Devils Among Us (Devin Dushane Series Book 1)

by Chastity Harris

  “You’re in town for at least eight weeks, right?”

  She scowled at him. She wanted to say no. “Yes, I’ll be here at least eight weeks. Why?”

  “Good!” He clapped his hands down on the door frame. “I want you to teach a six-week course in women’s self-defense.”

  Her arms dropped as her mouth fell open. “What? I don’t have any experience teaching” She had not seen this coming.

  “You’ll be great, and it’s a free class, so nobody’s going to complain.” He could see she was about to refuse, so he tried a new angle. His voice sobered as he looked her in the eye. “Devin, there is a real need here. Crime from the city moves closer to us all the time and people here live like we’re on some fifties sitcom. These women and girls are not cautious and they’re certainly not prepared to go out in the world. Someone’s going to get hurt if we don’t do something.”

  It worked. He had pushed all the right buttons. “Fine. I’ll do it.”

  “Great!” He smacked one palm down on her car again and she scowled. He quickly pulled his hands back and rested them on his belt. “I’m sure you can use the gym at the high school, and Lentz and Whitlock will help you with anything you need.” He was backing away from the car prepared to make his escape. She leaned out the window and stopped him.

  “I have one condition!” She held her index finger out the window. “The Haller and Dillon girls are required to attend the class.”

  A wide grin split his face. “Done! Miss Devin, you have yourself a nice day.” As he walked back to his squad car, he called over his shoulder. “And slow down!”

  Devin dropped her head back against the seat, pondering what had just happened. Well I wanted to stay busy this summer, right? She had to laugh at herself as her engine roared to life and she pulled away from the curb.

  Devin tossed the keys on the kitchen table still grumbling when she got to her temporary home and dropped her bag on a chair. She began rummaging through the fridge for some lunch and settled on a black-raspberry yogurt. As soon as she ripped the top off there was a knock at the front door. She stared at the ceiling briefly. Arrgh! Why am I so popular today? After the second knock she decided to take the yogurt with her, grabbed a clean spoon out of the dish rack, and trotted down the hall to the front of the house. Henry was standing on her porch, looking back across the street to his house. He jumped when she swung through the screen door. Odd, I wouldn’t have taken him for the jumpy sort, he always seems so low key.

  “Hey, Henry.” She leaned her hip against the porch railing and scooped a bite of yogurt into her mouth.

  “Hey Devin, I wanted to see if you were okay after last night, at the bar I mean.” He was studying the peeling grey paint on the cool concrete under her bare feet.

  “Ohhh, I’m a little sore.” She licked her spoon and grinned at him. “But I’m not as bruised as their pride. Anyway it was good for me. It gave my stab wounds a little workout. They held up so I’m going to hit the gym this afternoon.” She tried to keep her tone light to put him at ease. Devin could tell from his uneasy stance and refusal to meet her eyes that Henry was not used to sitting back while a lady was engaged in a bar fight.

  “Well that’s good…I guess.” He finally looked up at her face when she laughed.

  “Yes, that is a good thing. Henry, last night was no big deal—that was barely a warm up compared to working in Richmond.” She wasn’t looking at him because she was trying to dig the last bite of yogurt out of the cup.

  “How do women eat that stuff?”

  When she glanced up at Henry she saw his nose was wrinkled up like he smelled rotten eggs and he was staring at her yogurt in disbelief. Devin took her time savoring the last residue of yogurt off the spoon. “Stick around. I’m going to finish it off with a granola bar.”

  “Ughh! Tree bark? That’s even worse!” If it was possible he looked even more disgusted by this new dietary proposition. “I’m gonna have to fatten you up with some real food. Want to come over for dinner tomorrow night? I make a mean country-fried steak.”

  It was Devin’s turn to grimace. “Do you make anything that’s not fried?”

  He took a moment to think about it, rubbing his freshly shaven chin for effect. “Hmm, I don’t fry the collard greens. Although I suppose you could…” He tried to look thoughtful but the twinkle in his eye gave him away.

