Hush (39 page)

―We didn‘t do anything wrong,‖ Ryan protested.

―An investigation is under way and you have a limited time to get ahead of it,‖ Danner told them. ―You need a good criminal defense attorney.‖

―Are you deaf, man?‖ Spence yelled. ―We‘re not going to jail for this! We weren‘t even there.‖

―Jesus, you guys are dopes,‖ Kirk said in disgust.

The two accused men left in a rush then, grabbing their equipment and practically stumbling over each other on the way out.

Jarrod heaved a sigh and said, ―They brought me some cash. I didn‘t take it. Told them if they were stealing to stop. They knew Gen wanted a baby and that we couldn‘t and how much it was going to take to have one . . . Gen talks and talks. They wanted to help pay for the IVF

procedure.‖

―They‘re dumb bunnies,‖ Kirk put in. ―But they‘re not, like, criminals.‖

Danner looked at him and Jarrod rushed in. ―I swear, Danner, if you say something like a crime‘s a crime, I‘ll punch you out, too!‖

―Yeah?‖ Danner asked him.

―A crime‘s a crime,‖ Kirk stated flatly.

Jarrod glared at him coldly a long moment, but Kirk merely sent him back a lopsided grin; he held no grudge. Finally Jarrod shook his head in disbelief, then gave a short, aborted bark of laughter. ―Dumb bunnies,‖ he repeated.

Danner said, ―Tell them to get their lawyer to contact Joshua Celek at the Portland PD.

Soon.‖

Jarrod stared at the floor a moment, then nodded and said, ―Will do.‖

Danner turned to leave, but Jarrod asked, ―Can you hold on a bit? I need a little time before I go and face her.‖

Her being Genevieve. Danner thought about Coby, then pulled out another chair and straddled it backward, wondering how long it took someone like Jarrod to grow some balls.

Coby was perched on a stool beside Genevieve, who‘d finished her drink and was twisting the stem of the wineglass between her fingers. Suzette and Galen had left and Paul was trying to talk Vic into going as well.

Vic seemed to want to hang around, and that finally decided Genevieve, who threw both Coby and Vic a dark look and seemed to want to say something else, then flounced away.

―So, have you learned anything about Annette‘s murder?‖ Vic asked as soon as he and Coby were alone again.

She found herself glancing at her watch for the umpteenth time. ―Not really.‖

―Not really? Or you just don‘t want to say? Hey, I can keep a secret.‖

Coby had had enough. ―Vic, is this some kind of learned behavior? This I‘ll just keep being annoying and maybe something‘ll happen attitude? It‘s why everyone wanted to blame you for leaving the notes. You know what mine said: ‗You don‘t belong here.‖‘

He‘d opened his mouth to protest, but now he slammed it shut. ―No, it didn‘t. You said it was about your dad.‖ He hesitated, as if unsure. ―Didn‘t you?‖

―Never mind.‖ She‘d just tossed that out to see what happened, but Vic was clearly at sea.

He might be odious, but he hadn‘t left her the note; ergo he hadn‘t slashed her tires. She hadn‘t really thought so.

And then she saw Danner weaving around the dancers who were swaying to a slower beat as he made his way to the bar. Vic followed her gaze and tossed down some money for his beer.

―Everybody gone?‖ Danner asked.

Vic said, ―I‘m the last. Are the guys really done?‖

―They‘re packing up.‖

Vic shook his head and took off and Danner took his place at the bar by Coby.

―Everything okay?‖ she asked him.

―Yeah.‖ A smile flirted at his lips, then disappeared. ―Although I think my brother‘s marriage is about to end.‖

―Oh?‖

―I wouldn‘t be surprised,‖ he said.

―I‘m sorry to hear that.‖ He nodded in agreement, and after a moment Coby asked, ―Is Kirk really leaving Split Decision?‖

―What time is it?‖ he suddenly asked.

