A Murderer Among Us, page 10
“Pardon?”
“There are three guest rooms upstairs and two more bathrooms. I’m for a shower and bed. Sleep wherever you like. I mean, we do have a dog now—one that your friend very specifically picked out for me. I’m going to assume he’s an exceptional guard dog. Good night.”
She turned and disappeared up the stairs. He watched her go and winced. There were moments when...
Time. Time could have gone away. He’d be holding her, just as he had those many years ago, he’d almost feel the softness of her flesh, the look in her eyes when...
First things first.
Keep them all alive.
Hell, they did have a big dog. He’d take a shower. And his firearm would be on the sink, right next to the shower. No chances could be taken now.
* * *
A SHOWER FELT GOOD. Delicious. Hot water, and then, as it sluiced over her and she felt the steam and replayed the day in her mind, the day, and Chase...
Cold water.
Didn’t help a lot.
He was there. There in her house. Close. She was standing in the shower, naked. He was probably in a shower, too...
Maybe. Maybe not. He seemed...
Well, he was paranoid about her, but with all his so-called friends, she couldn’t tell what was really going on with him.
What the hell was he really doing for a living? He did love his grandfather, he’d always seemed to care about everyone involved with Skyhawk...
Impatiently, she turned off the water, stepped out and dried off, wrapping the towel securely around her. She stepped from her bathroom into the bedroom area, opened the door to the hallway cautiously and looked out.
Larry had indeed taken up a position right outside her door.
One room down, the door was closed.
She smiled. With Larry in the house, it seemed Chase had chosen to make use of an actual bed. As she stood there, she heard the faint sound of water going off.
Chase had opted for a shower and a bed.
She petted Larry’s head, closed the door and headed for her dresser, seeking one of the oversize soft cotton T-shirts she liked to sleep in.
And then she had no idea of what really happened next. The show was coming up tomorrow—or later today, since it was after midnight.
Life...
Life was so fragile.
And at this moment her mind was, too.
And people in one’s life were unique and rare, and she knew that and she’d never understood herself why she’d had to learn to live with loss on her own, why she hadn’t clung to others who had cared.
She didn’t know what she was thinking. No, she wasn’t thinking. But she found herself stepping back out into the hall, heading to the door to the guest room that was closed, and opening it.
Chase was there, wrapped in a towel as she was, sorting through the clothing he had discarded but stopping dead as he saw her there.
“Sky?”
She shook her head. “Shut up. Please, just shut up.”
She walked over to him, putting her arms around him, and drawing him into a deep, long kiss. And as she had hoped, prayed and maybe imagined, he pulled her closer to him, his arms wrapping around her, both towels slipping and falling away, and then their flesh, flesh touching, flesh, melding...
Time. Gone. An amazing burst of diamond and crystal light, the world exploding around them as they fell together onto the bed.
Touch came so easily, sweet, soaring sensuality as kisses roamed intimately between them, as the need and urgency grew, and they were together again...
Soaring, sweet ecstasy, excitement and the comfort of...
Love and security that had always been there, waiting.
As if they’d never been apart.
Chapter Six
“Why? Why did you push me away? Right when I might have helped you the most?” Chase whispered.
Sky looked at him, eyes a little desperate and, he thought, gave him the only answer she had.
“I don’t know. I don’t know! I was just...”
“Please tell me you know that I’d never have hurt your father,” he said, his eyes on hers, searching, seeking.
“Maybe you’ll never really be ready to forgive me!” she whispered.
He moved his fingers gently through her hair and then cupped her chin as he told her, “The past is gone, it is history, and we can’t change history. But I loved you then, Skylar. I never stopped loving you, and I love you now.”
She let out a soft cry, clinging closer to him, parting her lips as his mouth met hers in a passionate kiss that seemed a true promise of the words he’d spoken.
And later, they lay together, and he told her again that he’d always loved her and always would.
She smiled.
“Hey, that was an amazing declaration of my feelings, heart on my sleeve,” he told her. “A response would be great.”
She rolled over on an elbow to look down at him.
“Well, you know, you said it would be best if we pretended... I use all kinds of acting and improv techniques when I work with my students. When I’m doing something, well, you know, I try to do it right!”
He laughed, and she fell next to him again, whispering that she’d never understood, that maybe her pain had needed a different pain to twist her from her feelings. “I’ll never understand myself, much less be able to explain myself!” she whispered.
“And it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that we get some sleep,” he said, wincing at the thought of the day to come.
She nodded, curling closer against him.
He closed his eyes, smiling. Amazing. If they could get past tomorrow...
He couldn’t believe that they were together, that this...had happened. And for the moment, he was just going to hold her close.
* * *
SKY SLEPT AMAZINGLY WELL. She woke because light was coming through the windows, and she actually felt a chill.
She shouldn’t have been cold with him next to her. But he wasn’t there.
She must have slept incredibly deeply; he had gotten up and dressed and she hadn’t heard a thing.