  “No, no let’s just leave the greens the way they are. I can’t tomorrow because I told Beth I would have dinner with them, but I could do it on Friday.” She arched an eyebrow at him. “Unless you have a hot date that night?”

  “I suppose I could postpone for a few hours. Say five-thirty?”

  Devin was glad he had warmed up to his usual relaxed self while they were talking. She used one foot to push off the porch railing to cross the porch, but paused in front of him and smiled up sweetly.

  “Five-thirty it is. Should I bring the yogurt or the tree bark?”

  “Neither! This a meal of real food, remember?” He reached out and tugged on a strand of her hair. “But you might want to bring a drink if you don’t want sweet tea.” With that he sprang off the porch and bounded down the walk with a much lighter stride than when he arrived.

  “Argh! You people and your dead leaves! I will never understand how you find that refreshing!”

  She was standing at the top of the porch steps with one hand on her hip, the other clutching her empty yogurt container, when he turned. But his snappy retort died on lips. A warm gust of air wrapped around them, billowing her hair like a dark satin cloud. He had the look. The look she had seen on her father so many times. The look of someone that had seen a ghost.

  Chapter 10

  Whack! The punching bag at the gym had seen better days, and Devin was really putting a strain on it with her multiple kicks and combination punches. She had always found this therapeutic, even when she was a little girl. The concentration and discipline of martial arts cleared her head and kept her more balanced. She knew she was drawing a lot of stares in this small-town gym as she gave the bag a mighty spinning kick followed by a rapid-fire jab combo. There were no other women in sight and most of the other patrons were concerned with sheer bulk rather than speed and agility. Her outfit was also garnering her lots of attention. Wife beaters and cut off sweatpants seemed to be more of the norm rather than her black spandex shorts and red running tank. She suspected that many of the weight lifters were extending their work outs to see what she would do next. After her cardio workout, all activity in the gym had ceased as she taped up her hands for her fighting exercises.

  “Nice form.” Shane’s voice broke into her concentration.

  Those two simple words took her back to the day Greg died. The last full conversation they had was about her running form. It was a memory she didn’t want. With unnecessary force Devin slammed her fist into the bag, almost ripping off one of its many duct tape bandages. She stared up at the ceiling with both hands on her hips, trying to catch her breath, the bag still swaying in front of her.

  “What do you want, Shane?” Her voice was harsher than she meant it to be, but it was the best way to disguise the wave of emotion that had just come over her.

  “Hey! Is that any way to talk to your biggest fan?”

  She spun on him in an instant, yanking the towel he offered out of his hands. Half snarling she narrowed her eyes.

  “This whole self-defense course was your idea, wasn’t it?” She didn’t give him a chance to answer. Instead she began wiping down with the towel and continued on her rant. “I was just being a Good Samaritan, I had no intention of becoming involved, but what was I supposed to do, let those young girls get manhandled by a drunken redneck? It’s not in my nature to let those things go, that’s why I’m a cop.”

  He was nodding sympathetically, which was irritating her even more. “I know. I would have done the same thing.” She tried to interrupt him, but he wouldn’t let her. “But this is small-town mentality and you’re an outsider, there
had to be a slap on the wrist. I can’t say I’m not pleased, though.” He ignored her scalding stare. “Devin, there really is a need for this kind of program in the community. Women here are utterly lacking any street sense. They are unprepared for any kind of danger. I’ve been lobbying for a self-defense class for a while, but before we never thought we’d have enough attendance to make it worthwhile.”

  She wrapped the towel around her neck, still scowling, but her anger was subsiding. “Why do you think you’d have enough people now?”

  “Are you kidding? Like I said, small-town mentality. Everybody wants to get a look at the new girl. Especially after the beat-down you gave those punks last night. Plus, you’re a relative of the most famous murder victim in Fenton’s history.” The grin that never faltered became even larger. “Shoot, I’ll be surprised if we’re not turning people away. They’ll probably be peeking in the windows the first night of class.”