―Ten thirty. I just checked my watch.‖

―Is that all?‖

She laughed. ―Does the night feel interminable?‖

―It has since we‘ve been at the Cellar,‖ he said, ―but I have a feeling that‘s going to change.‖

―Yeah?‖

He moved in closer to her, close enough that she caught a peek-a-boo view of the edge of the shoulder holster where he kept his gun. ―I think there was a promise tossed out earlier that I want to make good on.‖

Coby swept up her purse and gave him a smile, then turned without a word to the exit. She was aware of him behind her as she hurried up the steps and outside to the street. The rain was on hold; there was an expectation in the air, as if something was pent-up and waiting to happen.

Danner caught her at the top of the stairs, before she turned to the parking lot. As if he felt the atmosphere, too, he suddenly pulled her close, melding her body to his, hands sliding to the small of her back, sliding her forward.

Coby was smiling. She opened her mouth to say something clever, she hoped, but the kiss his lips slammed onto hers left no doubt what was in his mind. And it ignited her. One moment she felt playful, the next she felt limp in his arms, which only fueled his desire. She ran her hands around his back as well, feeling the tense muscles beneath his shirt.

―PDA,‖ she finally gasped out when she came up for air.

He lifted his head, gazing down at her hotly. ―Let ‘em look.‖

―In front of the Cellar? Take me home. Now.‖

He growled, then kissed her again, hard, before letting her go. She started laughing and his teeth were a slash of white in the darkness. Then he cupped her chin and brought her forward for a long, sweet, lingering kiss that promised what the rest of the night would hold.

I wait in my car, cracking the window in order to see and hear them, as the windows are
fogged from rain and the warmth of my heater:

Coby Rendell is a cancer. She’s spreading like an evil scourge.

But she’s a cancer with intelligence. She’s gathering information. She’s drawing
conclusions. She’s everywhere. With her man, her lover, Detective Danner Lockwood.

I want them both dead.

Coby . . .

The circle was ruined long ago, but she should have never been there at all.

She doesn’t understand.

And she won’t stop.

Soon, soon, an opportunity will arise, a plan will form. Soon she’ll be gone.

As I wait, Coby appears at the top of the steps and smiles into the night. She draws her coat
close and looks back.

And then Danner Lockwood joins her, wrapping his arm around her, looking down at her
with love, pulling her close, pressing her body to his in a way that leaves no room for doubt that he
wants to fuck her.

My blood boils. I feel my breathing accelerate.

She’s laughing, ducking her head, playing. But then she responds and he kisses her hard,
like it’s his last hour on earth. And she’s bending to him like wax.

I want to pleasure myself at the sight of them, the way their hands ravage each other, their
lips straining forward as soon as they part, their bodies ripe with wanting.

My hand drifts downward.

But I refuse. Turn my groping fingers into a fist of rage.

I watch as she laughingly tosses her head and says quietly, “In front of the Cellar? Take
me home. Now.”

He pulls her to him once more, then groans and complies, cupping her face and kissing her
lightly before grabbing her hand as they hurry around small puddles in the tarmac to his car.

I slide down out of sight.

I feel physical pain.

My insides writhe.

I cannot let them live.

They were in his car and Coby couldn‘t think straight. She squeezed her eyes closed, filled with wanting him. And he definitely felt the same way. Opening her eyes, she stared through the windshield, but the word ―sex‖ seemed to be glowing in red letters in front of her vision. SEX!

He half turned to her, his hand poised on his keys, ready to switch on the ignition. She saw the echo of what she wanted in his tense expression. ―What are you thinking about?‖

She moved her head helplessly. ―I‘d be embarrassed to say.‖

―Say it.‖

Instead, her gaze drifted down to the place between his legs, and his groan of desire made her cover her face with her hands and laugh softly. ―I feel like I‘m fourteen!‖

―We‘ve got to get to your place, and fast.‖

Danner was turning out of the parking lot, his jaw set, his expression hard. He muttered something about feeling like he was going to explode, which sent her into another fit of laughter.

―Stop it,‖ he said, flashing her a smile. ―I mean it.‖

Which made her laugh even harder.

Then his cell buzzed. He‘d turned it off when they were at the club, only flipping it back on as they exited. He‘d even grunted to himself in satisfaction that he‘d had no calls.

Giving her a tense look, he hesitated a moment, then picked it up. ―Lockwood.‖ Coby could hear a male voice twanging away on the other end of the line, though she couldn‘t hear what was being said.

