Nursery Rhyme Murders Collection_3-4-2017

by McCray, Carolyn

  Of course, Agent Cooper was there outside his door. She always made sure to check on him once they arrived at a hotel. Ever since that night… Joshua pushed away the image of his daughter’s face, slack in death. There were so many minefields of pain for him to navigate. There was no safe place for his thoughts to rest.

  But that had been the moment. The time that he had gotten drunk right in front of Coop, defying her to stop him with every swallow. From then on, she had come into his room to take all of his alcohol away.

  She’d just been preoccupied with something else tonight.

  Strange that he hadn’t even thought of the fact that she would be coming around. Of course, she’d want to do damage control. But somehow, it just hadn’t seemed all that important.

  Screw her. He wasn’t going to open the door for the woman who had slaughtered his last remaining family member. There was a beeping and a quiet click of his door’s lock releasing.

  She was coming into the room.

  He focused on the door, realizing as he did so that he was perhaps more affected by the drink than he had previously thought. The items in the room seemed to refuse to come into sharp focus, and he found that his head did not want to do exactly what he told it to do, flopping around on his neck rather than remaining steady.

  And there was Agent Cooper. Sariah.

  Her skin shone caramel in the yellow light from Joshua’s bedside lamp. It lit her in a way that was almost romantic. He could see why Reggie would find her attractive.

  Not right now, though. She would have been, but for the expression on her face.

  One of disappointment.

  “Hey, Sss.. Sariah. Sorry. Agent Cooper. Coop.” Stop talking. The more you talk, the more she’ll know you’ve been drinking.

  But Coop just stood there, her arms folded across her chest. That look on her face, filled with disapproval. Judgment.

  It wasn’t fair that she was judging him. If anyone deserved to be scrutinized, it was her. She was the one that had done wrong. In so many ways.

  But Bella went to the agent’s side, whining and licking at Coop’s hand, trying to reach her through the cone. Coop reached down to scratch the dog’s back.

  And then she held out something that Joshua realized had been in her hand since she came in. A cell phone. And from the glow of the screen, there was an active call.

  He held the receiver up to his ear. A deep voice resonated through his skull, the reverberations somehow fuzzy and clear as glass at the same time. It was Agent Tanner.

  “You’re getting a sober companion.”

  Then there was a click as the line disconnected.

  * * *

  Sariah forced herself up as the alarm continued to sound. It had been a long, long night. And from what she could tell, it was going to be another long, long day.

  When Sariah had returned from confronting Joshua, Reggie was gone. It hadn’t been a shock, although the disappointment still burned.

  Her timing had been off on every single level last night. She’d delayed going to Joshua’s room, hoping to be able to talk Reggie down. Make sure she was okay, that she wasn’t going to freak out. That had clearly been a rousing success.

  And in postponing her trip to Joshua’s, she’d just given him time to drink everything in sight. Man, he could drink fast.

  But what was the most disheartening was that Sariah was pretty sure her one shot with Reggie was now gone. In the harsh light of day, that delicate dance of discovery they’d begun would shrivel up and die.

  Reggie would feel that her almost-dalliance with Sariah was what had pushed Joshua to drink. That, combined with the shame of being with a woman who was also her boss? There were just too many obstacles to overcome.

  Sariah did what she could to push down the ache that was settling into her chest.

  Sighing, she pushed herself to standing, after sitting on the side of the bed and fighting the voice inside of her that was urging her to sink back into the oblivion of sleep. A sleep that she had mostly been denied last night.

  It really hadn’t been pretty.

  Stepping into the bathroom, Sariah turned on the water in the shower. Almost all the way to hot. She wanted the water to strip her clean this morning. Peel off the scent of her failure.

  On some level she must have known. Must have sensed that Joshua would decide to start drinking again. It wasn’t exactly a shocker, after all. She’d been expecting it to happen ever since she’d seen the tremors in Joshua’s hands that had spoken of his return to sobriety.

