Untamed: Duty Bound Book 3 (30 page)

Freddy waved his hand, his way of catching her attention. “You can stay in my house.”

“What about Justine?” Of all the girls her brother had ever dated, he had to pick the one incapable of showing discretion or empathy.
Too bad he didn’t ask my advice before she moved in.
“Isn’t she home?”

“After Snowflake peed on the kitchen floor at breakfast, Justine gave me a choice. Her or the dog.” A bittersweet smile enlivened his grave expression. “Care to guess which one packed her suitcase?”

Chapter Forty-Five

On his first visit, Avery had rung the doorbell. This time, he banged on the door until a grumpy Cooper answered.

“Stone? What the—”

Avery caught him by the front of his undershirt and slammed his back against the wall. The soon-to-be demoted constable crumpled on the floor. A dent appeared on the wall where his head had hit.

Dazed from the attack, Cooper struggled to sit. “You’re going to jail for this, Stone.”

“Sure.” Unfazed by the threat, Avery cuffed him once more with his hands behind his back, then drew his gun. The muscles in his upper back burned from the effort to incapacitate Cooper, and a warm liquid trickled down his shoulder blade.
Bloody injury.
The doctor wouldn’t be impressed. “Get up. Now.”

To his dismay, the threat didn’t seem to instill any fear in Cooper’s eyes. “You don’t have the guts to shoot me.”

“Your fingerprints are all over the cuffs that chafed Hannah Parker’s wrists. I came to arrest you, you resisted. We fought…” In full sight of his prisoner, Avery flipped the safety pin off. “See where I’m going with this?”

“You’re crazy.”

“Trust me, Cooper, you haven’t tasted crazy yet.” With his gun, he indicated the hallway. “Move. We’re going into the basement.”

Two-thirds of the way down the staircase, Avery kicked him in the butt. Cooper shrieked as he missed the last few steps. He fell into a heap on the concrete floor.

“That’s police brutality,” he groaned.

“Wasn’t aware you knew the definition.” Not caring much about the rules he was breaking, Avery pulled him by the scuff of his neck and tossed him against the water heater. Before the bloody idiot had time to regain his wits, Avery slipped a second pair of handcuffs from his pocket. He secured one end to the cuff already bejeweling Cooper’s wrist and the other to the water pipe. “If I were you, I’d be careful around those pipes. I wouldn’t want you to scald yourself.”

“Thanks for caring.”

“You’re welcome.” As much as he’d enjoyed shoving the sarcasm back where it came from and wound Cooper’s pride, Avery had never fired at a defenseless man. Before confronting his colleague, he’d unloaded his weapon—just in case Cooper surprised him and became a worthy opponent. After his near miss in the forest, Avery hadn’t wanted anyone else to turn his own gun against him. Being shot was as overrated as shooting someone. He cared for neither. “Now we’ll play twenty questions again. If I like the answers, I’ll leave you alone.”

“Don’t go all righteous on me, Stone. You’re the one who reported her dead and locked her in your trailer for your own personal pleasure.” Cooper’s contempt seemed to rise with every word he spoke. “For the record, I didn’t touch her. You can have her back. She’s too wild for me.”

“Forget about Hannah.” When the time came, Avery would insure Cooper was charged with kidnapping, unlawful confinement, assault, blackmail—and anything else that might crop up. “I want to know about Terri Abbott. What’s your relationship with her?”

“Who I’m sleeping with isn’t any of your business?”

That answers one question.
“Did you get involved with her before or after her husband disappeared?”

“I resent the accusations, Stone. I’m not going to let you soil her reputation. Terri is a decent woman and a wonderful mother.” Her name rolled off his tongue. “We didn’t hook up until long after the funeral.”

Bloody hell.
The man was blindfolded by infatuation.

“Let me show you something, bloody idiot.” Avery pulled the copy of the paternity test from his pocket and held it to his face. “Look at the AMEL marker, fifth row from the bottom. That’s the gender test, Cooper. XX means a girl. RP is Rosalyn Page, not Rory Parker. The pretty widow was screwing other guys, and Brent found out.”

“No…she wouldn’t lie to me.” Despite his objections, the defiance that had steadily burned in his eyes faded. “This is a trick.”

