Ice Breakers

by Heather C. Myers

  Ice Breakers

  A Mika Chalmers Hockey Mystery

  Heather C. Myers

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Epilogue

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  Acknowledgments

  Also by Heather C. Myers

  Also by Heather C. Myers

  Also by Heather C. Myers

  Also by Heather C. Myers

  Also by Heather C. Myers

  Also by Heather C. Myers

  Also by Heather C. Myers

  Chapter 1

  I hated running. It was the one part of my job I absolutely loathed and one that was absolutely necessary. Maybe it was a good thing because my car was acting up, and for it to stop working in the middle of a chase, I’d never here the end of it. My reputation as a competent private investigator would be ruined.

  My hair flew in my face. I cursed internally, side stepping a couple that happened to stop in the middle of the sidewalk in order to hash out their argument, not bothering to care one way or the other if they were blocking people from their destination. I had just straightened my hair, and already I could tell my locks were going back to their wavy, frizzy selves. I wasn’t sure if I was going to have the time to do it after I caught my target and still be on time for my date.

  My target darted left, crossing the street in the middle of traffic. He expertly dodged cars, ignoring the blazing honking that followed. Irvine was definitely not an urban city like New York or Los Angeles, but it was one of the biggest and most diverse suburban cities in Orange County in terms of population, so his decision to do that was dangerous as it was stupid.

  “God dammit,” I muttered under my breath. I rolled my eyes and stopped on the corner of Barranca and Culver. If I wanted to keep up with him, I needed to cross.

  Now.

  If I didn’t want to get hit by a car, I had to wait for the light to change.

  Decisions, decisions.

  I bounced between the balls of my feet, trying to keep momentum. I kept my target in my sight, eyes locked onto his fading form. He glanced behind him once, smirked when he saw where I was, and resumed his running.

  “God dammit,” I said again. I glanced back up at the street light. “Come on, come on.”

  The second the light turned yellow, I took my chance. I nearly got hit by a Range Rover who wanted to try and make the yellow light, but I held myself back just in time. Under normal circumstances, I would have cursed at the blonde driver with her oversized sunglasses and perfect magazine-ready waves that cascaded down her face, probably never knowing the word frizz in the entirety of her life, but I really needed to capture this guy and turn him over to Irvine Police Department so I could collect my check.

  My mouth ran dry thanks to the high sun, even in mid-September. Sweat made a home under my arms, on the back on my neck, on my brow, and between my breasts. I never used to sweat and then I decided to become a private investigator. I had no idea how this decision changed the function of my body for the more embarrassing, but it did. If it didn’t pay as well as it did, I might have considered a career change. Sweat was not something I wanted to showcase on a first date. Which meant I would have to shower after this, which meant the probability of me being late for this date had increased.

  I made it across the street and continued forward. Breathing was becoming more of a struggle for me. I made it a point to get to the gym twice a week in order to keep my stamina up, but considering how many chases I had experienced as of late, I should probably add another day.

  The target hailed a left down a residential street. I cursed to myself and pulled out my phone. If I could avoid involving the IPD, I would. That wasn’t to say that I wouldn’t bring the target back to the station and turn him over to the detective assigned to the case. I just didn’t like asking for help when it came to tracking down the perp in the first place because if the police officially arrested him, it meant I didn’t get my bonus. And right now, my bonus was paying my rent – at least, that was what I intended it to do.

  However, considering he was involving innocent people who lived on a quiet street, I realized I didn’t have much of a choice but to do so. Unfortunately for me, I already knew the detective assigned to my target’s case: Alexander Beech. Beech was a cocky jerk who was good looking and knew it. He was also a damn good detective, which only added to his inflated ego.

  I could always call nine-one-one and anonymously report a sighting of the target down the street. Irvine was notorious for responding quickly. I just didn’t want to risk losing him because they sent a rookie patrol officer instead of a seasoned officer with chase experience under his belt.

  “Dammit.”

  I pulled out my cellphone, maintaining my pace. I had Beech’s number saved only because it was easier than calling into the front desk and having them transfer me to his desk. As much as I wanted to ignore the fact that we worked together a lot, we did. At least we were both on the same page about it. We both didn’t like each other. It was the only thing we agreed on.

  “Beech.” His voice was crisp.

  “Hey.” I couldn’t continue speaking because I had to catch my breath. “You know your offender for that four-five-nine?”

  “I’m sorry, who is this?”

  I rolled my eyes and dodged a couple walking their dog. The dog got excited at my running and tried to chase me but his owner held onto his leash tightly.

  “You know exactly who it is,” I growled. “Don’t pretend like you don’t have my number saved. I’ve brought you at least eight perps.”

  “Is this… Mika, is that you?” he asked. “You sound surprisingly out of breath. Tell me: are you running?”

