by Laura Gibson
It wasn’t that Juliet didn’t trust Beat, she just didn’t trust anyone. It was just easier that way, having an office where she could store all her casefiles and research and not having to worry about curious snoopers.
Beat never asked about the lock even though she knew about it and so Juliet never felt like she had to really explain herself.
Now, Juliet sat down at her desk and pulled open a drawer. Sitting on top sat five different files.
Juliet sighed and took out the folders. She spread them out on her desk and looked at each one, contemplating her next move.
Alice had given her a lot, but not enough. Not enough to really do anything without a solid case against them. She knew the truth, but in the courtroom it would just look like speculations and theories. A tired detective making shots in the dark, hoping something found its mark.
The last three folders had kept Juliet guessing for months now.
Volkov, M. - missing
Volkov, Z. - deceased
Volkov, C. -
Juliet opened the middle file and stared down at the picture of the girl looking back at her.
Dark black hair and sad blue eyes on a painfully white complexion. Juliet had known her has Zoyah Volkov for years. The last child to be born in the Volkov family. But others in her life had come to known Zoyah as Jane Seymour, a fact that bothered Juliet more so than anything else.
If she followed this case to its finale, a lot of things would come out that Rhett might not forgive her for. The first and foremost being, she knew all about Jane Seymour’s death before Rhett had worked up the courage to tell her himself.
Juliet cleared her throat and closed the folder, deciding to open Casimir’s instead. There he was. Dark black hair and alarmingly blue eyes. His skin was like his sister’s, cool and white without blemish.
He was a young man of twenty six. The middle child of the three and the smartest it would seem. After the patriarch of the family died, Zoyah had fled her home with their mother and Mikhail had stayed and gambled away most of his inheritance. It was Casimir that brought the Volkov name back into prosperity and it was Casimir that now had dealings with many other companies. Namely, Prescott Shipping and Harmon, Gunn, and Rogers Associates, a law firm out in California.
Harmon, Gunn, and Rogers handled the legal documents Casimir had drawn up for his business when he decided to take it to the states. Prescott Shipping was the only liner that would haul the dead carcasses across the ocean without too much protest.
Juliet had at first gone to Prescott Shipping and met with Bill Prescott, the owner, and asked if she could take a look around.
The older man gave her leave to do so and she came up empty handed, a fact that ate away at Juliet’s gut. She knew there was something there she had been missing, but whatever it was, they had hidden it well.
Before Juliet left Agoura, California she had a meeting with Peter Gunn of Harmon, Gunn, and Rogers. Their meeting was less than profitable as Peter Gunn didn’t handle Casimir’s accounts, that was Harmon and Harmon wouldn’t return her phone calls.
With the name ‘Alice’ popping up everywhere lately, Juliet knew she had to get to the bottom of things before any lead she had grew too cold to follow.
When Alice approached her at the fundraiser, Juliet felt like this was it, this was the last big break she needed. But it seemed Alice had her own motives and none of them matched up very well with Juliet’s.
Alice wanted to keep her brother alive and she wanted to make sure they were protected before she gave away any real evidence. Before she told Juliet something the detective could use.
“I could just look up your name.” Juliet had told Alice during hour number two.
“I suppose you could.” Alice made circles on the table with her finger, “But that would take all the fun out of this.”
“You’ve already told me your brother’s name.” Juliet pointed out, “So I know your last name is Hill.”
Alice shrugged, “Not anymore.”
Juliet felt her eyes narrowing, “Is this a joke to you?”
Alice shook her head and snorted, “What else is it supposed to be?”
“This is serious, you’re talking about you and your brother getting murdered. You could at least be less flippant.” Juliet felt like she was scolding a belligerent teenager.
Alice gave a cynical chuckle, her blue eyes locking onto Juliet, hopeless death hanging in the pupils. “I am serious.”
Juliet grabbed a new folder and labeled it ‘Hill, K.’ with a black marker before turning to her computer and beginning to transfer their conversation from that afternoon into transcripts.
Alice already had her own folder, but this Kelly Hill person was a new character and from what Alice had told Juliet, he wasn’t a very nice one.
Chapter Fourteen
Charleston, West Virginia
March 3rd, 2007
Rhett
Rhett woke with the distinct feeling he was being watched. The smell of frying bacon was an interesting combination to the hollow feeling in his stomach from too much alcohol the night before and he wondered if any of that bacon was for him.
Slowly he opened one eye and then the other, focusing in on the little lady perched on the end of the couch, staring at him. The wild red hair was less tame this morning than it had been last night, or he was just too drunk to notice before. He squinted and then frowned, trying to remember her name, trying to remember why she was scowling at him so fiercely. Had he done something last night that would merit such ire? Rhett thought back to the club, the girl with the pretty teeth and spray-on tan. Afterwards. The two girls who were concerned enough to bring him home. To bring him here.
Rhett groaned and rubbed his face, “Don’t worry, I’m leaving.”
“Juliet said I had to feed you first.” The angry little redhead said with just as much flippant annoyance in him as he had in himself.
That perked Rhett up, but he didn’t want Beet to know. Was that right? Was her name really beet?