  Or whatever it was that Joshua wanted to call it.

  What Sariah wanted to call it was over.

  Over and over and over.

  She stepped into the stream of water, feeling the burn of the steaming fluid as it struck her skin. Her skin pebbled in a reverse response, as if she’d entered water that was freezing instead of excoriating in its heat. Punishing.

  Just what she wanted.

  It was her fault. All of it. She could have checked on Joshua earlier. It would have avoided the whole scenario if she’d just sought the man out, forced him to clear out his minibar. It wouldn’t have been the first time she’d done it.

  She just hadn’t wanted to.

  The call to Agent Tanner hadn’t even been a question. The moment Joshua didn’t respond to her knock, she had pulled out her cell phone. And now their team was going to grow once more. With a sober companion, this time. That would be a new one for all of them to have to deal with.

  Stepping out of the shower and toweling off, Sariah braced herself for a difficult morning. Joshua would be hung over and belligerent, trying to find a way to get out of the arrangement that Tanner was inflicting on him. And things with Reggie were just going to be all kinds of awkward.

  She also needed to make contact with Bailey Truscott, the crime scene investigator with the CID. Make sure she was ready to go on furlough. Find out if she needed to get accommodations here at the hotel, or if she was more comfortable working from the base.

  Might be good to have someone there on the inside. But if she was on furlough, and was originally from the same base as Klingler, that might not work out.

  Better to get started with all of that now. Rip the sucker off, like a Band-Aid. She threw some clothes on, stepped into her shoes, checked in the mirror to make sure she had buttoned her blouse correctly, and moved out into the hallway.

  And almost ran right into Had.

  He was standing right outside her door, his hand lifted as if he were about to knock. And on his face he wore an expression that said…

  What did it say?

  Had cleared his throat. “Uh… hey, Coop. Er… Agent Cooper.”

  Fantastic. Something was up with Had, too. It couldn’t just be one of her team that was going down. They had to choose to do it all at the same time. Like it had been choreographed by some sadistic higher power that wanted nothing more than to laugh at her suffering.

  “Spit it out, Had. Can’t be worse than all your hemming and hawing.”

  That had come out harsher than she had intended it, but rather than apologize and modify her response, she folded her arms and turned her expression to granite. There was no need for her to bend when her team decided to go all ape-shit at the same time.

  But Had peered over his shoulder, checking the hallway as if someone was hot on his tail. Who knew? Maybe that’s what was going on.

  “I have something to tell you,” he finally blurted out. “But I’m not sure you’re going to like it.”

  She took in a deep breath, held it for a moment, then exhaled. And stared straight into Had’s eyes, telling him with her expression that she was nearing the end of her already strained patience.

  “Fine,” he grunted. “Mama’s downstairs.”

  Okay, Sariah wasn’t sure what she had been expecting. But it wasn’t that.

  “Who’s downstairs?”

  “Um. Mama?” Had said, turning what should have been a declarative statement into a quest
ion.

  Sariah could feel her head beginning to pound. As bad as she assumed this day was going to be, she clearly had underestimated how much the universe could punish her when it really put its mind to it.

  Placing her index finger and thumb on either side of the bridge of her nose, she tried to press out both her irritation and the growing pain in her skull. The last thing she needed right now was interference from Had’s mother.

  “And how is it that she’s here?”

  “Well,” Had said, shrugging his shoulders and putting on his I’m-an-innocent-little-puppy-dog look. “It’s not like I can control her, you know?”

  That was true enough. Sariah’s experiences with Ms. Hadderly had left her with a prodigious respect for the woman’s powers of manipulation. That and her extreme levels of stubbornness.

  But there was something else here that Had wasn’t addressing. “I get that, Had, but would you like to explain to me how she happened to know that we were here?”

  The stricken look on his face was all the answer she needed.

  “Where is she?”

  “Well, that’s the thing…” Had began, but then trailed off as his attention was diverted past Sariah to something farther down the hallway.