  “First of all…” I hated that I had to stop speaking to take another breath. Luckily, the target was still within sight. It seemed like he was getting tired too. “Do you want to know where your guy is or not?”

  “I’m a homicide detective. Why would I be interested in a four-five-nine?”

  “Oh, come on, Beech!” I exclaimed. “The guy just turned down a residential street, okay? Yes, I’m running after him and it sucks. I just thought you’d want to be there when I take him in.”

  “Like hell you’re taking him in.” A pause. I could picture him opening the top drawer of his desk and pulling out his keys. “Do not botch this up, Chalmers. I’m on my way. Actually, you better just wait there. Don’t go after him. Have you even caught up to him? Judging by the way you’re panting, probably not.”

  “God, you’re a dick, Beech,” I muttered, wiping my brow. I hated that he was right, though, and tried to power walk without it distorting my breathing in any way.

  “That was pretty direct for you. No witty retort? Has the sun fried your brain out there or something?”

  “I’m going to hang up now,” I said. “And it’s going to be really fun catching the guy before you get here.”

  “Do not fuck this up, Chalmers,” he repeated, this time with more insistence. “This guy has been hitting up Lantern Creek, the gated community adjacent to Newport Coast. You know, where the Lakers live in retirement and the billionaire tech geeks live after they’
ve graduated from Silicon Valley.”

  “Who do you think one of my clients is?” I pointed out.

  My target was still in my sight – thank God. My power walking was abysmal at best but it appeared the offender was getting tired. Every now and then, Irvine would get ridiculously humid. Unfortunately – or fortunately, depending on how I could choose to look at it – today was humid days.

  “Look,” I continued. Instead of following the paved sidewalk, I cut across the grass. My calves screamed in protest because there was an incline where I was walking. However, I knew if I headed through the backend of the neighborhood, I would be able to cut him off. “It’s not my fault you guys didn’t do your job well enough to get the confidence of the Creekers. They felt they needed to come to me to get the job done.”

  “Because you’re such a good PI.” His voice was dry and bitter.

  I smirked. “Try to pretend like I suck at my job,” I said. “I don’t. You can try and insult me but the one thing I know I’m good at in my life is being a PI.”

  “Hmm, I thought you were going to say something more personal, but in order to kill time, I’ll keep my mouth shut.”

  “That’s a surprise.” A rabbit hopped out of my way, darting under a manicured bush. I sidestepped flowers paid gardeners planted to make the street look pop with colors. “I called you to help because there’s no way I’m going to be able to drag this guy back to my car parked in front of the Coldstone on Culver, okay?”

  “I’m getting in the car now.” I heard the door slam and knew he was telling the truth. “You’re in Northwood territory?”

  I nodded, then remembered that he couldn’t see me. “Yeah.” I crossed over by the pool. It was surprisingly empty for the heat, but then I remembered that kids were in school now, despite the summer weather. I wasn’t sure if having more witnesses or less would have been preferable. It probably didn’t matter.

  “At least traffic isn’t that bad right now.” He was talking more to himself than he was to me. “Everyone’s in school. Lunch is almost over.”

  “You’re talking to yourself again,” I said. I heard a crunch and my heart jumped in my throat at the prospect that I might have stepped on an unsuspecting snail. I glanced down to see it was only a large leaf that had fallen from one of the trees overhead. “Shit.”

  “Shit?” Beech all but yelped. “You better not fuck this up, Chalmers.”

  “You’ve already told me that.” I increased my pace, forcing myself to trust the fact that I would run into the target even though I couldn’t see him. “I thought I stepped on a snail.”

  “Wait. Wait, wait, wait. Let me get this straight, Chalmers. You’re running after a highly-sought after suspect attached to at least three different four-five-nines and you are more concerned about a snail than the suspect.”

  “Just because I can’t see him doesn’t mean I won’t get him,” I said between breaths.

  “You don’t see him?!”

  “You don’t have to raise your voice –“

  “Jesus, Chalmers! Like, I literally don’t understand you. How is it that with all of our resources and manpower that’s been assigned to this case, how is it you are able to find him after everything? And not just find him, but actually chase him. And then lose him!”

  The alley behind the row of houses came into view. I knew Beech was annoyed with me, but I was too distracted to care. If my calculations were correct, my target would be coming out of that alley any moment. Besides a couple of houses at the end of a cul-de-sac, there was nowhere for him to go besides the alley. I didn’t think he was familiar with Irvine’s rigid housing structure. Because the land belonged to the city, there were strict parameters for how houses were constructed. It was why many of the houses in specific neighborhoods looked very similar – because they were essentially the same house, just flipped around. There weren’t many alleys in Irvine which was why my instincts told me he would try to find shelter there.

  “He’s coming out, Beech. Gotta go.”

  “Don’t you hang up on me –“

  I clicked the red circle and pocketed my smart phone. I positioned myself behind a couple of trees and waited. Closing my eyes, I tried to hear footsteps, any indication that he was coming.

