His Frozen Heart (26 page)

As if reading from a script, Officer
Brown responded robotically, “We are following numerous
leads.”

“
But you’re not going to
tell the public that there is a psycho stalker running loose around
town?”

He looked over his shoulder toward the
door, as if judging what kind of super-sonic hearing would be
required to listen in on our conversation. “Every criminal is
different. Sometimes, giving them any kind of notoriety in the
media only leads to escalated violence.”

“
So you’re protecting the
city’s population by not warning them about a murderer on the
loose?”

Through gritted teeth he answered,
“Not every decision is made by me, Candy.”

“
It seems like you’re
waiting for something worse to happen.” The pitch of my voice grew
with my frustration. “Would my body on a slab at the morgue be
enough for you to re-evaluate police protocol? That would for sure
remove me from the list as a ‘person of interest,’
right?”

“
There’s nothing else I can
tell you. Trust me that we’re looking for both of these
guys.”

“
You want me to trust you?
Fine. Do something to earn it. Last night I tried to tell Officer
Fletcher that Dave Brewer was just in the wrong place at the wrong
time. He didn’t have anything to do with any of this. I want to
drop the trespassing charges against him for breaking into my house
yesterday morning.”

I was pleased when Officer Brown
didn’t feign ignorance of the circumstances, but the hair on the
back of my neck stood up when he echoed Officer Fletcher’s
comments, “Mr. Brewer assaulted a police officer at the hospital
yesterday. That trumps trespassing.”

Goosebumps peppered my arms. Dave was
in serious trouble, and it was my fault. “Dave didn’t lay a hand on
an officer! Get your facts straight. Are you forgetting, Grey shot
Dave? Get the charges dropped, then I’ll know if I can trust
you.”

Officer Brown stood up from the table
and opened the door, signifying that our talk was over. “I’ll see
what I can do. No promises.”

Feeling surly, I shot back,
“Fine. I’ll see what
I
can do. No promises.”

He canted his head to the side, and
asked, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“
You won’t go to the media
to warn the public? I will. You don’t think the local news would
bury this story, do you? I bet it’d be the top story every night
for a week. Think of it: they’ll be calling the mayor, the chief of
police, everyone. I bet they’d love to know a citizen who tried to
stop a criminal you can’t find got shot, got arrested for his
efforts, then got charged with assault for rolling a hospital cart
at an officer.”

Officer Brown’s teeth were clenched.
“I already told you, giving this guy any kind of notoriety can only
make things worse.”

“
Then get Dave’s charges
dropped, and I’ll keep my mouth shut.”

He shook his head at me. I didn’t like
the idea of two lunatics running rampant around the city targeting
me, but the idea of Dave locked up when he was just trying to help
made it far worse. Rather than wait for an answer, I looked at the
open door and slid through it. Officer Brown called to me before I
reached the steps, “I’ll see what I can do. Stay away from
reporters. Where are you staying?”

“
I’d be staying at Mrs.
Bavcock’s if. . . never mind. You’ve got my cell. No one needs to
know where I’m staying. No promises on the reporters until I know
Dave’s in the clear.” I took the steps two at a time back down to
the Desk Sergeant to drop off my visitor badge. I had accomplished
what I had set out to do. Officer Brown knew as much about this
creep as I did. He was probably ticked off right now, but I
couldn’t afford for Dave to get locked up over something dumb. I
crossed my fingers that Dave hadn’t been arrested while I was at
school today.

My feet felt light as I rounded the
last corner of the stairs. The same scowling Officer Lewis looked
up from his desk as I pulled the visitor log and wrote in my time
of departure. I put the visitor badge back on the desk without a
word and turned my back on him.

It hadn’t felt like I had been inside
long, but when I emerged from the large double doors into the
visitor parking lot, darkness had fallen. A feeling of dread washed
over me. I had never been scared of the dark or of being alone, but
the strength and threats I had used upstairs evaporated when the
cool night air hit me in the barren parking lot. I stood at the
door, eyeing my car – no others were parked near it.

I had heard stories of men in shopping
malls hiding under victims’ cars, ready to jump out and attack as
an unsuspecting person walked up. Although unlikely in a police
station parking lot, I couldn’t shake the dreaded feeling. When I
was about twenty feet away, I angled my head down while I was
walking to get a clear view of the undercarriage of my Chevelle. It
was clear.

Dave had gotten into my locked car
yesterday. Old cars were easy to break into. I’d locked my keys in
the car lots of times, and a metal coat hanger was all it took to
get inside. Before I unlocked the door, I angled my head using the
illumination from the streetlight to see that no one waited for me
in the back seat.

Dave was probably worried. I told him
I’d be back right after school today. I hadn’t counted on making a
detour here. Heat wrapped itself around me as thoughts from last
night began assaulting me. That kiss on the steps had curled my
toes. It was unexpected and intoxicating at the same
time.

Who would have thought I would ever be
attracted to Dave Brewer or that he would be such an incredible
kisser? My attraction initially could be blamed on his post-high
school physique: the physical change was remarkable. But the
attraction only intensified when I learned what he had gone
through: watching his eyes light up when he talked about Mark, and
the sadness they hid when he shared how he had been taken from him.
I thought it was great that he was helping one of Kravitz’s
students who shared a similar history with him. Given the
circumstances, my first reaction was that Dave would be callous
about the way he had grown up; the fact that he was helping a kid
who didn’t have a lot of options was admirable. I felt closer to
Dave, or maybe realized that I wanted to be closer to
Dave.

No one should lose the one person in
the world who loves them back. Dave made a conscious decision to
let me into his life last night. I’d bet that what he shared with
me he had shared with very few others in his life. The feelings
were too raw. I hated that he was so alone. I wanted to find his
brother as much as he did.