  Turning to face that direction, Sariah almost bumped into Had’s mother. The woman was short, but something about her made that fact irrelevant. The presence that she exuded was closer to the size of a Mac truck.

  “Hey, you ol’ sourpuss,” Mama said with a grin. “How’s my favorite black woman?” She reached around and swatted Sariah on the butt.

  That was… how was Sariah even supposed to respond to that? She was having two opposed responses to getting her bottom smacked and to being referred to as Mama’s favorite black woman.

  The first reaction that presented itself was to stiffen her back, arch her eyebrows, and in an imperious tone demand that the offensive woman never touch her again. The other was to break out in hysterical laughter. Right at the moment, it was pretty much a toss-up, but she could feel a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

  Damn this woman and her Southern charm.

  “Ms. Hadderly, what a… surprise… this is.” Sariah glared at Had, wanting to make it clear that this situation was not okay. Not even a little bit.

  “Oh, sugar cakes, don’t try to pretend your panties aren’t all in a twist over this,” she responded. “I can see it plain as the nose on my face. Not yours, though. What a dainty little nose you’ve got there, angel face. Had any work done on it?”

  “I…” Sariah began, but then couldn’t for the life of her think of what to say next.

  “So, listen,” Mama said, leaning in as if she were about to conspire with Sariah on some kind of illegal deal. “I’ve made y’all a proper Southern breakfast.”

  “You made…? How did you…?” For some reason, Sariah couldn’t seem to be able to finish a sentence with this woman around. It wasn’t like Mama was cutting her off, either. Sariah was just speechless. That could end up being a problem. Especially if Mama started asking to tag along on the investigation.

  “Aw, don’t make me share my secrets, marshmallow. Let’s just say I took some liberties with the fire code here in the hotel.” She scrunched up her face, and then dismissed the almost-questions with a wave of her hand. “Question is, you gonna eat what I made or not?”

  As much as Sariah might be bothered by Mama’s presence here unannounced, she also had experienced enough of the woman’s cooking to know that whatever she’d made would be fantastic. And as the rumbling in her belly confirmed, she was hungry.

  Very.

  “Well, I suppose that I could go get everyone…” she began.

  But Mama grabbed her arm and started moving her down the hallway. “Oh, I already took care of that,” she said with a chuckle. “I just didn’t want to interfere with anyone’s beauty sleep. Being in charge of this motley crew has got to take it out of you, I would guess.”

  A stab of guilt went through Sariah. She was the one that was holding up the team, apparently. Then she stopped, realizing that it wasn’t at all late. 7 am was still considered early for most normal people.

  So Had’s mother had already gotten everyone gathered for breakfast and “left” her in bed? That was just fine and dandy. But it wasn’t something she was going to allow herself to feel bad about.

  Wait a minute. Everyone was gathered together? That couldn’t possibly be true. What about…?

  “You already got Joshua out of bed?” There. A full sentence. The overpowering Mama effect was starting to wear off. Or maybe Sariah was just getting acclimated.

  “Got him out of bed?” Mama asked, giving a belly laugh. “The poor soul smelled the bacon. I had to beat him with a stick to keep him out of my room.” She grinned and elbowed Sariah in the arm. “Not that he’d make for bad furniture to have lying around.”

  “Mama!” Had cried out from behind her. “Please!”

  “Oh, pumpkin, don’t get all bent out of shape. Your mama has needs just like any other red-blooded American woman.” She turned to Sariah. “Am I right?”

  “Er…” Fantastic. Back to partial sentences once more.

  But Mama didn’t appear to have noticed. “I reserved a conference room. Flirted with the concierge, so we won’t have to pay anything for it.” She seemed to have a thought come to her. “Oh, come to think of it, I forgot something. I’m going to run ahead. You just take your time getting down there.”

