Forever Mine (30 page)

“To our knowledge, he’s not armed, but there’s no way to be sure,” Ben said. He’s dangerous. She’s got sharp objects in the house: scissors, knives, and I don’t know what else she uses in her work. Also, don’t discount the possibility Jimmy might have brought some kind of weapon with him other than a gun. I’ll go in first. He’ll know if we enter as a posse. The house is old. The floors and stairs sometimes creak. We’ll most likely find them on the second floor. The first floor is her workspace.”

He briefly described the setup down there. More than once, he’d collided with one of the dress forms. Now, he hammered home the fact that care and utter silence must prevail.

“The only way Jimmy leaves the house tonight is in handcuffs or a body bag,” Ben said. “I prefer the latter, but I’ll settle for the cuffs.”

He dug Allie’s house key out of his pocket. Then he, Thompson and the two uniforms approached the house, keeping to the shadows clustered around the driveway. When they reached the stairs leading to Allie’s front door all four men drew their guns. Ben held his breath and inserted the key into the lock. He turned it then slid open the door just enough to give himself, Thompson and the other cops room to squeeze inside.

The track lighting in the sewing room shed enough of a glow to guide them further inside the house without bumping into furniture. Ben headed for the stairs. Thompson motioned for the uniformed officers to take up a position at the bottom.

Jimmy’s voice came from the kitchen, the tone hushed and hurried, excited, the words too garbled for Ben to decipher clearly. As if Jimmy were trying to cajole Allie not to resist. Maybe he promised a night of fun. With each forward step, Ben’s gut twisted, and he clenched his teeth to keep himself from barreling up the stairs. The gun in his hand felt as heavy as a boulder. The situation called for stealth, not the kind of heroics he knew were liable to sound a warning then backfire.

He stepped so lightly, he might have been walking on foam rubber. A thin line of sweat trickled down the side of his face. He brushed it away with the back of his hand and reminded himself to breathe. Two words tortured his mind:
Forever Mine
. Dave’s calling card, with all the horror implied by those words. Now, they had become Jimmy’s anthem.

When he reached the top landing, he pressed his back against the wall that abutted the kitchen. The tendons in his neck strained as he twisted to peer around the three-foot obstruction. He pulled as much of the room into view as possible. Thompson stayed two steps behind.

Ben’s eyes bored into Jimmy’s back. Then he moved away from the wall and into the kitchen doorway. His eyes met Allie’s. Hers were dull with fear. He placed a finger to his lips. As stealthy as a cat creeping up on an unsuspecting rat, he entered the kitchen.

Allie stood with her back against the far wall. One of Jimmy’s hands clamped over her mouth. The fingers of the other fumbled with the pearl buttons at the front of her blouse. Harsh light shed from the bulbs suspended under the ceiling fixture’s glass shade. The only sound within the room came from Jimmy’s explosive breath. Allie’s face no longer glowed with health. Her skin seemed as white as bleached flour. Jimmy partially blocked her body with his. Ben guessed her hands were bound behind her back. Otherwise, she would have fought him. Still, she used her shoulder to push against him. One foot landed a kick to the side of Jimmy’s leg hard enough for him to yowl.

Ben rushed across the floor and pressed the muzzle of the Glock hard into the base of Jimmy’s skull.

“Huh…what the…?” Jimmy pulled back from Allie, half-turned his head.

Ben cocked the hammer on the gun then used all his inner strength not to pull the trigger. Instead, in one quick movement, he swept Jimmy’s legs out from under him. Jimmy hit the floor hard. Allie’s blouse tore partway open, making a rending sound that echoed softly in the room. She stared at Ben in what he recognized as shock. A pearl button landed on the floor, bounced twice and rolled across the room.

Thompson cleared the doorway and holstered his gun.

Ben stomped hard on Jimmy’s neck, toyed with the temptation of crushing the bones. At the same time, a similar thought whipped through his mind to use his gun and blast a hole through the center of Jimmy’s forehead. Who would say it wasn’t an appropriate action? Thompson would back him up and say that there was a tussle over the gun. Allie was still in shock. He doubted she could offer a comment. The two responding officers had just now cleared the top of the stairs.

