself. God, I shouldn't have agreed to keep this under wraps! I should have made it official, tried to get her a protective detail! But she hadn't, and now something had happened to Kade.
Del wasn't even sure what, and the not knowing was driving her crazy.
At the front door, she almost collided with another person who had hurriedly gotten out of a car. "Get out of my way!" Del ordered without slowing down or even trying to look at whom she was ordering around. At the moment, she didn't even care if it was the police commissioner.
"Let me through!" the other person demanded.
Del threw an angry glare at her. She finally realized it was Aiden Carlisle who had tried to beat her into the house. Detective Bennet followed behind Carlisle but wisely stayed out of the way of the two women, silently hovering behind his partner.
For a second, Del and Carlisle stood face-to-face, both half in and half out of the door, knowing only one of them could pass through at a time. Neither of them wanted to step back and grant the other the right to be the first at Kade's side.
Del didn't want to waste another second. "Move, Detective!" she yelled, emphasizing Carlisle's rank. When it came to Kade, she was not above pulling rank.
Bennet tugged on his partner's leather jacket, pulling her back so that Del could enter the house in front of her.
"What do we have?" Del asked the young uniformed cop in the hall, trying to at least sound businesslike.
The young officer straightened and looked as if he might salute. "We caught the rapist." he announced, his chest swollen with pride.
Rapist! Del almost shouted it. Kade has been raped? No, not her. Not her too. She shook her head, again and again, until she almost felt dizzy.
Carlisle silently stepped next to her, her face very pale. Del could see that she was thinking the same thing. Another woman she cared about had been raped.
"Where's Kade... DDA Matheson?" Del demanded to know. The rapist's whereabouts didn't interest her at the moment. She would deal with that bastard later. For now, only Kade mattered.
The officer pointed to one of the doors. "She –"
Del didn't have the patience to listen to his explanation. She practically pushed him out of the way in her haste to reach Kade. At the last possible moment, she hesitated with her hand on the doorknob, almost afraid of what she would find behind the door. She could feel Bennet's and Carlisle's presence behind her. Straightening her shoulders, she opened the door.
The distressed sobbing of a woman could be heard, almost drowned out by an angry male voice.
Del stormed into the room.
Kade was nowhere to be seen. A crying woman sat on the couch, and a red-faced man was pacing across the large living room.
Are they Kade's friends or family members? Has Kade been visiting them? Del wondered but didn't stop to make polite conversation. "Where is she?" she asked and flashed her badge to force an answer.
"She locked herself in the bedroom. She..." The rest of the woman's words were unintelligible due to her renewed sobbing.
Del quickly crossed the room and listened to the sounds that were coming from behind the only other door in the room. She wasn't sure, but she thought she could hear muffled sobbing and quiet, soothing murmurs. Good. At least they got somebody in there with her. "Kade?" she called softly. "It's me, Del. I know you probably don't want to talk right now." Especially not to me, she added with a new wave of guilt. God, I really fucked up! I shouldn't have let her out of my sight for even a moment after she told me about her stalker. I should have pushed her to make it official.
The door opened, and a pale Kade peeked out.
"Oh, Kade," Del whispered, not knowing what to say to her. She resisted the urge to take Kade into her arms. Kade wouldn't have wanted that under normal circumstances, and she sure as hell didn't want it now. "What happened?" she asked.
"That's what I'm trying to find out. She refuses to tell me, and her parents didn't have any luck either." Kade ruffled her red hair in frustration.
Del stared at her. "Huh? Whose parents?"
"They didn't tell you? I thought that's why you're all here?" Kade looked from Del to Carlisle and Bennet. "My niece has been raped."
"Your niece?" Del was still staring. "You're not...? You weren't...? You're fine?"
"Of course I'm fine," Kade said impatiently. "Well, as fine as one can be in the middle of all this confusion. Uff!" She stopped talking when Del's unexpected hug squeezed the air from her lungs for a moment.
Del quickly caught herself and let go of Kade. "Sorry. It's just... I thought... They told us you had been raped."
Kade snorted haughtily. "I would have strangled that little pup with the straps of my briefcase."
Del couldn't look away from Kade. She drank in her face, making sure she was all right. Finally, she forced herself back into cop mode. "Maybe one of us should try to talk to your niece?" she suggested. "It's possible she'd be more comfortable talking to someone who's not so emotionally involved."
Kade shrugged. "At this point, I'm ready to give anything a try. She did nothing but sob, and I couldn't understand a single word she said since my brother called me."
"Ray and I are gonna take care of the perp," Carlisle announced grimly, her hand clenched around her belt next to where her gun rested.
Del gave her a nod. She wanted a face-to-face with the rapist too, but it had to wait.
"I want this by the book!" Kade called after the two retreating detectives. "Do everything you legally can to get a confession, but no thumbscrews just because the victim is my niece!"
When they were alone, Del turned to Kade, studying the pale, patrician features. "Are you okay? When Dawn called me, I thought the stalker –"
"This has nothing to do with that," Kade quickly hushed her. "This is about my niece and nothing else."
Del nodded, reluctantly accepting that Kade didn't want to talk about the stalking situation or about how worried Del had been for her. "Shouldn't you remove yourself from the case? The
defense could claim a conflict of interest if this goes to trial."
"We don't even know if this is a case yet. For now, I'm just a worried family member," Kade said with determination.
Del had to smile. A family member with a horde of cops doing her every bidding. "All right. Then let's talk to your niece."
Kade nodded with grim determination and reopened the door to the girl's bedroom.
Del entered behind Kade. She made sure to stay right next to the door so the girl wouldn't feel threatened by her presence.