Hard Days Knight: Under-Cover Knights, Book 1 (6 page)

L
uc strolled
up the walkway to his townhouse. Eyeing the paper on his doorstep, he smiled remembering how he and Delilah had shared the paper in her bed over coffee. She had to have the Sports section first. It seemed she was a big football and tennis fan. He laughed, remembering her trying to talk him out of his Saints tie. If she hadn’t had to work they might have spent the rest of the day together tearing up her slinky silver sheets.

He stooped to pick up the paper, and a pair of women’s jogging shoes attached to a tanned pair of legs came into view. He raised his head to see Mercy Love standing in front of him. He hadn’t even heard her walk up.

“Why, Luc. I didn’t know you lived at Coralgate.”

His eyes narrowed. “What are you doing here, Mercy?”

Mercy placed one hand on her hip and shook her head. “Someone got out of the bed on the wrong side this beautiful Sunday morning, and it wasn’t me. I decided to go for a run and was across the street when I saw you drive up.”

Luc studied the woman in front of him. Either she was a marathon jogger who had to go many miles before she broke a sweat or she was lying. It was after noon and hot enough that her perfect makeup should have been glossy with perspiration. On top of that he didn’t know any bra-less joggers—not with her dimensions.

“You live around here?” Luc asked, swiping his hand through his damp hair. He sure hoped not.

“Oh, I just felt like trying a new route today. And it’s so serendipitous that I ran into you. This could have waited until tomorrow but since—” she looked down at his key. “I’m sorry, you were just coming home from a hot date, weren’t you? Would you like to go inside and we can talk?”

“I’m good.” He crossed his arms and asked, “What did you want to ask me?”

She waved her hand. “There’s a party next weekend over at Wexler Studios. I thought you might like to go as my escort. We might pick up some work by rubbing hips with that crowd.”

Thank God he already had plans for the weekend and didn’t have to come up with a lie that she could read on his face. “Sorry, I have plans next weekend.”

She ran one perfectly manicured, fire engine red nail over her exceptionally shiny lips. Seductive gesture that and it didn’t even register on his lust meter. Actually, it might have—below zero.

“Who with?” she asked rather proprietarily.

“Quite frankly, Mercy, it’s none of your business.”

“You don’t know what you’re missing, Luc. I’m a helluva lot more experienced at keeping a man satisfied than say, a certain bimbo cop.”

A frisson of unease shot down Luc’s spine but he hoped he hid it. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Mercy. And I don’t really care. Now if that’s all, I’ll see you at work tomorrow.”

She stood eerily still for a few seconds and Luc wondered if she was waiting for him to blink. He didn’t. She sighed, “All right then. Guess I’ll just get back to my run. See you tomorrow. Be careful.”

She jogged off down the sidewalk, but Luc didn’t wait to see how long she could keep up the pace. He let himself inside the townhouse and turned both locks.

How did Mercy know about Del? Was it female intuition? He thought back to the afternoon Del came by KPI. They didn’t actually meet did they? He threw his keys in the tray by the door. No, she was shooting in the dark, messing with him as usual.

He grabbed an NA beer from the fridge and went through the glass doors of the dining room to his gym. He liked having it in his home where he could workout whenever it was convenient. Occasionally he hit the Knights gym when he was in the mood to socialize with the other cover models but today especially, he just wanted to savor the memory of last night with Delilah.

He’d had no idea when he met her, with her stiff posture and dressed in her street uniform, with the utility belt and gun on her hip that she would light his fire quite so quickly. He groaned. Reminiscing hadn’t been a good idea. He stripped down and stepped into the bathroom to take a cold shower. When he got back to the gym he’d think of something else, like that bitch, Mercy.

“
D
amn
,” Luc hissed at the sight of his SUV practically sitting on the asphalt. Dialing KPI he asked to speak to Ridge.

In ten seconds Ridge answered, “Luc, what’s up? Don’t you have a shoot at 8:00?”

Luc rubbed his eyes. “I’m sorry Ridge. I’m going to be late. I have four flat tires. I’ve got to call my insurance agent, call a cab and AAA.”

“Damn, who did you piss off?” Ridge asked, concern in his voice.

Luc could have answered that question but he shook his head. He had yet to discuss his problem with Mercy with his boss. Besides, this couldn’t have been her. “I read in the paper that it happened to one of my neighbors last week. Must be some kids performing a graduation hazing ritual or something.

Ridge said, “You make your calls and I’ll send my driver over for you. Then if someone has to be there while they fix the tires, he can meet them there. You can make your shoot, and I can keep my wifey happy.”

“Thanks, Ridge. Look—” He needed to think about the situation with Mercy before talking to Ridge about her and coming off like some kind of sissy?