Rhett tried to think past the hangover brain, but it was a heavy, rather painful fog and he knew some coffee in the veins would do him good. “Are you really named after a vegetable?”
Beet rolled her eyes and stood up, “Your breakfast is in the kitchen.” She stomped off and around the corner without any further instructions, without any thought in consideration towards the fact he had no idea where the kitchen was or even what he was supposed to be doing.
He got to feet and stretched, no use in waiting around for any more hospitality, it looked like Beet didn’t care and Juliet was no where to be seen. At the remembrance of Juliet his stomach clenched and he thought he might get sick again. Juliet was the first person he had really talked to about Jane’s death.
His sisters had begged him for days to open up, but in the end, all it took was a complete and total stranger. Rhett shook his head and wandered in the direction Beet had gone. Maybe she was angrily trying to lead him towards the kitchen, maybe she was trying to be helpful in her own, snarky ways.
Sure enough, when he found the kitchen, he found Beet.
Sitting at the kitchen table, sipping a hot beverage of sorts she stared at him with as much venom as he was sure she could muster.
“Eat.” She instructed, never taking her green eyes off him, never pretending like this wasn’t a huge inconvenience for her.
With a slight shrug Rhett sat down and started in on the scrambled eggs and bacon. It was still warm, but the condensation accumulated on the sides of the plate lead Rhett to believe she had covered it to keep it warm. So he could keep sleeping.
Rhett felt himself smile, maybe Beet wasn’t such a grump after all. Maybe underneath that sort of bitchy exterior she was an ol’ softy.
“Stop smiling. It slows down the eating.” Beet half barked at him.
The command made Rhett smile all the more, but he shoveled in the food at a faster pace. No need to wear out his welcome, after she had gone to all the trouble of making him somethin
g to eat.
“There’s aspirin next to your water.” Beet’s tone was less hostile, but still hard, still letting him know that she didn’t care about him.
“You’re good people, Beet.” Rhett saw the two small tablets and swallowed them with his water greedily. He had never been treated so well by a stranger before.
“You’re not allowed to call me that.” Beet was glaring at him again, “We went over this last night.”
Rhett flashed her what he hoped was his most charming of smiles, “I know.”
“So stop.” Beet’s glare had turned back to a scowl. She was very good at the disapproving facial expressions. It made him think she would probably make a decent drill sergeant.
“Where’s Juliet?” Rhett asked, hoping he would get a chance to talk to her this morning. Hoping they could smooth things over. Women always got attached after you showed them a little bit of emotion. He didn’t want that to happen with her. Not with her chocolate eyes and perfect feet. He wanted everything to be okay between them. He didn’t want her to think this was anything more than what it was.
“She had to go to work. First day and all, couldn’t call in sick because she was busy takin’ care of the town drunk.” Beet sipped more of her beverage.
It was Rhett’s turn to scowl at Beet now, “I’m not the town drunk.”
“Coulda fooled me.” Beet raised her eyebrows.
Rhett rolled his eyes, “What does she do?”
“She’s a detective.” Beet stared at him, “Break any laws lately?”
Rhett almost choked on his water, “Detective? With where?”
“With where?” Beet raised an eyebrow, her tone sickly sarcastic, “Good question.”
“You know what I mean.” Rhett leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest.
“Fine.” Beet looked almost hurt that he was putting his foot down at the small bullying she had been inflicting upon him. “She’s a DEA agent, happy?”
“Here? She’s a DEA agent here in Charleston?” Rhett pressed, unsure of what he was hearing. His application for the job had recently been accepted and he was surprised that someone so gentle looking would pass those tests. Then again, you couldn’t judge a book by its cover.
“Yes.” Beet hissed, “Now if you’re finished, I have some stuff to do. So…” She made a shooing motion with her hands.
“Don’t you want me to help you do the dishes?” Rhett asked, looking around the kitchen at all the pots and pans that had gone into cooking him one meal.
“No. I want you to go home now and never come back. Your cab should be here any minute now.” Beet replied, looking at the clock hanging on the wall.
Sure enough, there was a honk outside and Rhett felt his mouth open slightly, it was scary how she had timed that rather perfectly.
“Out you go.” Beet smiled for the first time that morning, getting to her feet and walking him towards the door, “Here’s to never seeing your face ever again.”
Rhett swallowed, wanting to explain to her as he left that she might not get her way but he was afraid of the tiny redhead’s wrath.
Rhett got in the cab and told the cab driver his address before lining back in his seat, sure he was going to be seeing Juliet more often.
Because that’s what happened when you were getting another person assigned to your department. You worked with them and got to know them.
Rhett cursed at himself silently, wishing he had been smarter. He knew a Juliet Hillard was being promoted to his department, he knew she would be here the week before he came back from “vacation”, and he knew she was a hard ass that did everything by the books and never missed a detail.
He had done his homework on Juliet Hillard because she was going to help him crack open the newest case in Charleston. He respected her career and what the badge meant to her. The stories he heard were enough to make him know they would work well together.
So now he sat in the back of cab her roommate had called for him, knowing he had puked on Detective Juliet Hilliard’s shoes, knowing that was the first impression he was making on the one person who had no idea what a massive screw up he was.