“Chase?” She said his name softly and sitting up, she was startled to see that there was a note taped to the inside of the door.
Frowning as she rose, she collected the note. She knew his handwriting.
Please don’t freak out. I had to leave for a few minutes. Couldn’t leave you alone. Andy Wellington is downstairs with Larry. I asked him to watch over you.
Her frown deepened, but she quickly hit the lock on the bedroom door. Andy Wellington might be a friend and some kind of a law-enforcement lecturer, but she didn’t know him. And this was her house! Chase shouldn’t have...
Whatever!
She quickly gathered clothing and headed into the shower, anxious to bathe and dress as quickly as possible, reminding herself she was going to have to come back upstairs to choose an outfit for the show. She had a little rhinestone-studded tunic, and she thought she’d wear that over black jeans...kind of feminine, but pants to go with the guys.
Neither here nor there at the moment.
There was a stranger in her house!
She hurried on downstairs and found that Andy Wellington was indeed in the living room, seated on the couch with Larry curled at his feet. He had either a small tablet or a large phone, and he was engrossed in studying something that was on it.
He quickly looked up and rose as she entered the room.
“I’m so sorry. I don’t mean to be intrusive, but we really didn’t want you to be alone—even with Larry here.”
She frowned, looking at him. “I really don’t understand. I mean, you’re a friend of Chase’s, and that makes you welcome in my home, but...”
He looked down and when he looked up, his expression was acutely uncomfortable.
“I know that Chase is concerned, and other than that...”
She wasn’t going to pick a fight with a stranger. She lifted a hand and said, “Not to worry, I’ll speak with Chase. Would you like coffee or anything?”
He shrugged. “I took the liberty. There’s a pot made in the kitchen.”
“Great. Thank you.” She headed into the kitchen, followed by Larry, who was wagging his tail wildly.
Whatever else came of all this, she did love the dog. She checked his water and food bowls and realized that Chase had already seen to them.
“Well, Larry,” she mused, “did you get to go out yet? Want to run around the yard?”
She walked back out. Andy Wellington was studying his device again with a frown on his face. She opened the door to let Larry run out joyfully into the yard. Then she approached Wellington.
“Is everything all right? Oh! By the way—the stuff that Brandon had last night, was it...tainted?”
He hesitated and then nodded. “Not to the point of instant death, but yes, it was contaminated.”
“Oh, what about the guy that he got it from? Is he...?”
“Dead? No. I’m not sure what’s going on exactly. We reported it to the right people immediately.”
She nodded. “More friends of Chase’s?”
“Friends of mine,” he said. He shrugged. “I held a position in law enforcement for years. I know the right people.”
“Ah. Well, I’m hoping he gets back soon.”
“Me, too!”
“Don’t let me interrupt your work,” Sky told him. “I’m going to head to my office and go over the set list for tonight.”
“Great. I’m here if you need me,” he said. “Hey, can I get your phone number, please? I should have gotten it from Chase. I mean, well, seriously, there is bad stuff going on, and we should have each other’s numbers.”
She handed him her phone. “Grab my number and call me, and I’ll have yours.”
“Perfect, thanks.”
She waited for him to get his number and call her. Then she took her phone back.
She smiled. “Just let Larry back in when he scratches at the door—which I believe he will in a few minutes.”
“You got it.”
She headed to her office thinking that she was going to have a hell of a lot to say to Chase when she saw him. She wasn’t going to take it out on Wellington. The man was doing a friend a favor. It wasn’t his fault that Chase had neglected to talk it all over with her.
Last night had been so good. So amazing...
And now? Now she realized that time had passed, and that there was so much she really didn’t know about the man at all.
And yet...
There were still things she knew in her heart. He might annoy her—even anger her—but he was a good man. Trying his best, worried about her.
Still...
He had some answering to do!
* * *
THERE WAS ONE chance with the kind of overdose Bobby Sacks seemed to have suffered; luckily, it was something Chase had been trained to deal with and was prepared to administer: naloxone. He shot the dose into Bobby and began CPR.
He waited anxiously as Bobby’s wife, tears in her eyes, looked on.
Then...
A gasp. Bobby inhaled. And by then the paramedics had arrived, and Chase could tell them what had happened and what he had done.
“That is one lucky man! I don’t know if we’d have made it in time,” one of the medics told him as Bobby was lifted onto a gurney and rolled out to the ambulance.
Chase shrugged. “I had a great mentor,” he said. “Have you been called out on more of these?”
“So far, from what I’ve heard, anyone else afflicted has made it into the hospital,” the medic told him. “Thankfully, people saw the news, and they’re smart enough to get in—or throw away whatever the hell they bought. Carefully, I hope.”
“Me, too,” Chase murmured. “You’ll be met at the hospital. When I called in, I was assured that this was something the FBI was on, so...”
“Got it. They’ll be waiting until he can talk.”
“I’ll check on him later,” Chase said.