“What?”

“Nothing. I’ll be ready when he gets here.”

Ridge’s driver waited on him to get his duffle and took him directly to the production door but he was still twenty-five minutes late. As he made his way to his dressing room, Mercy came swishing down the hall in her Regency costume. “Where have you been? You’ve run everyone late. And you call me a Prima-donna.” She glared at him.

Was she that good an actress or was he just wrong about her? The photographer walked up behind her. “I’d have been on time but someone—let the air out of my tires.”

“Oh, Luc. That’s terrible.” She tried to engulf him in one of her smelly hugs but he pushed into his dressing room. “I’ll just be a couple minutes, Roger.”

Her eyes had flared just a bit when he explained, like the news wasn’t that terrible or she thought he might have deserved it or…
nah, forget it Larue. Be honest, you just don’t like her.
Damn right he didn’t.

T
he rest
of the day went without a hitch. Two shoots, one with Mercy, one with Taylor Evans, a slender actress who had just started doing some shoots to make ends meet between acting jobs. She was a friend of Buffy’s sister.

Luc planned on catching a cab home but when he walked out the back door, a navy blue police car sat in the first space, the cop leaning against it looking decidedly unhappy. He nodded. “Delilah?”

“Don’t Delilah me. Why didn’t you call me this morning when you found out your tires were slashed?”

Frowning, Luc said, “Why would I bother you with that?”

She walked up to him. “Maybe because it’s my job, Luc.” The door to the studio opened and Mercy and Roger walked out.

Damn
. Luc just nodded, hoping they’d keep going but Mercy stopped. “Everything okay, Luc?” She put her hand on his arm—as if he wanted her support—then glanced at Delilah. “Didn’t we meet the other day?” Mercy asked Del. “Is Luc in some kind of trouble, officer?”

Luc gritted his teeth. “I’ve got this, Mercy. Roger. Thanks for stopping, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Go away, Mercy
.

Mercy lingered, but when Roger tugged on her arm she let him drag her away to his car.

Luc turned to Delilah. “Look Del, I didn’t even think about calling the police this morning. I thought kids had just let the air out until the tire center called to tell me they were slashed. Then I had to call my insurance agent, arrange for new tires. Besides, there’s been a string of incidents like that lately. I saw it in the paper.”

“All the more reason.” She nodded at KPI. “The receptionist here assumed you’d called the police. She asked me if I was here to take a police report. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have known that someone slashed
all
of your tires!” Realizing she’d raised her voice, Del looked at the sky, hands on her hips, trying to get her breathing under control.

Luc smiled. “Thanks for worrying about me, Del.” He looked the parking lot over to see if anyone lingered, especially his irritating co-worker, but it was deserted. “Can I get a hug, sweetheart? You know the only reason I got sidelined by Mercy that day in the hallway was because I was thinking of you.” He reached for her.

“Don’t you—keep your hands to your self, sweetheart!” She leaned back against her hood and blew out a breath. “Ohhhh. Men.”

He eased over to her, placing his legs around hers. “I’m sorry. It didn’t occur to me that you would find out and be worried.” He kissed her briefly. “That’s sweet.”

A frustrated sigh escaped and she bounced her forehead against his rock hard chest then looked up at him. “Luc, this is probably not the work of kids. Slashing is a personal crime, a violent act meant to send some kind of message. Whoever did that is not happy with you.” She drew her head back to look into his eyes. “If you have any idea who that could be, please, let me do my job.”

“No. It has to be a prank.” He tried to sound as convinced as he wished he were.

She pulled away. “Remember me telling the kids one of the things I’m good at? Well, I’d bet my next days off you’re not being straight with me. Are you married, or involved with someone and not telling me?”

“No!” Luc pushed away from the car. “How could you think that?”

“I just met you a few days ago.” Her temper spiked.

“Yeah, but you got the benefit of a background check. I don’t know nearly as much about you, and I’m not giving you the third degree.”

“This is just the kind of thing a jealous lover would do, Luc, after discovering her boyfriend slept with someone.” She yanked open the door to her cruiser. “Think about filing a police report when you’re ready to come clean.”

“But—” His mouth dropped open as she pulled away and he thought about what she’d said.
A jealous lover, or someone who wanted to be.
“Damn. It.”

He didn’t want to ruin a good thing. He didn’t want Delilah to think he was keeping anything from her. And he wasn’t, really. It was just a stupid feeling. Right or wrong, he’d look like a weenie. A man should be able to handle harassment shouldn’t he? That’s all it was. And he still couldn’t believe Mercy could have done something as vicious—okay vicious, yes, but not as blatant as cutting his tires. She’d be one of those women who would call you in the middle of the night and breathe into the phone and keep you up all night, but she wouldn’t have the guts to do his tires…would she?