Not that they would ever say it to his face. No one ever wanted to tell the man who lost the love of life that he had failed. That he couldn’t make the only girl he had ever loved happy.
And now he had puked on her shoes.
Rhett sighed, feeling the need to vomit again but pushed it back down where it belonged. He would just have to prove to Juliet Hilliard that he wasn’t that same man from the bar last night. He was a blathering drunk who couldn’t hold his alcohol, or his tongue. He wasn’t the guy who crashed on strangers’ couches and ate their eggs in the morning. He was Detective Rhett Samuels. DEA agent and all around American man. He would do his job to the best of his ability and that would be that.
She probably didn’t even know who he was. She probably wouldn’t recognize him sober and so everything was going to be fine, because it wasn’t like he was going to be drunk in front of her again. It wasn’t like he was going to take her out partying with him. They were going to have a very respectful, professional work relationship and they were going to catch all the bad guys in West Virginia. Because they were serious people who took their jobs seriously.
Rhett nodded to himself as he solidified all these plans in his mind. He got home and paid the cab driver, going into his empty house and tossing his keys on the floor before flopping down next to them, the pounding in his head getting the better of him.
Lazily, his eyes blinked two or three times, beckoning the need for real sleep, telling him he could worry about the work stuff later. Telling him it was okay to sleep it off.
Rhett gave into the whispers of his eyelids and drifted off, only to be awakened by the cold, dead reminder of finding Jane in the kitchen. A memory forever etched into his mind.
Rhett made it to the waste basket before he lost his breakfast, but he knew he couldn’t go back to sleep. Not again. Not in this house.
Charleston, West Virginia
May 2nd, 2008
Juliet
Juliet had always lived by the belief that honesty was everything in a relationship. That’s probably why her and Bryan didn’t work out the way he wanted them to, neither one of them were willing to give up their separate lives for one another. Bryan promised that all it would take was a little bit of compromise, but what he failed to mention was that compromise had to come from her and not from him.
She had spent the better part of three years pretending that he would give in eventually and meet her halfway, but that never seemed to happen, and so when things lead her to Hartford, Connecticut she let Bryan know she was done trying. There was really no point in what they were trying to make happen and so her and Beat packed up and moved away.
Sometimes Bryan would call her, but that was really only to make sure her mind was made up and done. That they were really over.
The last time he called, Rhett had answered the phone, something that led to an interesting conversation. Apparently Bryan was still under the impression that Juliet was going home sometime soon and they had just had a fight.
There had been no fight. There was just the fact of the situation that Juliet didn’t want to be with him anymore.
Juliet flexed her grip around the steering wheel of her car and concentrated on the man she had been following for the better part of the morning.
The first thing she noticed was that Kelly Hill, murderer or not, was a child. He couldn’t be any older than seventeen, with his thin frame and his unkempt hair he looked the part of any brooding teenager, but sometimes, she would catch a look in his eyes that told her there was something else there. Something just below the surface. A wild animal, trapped, trying to get out.
When caught in a trap, animals were known to gnaw their own legs off just to get free. So why wasn’t Kelly gnawing yet? Surely, with everything Alice had told Juliet, Kelly should want to be running by now. Casimir Volkov had made it c
lear that they weren’t safe and Kelly didn’t hold himself up like a beaten dog would. He looked more like… like he was biding his time. As if he was waiting for something else to happen first.
Juliet cracked her neck and looked at the time on her dash. It was just past four in the afternoon and Kelly had made his way into a small coffee shop next to the illustrious Phillips Academy. Juliet sucked in a gulp of air and grabbed her purse. Time for some up close stalking.
As she entered the coffee shop and got in line she noted Kelly’s position in the back, just by the bathrooms, hidden partially in shadow, a distinctly forgettable place to sit. His eyes were on a blonde girl closer to the front door, bent over text books, highlighting like there was no tomorrow. She had no idea Kelly was watching her and Juliet wasn’t sure if it meant anything at all.
Kelly was an interesting character. He seemed to portray one type of personality and then turn around and decide against it, as if he had the ability to control everything surrounding himself.
Before Juliet was able to order, Kelly had finished his coffee and was walking out the door, quickly and with purpose.
Juliet waited a few beats and then turned and followed him.
Exiting the door she took a half step back, he was waiting for her, his green eyes hard with self defense and mistrust.
“Detective Juliet Hilliard.” His mouth moved mechanically as if he was reciting something he had memorized months ago.
“Kelly Hill.” Juliet met him with just as much force.
“I didn’t know you’d be the one she’d pick.” Kelly’s lips were a thin line, refusing to show any amount of emotion.
“Who? Didn’t know what?” Juliet decided that ignorance was her best bet in this scenario. She was already going out on a limb following the minor, she might as well not dig her grave while she was at it.
“Alice. I didn’t know she’d pick you as the would be savior.” Kelly rubbed his jaw, “She’s not one to trust.”
“You mean, I shouldn’t trust her, or she doesn’t trust?” Juliet felt her arms crossing over her chest. Kelly knew more than she thought he did and now, it looked like she knew even less than what she had been lead to believe.
