To Protect & Serve (30 page)

“I’m lying around like I don’t have anywhere to go. I’ve got to get out of here. My job’s not over yet. I need to debrief Chad and interview Davis.”
And
find Alex
.

“Hey, wait up, cowgirl,” Steve cautioned. “We can handle the rest of the show. You’ve done more than enough for one day.”

Beth’s voice was stern. “You’re not going anywhere, young lady.”

“And just why not, Sarge?” Keri asked. “No disrespect intended, but if I recall I just made a drug arrest and I have follow-up to do.”

“Have you forgotten that you haven’t been discharged from the hospital? Besides, we have a whole team of officers who can process a suspect, execute and document a search warrant, and tag and bag evidence.” Beth gave Keri a stern gaze.

“Sergeant, please don’t do this. I need to see it through. I’ve been primary on this case from the start and it’s only fair that I finish it. Please, I feel fine. I promise to take it easy. You can even send Steve to baby-sit if you’d feel better.”

“If it’s any consolation, Sergeant, I’ll look after her.” Steve offered his best cherubic smile, which brought a grin from Beth. “We just need to question the guy for a few minutes. I can do all the paperwork.”

“Let it go right now, Steve. We’ve all got enough on our plates tonight.”

He took the hint and headed back to the waiting room.

Before Beth could follow, Keri asked, “Where’s Alex? I need to see her. She was about to say something when my father came in.”

“She gave me instructions to take care of you and then left.”

“But…” Keri’s heart and mind screamed for the woman she now knew loved her. She was certain of it. “Then please let me finish this case. If I can’t see her, I have to be doing something meaningful.”

Beth seemed to understand the pleading look in Keri’s eyes, the need for distraction fueled by the desperation of passion. “You can go on three conditions—you’re released by the doctor, your father approves, and you take Steve with you. Oh, make that four. You deal with Alex’s wrath when she finds out I let you do this.”

“Deal.” Keri gave Beth a weak smile, “And I promise to take it easy.”

After a long chat with her father, a consultation with the ER doctor, and another private session with Beth, Keri got dressed, and she and Steve headed back to the station to confront Sonny Davis.

*

When Keri and Steve walked into the small interview room, Sonny Davis lunged across the table and shouted, “I’ll kill you, you damn bitch.”

Fortunately for him, the shackles restricted movement beyond a threat, denying Keri a reason to go after him again. “Back off, you drug-dealing, flesh-peddling, bottom-dwelling piece of slime,” Keri countered, pleased with her verbal skills in spite of the nauseating headache.

“Fucking dyke,” Davis mumbled.

Steve balled his fists and started to rise from his chair. Keri knew what came next. Her partner was very protective. She placed her hand on his shoulder. “Steve, he’s not worth it. Let it go.” Turning to Davis, she said, “You know, Sonny, if you’re the alternative, being a dyke looks pretty good.”

Steve erupted in laughter as Davis’s face turned splotchy with anger. “The good news, scumbag, is that you’re not injured. The bad news is, you’re not injured. Now you’re ours.” He read the Miranda warnings to Davis and waited as Keri pulled a chair close to the table.

Keri spread her notes out on the table between them. “Let’s talk about your case.”

“I got nothing to say to you about nothing, bitch.”

“Not even if it could help you?” She hoped Davis wouldn’t talk. The thought of cutting him any slack for any reason made her insides churn.

He eyed her. “I might have some information that you want. But you have to be willing to work with me.” Davis leaned back in his chair and stared smugly at Steve.

“I can’t make you any promises. Does it pertain to an ongoing case?”

Davis stroked his stubbly beard, leaned back in his chair. “I think you’d call a dead girl an ongoing case. But I have to get immunity on this one.”

“Keep talking.” Steve encouraged.

“It’s about a young girl that got iced a while back. Does that sound familiar?”

“You’ll have to be more specific than that,” Steve answered, feigning indifference. “No details, no deal.”

