“I’ll be there.”
I wanted to ask more but decided against it. I had Will but knew my temper, and I didn’t want to risk tampering with a witness, especially if we needed him in one piece.
“Hey!” Will kicked the seat. “I have rights, you know!”
My tires squealed when I took the turn behind the station. The ground was slick from the light rain we were getting. With the way the temperature was dropping, I knew we’d get snow tonight.
Sure enough, the door opened, and out popped Vinny, one of the older officers, and, from what I understood, an old friend of the sergeant’s.
“You fuck my sister? Well, you need to get in line.” He laughed. “Jim’s wanted a piece of her for a long time, and Jim always gets what he wants.”
I unlocked the doors and signaled for Vinny to come over.
“Oh, and by the way, Jimmy likes his woman black and blue.”
My tight grip on the steering wheel made my hands sweat, but it was better than punching a hole in the side of his head. “Nice that you’re okay with that.”
“Better her than me.” He laughed, but there was something artificial about his tone, like he was faking all his bravado, or maybe he didn’t believe his own words. “Ouch! Watch it, man.” He tumbled to the ground as I tugged him out of the car. I heard the distinctive clink of metal as something fell under the back seat, probably a key or something. I made a mental note to look later.
Vinny gave me nod as I handed Will over, and the two disappeared into the station.
Though a little on the shady side of the law, there were times we bent the rules a bit, and the lines got a little blurry when someone hurt the ones we loved. I didn’t worry about pushing the lines as long as they were never broken.
Back in the car, I reached down behind my seat and felt around until I found something cold. A watch. My heart twitched when I read the words that were etched on the back of it.
Jackson: Just checking in. All good?
I quickly typed back before I left the station.
Blake: Yes.
I didn’t arrive at Sergeant Peters’s until eight p.m. Traffic was horrible, and several accidents caused blocked lanes. My frustration grew with each delay. I needed to know what the hell was going on.
I knocked loudly twice and waited while the cold nipped at my exposed skin. Snowflakes found their way down inside my collar and made me think of the old saying “small snow, big snow.” I knew another bitter storm was on the way.
Christ, the east loved its weather.
“Hi, Lisa.” I greeted her with a nod, reading her body language immediately.
“Thank you for coming, Blake.”
“Of course.” I passed by her and was instantly hit with a wall of warm air and smelled something heavenly coming from the oven.
“G,” Lisa called in a small voice, and he came around the corner looking casual in his jeans, t-shirt, and slippers. The stress lines that circled his eyes made me even more concerned.
“Get it done?”
“Yes, sir, I did.”
“Thank you.” He lowered his tone. “Please take a seat.” He pointed to the kitchen table.
“Coffee?” Lisa asked, and I nodded, thinking I would probably need it.
“Look, Blake, I’m going to cut right to the chase, here.”
“Please do.” I eyed Lisa, who had taken a seat next to G. I hadn’t missed that her eyes were glossy. Anyone could see she had been crying.
“At eleven fifty-six this morning, a body was found down by the water’s edge five miles from your place.”
My stomach twisted into a hot knot at his next words.
“Same MO, stab to the chest, bled out, shoes removed, scrape on the leg, all of it.”
Lisa scuffled a sob.
“Any witnesses?” I glanced between the two of them.
“No.” G covered his lips and cleared his throat. “There was a blood trail leading into the woods, and the woman who found the body followed it. That’s when she, ah,” he shook his head, “saw another female.”
Lisa’s hand fell on top of his, and she wiped a tear from her cheek. “Spencer.”
I felt my stomach bottom out. The wall behind them started to tilt, and I forgot to swallow.
“What do you mean, Spencer?” I whispered.
“She’s alive. She’ll be okay.” G’s reassurance had me able to draw breath, but my mind was firing off in all directions.
G regained himself. “Kim said when Spencer got home this morning, she noticed her window was open, and that damn cat of hers was missing. She decided to go looking for it since Kim told her the last place she had seen him was at the bakery. Apparently, he wouldn’t come to Kim, and she finally gave up the search.”
I flattened my cold hands on my legs to help move the blood around.
“Spencer must have followed along the edge of the water to avoid the deep snow.”
“Then what?” I was weightless yet heavy as a tank.
“Don’t know yet.” G kept his eyes glued to the table. “She hasn’t woken up.”
I nodded. I wasn’t sure how to respond. If this was a victim, I’d be tossing all the appropriate questions, but this was different. I couldn’t form a sentence.
“It’s no secret Spencer cares for you.” Lisa gave me a warm smile. “You make her smile again, Blake.”
“Thank you for that,” G added, to my surprise.
“Where is she now?”
“Lake Hospital. He hit her head pretty hard with something. We’ve kept it quiet, out of the press so far, but now it might be time to move forward. If we don’t control the narrative on this, you know it will spiral.”
He was right. The media would spin their own version, and when it hit social media, we would be screwed. The public would flip out, and we’d have more of a problem. Something just didn’t make sense.
He stabs his victim to death, does the same song and dance, but didn’t kill Spencer?
“Her clothes were bagged.”
“Why?” That caught my attention.
“Her sweatshirt was covered in someone else’s blood.”
“The victim’s?”
“Presumably, yes.”
“So, they were both moved, then?”
“Looks that way.”
“Then why spare Spencer’s life? Why not kill her too?”
G ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “That’s what I’m hoping she’ll answer when she wakes.”
“Is that why I picked up her brother?”
“He’s a suspect, yes.”
I felt my blood burn through my muscles. A part of me was glad Sarge hadn’t mentioned that to me before, or I would have been hard pressed not to kill the bastard.
“Why?”
“Because since he made bail, he’s been seen following her.”
What?
“Kim says he came by the house last night, but when she yelled at him and threatened to call the cops, he fled.”
I rubbed my head and tried to absorb everything.
“I need to see her.”
“Son,” G leaned forward and waited a beat, “are we the only ones who know about you and Spencer?”
I cleared my throat and glanced at Lisa. The three of us knew what it meant if our relationship got out. I would be removed from this case, and Spencer would be stripped of her privileges.