Cold Hearted (Cold Justice Book 6)

by Toni Anderson

  “Erin?”

  The velvet tones of his voice did something to her every time she heard them. “Rachel Knight woke up. They’re removing her breathing tube in the next few minutes. You might want to get down here.”

  “Wait for me.” He hung up before she could make an excuse. Tears threatened.

  She owed him an apology but knew she couldn’t face him. Didn’t want to look into those intelligent brown eyes and see the knowledge reflected there that she was running away again. She was a coward. Suddenly she needed to get out of here before Darsh turned up, and she made a complete fool of herself by throwing herself at the man.

  She took a last peek and saw Rachel’s bed surrounded by a crowd of people. She hoped the young woman made a full recovery. Recovering from this trauma might be the hardest thing the girl ever did, but she’d already proved she was a survivor.

  Erin turned on her heel and saw Jason Brady stepping out of the elevator with another Blackcombe Ravens player. Their eyes locked, and her heart thumped crazily against her ribs as he moved purposefully toward her. It was gutless, but the last thing she wanted to do was face the student when she’d been kicked off the job and her entire body ached from yesterday’s crash. It was time to pop another pain pill and then catch her flight home to visit her family. It was time to lay that particular demon to rest. She slammed through the exit into the stairwell and smacked into someone else. All her injuries screamed as they collided.

  “Erin!” It was Rick Lachlan carrying an array of blooms.

  “Rick. Hey.”

  Jason Brady opened the door of the stairwell, then paused when he spotted Rick. He opened his mouth to say something, but changed his mind and backed away. She couldn’t read his expression. Maybe he didn’t want any witnesses when he hurled his latest round of abuse.

  “You visiting a friend?” she asked Rick.

  “Yeah, but she must have been released early so I was going to leave these at the nurse’s station for anyone who didn’t have any visitors. What’re you doing here?” Lines formed between his brows. “You didn’t have any complications from your accident, did you?”

  If losing her job and her nerve could be called complications then, yes, she was having them.

  “I came to visit Rachel Knight. She just woke up.” Suddenly overcome with emotion, she let out a sob and tried to cover the sound with her fist. Yesterday she’d been so certain Rachel was dead. Her waking up represented a miracle all of its own.

  He handed the flowers to a nurse who was passing.

  “Hey.” He rubbed Erin’s back in a friendly gesture. She refrained from flinching when he touched a bruise on her shoulder. There were bruises everywhere. “That’s great news.” Rick tilted his head to one side. “You look like you could use a drink. Wanna go grab that coffee we keep talking about?”

  Tears gathered in her eyes, but she fiercely blinked them away. “Sorry.” She wiped her eyes. “My allergies must be flaring up.”

  “Erin,” he admonished. “You’ve been through a terrible few days, and you just got fired through no fault of your own.”

  She winced. Obviously that news was now public.

  “Give yourself permission to take some time off. Decompress. Chill. Drink coffee, maybe go wild and have a cookie.”

  She laughed reluctantly. “I suppose.” All she really wanted was for Darsh to wrap his arms around her and tell her everything was going to be okay, but she’d stopped believing in fairy tales the day her husband had used her as a punching bag. They started walking down the stairs, taking it slowly in deference to her injuries. Every muscle in her body ached, but most especially her heart. The betrayal by her boss hurt, but it wasn’t unexpected. Strassen tended to look out for number one. What had really knocked her sideways was the fact she’d fallen for a man who’d contributed to her tumble from grace, helped get her fired, and then had gone and solved the damn mystery.

  He was a hero, and she was a whore. No double standards at play at all.

  “Come on. I’ve had a shitty day too. Hard to discover a man you idolized is in fact a sadistic killer. No wonder he was so good at teaching criminal psychology.”

  She tried to smile because he was trying to cheer her up, but her heart wasn’t in it. “I guess he fooled us all.”

  They headed to the parking lot. She checked her watch again. “Actually, I don’t really have time for coffee. I’m catching a flight at five.”