  Another jab. Or was it just that Sariah was being overly sensitive? She really couldn’t tell. Had’s mama threw her manipulation radar off to the point that by the time the woman left, down felt like up and left seemed to be right.

  Had watched as his mama bustled off to take care of whatever it was that she had forgotten. Then he turned to Sariah.

  “I am so sorry about all of this. Really. Sorry. Will you please forgive me?” His face was a mask of concern.

  Sariah felt something soften inside of her. Part of what made Had the person he was could be attributed to that woman. She should be thanking Mama instead of being irritated by her.

  Maybe.

  But there was another subject that was bothering her. “Joshua really got up early this morning?”

  “Well, to be honest, I’m not sure how much he slept,” Had answered.

  That made some amount of sense. But the whole thing was still bothering her.

  “Last night…”

  For a moment, she considered not telling Had about everything that had happened last night. Then she realized he was part of the team and deserved to know. Well, at least part of it. She opened her mouth to continue, when Had held up a hand.

  “He started drinking again?” He smiled at her surprised reaction. “We can see the signs as well as anyone.”

  She shook off her surprise. Of course, he would realize what was going on. Just because he was goofy and kind didn’t mean he wasn’t sharp. He’d proven that more than once in their time together.

  “Okay, so that’s kind of my point,” she insisted. “He’s drinking again, and he wanted breakfast?”

  Had shrugged.

  “Well, it is my mama’s cooking.”

  Sariah had to admit, he had a point.

  * * *

  Reggie felt conflicted.

  Her stomach rumbled with hunger. The smells of the food Had’s mother had fixed wafted through the small conference room, tantalizing her senses, teasing her with the promise of goodness to come. All she wanted to do was eat until she passed out.

  On the other hand, there was almost anywhere else she would rather be than right here at the moment. Joshua looked like he’d been run over by a truck. And much as she wanted to believe it wasn’t true, part of that truck had Reggie’s name written all over it.

  Part of her wanted to go and comfort him. Talk to Joshua about what had happened last night. About the pain that had driven him to her room to begin with. She had seen that pain there, had always been able to.
>
  It called to her. She knew Joshua was not healthy. Understood that her attraction to him was destructive. But she also wanted to help. Wanted to shoulder some of the burden he was carrying.

  She had a feeling it was enough of a load that it could bury her.

  Besides, she wasn’t all that sure that he would welcome any help she might have to offer at this point. There had never been anything solid between them, but she’d be lying if she denied what had been lurking unspoken there for a long time.

  So, instead of talking to the broken man with his dog at his side, Reggie contented herself with studying the metal containers that hid all the different offerings Mama had laid out for them. There were chafing dishes set up all across two tables that were set along one of the walls of the conference room that Mama had acquisitioned. Lit Sterno cans flickered below the shiny metal boxes, the flaming jellied alcohol keeping the food from getting cold.

  With the number of dishes there were, Reggie had to think that Mama had been up all night cooking for them. Reggie wouldn’t put it past the woman. Had’s mother was a little crazy when it came to food. Gloriously insane.

  And that brought up another question. Where had Mama gotten the catering equipment? It was possible she’d rented it somewhere, but Reggie had a feeling that she’d managed to sweet talk the staff here into letting her borrow the stuff.

  Reggie was just about to sneak over to lift one of the lids off the chafing dishes when Mama burst in, carrying two big jugs of orange juice. She caught Reggie staring at her and grinned, hefting the containers of juice up.

  “Forgot the OJ. It’s not fresh squeezed, but it’ll have to do.”

  Right on the heels of her entrance, Had and Sariah walked in. The BAU agent glanced in Reggie’s direction, but then dropped her gaze when she saw Reggie looking at her. Was she ashamed of what had happened between them… well, almost happened… last night?

  Reggie waited for Joshua to make some snide comment about the whole situation, but his attention was focused on the dishes and nothing more. It was almost a convincing act. Bella, sitting at his side, was just as rapt, but hers was clearly not about avoidance.