“Terri has gorgeous green eyes, Cooper. Even
I
noticed. A woman with green eyes doesn’t end up with a brown-eyed daughter by sleeping with a man with blue eyes. That’s basic biology.” In the Hummer, Freddy had explained that the probability for such a combination indeed existed, though it would be the exception rather than the rule. In this case, Avery chose to stick with the rule. “What
truth
did she feed you, Cooper? Come on. If you say she didn’t lie, prove it.”

His colleague leaned his head against the tank. “After Abe abandoned her, Terri came to me. She was distraught over Parker’s accusations.”

When Cooper fell silent, Avery pushed. “What accusations?”

“That Abe was having an affair with Parker and that he fathered her son. Terri told me Abe took a paternity test and kept the results somewhere in the office to confront Parker with it.”

Abbott had either confronted his wife with the results or she’d become aware of her husband’s suspicion and tracked his activities. “Keep going.”

“Terri was ashamed. She didn’t want any more proof of his infidelities to be exposed. She begged me to help her.” As the lies sank in, Cooper’s voice lost its intensity. “I searched for weeks before I found the report taped under
his
drawer. I told Terri I burned it without looking at it.”

The scheming widow had either not trusted Cooper or she’d been tipped off that he’d lied, so she’d searched the office on her own.
You’re never better served than by yourself.

“What happened to Noel Foley’s report? Did Terri also
beg
you to erase it to protect her cousin?”

His brows shot right up his forehead. “Who’s Noel Foley?”

The guy deserved an award for his performance. It was too bad Avery didn’t buy it.

“Foley was a witness, but the evidence he gave against Victor Young mysteriously disappeared from the database. Two officers work at the detachment, Cooper. One of them deleted the incriminating documents. Guess which one I’m suspecting?”

“Oh, no. You’re not pinning that one on me.” He thrashed against his bonds, thumping the tank in denial. “Whatever Terri’s sleazy cousin did, I have nothing to do with it.”

To hear that Cooper shared his opinion of the cousin sounded eerie. “What do you know about sleazy Victor Young? Do you owe him favors? Does he own you?”

“No, but money talks in this town. There are some people you don’t want to mess with.”

“What about justice, Cooper?” Integrity wasn’t a commodity up for sell to the highest bidder. “Have you forgotten what your uniform stands for?”

“You’re a drunken bastard, Stone. Don’t you dare talk to me about morals. I swear your days are numbered.”

So are yours.

Avery glanced around the unfinished basement. Someone had built a workbench under one of the three narrow windows obscured by snow. A toolbox lay open on top, surrounded by paint containers, rolls of tape, and rags.

“We’re done here. Someone should come to your rescue by morning. In the meantime, do you prefer I gag you with duct tape or a rag?”

***

Hannah paced Freddy’s living room in the dark. After a long phone call to a guy named
Sir
, Avery had left to pay a visit to Cooper. That was hours ago, and she was worried about him.

A shadow crept inside the room, wearing her brother’s scrubs. Overwhelmed by the tales of deceit and murder she’d recounted while Avery was on the phone, Fred had gone to bed. He should be basking in slumberland, chased by nightmares, not turning the light on and blinding her.

“You have patients to see in the morning. Shouldn’t you be in bed?”

“Mrs. Johnston just called about a razor injury and lots of blood.” He picked up his winter coat from the couch. “I didn’t catch the entire story, but it didn’t sound life-threatening, just messy.”

“In the middle of the night?”
Don’t people sleep at night anymore?

A lenient smile brightened his tired face. “They’re night owls. Will you be okay alone?”

Hugging a green afghan to her chest, she nodded. Seemingly reassured, he slung his jacket over his back, creating a draft. The disturbance lifted a scrap of paper from the table. It twirled in the air before landing near Hannah’s bare feet. She picked it up.

The name and phone number written on it piqued her curiosity. “Why do you keep Terri Abbott’s phone number in your living room near computer books?”

“Who? Oh…” Two shades darker than his burgundy scrubs, Freddy’s coat matched the recliner by the television. “Justine was taking basic computer courses. Terri was her mentor.”

The woman had never struck Hannah as the techie type. “Terri knows about computers?”

“She just finished—or she’s about to finish—an advanced computer degree through distance learning. Justine boasted once that Terri could hack into any systems, that I better watch my medical files.” He slipped his gloves on. “I have to go. Try not to worry too much about Stone.”