Chapter 19

Driving toward the west side of town,
I knew I should go to Dave’s place, but I couldn’t help driving
past Bank Shot on the way there. It was after dusk, and the city
was taking on that surreal silvery look in the moonlight. The
enormous neon sign of a pool cue pointing at the place’s entrance
was like a beacon in the night. I had promised Dave we could both
come here and ask around if anyone knew Mark, but I wanted to see
for myself that Chris was fine. I turned into the parking lot, but
I didn’t look for a parking spot. Chris drove an old orange Dodge
pick-up. If I saw it in the parking lot, I’d know he was
okay.

I looked at each row slowly: the truck
wasn’t here. My stomach lurched. He could have caught a ride in
with someone else, or maybe this wasn’t his night to tend
bar.

If I went in and either Grey or Teddy
were inside, what would I do? Libby had friends at almost every bar
we went to, but those were her friends, not necessarily mine. If
the two were inside, would I be able to get help from others while
we waited for the police to show? I pulled up beside a mountain of
snow. Whoever had been clearing the parking lot must have been
trying to make a pile that would stay until summer.

Coming to Bank Shot was a bad idea –
bad on too many levels. I had nearly talked myself into leaving
when I decided that if I went inside and Teddy and Grey weren’t
there, I could see when Chris would be working. If Chris were here,
I could tell him what had happened, so he could keep an eye out for
the two. The best defense was a strong offense, or maybe it was the
other way around, but it seemed to fit.

If the police had come to Bank Shot
and asked Chris if he had seen the two without giving him details,
he would be less inclined to help, knowing that he had been
complicit in one of them being hustled. He needed to know what had
happened to Libby. No matter how angry he was with her, he wouldn’t
let something like this slide.

I looked at my outfit. I wasn’t in
Libby’s uniform for hustling pool. The bar was really dark, so most
people inside wouldn’t even give me a second look. If I just took a
quick peek to see if Chris were there, how dangerous could that
be?

The inner turmoil was silenced when I
lurched my car forward into a large parking spot near the back of
the lot. The parking lot looked mostly bare. As I stood, the walls
of my stomach tried squeezing themselves together. I pushed through
the nervousness with one foot in front of the other as the front
door of the bar beckoned me to it.

Less than ten feet from the front
door, a voice called out to me. “Well, if it isn’t my favorite eye
Candy.”

I had heard this particular “pet name”
at least once a month since I hit puberty. I wheeled around ready
to glare at whoever decided to give me grief, when relief flooded
me. Dave stood under the glow of the neon light. Butterflies took
flight in my stomach, and my unease about going inside eased.
“Geeze, you scared me. All done working for the day?”

Dave was all smiles, “I’m always
working.” He moved toward me in long strides. He stopped a few feet
short of me, making no effort to move closer. Disappointment
nibbled at me. It was silly. I had just seen him this morning, but
it wasn’t like I was his girlfriend: he had every right to keep a
little distance in public. That’s what I tried to tell myself, but
memories of him holding me last night had flashed through my mind a
good bit of the day today. Images of those few moments on his steps
seemed to be on a near constant replay. Maybe he was just shy. I
took a tentative step toward him, attempting to close the space
between us.

Surprise registered silently in his
expression. I didn’t know what he was thinking. Maybe he hadn’t
meant to open up so completely to me last night. I forgot my filter
and asked, “What? Having second thoughts?”

Dave took a step in my direction,
effectively closing the little gap that remained between us. He
didn’t touch me, but I felt the warmth of his body a hair’s breadth
from mine. In a low sexy voice, he answered, “I have lots of
thoughts. Just giving you space so as not to smother you. Glad you
don’t need time to warm up to me.”

“
After last night, I think
we’re past the bashful stage.” I stood on my tip toes and pressed a
light kiss to the right of his lips. His cheek was cool and smooth
as summer cherries. Holding my position a second or two longer than
necessary, Dave took my hint and turned his head, pressing his lips
to mine. It wasn’t tentative or restrained: it was an aggressive
hungry kiss that promised passion with each press of his
lips.

Car lights drove up behind us,
effectively interrupting the kiss that felt like a long awaited
sequel to the one on his stairs. Dave was breathless, as his eyes
darted around the parking lot. “Where’s your car?”

Smiling, I motioned toward the bar’s
entrance, “We’ve got time for that later. We’re already here. I
want to see if Chris has seen anything.”

Dave’s face looked confused. I took
his hand and began walking toward the door. I made it exactly two
steps before Dave’s hand boomeranged me back into his arms. His
feet were planted. “We’ve got time for it now,” he answered
seductively.

He stepped into me, pressing his body
wholly against mine in the dim light of the parking lot. The hunger
in him grew, even more aggressive than just minutes before. Smug
that I had this effect on him, I tugged at his hand a second time
and broke the kiss. “This’ll take ten minutes, then we can go back
to your place.”

He shook his head in confusion, as if
not comprehending what I was telling him. “Man, this is a switch.
Usually that’s my line.”

Smirking at him, I asked, “You say
that to a lot of girls?” He smirked but didn’t answer. A quick
feeling of insecurity washed over me, “You’re not kicking me out,
right? I don’t want to overstay my welcome, but there isn’t much I
wouldn’t do for another one of your special coffees.”

Dave’s eyes widened fractionally as I
felt his muscles tense. Then he asked the strangest question,
“Candy, when did I make you coffee?”

“
Sorry, didn’t mean to
offend you. Hot chocolate with an extra shot of caffeine or
whatever you call it.”

All hint of flirtation disappeared in
front of me when his voice turned serious and he asked, “Are you
medicated or something?”

“
Um, no. Call it whatever
you want, but I’ve got to say that was better than slamming a Red
Bull. Breezed through my test without any effort at all this
morning.”