Jake held her eyes for another moment before rolling his own, looking away from her with his lips poked out.
Taking that as surrender enough, Veda swallowed thickly.
“Use mine,” Hope said.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” Veda looked at her. “Did you not just hear the epic, heartfelt speech I just gave to Jake?” She motioned to him before rolling her pointer finger in a circle through the air. “Do me a favor and replay that speech in your head, with your name in place of his, at all the appropriate points, okay? Thanks a bunch.”
“Hear me out,” Hope said, showing Veda her palms with a small smile. “I don’t work at the hospital, right? I’m just a lowly intern at some foundation on the opposite side of the island. No matter how many times Linc may or may not turn the hospital upside down, he’ll never stumble across my DNA.”
Jake began nibbling his lip, and when Veda shot him a look, he raised his eyebrows and his shoulders at once. “Could work.”
“No,” was all Veda could say.
Hope hopped down from the balcony, the breeze that was picking up speed making her brown hair dance behind her.
“V,” Hope said, softly. “I’m the one who killed the bastard, and I’m not going to watch you go down for something I did. If Linc was on the verge of proving you’ve been slicing stones left and right, and you didn’t want us to go down for it, fine. But I own my shit. I did this…” She jammed her finger to her chest.
Veda’s mouth fell open when she was sure she saw the beginnings of tears in Hope’s eyes.
“And you’re not going down for what I did,” Hope finished, sniffling softly. She looked away for a moment, hurriedly swiping her hands under her eyes before looking back at them. “So where the fuck’s that bucatini swab you were talking about, Jake?”
Jake faltered. “It’s actually… it’s buccal swab. Bucatini is actually a thick, spaghetti-like pasta, so…” Jake trailed off when he realized in his mind what showed on both their stoic faces. That it didn’t fucking matter.
Veda looked back to Hope with a sharp intake of breath, clasping her fingers together while motioning to her. “Hope, are you absolutely—”
“I’m sure,” Hope said, smiling softly at her with a nod. In the next instant, her smile fell, and she motioned to Jake. “The fuck are you waiting for? Go get the bucatini swab so we can get this shit done before the cop comes home.”
Jake appeared on the verge of correcting Hope for the second time, in fact, he appeared pained at the idea of biting his tongue, but with one look at their faces, he managed to swallow his elitist need to correct, motioning to the balcony door with a soft mumble before opening it and disappearing inside to retrieve the swab.
Veda and Hope shared a soft laugh and roll of their eyes, the sound of Jake ruffling through his bag inside floating in from the distance.
“Thank you, Hope.”
“You’re gonna get what you came for, V. You’re gonna finish what you started.”
Veda’s smile fell at those words. Months ago, she’d have nodded her fervent agreement. It was the reason she’d come home after all. To finish what she’d started. To finish the ten men who’d destroyed her.
But now that she was on the verge of finishing the people she loved most in the process, the agreement didn’t come as fervently.
It barely came at all.
But, still, it did.
It came—a little softer and a little more leisurely than before—but it did.
And if they could pull off this plan, if they could somehow find a way to swap out Veda’s DNA with Hope’s, her quest would be back on with a vengeance.
And Veda wouldn’t stop until it was complete.
23
Boos and hisses picked up from every corner of Dante’s bar days later, prompting Linc to lift his nose up from where it had been buried in a Chemistry 101 book. His eyes scanned the bar, nearly empty, still a few hours out from the evening rush, before landing on the source of the anger: the television screen propped up over the bar.
The wobbly legs of his chair creaked beneath him when his entire body jolted at the news broadcast.
Then his eyes fell to Veda—who was bartending that afternoon—leaning against the bar, watching the broadcast with her arms crossed. He took her in as she used the remote in her hand to turn up the volume on the television, her button nose wrinkled up.
The brunette newscaster’s voice floated through the bar, her face just as pinched as Veda’s as she spoke into the camera. Another video played in a smaller box on the top right-hand side of the screen as she relayed the breaking news, showing Liam O’Dair leaving the Shadow Rock Courthouse, surrounded by hungry reporters. Cameras and microphones were shoved in Liam’s face from every angle, along with hundreds of reporters closing in on him like vultures, all screaming unintelligible questions. Liam kept his head down, making his blonde hair tumble into his soulless blue eyes, bending his spine forward to help his lawyer—who was over a foot shorter than him—shield him from the madness.
The newscaster’s voice remained grim as she explained the troubling development. “This just in. We have breaking news from the Shadow Rock Courthouse this afternoon. Former Vice President of O’Dair Enterprises and heir to the billionaire O’Dair fortune, Liam O’Dair, has been found not guilty on all counts, including inflicting serious bodily harm and terminating a pregnancy without the mother’s consent, less than one month after being denied bail. Our own Kevin Harris is at the courthouse, live. Kevin, what can you tell us?”