Ben holstered his weapon, pulled out his handcuffs and clasped them around Jimmy’s wrists. As the uniformed officers entered the kitchen, Ben yanked Jimmy to his feet. A pat-down proved he carried no weapon.

“Get him out of here.” He gave Jimmy a shove that landed him in Thompson’s hands. “Take him to interrogation. I’ll catch up to you there.”

Thompson clamped a steely grip on Jimmy’s upper arm then turned to leave.

“Wait a minute.” Ben stopped him. Quickly, he searched inside Jimmy’s pockets. One held a crudely drawn heart shape cut from the blank side of an advertisement handout. It bore two penciled words:
Forever Mine
.

Chapter Forty-Three

After Thompson and the officers took custody of Jimmy, Ben rushed to Allie.

“You’re safe now,” he said as he used his penknife to cut the nylon cord binding her wrists behind her back.

Immediately, she clasped her arms tight across her chest, her fingers clawing at her blouse sleeves. Ben’s jaw clenched tighter than a lug nut. Tight enough that, if he didn’t let up, he’d risk cracking a tooth.

Allie sucked in several ragged breaths and released them in a strangled sob. To hell with protocol. Ben wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against him. With the softest touch, he stroked her hair.

“I’m sorry it took so long to get here. I called and left a message to warn you about Jimmy being the one who had sent the flowers and to be extra careful.”

He still blamed himself for not expecting the unexpected. Damn it, he was a good detective. And knew oftentimes, a situation took a sideways turn. This one had been weird right from the start. He should have figured on something hellish rearing up and grabbing him by the throat. He knew of Jimmy’s friendship with Dave. So he should have figured Jimmy for another deviant and not just the kid that Allie had described as “troubled.” Jimmy’s dull telephone conversations with Allie had masked a cunning he’d kept hidden. It enabled him to get hold of the credit card without Dave suspecting so he could send Allie the flowers.

“You couldn’t have known what Jimmy had in mind. That he’d planned something as sick as anything Dave could have devised,”

“I’m a cop. I should have known.”

“Not about this,” Allie protested. Her cheeks quivered, but she remained dry-eyed.

“Dave didn’t have a clue about the flowers,” Ben told her. “He was as surprised as I was when he learned about Jimmy’s end run. Once I understood Dave hadn’t placed the order, it didn’t take Einstein to guess who did.”

He felt like smacking himself hard. The side of his skull would do for starters. Everything had fallen into place too easily: Dave’s showing up at the competition, their cornering him like the diseased rat he was, their assumption that taking him into custody insured Allie’s safety. He should have known to expect trouble. Few aspects of policing ever proved simple. If anything had happened to Allie, he would have flung his badge off the Golden Gate Bridge.

“Jimmy knew how to be cagey.” Allie told him about the two officers searching the house, and how it had appeared secure. “The crawl space under the roof can be accessed from the hallway. Jimmy remembered and hid up there. He…he knew everything about Dave.”

She shook her head and shivered. Her voice quavered. “I think they must have done some terrible things together.”

“Don’t think about any of it now. The only thing those two will see in the future is a six-by-nine concrete cell. There might even be a lot worse in store for them. But you’re safe.” Though, if Dave had played along and taken credit for sending the flowers, wanted to give Jimmy his chance with her … Ben swallowed hard.

“When you appeared in the kitchen doorway, I was never so happy to see a policeman.” Allie’s gaze remained steady on his. She smiled for the first time since her ordeal.

Ben rubbed his palm in soft circles on her back. She let go of her blouse, and her splayed fingers rested against his chest. One shoulder of her blouse had slipped midway down her arm. A pearl button lay on the floor. Her lips parted, and she sighed, closed her eyes for a brief moment then opened them. He stroked her hair then sank his fingers into the thick strands and clasped the back of her head. He kissed her with a depth and passion he hadn’t experienced in a very long time. Her reserve vanished like smoke in the wind.