  His eyes flashed, and he checked his own watch. “How about I drive you to the airport? I know you don’t have a truck anymore. We can grab a coffee before you catch your flight.”

  “I guess I could leave Officer Mason’s keys under the visor and text him where I left his car.” Erin pulled the keys out of her pocket.

  “I expect he’s going to be here soon talking to Rachel anyway,” Rick said helpfully.

  Of course he was right. She looked at him. “Are you sure you don’t mind?”

  He shrugged with his hands in his pockets. “I have nothing else to do with myself today except watch reruns of The Big Bang Theory.”

  It seemed churlish to refuse. “Okay, then.” She opened the passenger door of Ully’s Mustang and slid the keys behind the visor. She grabbed her small travel bag out of the trunk and made sure the car was locked before she shut the door.

  She hefted the bag across her shoulder though Rick offered to carry it for her, and walked carefully over the trampled snow to his small sedan. She looked at the hospital and thought wistfully about Darsh. He’d be here soon. Mad and disappointed in her. Nothing she could do about that right now, although, for the first time, the idea she was making a big mistake teased the edge of her mind.

  Rick was in the driver’s seat waiting for her to get in. “It’s just coffee, Erin.”

  She nodded and climbed inside.

  * * *

  Erin’s phone call had Darsh striding into the bullpen and tracking down Ully Mason. “Rachel Knight just woke up. Let’s get down there.”

  The other man nodded and got off the phone. “I’m coming.”

  They took the cruiser, Ully driving while Darsh checked his incoming mail. Monica Ripley was proving impossible to track down, and he hoped she hadn’t become another victim of this ruthless killer. Ully shot out of the parking lot with the sirens blasting.

  There was an email from the warden of Riverview, forwarded from Drew Hawke. The list of people who might have a grudge against the quarterback was long, but Professor Huxley wasn’t on it. He frowned, then forwarded it to Agent Chen to crosscheck with the other lists. The evidence against Huxley was piled as high as the snow at the side of the road, but there was nothing to link him to the campus rapes last year.

  What if he was wrong about Hawke, and the quarterback wasn’t innocent?

  What if Erin had been right about Hawke, and Strassen had fired her anyway?

  Had Huxley enjoyed the attention he and the college had received last year and decided to continue it, to manipulate the cops and dabble in some practical application of his academic interests? He was denying everything.

  “You serious about Donovan?” Ully asked, turning off the sirens as the traffic thinned.

  “Yeah.” Darsh didn’t want to talk about this. “But she’s not interested.”

  Ully’s eyebrows hiked. “She’s interested all right. She hasn’t looked twice at a guy in all the time she’s been here, so she’s definitely interested.”

  “We knew each other before.” Darsh admitted reluctantly. “A few years ago when she did a training course at Quantico.”

  “When she was still married?” Ully asked in surprise.

  “She’d filed for divorce. Guy was an asshole.”

  “Obviously,” Ully agreed, and he didn’t know the half of it. “Look, she’s a good cop, but we’ve had a hell of a year. Give her time. She’ll come around.”

  Darsh grunted. He didn’t want to have to persuade someone to love him.

  Christ. His mouth went dry. How could
he have been so stupid as to fall in love with Erin Donovan, a sharp-tongued, stubborn, independent, control freak? Who was also sexy, smart, dedicated, and incredibly beautiful? He stared out of the window at the cold snow, and it reminded him of how it had felt to be abandoned by a woman who shouldn’t have had to be forced to love him. It had felt cold and desolate and lonely as fuck.

  He swore.

  Erin felt something for him, he knew she did, she was just skittish after that hellish experience with her asshole ex and from everything happening on the case. She’d almost died yesterday, she was bound to be shaken up and confused. And she was mad because he hadn’t told her about visiting Hawke in Riverview. It was a mistake. He should have told her, but he’d known she’d be angry.

  He’d see her again in a few minutes. Apologize. Convince her that he meant what he said—that what they had was worth pursuing. They could go slow and easy. He wouldn’t mention the “L” word. That would be his secret. It would scare the hell out of the woman.

  Ully flicked a glance at him and opened his mouth to say something else.