“Nah, she’s all wind and no storm; all queen and no court. All dust but no haboob.” He was thinking tired and the fight with Del had him dispirited.

He should at least explain to Delilah so she didn’t think he was holding out on her, like hiding another girlfriend or something, but tonight he had to get over to the tire center and square up with them. Tomorrow he had another shoot, but he’d call and make sure she came to the basketball game. Then, he’d file a police report and promise her everything he was “hiding”.

He smiled. Once she had a bit of time to cool off, think about Saturday night… she’d forgive him.

He hoped.

T
hat afternoon
, Delilah pulled her cruiser up in front of the gym entrance. After advising the dispatcher of her location, she got out and walked toward the red Camaro parked behind Luc’s Expedition. Jed was about to be off-duty but she’d asked him to take a police report from Luc about the tire-slashing incident.

“Some reason you don’t want to take it yourself?” he’d inquired in their office downtown.

“I think you should take his statement without me skewing your judgment with any history.”

His eyes went comically wide. “You and Luc Larue already have a history? Is the barometer taking a dive or something?”

“Very funny. Can you just do it without any comments until later?”

“Yeah, yeah. Where is this going down?”

“LTF on Main St. If we get there by 0400 you’ll have until 5 to take the report and file it and leave for your date.” She breathed a sigh, “I appreciate this, Jed. I kind of lost my cool with him yesterday when I found out he didn’t file a report. I think there will be less chance of him holding back or anything sliding under the radar with you taking it.”

She’d just admitted to him that the relationship with Luc was important enough that her feelings might get in the way of thoroughly assessing the details. Something that had never happened before.

“Hey, all kidding aside, you need a favor? I’m your man. I’ll meet you there at four sharp.”

Jed had changed out of uniform for his date but his badge and shoulder holster were still visible beneath his LPD jacket. As they stepped through the front doors, he whistled.

“What?”

Jed spun on his heel, taking in the entire room. “This place has undergone a complete transformation.”

“Since when?” Del asked.

“Since the days of my misspent youth.” He smiled. “Somebody spent some serious bucks on it. I’d say there’s been a new gym floor, new roof—the place used to leak like Niagara. The gym floor was buckled in places. Impressive. You say Larue is running it now?”

“I actually don’t know what his official title is. He started an outreach program here for teens, involving some mentors and others in the community. He asked me to come Saturday to talk about why I became a co—” she stopped suddenly and Jed’s eyes swung in the direction of her gaze. A muscular man in a wheelchair was dribbling the basketball with one hand and spinning his chair with the other to avoid two players as they tried to get the ball away from him. The man laughed and slickly avoiding the outstretched arms of both guys, and lobbed the ball straight into the basket.

“Nuttin’ but net,” Del called and the wheelchair turned.

The man rolled over to Del and submitted to a fierce hug. “Hey, Sis.” He released her and leaned back in his chair looking over at Jed, then back at her, taking in her uniform. “You must be working. Luc said you were coming for the game.”

Jed broke in, noticing the white priest’s collar. “She’s bad about not introducing folks. I’m Jed Stern, Del’s partner.”

“Ah, Jed. Haven’t we met? I’m Tom Burke.” Tom leaned back in his chair. “Am I missing something here? You two came on business?”

Del caught sight of Luc tacking some flyers up on the opposite wall and said, “I’m here for the game, but I’m on call. Jed came to get a statement from Luc about something that happened yesterday. Are you playing tonight?”

Tom bounced his head forward, “Yep. Angel didn’t show so Luc called me.” Both index fingers pointed at his chest. He shrugged, “I hang around a lot on Tuesday nights anyway. We’ll chat later, gotta get back to practice. Nice to see you, Jed.”

Jed turned to Del. “I didn’t know your brother was Father Thomas.”

“You know him?”

“Of him, mostly,” Jed said. “We’ve met before, informally, but I didn’t know we had a common link. He’s done a lot for the parish.”

Del just looked at her partner. Another layer had just peeled away from her partner’s facade. Maybe she wasn’t giving Jed enough credit. She tried to see her partner with new eyes. The lack of body fat, the attractive yet rugged features other women seemed to find infinitely appealing. She’d never been attracted to Jed, which had been another reason their partnership had worked. Maybe Luc was on to something.

“Let’s walk over and talk to Larue.” It felt odd speaking about him in such a distant manner, as if he were just the subject of an investigation. Exactly why Jed needed to take his report.

Circumventing the gym floor they approached Luc who was leaning over listening to Monette. They both turned when Del and Jed came up beside them.