Her blouse hung loose. He fumbled with a button. The pearl slipped through the buttonhole and dangled by a thread. He slid his hands up her body, over lacy bra cups and onto her shoulders. She moved her arms to make it easy for him to free them from the blouse sleeves. The silky fabric, held precariously closed, glided down her body and clung to her hips. Then his mouth claimed hers in a kiss that laid bare his hunger. Her fingers pressed into his chest, moved past his tie that hung askew. Her fingertips found an opening between his shirt buttons. She pressed them against the base of his collar bone. Electricity sparked where she touched his bare flesh. If he continued to the next step and opened her bra, peeled it off and cupped her breasts in his hands, he knew she would offer no resistance.

He dragged in a breath and hooked his thumbs under her bra straps. Slowly, he slid them down her arms and the lacy cups pulled away from her body. An almost imperceptible sheen moistened her skin. He unhooked the bra, and it fell to the floor. Then he bent his head and touched the tip of his tongue to one breast. The nipple sprang erect, which, along with the lingering scent of her perfume, almost drove him crazy. He wanted her more than he’d ever wanted another woman. He brought his mouth to her breast, sucked and flicked the nipple with his tongue. She moaned deep in her throat. He wanted to strip the clothes off her, carry her into the bedroom and sink deep inside her, and stop time.

Then, clarity hit with a force that rocked him and slammed him back to reality. For a moment, he froze. Then he disengaged his hands. Two steps back gave him much-needed space. Becoming entangled with him would only lead to hurt and disappointment for her. He had the track record to prove it. The last thing he’d allow himself to do was cause her pain. He’d almost set her up for a stunning crash to Earth, enough to turn him into a class-A shit. After the demonstration of lust he’d just put on display for her, she had every right to land a hard one to his jaw. He deserved nothing less.

He half turned from her, clamped a fist onto his hip and dug the fingers of his other hand into the back of his neck. His chest rose and fell in deep, rapid breaths that he fought and failed to regulate, as if he were a marionette guided by an invisible hand that yanked the strings. It took a good while before he gained enough control to turn and face her.

* * * *

Allie quickly slid her arms back into her sleeves, pulled her blouse closed, and clutched it against her chest. Only two buttons above the hem remained. Her hand trembled, but she tucked the front of the blouse back into her waistband. A sense of vulnerability overcame her, as if a spotlight had caught her in a compromising position and exposed her to a gawking crowd. Moments passed, and a feeling of loss filled her, a loss that the passage of time would not diminish.

Her eyes met his. Never had she seen a more anguished look on anyone’s face. This time his regret was palpable. Surely his professional standing guided his reaction. It was obvious he wanted her. The strong connection between them superseded his policeman’s duty to protect her. She’d never considered herself especially aggressive with men, but she needed an answer.

“Why did you pull away from me?”

He shook his head. She kept her eyes anchored to his. His earlier longing returned, perhaps against his will. The proof shone in the depths of his eyes. He might have had success banishing it elsewhere, but not there.

“Allie…” He raked his fingers through his hair, shook his head. “You don’t want to get involved with me.”

But she did, more than she’d ever wanted a close, loving and sexual relationship with another man. “How do you know what I want?” He should have had a clear indication if the last few minutes were a guide.

He touched a finger briefly and lightly to her cheek. “You deserve a man who can offer you something other than waiting by the phone for an explanation, as to why he was two hours late for a date or why he hadn’t shown up at all. You should be with a man who has some semblance of stability in his life.”

“She must have hurt you very badly.” The sorrow in Allie’s tone didn’t begin to reflect the sadness in her heart.

He looked puzzled. “Who?”

“The Hermes tie lady. She must have dragged you over a barbed wire fence.”

He sounded a bitter laugh. “No, she set me straight. The reality is I’m not a good bet. The job I do is 24/7. It doesn’t recognize holidays or even something as mundane as watching a movie or going out for something to eat. Not if the job is done well, which is the only way I know how to do it.” He sucked in a deep breath and released it in a grinding sigh. “At this point in my life, a relationship can’t work.”

“You mean it can’t work with me.”

“It
won’t
work. Period. You have nothing to do with it.”

She swallowed the lump that wedged in her throat like a brick. “Why do this to yourself?”

“I’m saving us both a lot of trouble.”

She looked down at her interlaced fingers then back at him. “You don’t give me very much credit. If I’ve learned anything from life, it’s flexibility.” She would have reminded him that she’d had her share of upheavals and learned to make adjustments, but his expression said his mind was set.