  “I don’t want to hear it.” Darsh put his hand up in defense.

  “I was only gonna say I’m sorry. For being an ass when you arrived.”

  “I thought you were always an ass?”

  “Meh, it varies on whether or not I got laid in the last few days.”

  “Obviously not for a while, then.”

  Ully laughed and pulled across two lanes of traffic, making Darsh’s heart slam into his throat. “Damn straight.”

  The officer double-parked at the curb outside the hospital doors. They jogged up the front steps then took the stairs, ignoring the press who held out microphones as they expectantly shouted questions.

  “Uh, oh,” Ully said checking his cell. “Looks like you have some leg work to do.”

  “What d’you mean?” Darsh opened the fire door at the top of the stairs.

  “Erin just texted me to say my car’s in the parking lot here at the hospital, and she’s flying down to visit her parents.”

  “Dammit.” Darsh’s shoulders sagged.

  “You could go after her.” Ully checked his watch. “Flight won’t leave until five.”

  But inside, Darsh felt hollow. It wasn’t the first time someone had left him behind without saying goodbye. It shouldn’t hurt quite so much, but hell if it didn’t.

  He passed Jason Brady in the hallway, and his footsteps slowed. He paused, then turned on the guy. “What are you doing here?”

  The kid shrugged, enormous shoulders filling out a Ravens’ T-shirt like it was a size too small. Darsh had no clue how Erin had handled the guy at the sorority house that day.

  “I got a message from Drew.” The guy wouldn’t meet his gaze. “He asked me to do him a favor. To find all the people he’d been an asshole to and apologize to them on his behalf.”

  “You have the list on you?”

  Brady dug into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out a heavily folded piece of paper. Darsh scanned it. It was the same list Hawke had sent him.

  “I’m still waiting to hear your alibi for Monday night. People say there were a couple of hours when you weren’t at the party?”

  Brady’s eyes flashed. “I thought you caught the guy responsible?”

  Darsh stared hard at the football player. He kept his voice low. “We have someone in custody, but he hasn’t been charged yet.”

  Brady’s eyes went wide. “I didn’t kill Cassie or the other girl.” He swallowed and Darsh smelled fear. “But I don’t have an alibi. I just went for a walk. I’ve outgrown the party scene. Didn’t want to be there, but didn’t have any choice. I’m gonna move off campus as soon as I can find a place.” All the breath went out of the kid. “I just want college to be over.”

  Darsh nodded his head toward Rachel’s room. “So why are you here? She isn’t on the list.”

  Jason straightened from his slouch against the wall. “She’s on my list.” A look of shame crossed his features. “Look.” His shoulders slumped. “I saw her on campus before the trial started and said some things I’m not very proud of. I thought she was lying about being attacked.” His lips compressed into a bloodless line. “But she wasn’t, was she? Everything she said happened.” He swallowed noisily. “I told her she made it up because she was desperate for attention, and that she was too ugly for anyone to want.” Tears filled the guy’s eyes, and he didn’t try to hide them. “I need to tell her how sorry I am.”

  “You can tell her, but I doubt it’ll be today. Whether or not she forgives you is something else entirely.”

  “That’s her prerogative.” Brady nodded, expression serious. “I need to apologize to Detective Donovan, too. I’ve been a prick. I saw her earlier, but she was talking with that TA from criminology—”

  “Lachlan or Hall?” He didn’t want to think about Erin, but she was always on the periphery of his thoughts.

  “Lachlan,” Brady told him.

  “He’s also on the list,” Darsh noted. “What did Drew Hawke do to him?”

  “We got him drunk and wrote on him at a party. Humiliated him.” Brady closed his eyes. “Man, there are a lot of people on that list. I’ve been a prick, and I need to snap out of it before I cross a line that can’t be uncrossed.” He gave a harsh laugh. “I’m starting a twelve-step program for douchebags.”

  When their eyes met, a look of understanding passed between them—the kid had been an asshole but had decided to face the consequences. It took a certain amount of balls to do that. There was hope for him yet. Assuming he followed through.

