Ruthless (34 page)

But now she was with him and he wanted to keep it that way. Whatever it took, he wanted to keep her happy.

He dried himself off and went to their room for a pair of boxers. The shower was still going in the en suite as he’d expected it would be. Boxers on, he went back to the living room to wait for the pizza. He picked a channel on TV that wasn’t showing the breaking story about the Man in the Moon.

The doorbell rang and he grabbed his wallet. That would be the pizza. He paid the delivery guy and headed for the kitchen. The smell of hot, loaded pizza had his gut
rumbling. When he heard Lori coming he removed the extra cold beers from the freezer and carried them to the table. Clad only in a towel, she paused at the door and stared at the pizza box.

He smiled. “It’s loaded, the way you like it.”

After a long moment that had him sweating bullets she took a seat and opened the box. She couldn’t know what he had to talk to her about but somehow it felt exactly as if she did. She’d been a little distant all day.

“I don’t know about you but I’m starving.” He had a long draw from his beer and made a satisfied sound.

She didn’t say anything. She ate. She sipped her beer but she didn’t even look at him.

The anxiety twisting inside him tightened. “It’s a shame the chief couldn’t get that bastard to tell her where the other children were buried before he took that bullet to the brain.”

“I’d like to forget about work for the night.”

She still didn’t look at him when she spoke.

Not good.

“Is something wrong?” Tomorrow was his birthday. He’d kind of hoped to start celebrating early. Looked like that wasn’t going to happen.

She chugged the rest of her beer, wiped her mouth with the napkin and looked straight at him. “You betrayed me, Chet.”

What the hell?
“What’re you talking about?” Deep inside that one secret he’d kept from her twisted like barbed wire. “I would never betray you. Never.”

“Really? You were going to just keep lying?”

How could she know? “I’ve never lied to you.” And that was the truth.

“I saw Sherry this morning.”

Dread stabbed deep in his gut.

“I wanted her to know that I wasn’t trying to take her place with Chester. After the way she acted the other night I wanted to try and clear the air.”

“Whatever trouble she’s trying to start, she has no right to try to come between us.” If Sherry had told Lori about the vasectomy he wanted to be mad as hell but mostly he was mad at himself.

“You had no right to keep anything as important as this from me. A vasectomy is a major decision for any relationship. I’m not questioning your reason for doing it in the first place—I’m certain that was Sherry’s idea.”

“She said the Pill made her fat. We were falling apart.” The pizza soured on his stomach. “I was just trying to make her happy. I didn’t want our family to fall apart.”

Lori nodded. Her eyes glistened with emotion and he wanted to fall to his knees and beg her to forgive him. “That’s the only reason I’m not hating on you right now, Chet. I can see how she manipulated you. I know how much you love your son, and I’m certain it was an act of desperation. But that doesn’t change the fact that you kept it from me.”

“I wish I could go back and do it right.” He shook his head. “I have no excuse except that I was so afraid of losing you that I didn’t want to risk your reaction. You said you weren’t interested in having kids in the near future, so I thought I had time to make it right. I saw my doctor this week. I’m going for a test that will let us know if it’s feasible to do the reversal. The doc’s confident there won’t be any problems, since it’s only been three years. There’s a test before the surgery that’ll tell us what the chances of
success are. It’s outpatient surgery. A few days downtime and then I’ll be as good as new.” He took a breath, thankful that he’d gotten it all out.

She shrugged. “I’ve always thought I didn’t really care about having children. I couldn’t see putting my career on the back burner. I still can’t. Not really. But whether we have children or not is a decision we need to be able to make together with no secrets.”

“You’re right. Not squaring this with you was wrong, and if the doctor discovers I can’t give you children, then I understand if you don’t want to be with me anymore.”

She stood. “I think the best thing to do is for me to…”

Chet held his breath.

“… punish you properly”—she unwrapped her towel and let it fall to the floor—“just to make sure you never forget that I won’t tolerate any secrets between us.”

He pushed back his chair, almost knocking it over in his haste. “Punish me any way you want, baby.”

She gave him a firm look. “Take off those boxers and follow me.”

He was pretty sure that was the fastest he’d ever snapped off a pair of boxers.

She took his hand and led him to the bed. Moving like a sleek panther, she crawled onto the bed and stretched out to ensure he had a good view of what a lucky man he was.

“Start with my toes,” she ordered.

Anticipation had his body trembling. She arched an eyebrow at his hesitation.

He knelt at the end of the bed and reached for one smooth foot. He licked the arch before sliding his tongue between and around those red-tipped toes of hers. She
closed her eyes, and the soft sounds coming from her throat made him even harder. He gave the other toes the same treatment before moving to her ankles. Taking his time, he moved up those toned calves to her silky thighs. He traced a path up the inside of one thigh and she squirmed. He grinned.

By the time he’d burrowed his face between those lush thighs of hers she had fisted her fingers in the sheets and was crying out his name. He gave her first climax with his tongue. And then he used his fingers to bring her to another before giving her what she kept screaming for… every inch of him.

By the time they collapsed together, he’d lost count of the times she’d come.

“I love you, Lori.”