Davis looked around the room, seeming to weigh his options. “This one was found behind a warehouse.”

Steve scratched his head and played dumb. “What warehouse?”

“Near the one we were at tonight. God, you cops are thick sometimes. What I’m saying is somebody popped a cap in her. She was getting too nosy for her own good. Got what she deserved.”

Keri’s head pounded harder and the blood in her veins started to surge. The cause of death for Tiffany Brown hadn’t been released. Not even the newspapers had gotten hold of it yet. Davis was definitely involved.

“I just put it all together myself. Cappy took her out.”

His sneer sent Keri over the edge. Visions of the young woman’s body, cold and lifeless, flashed in a tormenting slide show. The thought of her orphaned child was too much. “You slimy bastard.” Keri made a grab for Davis’s throat.

This time it was Steve’s turn to intervene. He positioned himself between Keri and Davis just as she lunged.

“Fuck you, bitch.” Davis laughed. “You can’t touch me and you know it.”

“Let me show you how to kill somebody, you piece of garbage.” Keri tried to push Steve out of the way, aching to wipe the smirk off Davis’s face.

“Morgan, stop. He’s trying to bait you.”

Davis’s bulging eyes changed from mocking to defiant. “Did you see that? She tried to kill me.”

“I didn’t see anything, asshole.” Steve put his arm around Keri’s shoulder and eased her into a chair. “And by the way, all deals are off the table. You’ll be charged with the original drug offenses and several counts of murder and conspiracy to commit murder.” He opened the door and motioned a uniform into the room, instructing. “Go ahead and process him for us, heavy on the bond. We’ve got all we need tonight.”

Keri stared unfocused at her hands. After a long pause, she said, “I don’t know what came over me. I wanted to kill him with my bare hands. I’ve never lost control like that before.”

“But you didn’t touch him. You stopped. We all lose our cool from time to time. You had to stop me from doing the same thing earlier. It happens.”

The words registered slowly. “Thanks, Steve, you’re a good partner and friend. I’d like to go home now. Please.”

“Sorry, partner, no can do.”

“What do you mean? I’m exhausted and my head is pounding like a bass drum.”

“Have you forgotten my promise to Sergeant Price? I told her I’d take care of you. I don’t want that woman on my case. I’m taking you home with me for observation. Cindy won’t mind.”

“I’m fine, really. My dad will be worried sick.”

“I’ll call and let him know you’ll be staying with me and my wife tonight. He wouldn’t want you to drive all the way out there at this hour anyway.”

“Okay, you win.” But her heart wasn’t in it. What she really wanted was to find Alex, talk to her, hold her. Where was she?

Keri felt like weeping. Alex’s mood shifts made no sense to her, least of all now. She felt a fresh wave of anger consume her, but this was deeper than her outrage at Davis. This was personal and almost debilitating. The case was over. She couldn’t understand why Alex would abandon her now.

*

Alex drove for hours, replaying the horror of seeing Keri unconscious and bloody. When she finally stopped it was dawn and she was at the cemetery. Her parents’ shiny granite headstone caught the early light and cast her reflection back at her. She looked tired, her hair wild and windblown. She dropped to her knees, rubbed her hands across the smooth surface of her parents’ grave marker, and remembered her childhood and their life together. Burying another loved one was not something she ever wanted to experience again.

There had been no doubt that her parents loved each other and her. Every decision was made jointly. Vacation time was a family affair. Each meal was for talking and sharing with each other. Problems were merely opportunities in disguise. Alex had been trained to seize those opportunities and turn them into advantages. She was taught that personal character and integrity were more important than money, and love trumped everything. Had fifteen years with the department so colored her thinking that she’d forgotten those valuable lessons?