  It took a moment, but I heard him coming. Sneakers slapping against the pavement. Slightly out of breath. If I didn’t use the surprise to my advantage, he’d overpower me with his strength. I bounced from foot to foot. I took off my backpack and grabbed my half-eaten egg salad sandwich and threw it in the opposite direction just as he exited the mouth of the alley.

  He turned and I tackled him to the ground. I acted quickly and pulled out my taser.

  “Don’t move or else I’ll –“

  He shifted, trying to hit me across the face.

  “Asshole!” I exclaimed, shooting him with one thousand volts. “Not my face.”

  He twitched once, collapsing back to the ground.

  I huffed an indignant sigh, then smirked. I got my target. Which meant I got my bonus. Now all I had to do was wait for Beech to arrive and hope that this asshole didn’t wake up.

  Chapter 2

  “Has anyone ever told you what a pain in the ass you are?”

  I drummed my fingers on Beech’s old desk and tossed my ponytail over my shoulder. My lips twitched up into a smirk and I looked up to take him in.

  “Only you,” I responded, swiveling in his comfy leather chair.

  His pressed his lips into a thin line as he headed over to his desk in the bullpen, a Styrofoam cup of coffee in his hand.

  “Did you need something, Chalmers?” He took a sip of the coffee and made a face, his dark eyes all but glaring at the liquid. “I’m sure you didn’t stop to see little old me.”

  “I’m surprised you would actually refer to yourself as little,” I said. I placed my hands on the arms of the chair and pushed myself up into a standing position just as he stepped forward. “Actually, I have some paperwork I need you to sign in regards to your offender for case number one-nine-one-seven-four-five-two.”

  Now, it was his turn to grin. He set his cup of coffee down on the corner of his desk and stepped towards me, completely ignoring the concept of personal space. I hated when he did that – and he chose to do it often, knowing it was one of the few ways to make me uncomfortable. There was something about Beech that drew me to him. He was ridiculously good looking – high cheekbones, sharp jaw, dark coffee-brown eyes, shoulder-length dark hair that shouldn’t work but did because he was just that good looking - but it was easy to write that off. He had this innate talent of detecting weakness and exploiting that weakness, wrapping up that exploitation in his charm. It was devastating, and even though I knew he did this and took advantage of it, I still let it affect me every time.

  And I hated myself for it.

  “You were the one who nabbed him?” he asked.

  I could smell the hint of rolled cigarettes and ocean cologne. I hated the smell of cigarettes, but for some reason, it didn’t bother me on him.

  I cleared my throat and stepped back. His grin only widened.

  “You sound surprised,” I said.

  He took a seat in his chair, leaning back and looking at the paperwork I placed on his desk. “I am,” he said. “I heard he got caught on foot and I know what a terrible runner you are. Is that why you haven’t interviewed for a position here? The physical exam?”

  “Obviously I know I’m not in the best shape,” I said, “but I still caught the guy.”

  “One wouldn’t know it, given how small you are.” I couldn’t tell if that was a compliment or not. Then I remembered that this was coming from Beech and I didn’t care. His eyes flickered down my body, but there wasn’t anything lecherous about it. If anything, it seemed as though he was studying me, taking me in. “You barely caught the guy. If you hadn’t, I would have been there to do just that.”

  “Because I called you,” I pointed out.

  “Thank God you did. I
don’t think you would have been able to catch the guy if he hadn’t tripped over the tree roots in front of that house and twisted his ankle. Luckily, I was there to make sure he couldn’t get past you – which he definitely would have been able to do considering you were practically passed out by the time I showed up.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Look, at the end of the day, I’m responsible for nabbing him,” I said. “That’s all that matters. Do I need to run more? Probably. But I get my bonus, and an asshole is behind bars. Everybody wins.”

  Beech made a guttural sound from the back of his throat. He kicked his heels up, crossing them on the edge of his desk and leaning back against his leather chair.

  “I need you to sign my paperwork,” I said, sliding my backpack off my shoulder and unzipping it. Thank God I kept it in my car at all times. I would probably forget it if I didn’t. I pulled out a manila folder as another detective scooted around me in order to head towards the exit. Phones were ringing in the background and a couple of uniformed patrol officers were murmuring at the desk behind Beech.

  “My favorite part of the job.” He smirked, only emphasizing his sharp cheekbones. “The part where you admit you need me.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” It used to bother me that he reveled in this necessary part of the job, but I didn’t care anymore at this point. As long as I got paid, he could enjoy the fact that I relied on him for my bonus. I genuinely didn’t care.

  “Don’t you have a date tonight?” He took the paperwork from my hand and began to flip through it, his dark eyes scanning the typed font. I wasn’t sure why he continued to read each contract I gave him; they were all essentially the same, just with different names, offenses, and case numbers. I would never try to pull a fast one on him and I think he knew that.