Oh, no, she thought as the Wrangler suddenly slowed and Danner pulled sharply over to the shoulder on Highway 26, not exactly the safest move. He put the vehicle in park and turned on the hazard lights as he listened intently. Then he said, ―Okay. I‘ll head to the scene.‖

―What?‖ Coby asked, when he‘d switched off.

He stared at her through the semidarkness of the vehicle. ―There‘s been an accident not far from here, just outside Laurelton. Someone ran Hank Sainer off the road. His Land Rover rolled and he‘s being pulled out with the Jaws of Life.‖

―Oh, God . . . is he . . . alive?‖ she asked hopefully, fearfully.

―I‘m going to find out. After I take you home.‖

Danner‘s cell phone rang twice more before he pulled in front of Coby‘s building. The first time the message was that Hank Sainer had been life-flighted to Laurelton General Hospital, but it was the second call that caused him to sit up in his seat and freeze.

―What?‖ Coby asked, fear skittering down her spine.

He hung up after saying, ―I‘ll be right there,‖ and turned to her a bit blankly. ―Jarvis Lloyd tried to leave his room and when the guard outside tried to stop him, Lloyd grabbed his gun, placed it under his own chin, and pulled the trigger. He‘s . . . dead.‖

―Oh, my God.‖

―I‘ve got to meet my partner at Riverside West Hospital, where Lloyd is.‖

―Okay.‖

―Stay here,‖ he said urgently. ―Be safe.‖

Coby said, ―I‘m going to call my dad. Hank‘s a friend. If he wants to see Hank, I‘ll take him.‖

―Just be careful.‖

―Always.‖

She slid out of the Wrangler and lifted a hand in good-bye, watching his taillights disappear around the corner, realizing distantly that the rain might have stopped but fog was drifting around in feathery pieces, like props in the dance of the seven veils, teasing one moment, gone the next.

Shivering, she pulled her coat closer to her neck and hurried up the two steps to the small stoop and her own front door. She let herself in and switched on the lights, feeling discombobulated. Had it really only been a few short hours since she and Danner left for dinner at Shake It Up? It seemed like a lifetime ago.

Crossing her living room, she switched on the television. The news was almost over but she had her television set to Channel Seven and she reversed her DVR as far as it would go and there, suddenly, was Pauline Kirby‘s narrow face and her dark cap of hair with its severe cut. The background was a hospital. Laurelton General, Coby realized as she turned up the volume.

―Appears to be a one-car accident,‖ Pauline was saying, ―although another driver came upon the scene a few moments later and was certain two cars pulled off Highway 26 in front of him, one closely following the other. The other driver did not stop, apparently. Mr. Sainer was lif e-flighted here, arriving just moments ago. He is undergoing surgery now.‖

The scene switched to the wreck of Hank Sainer‘s car, and Coby shuddered. It truly looked as if the Land Rover had been ripped apart by a giant can opener, which was kind of what the Jaws of Life were.

She lost the thread of Pauline‘s narrative, wondering about Hank. And then her thoughts turned to Jarvis Lloyd and Danner. The program went to commercial and Coby pressed the Forward button to catch up. Just before the program ended, the local anchors said there had been a shooting at Riverside West Hospital, a patient having taken their own life.

Picking up her cell, she phoned her father‘s condo. When she got no answer, she tried his cell and wasn‘t all that surprised when her mother was the one who answered.

―Mom, it‘s Coby. Have you heard about Hank?‖

―Your father and I are on our way to the hospital now,‖ she said.

―I‘m coming, too,‖ Coby said, then snapped off before her mother could say anything, positive or negative, about that decision.

Riverside West was a madhouse, inside and out, when Danner arrived. The hospital was in lockdown mode after the shooting and Danner, who preferred to leave his gun in his car unless he was on active duty—mostly as a means to avoid the kind of tragedy that had just taken place—had done just that, tucking the Glock in his glove box. He‘d hoped to avoid the security rigamarole he would encounter just trying to get inside, but that wasn‘t going well. His badge was being scrutinized as if he were a terrorist, and it was only when Metzger, who‘d been waiting for him, cruised by the front of the hospital and saw him that his explanations were treated seriously and he was allowed inside.