No doubt being a cop was dangerous. It came with the territory. But that worst-case-scenario thinking that went with the job bled over into her personal life. She was always looking for what could go wrong and how quickly, never for the positive side of a situation. No wonder her relationships failed. Girlfriends expected her to come home, leave the job at the door, and become a loving, sharing, and fully engaged partner. Instead she’d learned to compartmentalize her feelings about the everyday atrocities she saw at work and she’d built a containment wall around her heart to keep out the pain. But that method of self-preservation had also kept her separate from feelings of joy, intimacy, love, and true sharing. Alex had allowed pride in her work to become her fulfillment. She’d even come to believe there was something missing inside her—the capacity to connect fully and love completely. She hadn’t thought herself capable of such feelings, until Keri Morgan proved her wrong.

This courageous woman had reached in and untangled her twisted thinking. Keri had made her look at the fuzzy logic she’d always applied to her life. She’d demonstrated how easily one heart connects with another if it’s allowed. Her complete honesty and vulnerability had broken down Alex’s defensive barriers. It was those qualities and her seemingly inexhaustible capacity for love that Alex adored.

She thought of that as she knelt at her parents’ graves. Keri had not been killed or even seriously injured. She had survived and Alex had been given another chance—a chance to get it right. Her heart filled with uncontrollable love and an urgency to tell Keri her feelings. She recalled her father’s one wish for her: to be happy. Everything else would follow, he always said. She hoped he was right because she refused to let another day go by without the woman she loved at her side.

Keri wasn’t sure which caused more frustration, the concussion from last week or trying to decide what to wear to the celebration dinner. She pondered her choices, transfixed by her naked reflection in the full-length mirror. Five outfits lay strewn around her bedroom. She’d ruled out a dress as too formal.
Beth said to be casual.
She finally decided to keep it simple with a pair of black pants and a red top. Her goal was to be well-dressed but not overdressed.

Bruises on Keri’s cheeks and arms from the arrest of Sonny Davis had almost completely vanished. Her brilliant blue eyes had regained their luster after some much-needed rest, and the recurring headaches had disappeared. Nightmares occasionally haunted her attempts at sleep, but she had the consolation of knowing Sonny Davis would never touch anyone she loved again.

Every day of her recuperation, Alex had called to check on her. She visited a couple of times and officially met her parents and brother. If either of them thought it strange that her lieutenant was taking such an interest in her recovery, they never mentioned it. Not once during that time did Keri and Alex discuss anything personal. But it felt personal. Alex was attentive and nurturing in a way Keri had never seen. Still, the things that weren’t said hung heavily between them.

Keri appraised her body as she prepared for the final meal before the guys all returned to their respective assignments. She stroked her naturally curly hair, which managed to bend and curve in the directions she wanted for a change. She applied an ample supply of mousse and fashioned her hair into a wet look, but even those attempts to conceal the prematurely gray strands that emerged and exposed themselves proved useless.

With a scrutinizing eye she examined her body, almost perfect, except for a small roll of baby fat around the waist. The areola surrounding her nipples appeared milk chocolate and deepened to dark when aroused. Stroking taut abdominal muscles, she allowed her fingers to follow a natural path to the soft triangle between her legs. An involuntary gasp escaped her as her fingers aroused her insatiable longing. Anyone would love to enjoy her sexually, but her needs went much deeper than sex.

Visions of Alex at the lake crept into her mind. Holding Alex’s body close to her own and the undeniable heat brought Keri’s hand once again to her own aching flesh. The softness of Alex’s lips and the hunger of her smoldering kisses made Keri wet with the deepest desire she’d ever experienced.

She slid her fingers inside the silky moisture and stroked her firm, demanding clit, then collapsed onto the bed. Her rubbing intensified as she replayed their kisses and lovemaking over and over and surrendered to the tantalizing ripples of pleasure emanating from her pelvis.

Alex’s tongue darted in and out of her mouth and stroked from the inside secret places her fingers now desperately probed. Harder and faster she pressured her burning flesh until the much-needed explosion of gratification engulfed her. If only Alex were here. Keri gasped for breath. Keri needed her so badly, her attempts at self-satisfaction proved useless. All she could feel was the hunger that Alex Troy had awakened.