Worrying about Avery was the price to pay for loving him. Such was the life she was eager to embrace. Duty meant more to him than words or money. She’d sensed his disgust toward Reed and Cooper’s possible betrayal. Whether they partook in Brent’s actual murder or not was irrelevant. At least one of them broke his oath and deleted the crucial evidence exposing the murder of two innocent teenagers.
Guilty by association.

She suspected Cooper, not only because of their past interaction, but because rumors had it the sergeant couldn’t find the switch to turn his computer on, let alone navigate through the system without—

Hannah stared at the scrap of paper in her hand.
Terri.
The woman had sneaked into the detachment once, proving she had the means and the opportunity to act alone. While Hannah hated to absolve Cooper of that crime, she couldn’t ignore the possibility Terri had also hacked into the system.

She scribbled a short note for Avery on the back of the paper and placed it on the kitchen table.

Five years ago, she’d accepted fate without question. Tonight, she wanted answers.

***

The fistfight propelled them down the corridor toward the holding cells.

For an overweight and out of shape man, Reed packed a wicked punch. Avery deflected two, but the third one ripped past his guard and connected with his pectoral. The impact reverberated through the muscles, setting the nerve endings around his wound on fire.

That’s been going on long enough.
Avery retaliated with a right jab. His sergeant was thrust into the cell’s door, his back hitting the hinged side. He yelped in obvious discomfort.

Taking advantage of Reed’s stupor, Avery relieved his superior of his gun, removed the bullets, and tossed the weapon away.

“Stone—” Reed wiped his mouth. “Your career is over.”

“Why?” He grabbed the sergeant by the collar, the same grip Reed had used upon exiting the restroom when he’d caught Avery by surprise in the corridor. “For defending myself from an unprovoked attack?”

With every muscle in his body screaming for a truce, Avery pushed Reed backward into the cell. A thud echoed in the detachment as Reed missed the bench and landed on the concrete floor.

The sergeant picked himself up and took a wobbly step in his direction. Blood dripped from his bottom lip, staining the front of his shirt. “I’m going to destroy you, Stone.”

Unconcerned by the menace, Avery slammed the door and locked it before he was tempted to loosen a few more of Reed’s teeth. “For an intelligent man, you’re pretty dumb, Reed.”

“That’s
Sergeant Reed
to you, Stone.” He strangled the bars with both hands. “Let me out.”

“All in due time,
Reed
.” Avery had entered the building with the intent of searching Reed’s office before confronting the man in his house. He hadn’t expected to, literally, stumble into him.
Here goes plan A.
Plan B was to bluff again. “First, I’d like to know how a man who can’t tell the difference between a television screen and a computer monitor manages to oversee an entire detachment. Who sends emails and enters the data for you? Cooper? It must be humiliating to ask a cocky constable for help.”

Intense glaring had stopped cowing Avery a long time ago, but he still enjoyed rattling his suspects’ cages.

“Cooper has nothing on me.”

“You took no computer training,
Reed
.” Omitting the rank and putting the emphasis on the name, first or last, denoted a lack a respect from Avery’s part. The technique was supposed to feed Reed’s rage, making him more susceptible to mistakes. “Where do you keep your
Computers for Dummies
book? In the toilet tank wrapped in a plastic bag?”

“Son of a bitch.” Reed’s fat knuckles turned white, and the bars of the cell vibrated. “I won’t let you talk of Terri like that.”

“Why not?” Avery knew of only one Terri. The connections between her,
Computers for Dummies
, and toilet tanks elicited too strong of a reaction to ignore. “Is Terri teaching you the alphabet?”

An animal growl rattled Reed’s throat. “I would have you know Terri is completing a computer degree. She’s more of a genius than you’ll ever be.”

At the mention of Terri’s qualifications, a chunk of the puzzle fell into place. Avery didn’t like what he saw.

“My name isn’t
Stupid
,
Gregory
. You’re not going to make me believe that Abbott’s pretty widow is coming here in her spare time to show you how to turn your computer on?”

“Only Terri calls me Gregory,
Stupid
.” A smirk twisted the sergeant’s face. “She’s an amazing woman with exceptional skills.”