She pulled his face to hers. “I know you do, and I love you, Chet Harper.”

She kissed him and they started that sweet, hot dance again.

9911 Conroy Road, 10:00 p.m.

J
ess sat in the middle of her living room floor and stared at the faces lining her wall. At least seventeen little girls were unaccounted for.

“The burying tree”—that was what Cagle had called the place he kept his treasures. There were thousands of trees between the ones on his property and the ones at Bullock’s cabin. Not to mention that whole damned park around Bullock’s cabin. How the hell were they supposed to know which one was Cagle’s burying tree?

Budgets were already stretched too thin. No one was going to waste resources looking for remains when there was no comprehension whatsoever of where to start. With Cagle dead there was very little chance they would ever find those children.

That made Jess sad.

We have to go outside where he can see.

Who was
he
? Why had Cagle needed anyone to see?
There was no indication whatsoever that he had worked with an accomplice. To the contrary, he had a reputation as a loner. Even people he had worked with for decades didn’t know his daughter’s name or where she lived.

Jess had put together many of the pieces of the puzzle. Cagle’s wife had left him when their daughter was just a child—the daughter she had given him on a harvest moon. What had he done that prompted his wife to fear him? They would probably never know. Whatever she had seen was the beginning. The evil had been there, waiting patiently until something triggered the first act.

Once he’d crossed that line, the urges he obviously attempted to resist became too great to conquer. The torture belt he wore cinched around his waist was loaded with nails that had dug deep into his skin. The marks of vigorous self-punishment were all over his body—any place that would be covered by clothing bore the telltale signs of his struggle. Scars of varying sizes and ages told the tale of how long he had fought his heinous desires. Until his daughter showed up in his life again. She and her children had given him the strength to fight those cravings.

“Why start digging up bones then?” It just didn’t make sense.

Thirteen years. His family was happy. He was only a couple years from retirement. He had nothing to gain and everything to lose.

And why use Jess as an excuse to launch back into that abyss of darkness? Or insist that someone had to see? That part nagged at her.

Her cell did its thing and she checked the screen.
Sylvia Baron.

If Jess were smart she would just let it go to voice mail. Sometimes she wasn’t so smart. “Sylvia, what’s up?” It was pretty late for a social call, but with Sylvia she never knew.

“Congratulations, Harris. You pulled it off again. Got the bad guy and made the news as Birmingham’s most beloved hero.”

“Thanks.” She didn’t feel like a hero. She hadn’t found all those little girls.

“Listen, I hope it’s okay, but I invited Gina to your party tomorrow.”

“I’m not having a party.” The woman had obviously had too much wine. Something Jess wished she were doing.
Whine, whine.

“Your detective’s birthday party,” she explained with her usual indignant impatience. “That won’t be a problem, will it? She’s still a bit down, and I wanted to make sure she felt included.”

“I’m not hosting the party, but I’m sure that’s fine.” She’d have to try and remember to text Lori in the morning.

“Great. I’ll see you then. Why don’t you wear that red suit of yours? It’s very flattering. Very slimming.”

Jess hugged her belly with her free arm. Did she look fat? Already? Maybe she was bloated since her period was late. How nice of Sylvia to point that out.

“See you tomorrow,” Jess said in hopes of ending the call.

“Really, Harris,” Sylvia said before Jess could hang up, “you did well.”

Jess wasn’t sure how to take what sounded like a real compliment. “Thanks.”

Sylvia said good night and ended the call.

Jess had no idea if the woman could really be counted as a friend, but she was leaning in that direction. Tomorrow she’d probably say or do something to have her leaning in the other direction.

The alarm sounded, warning her that she had company coming up the stairs.

She got up and checked the monitor.
Dan.
He had promised to come straight here as soon as his chief-of-police duties were done. She had been far too exhausted to hang around for the press conference.

She unlocked and opened the door. He smiled, and she felt better already.

She angled her head and tried to see where he had his hands. “What’ve you got behind your back there?”

He grinned and held out both hands. Flowers and chocolates!

“The flowers are gorgeous.” She went for the box of chocolate. “There’s a vase under the sink.”

While he filled the vase with water and then arranged the summer mix of blooms, she climbed onto her bed and opened the chocolates. She checked the diagram on the inside of the cover to locate the ones with caramel centers, her favorites.

Dan placed the flowers on the table and she smiled. “They’re really gorgeous, Dan.” She popped another candy in her mouth, closed her eyes, and flat out moaned.

He sat down on the sofa and patted the spot next to him. “Come sit with me.”

Was he kidding? She patted the bed. “Come sit with me.”

He got up and started her way. She gathered the box of
candy, put the lid on top, and set it on her bedside table. After a couple swipes of her tongue the caramel was no longer stuck to her front teeth.

The mattress moved as he climbed on and plopped next to her.

“Did you come to talk about something, or is this our usual Saturday night visit?” Her body was already heating up in anticipation of the latter.

“Wow, that was romantic.”

She laid down on her side facing him. “Is it not okay to be unromantic sometimes? I mean, we’ve known each other forever. Do we have to make everything a production?”

She wanted him. She wanted to have sex with him. As in
now
.