The medic nodded; there would be police officers at the house, too, but he was grateful that Nancy Sacks, Bobby’s wife, had called him. Apparently, she hadn’t wanted Bobby arrested, but she’d been afraid of his behavior.
“Cops are coming?” she asked Chase when the paramedics were gone. “Bobby is going to live, right?”
“I believe so—we got him past the first hurdle in time. But I’m not a doctor—”
“But you did know what to do.”
Nancy Sacks was an attractive woman with long brown hair and enormous hazel eyes. Chase had planned on paying Bobby Sacks a visit; he just hadn’t expected to find him as he had.
Bobby had given the stuff to Brandon. But if he had been the one dealing it, he’d have known better than to indulge in his own product.
“All right, Nancy, from what I’ve heard, this has happened before—and it’s the federal government that’s following the trail. Someone will be here, yes. I take it you didn’t join him for his little bit of recreation?”
“I hate pot—just makes me fall asleep,” Nancy said. “But I never cared if Bobby had a puff here and there. I’ve known some drunks, and they’re feisty and get into fist brawls. I’ve never seen a few puffers get dangerous toward anything other than a pile of food.”
“Nancy, this is so important. Where did he get the stuff?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. From someone last night, I imagine, but I have no idea who. I mean, you know, he works those lights all the time for whatever is going on, and yeah, most of the time, things are available from someone. They kind of work on a trust arrangement, I guess. I don’t know! Oh, Chase, I wish I knew. I mean... I knew how close you were to Jake Ferguson and I figured you learned a lot from him, but... Yeah, I guess we’ve all heard you’re in some kind of a forensic school, so... I didn’t know how bad it was going to get, I just called you—forgive me—because I didn’t know I was going to need an ambulance... But, oh, my God, thank you! Bobby isn’t a bad guy, he’s good, he just...”
“Nancy, it’s okay. But someone will be here and they’ll want a statement. Or if you like, I can bring you to the hospital, and you can be there with Bobby and people will talk to you both while you’re there.”
“Please,” she said.
He nodded and put a call through to Andy Wellington, telling him that he’d be back as soon as he’d dropped Nancy off.
“Well, that will be good,” Wellington murmured.
Chase winced inwardly. He hadn’t been sure how he was going to explain this one. And he didn’t know why.
Gut fear, maybe because of everything going on.
But even with Larry in the house, he hadn’t wanted Sky to be alone.
A dog could be shot. Then again, so could a man. But it was unlikely that a man like Wellington, who had spent his life in the service of the government after a stint in the military, was going to be taken by surprise.
Unlike Larry, he could shoot back.
“Let’s get to the hospital,” he told Nancy.
He hoped that Bobby might be conscious, but he doubted it. He believed that the man might make it.
But it would be a while before he could talk.
Chase just hoped it would be before the show that night.
* * *
SKY LIKED ANDY WELLINGTON well enough. There seemed to be little to dislike about him. He was polite and courteous, pleasant in every way.
She just didn’t know what he was doing in her house. So, Chase had taken all kinds of classes. He knew all about so many things.
And they were both convinced her father had been murdered.
But what was he really doing?
She had left her office to make sure that Wellington was doing all right, still just seated on her sofa, when she heard the buzz that warned her someone was at the gate.
Larry woofed excitedly, wagging his tail.
That meant that Chase was back.
She hit the button that allowed the gate and door to open, and then she waited for him to come in. Naturally, he saw her staring at him the minute he walked in. And he knew she was going to want answers.
“Hey! Sorry, I had to run out. But under the current circumstances, I wanted someone to be with you and thankfully, you’d met Andy and you know—”
“Yeah. He carries a gun,” Sky said, arms crossed over her chest.
Chase shrugged. “Yeah, I know you’re safe with him.”
Andy sat there silently, shaking his head, looking at Chase.
“I thought I was safe once I had a big dog,” Sky said.
Andy spoke at last. “I didn’t mean to be intrusive—” he repeated.
“You weren’t,” Sky quickly informed. “You’re a perfect gentleman, welcome anytime. That’s not the point.”
They both just stared at her.
And then at one another.
“Just what the hell is going on here?” she demanded.
“I suggest you just tell her,” Andy said quietly.
“Please! I suggest you just tell me, too,” Sky said, staring hard at Chase. He couldn’t mean her harm; even angry as she was, she couldn’t doubt the feelings that enveloped them, as real as anything had ever been in her life.
But...
“Andy isn’t just my friend. He’s my SAC,” Chase said.
“Sack?” Sky asked, confused.
“No, SAC, Special Agent in Charge,” Chase explained.
“Um...in charge of what?” she asked.
Andy walked toward them both. “It’s imperative that you keep this quiet. Special Agent Chase McCoy has been with the bureau for over two years, and he’s an invaluable player in his undercover operations.”
Sky shook her head, completely confused. “Undercover? Everyone knows who you are—well, anyone who is into rock bands and that kind of thing.”