  Devin’s laugh echoed off the cinderblock walls but was lost in the noise of the gym as she kneeled down to pull her water bottle out of her gym bag. She took a long pull of water as she plopped down on the bench a few feet from where Shane had taken a seat. She rested her head against the wall and glanced over at him, he wasn’t usually quiet this long. He was staring at her perplexed, as if he were trying to figure out a puzzle.

  “What?”

  “You have a lot of interesting ink.”

  “Two. I have two tattoos. I’m not exactly a side-show freak.” She chuckled to herself as she took another gulp of water and instantly regretted it.

  “I can’t decide. Is it an angel? Or an ‘I Love Swords’ tat?”

  She nearly choked to death on her water. Her eyes were still watering when she answered him. “You’re an idiot, you know that?”

  “I do believe someone might have mentioned that before.” As much as he grinned it was a good thing he had such perfect teeth. “So which is it?”

  It was hard to be haughty when it came to body art, but Devin gave it a shot and kept her voice cool. “It’s actually an angel holding a sword, the archangel Michael, to be exact. He’s the patron saint of the warrior.”

  “Well, that’s appropriate, isn’t it?”

  Something in his voice told her that he knew. She revealed her past to very few people, but he was persistent enough to do the research on his own and it wouldn’t have been that hard for him to find. She leaned her head back on the wall again and closed her eyes as she let out her breath in a whoosh.

  “You’re a real thorn in my side.”

  “What? I don’t even rank as a pain in the a—”

  She cut him off. “Shane! What do you know?” She was resisting the urge to throw him down on the mat and put her knee in his throat.

  “Well,” he leaned forward and extracted a roll of papers from his back pocket. “I know that eight years ago, you were the up and coming fighter in the U.S. Women’s Mixed Martial Arts League. I also know that you were one of the fighters lobbying for co-ed fights and match-ups based on ability and not just size. Which was highly controversial and never really took off after you weren’t there to continue the quest. Although I’ve got to say that would have been a sport worthy of watching. People flipping and bleeding, flying all over the ring…”

  As he talked he had his hands up as if he was in a fight bobbing and weaving his head to avoid blows. He was a goofball, but it did help lighten her mood.

  “Alright, Mr. Blood and Guts, what else?” Devin had to smack his arm to get his attention back. She didn’t smile, but she did let the corners of her mouth twitch ever so slightly.

  “Oh, yeah.” He rolled his print outs open again. “Let’s see, in 1993 and 1994 you had a series of unexplained absences from the sport for several months at a time. Lastly, in November of ’94 you were banned for life from competing in any sanctioned martial arts fights in the U.S. or Canada, but the reason for the ban was never disclosed.” His voice had grown softer and he didn’t look up from the papers when he finished speaking.

  She let the silence build for a moment. “You know I would never have gotten into the academy if I had failed a drug test.”

  His head snapped up, eyes popping from their sockets. “No! I didn’t mean…I know you wouldn’t…”

  She shook her head slowly without looking at him. “No, you don’t know me. But I did not fail a drug test.”

  Devin debated just getting up and leaving, but for some reason she felt compelled to tell Shane what had happened. She sighed deeply. Her voice was monotone and matter-of-fact.

  “Underground fighting is illegal. It’s unregulated, which makes it highly dangerous, and it’s a hot bed for illegal gambling, drug rings and prostitution. For all those reasons any league worth its salt bans its fighters from participating.” She glanced over at Shane, who was enthralled with her tale rather than horrified.

  “At that time women’s competitive fighting didn’t pay very well, and Carter was working on getting signed in Phoenix, but no money had come in yet. Tucker, my baby brother, was in huge trouble. He’d been hanging out with the wrong people, and they had pinned him with drug charges, grand theft auto, assault and attempted murder.” Shane sucked in his breath, and for once he wasn’t grinning. Devin started picking at the tape on her right hand as she continued.