  “You think there’s a chance Drew will be released?” Brady asked the million-dollar question, trying to keep the hope out of his voice.

  Darsh handed the piece of paper back to Brady. “Depends on what we find out and how the Department of Justice wants to handle it. Either way a judge has to decide—same way a judge sentenced him in the first place.”

  He went to turn away, but Brady asked urgently, “Do you think Drew raped those girls?”

  Darsh hesitated, then gave a slight shake of his head, even though he’d never make an official statement.

  Brady pulled in a big breath. “Right. Good.” Then he resumed his slouch against the wall and began what was sure to be a long wait.

  Ully was frantically motioning Darsh toward the door of Rachel’s room, and they edged inside the crowded space. The girl looked so fragile and tiny in that big hospital bed surrounded by tubes and machines. Medical personnel were drawing blood and checking her blood pressure. Her skin was about the same shade as the bleached bedsheets. Had Rachel Knight woken up with damage to her brain function? It didn’t look like it, but it didn’t mean she remembered anything about what happened yesterday. She was talking to the doctors and holding hands with her mother, her father standing at his wife’s shoulder. Between family, medical staff, and her bodyguard, courtesy of Alex Parker’s security company, the room was full to bursting.

  Rachel’s eyes searched the crowd and paused when they found his. He edged closer.

  “Where’s Erin?” she asked hoarsely.

  “She wanted to be here,” Darsh told her. So why had she left? To avoid him, he realized. The knowledge sat like a tombstone on his chest. “Do you know who did this to you, Rachel?”

  She nodded. Despite her ordeal, her eyes were brighter than they’d been when they’d talked the other day. Her greatest fear had come true, and she’d survived. Maybe she could overcome some of the trauma that haunted her. In a war zone they called it “seeing the elephant.”

  She gripped his sleeve and pulled him closer. His pulse kicked up a beat. “He tricked me into meeting him at the park by saying a girl needed my help. He forced me to walk into the forest where he intended to hang me from a tree and make it look like I’d committed suicide. He said he was the one who raped me last year, and that he pretended to be Drew Hawke. You have to let Drew out of prison, he didn’t do it.” Her hand shook, not with fear, bu
t with passion. Her thoughts were with the man she’d helped wrongfully convict.

  “Who?” he asked, trying not to sound impatient. “Who tricked you? I need a name or a description.”

  Her eyes filled with tears, and he leaned close so she could whisper in his ear. “Rick. Rick Lachlan.”

  The words came out as barely an undertone, but they shook him to his foundation. He searched her face to make sure she hadn’t made a mistake or been confused, but her gaze was clear and direct. It wasn’t the professor. The professor was another stooge, like the quarterback had been. Darsh had been fooled the same way Erin had been fooled.

  Erin.

  Erin had been with Lachlan earlier…

  Part of him wanted to ask Rachel if she was absolutely sure, but that was a stupid question, and he’d already been stupid enough. The final pieces clicked together. The professor didn’t have a personal grudge against the football team, but this Lachlan guy did.

  He squeezed her hand, nodded curtly to her parents, and strode into the corridor, calling Erin’s cell. She didn’t answer, but maybe she was just avoiding him. Next he dialed Agent Chen. “Rachel Knight just named Rick Lachlan as the person who attacked her yesterday and said he’d confessed to raping her last year. Can you tell me everything you’ve got on him?”

  Ully stood at his shoulder, looking confused. The bodyguard followed them out.

  Chen began reciting information, “Rick Lachlan lived in the same hall as Rachel’s roommate’s boyfriend. I’m looking at the data I entered for where the victims took classes, and they all had classes in the building where he was based.” Which would cross over with Professor Huxley. Lachlan also had access to the professor’s office and probably to his house and car keys. Not to mention Mandy Wochikowski’s keys from when she’d worked in their lab last summer.

  “He gave the impression he was working at the mission on Monday night. Bickham was supposed to follow that up. Call her and ask her to confirm,” he told Ully.

  “Lachlan’s the killer? The professor’s grad student?” Ully asked, surprised.