Monette waved. “Hey, Ms. Burke.” Luc’s eyebrow hiked when he spotted Jed.

“Del?—”

“I brought Jed in case you wanted to give him a report on the incident yesterday. That is why you called wasn’t it?”

“It was but …”

“I asked Jed to come because he will be unbiased.”

L
uc looked
at Del who had her cop face on, then at Jed who was running his tongue over his teeth in an effort to look like he didn’t know what was going on with his partner. Luc liked the ramifications of her decision. She cared. He couldn’t keep the smile from his eyes.

“Okay, Jed, but I want Del here as well.” He’d wait to bring up his suspicions when he talked with Delilah after the game. “Let’s do it in the office.”

Over his shoulder he said, “Guys, fifteen more minutes then take a break. I’ll be back shortly. Pappa T, you’re in charge.”

“You got it,” said Del’s brother.

“Pappa T?” asked Del as Luc shut the door to the office slash storeroom and offered them seats. They declined. Cop all the way.

“Okay, Mr. Larue—”

“Call me Luc, Jed.”

“All right, Luc. I understand you had an incident at your home yesterday. Why don’t you start from the beginning.”

“Not much to tell. I was headed to KPI for work…”

“That’s Knights Production, Inc. on Garnet?” Jed asked.

“Yes, I had a 8 a.m. shoot. I guess it was about 7:40 when I walked out and found my SUV with all four tires flat.”

Jed wrote in a small notebook. “Is that your Expedition out front with the US Navy tag?”

Luc answered him. “Yes.”

“I’ll get a complete description when I leave. So why didn’t you file a police report?”

“I didn’t realize at first that the tires had been punctured. I just figured some kids had come through and let the air out of them. I’d heard about the other incidents a couple weeks ago in the area. But late morning, the tire center called and said they’d been cut.”

Jed took the name of the tire center. “I’ll run by there in the morning and see if they still have the tires. It would have been better if you’d called yesterday. Sometimes they haul the tires away at the end of each day.”

Luc anticipated Jed’s next question.

“Have any idea who might have done this?” Jed studied him while Luc considered his answer.

He knows Del and I are involved and he’s wondering what I’m dragging her into, Luc thought. He answered honestly since he wasn’t willing to label Mercy a complete lunatic yet, “I really don’t.”

“Made any enemies lately? Kicked any kids out of the gym? Crawled out of your neighbor’s wife’s window? Anything like that?”

“Jed—” Del nearly punched her partner on the arm but Luc knew it was a tactic they used sometimes. Most people weren’t a hundred percent straight with cops for whatever reason. Present company included.

“Look, I really thought it was kids. You know hazing rituals or something.”

“Anything happen over the weekend that might have precipitated this?”

Luc looked at Delilah, who looked at Jed, who shook his head and snapped his notebook shut and let out a frustrated breath. “All right. Give me the number for your insurance agent and the guy you spoke to at the tire center and I’ll let you know what we find. Probably won’t do any good now, but I’m going to see if I can lift some fingerprints.” He nodded at Del. “She knows where to get me if you think of anything.” The door clicked shut behind him.

Luc and Del blew out a breath at the same time. Laughing, Del said, “I feel like I’ve been sneaking out and my big brother just caught me.”

Luc walked toward her, backing her up to the door. He was close enough to see the darker rim around her blue irises. She was so pretty. “Well, like they say, might as well be shot for the deed as accused of it.”

He kissed the corners of her eyes, her temples, heard her intake of breath as he settled his lips over hers, coaxing, tasting, then invading when she opened for him. His body melded to hers as he took her head between his hands gently holding it so he could savor the silk of her mouth. Rocking back on his heels he smoothed her hair back in place wondering at the intensity of his feelings. So quickly…
I just about love you
.

Twin bluebonnets searched his as if she didn’t quite know what to think. A smile slid up one side exposing a dimple. “Don’t you have a basketball game to get to?” she asked.

Luc stepped back, adjusting his jeans, “Yeah, and I’m gonna need a minute.”

She laughed. Put her hand on the doorknob.

“You’re staying for the game, aren’t you?”

Delilah’s expression showed none of the passion that had been there just minutes before. “I’m on call until eight but as long as I’m not needed, I’ll stick around. I haven’t seen my brother play basketball since…”

She didn’t have to finish. Then she looked up. “That’s why you never asked me about my family. You know Tommy.”

“That, and I figured you’d tell me about your family when you wanted to.”

Her eyes dragged from his face to the bulge behind his zipper. “Ready?” She flashed him a wide-eyed look.

“Quit.”

She laughed and opened the door.