  “He was looking at a lot of prison time and needed a really good lawyer, but we didn’t have that kind of money. My dad’s business partner, Mickey, who we lived with, had already taken out a second mortgage on their garage to pay the bail. They were going to lose the business, and Tucker was going away for a long time.” She gave up on the tape at that point and just yanked it off her hand and started unwinding it. “The best way I knew to lay my hands on that much cash was to go to Thailand and compete there in the underground circuit. American fighters were in high demand, especially women. If you won a big fight, you could walk away with as much as $50,000 cash. I bankrolled his legal team for the entire trial, the most prestigious firm in Richmond.” Her smile was grim, but satisfied as she stared across the room remembering. “He was acquitted of 95% of the charges and ended up doing twelve months.”

  “You sacrificed your entire fighting career, and he still did time?” He didn’t notice that he had crushed the papers he held into a mangled mess.

  Her smile was warmer this time, but tired. “It was worth it. The D.A.’s original offer was twenty years.” She pulled the towel off her neck and tossed it into the basket at the end of the bench. “Anyway, word eventually got back to someone in the league what I was doing. When they confirmed it, I was out, and, ironically, I began my career in law enforcement.” For once her grin matched his.

  “That is an awesome story!” He was in awe. “It’s all true?”

  Devin held one hand to her heart and the other up in the air as if she were testifying. “Every word.”

  “You totally need to sell the movie rights. That is a big bucks story. Did anyone ever get killed in these fights?” She could see the wheels in his head turning.

  “Nice, Shane!” She got up and dropped her water bottle in the trash can and began gathering her things. “Let’s make a profit off the suffering and death of those around us.”

  He just rolled his eyes. “That’s not what I meant.” He stood up as well and tossed his papers into the trash. “This is the kind of thing that happens on the big screen, not in real life to people I know.”

  Devin froze with her gym bag in midair and stared him down for a moment, then tossed the bag on her shoulder and started across the gym for the door.

  “Yes. About once a month someone would be killed fighting.”

  Shane stood gawking for a few moments and then hurried to catch up with her as she waved good-bye to the cheerful muscle-bound giant with a high and tight haircut at the counter. His tank top read ‘God Blessed the Scrawny with Good Gyms’. He called out as they passed by.

  “God bless and come again!”

  Shane was in a hurry to resume his questioni
ng so he was quick to cut off this conversation.

  “Thanks Ned, see you around!” With that he held open the door and ushered Devin out into the bright sunlight and pressing heat of the late afternoon. The door had barely swung shut before he turned on her.

  “Did you ever kill anyone?

  She took her time as she dug through her bag for sunglasses, carefully formulating her answer in her head as she thought back. She looked up when she had finally slid the glasses into place.

  “No. I have never killed anyone in the ring.” There. That was true. “But I saw it done often enough. It is an ugly business, let me tell you.”

  Shane was standing with his arms folded across his chest facing her across the sidewalk, completely awestruck. She suddenly felt the need to escape. This was too much raw truth for one afternoon.

  “Well, as fun as all this rehashing the past is, it’s time for me to go stick to the leather seats in my car and bake all the way home. See ya around, Shane.” She pulled her keys out and walked confidently to her car. Let it never be said that Devin Dushane looked shaken.

  Shane finally snapped out of his trance.

  “Hey! Wait a minute! Can I buy you dinner tonight? You know, repay you for all this great storytelling?”

  She never paused or looked back. “Nope.”

  “What? Why not?”

  She was unlocking her car now and glanced up at him with a grin before she got in. “Because I don’t like you.”

  Chapter 11

  Devin stood in the front hall staring through the screen door. She had her arms crossed tapping her car keys against her lips. She was going somewhere, she just didn’t know where yet. Dinner with the Christiansons had been pleasant enough. They had gone out of their way to make her feel like family, but that kind of affection always made her edgy. She’d gone for a run when she got home, but she hadn’t been able to out run her anxiety. She was dressed for exploring in a fitted t-shirt and cargo capris with tennis shoes. Her hair was still damp from her shower, so it was twisted up into a clip.