Linc’s teeth clenched as the broadcast switched over to “Kevin”, and he forced his eyes away from the television before he accidentally gnawed his teeth tightly enough to make them shatter. Instead, he lowered his eyes, and he focused all of his attention on Veda. She had one hip leaned against the bar, arms still crossed, shaking her head as she watched the developments.
From the barstool across from her, Jake’s back was turned to Linc, but he shook his head as well, shoving his hands through his blonde hair.
Linc’s heartbeat picked up as Veda jammed her finger at the television. His small table was too far across the bar to hear what she was saying, but from the sour look on her face, he had no doubt there were some pretty strong expletives leaving her mouth at that moment. If he wasn’t crazy, he was sure he saw tears in her eyes.
No one in that town would be happy to hear the news of Liam O’Dair’s release, except for the O’Dairs themselves, but Linc couldn’t help but notice that Veda’s reaction was somewhat strong. Especially for a man she’d never met.
“Linc?”
His eyes flew away from Veda at the sound of his name, unable to stop a small smile when he caught sight of his mother, Grace Hill, approaching his table.
“Yo, what’s up, Mom?” He leaned back in his chair.
Grace tilted her head at him, making her slightly matted, shoulder-length blonde hair fall off to one side as she approached. A frown came between her brows, deepening the closer she came, and she crossed her arms, eyes falling to the drink in front of Linc.
Understanding the look in her brown eyes, Linc fingered the glass on top of the table, causing it to shift slightly. “It’s water.”
“Or perhaps an old favorite? Lot of gin, splash of tonic?” She came to a stop in front of the table and turned to the side, leaning her hip against it. At 4’9”, one hundred pounds soaking wet, she nearly disappeared into thin air when she turned to the side, exposing the bar to Linc once more.
He was unable to stop his gaze from moving back to Veda, who was still ranting at Liam O’Dair’s release. Linc fell into the sight, squinting softly, only returning his attention to Grace when she seized his glass from the table, brought it to her nose, and sniffed.
“For real?” he asked. “It’s like that, Mom?”
Confirming with one whiff that it was, in fact, water, Grace dropped the glass back on the table and took the seat across from him.
Linc watched her, eyes shining.
Grace reached out and nudged the chemistry book he had open before him, sending it sliding across the table and nearly tumbling over. “Hell of a place for a recovering alcoholic to come for a study session. Ever heard of a library?”
Linc caught the book before it slid off the table, nodding to the bar over Grace’s shoulder. “You know I need this class to qualify for the sergeant’s exam, and no way I’m passing it without Veda. She helps me study and, in exchange, I watch her back.”
Grace gave him a knowing smile. “Never seen you so wrapped up in one of your victims before.”
“Never had a friend made a victim.” Linc took a deep breath when his chest burned at the very thought. “She’s a good person. Minds her business. Doesn’t bother anybody…” Linc looked back to Veda. “She doesn’t deserve this.”
Grace nodded, leaning forward on the table. “What about the other girl in the car? The younger one.”
“Drops little nuggets here or there, but I have to toy with her to get them out of her. Not trying to push her any further.”
“Toy with her, how?”
“Took her to the morgue. Showed her a few dead bodies with the same tattoos as her.”
“You’re just begging to lose your fucking job.”
“I did what I had to do, and it worked. She gave me the name of the driver.”
“So the case is closed?”
“Nah, driver was just a mule. Ten more have already stepped in to take his place, and ten more are being primed for when those eventually fall out of line too.”
“So you still don’t know who was really behind it?”
“Zena closed up again before I could get any more information. She’s terrified, and I don’t blame her.”
Grace looked over her shoulder at the TV, where the newscast had moved on from Liam O’Dair to The Chopper.
“Maybe The Chopper knows something we don’t,” she said, looking back at Linc. “Maybe while we’re all chasing our tails, he’s already got a plan to take out the bastard who attacked Veda. Might even have a scalpel to take to Liam O’Dair’s nut sack, too, while he’s at it.”
“She,” Linc corrected, at the back of his mind amazed at how perceptive his mother was. Even she somehow knew that Liam O’Dair qualified to be next on The Chopper’s list, even though Linc had never told her his theory about The Chopper going after members of the high school basketball team that had allegedly raped her.
“Right. She.” Grace smiled. “Even more badass. I love that it’s a woman.”
“She’s a criminal, not a superhero. Not some lionheart who’s gonna swoop in and save the day with her red cape blowing in the wind. What she’s doing is wrong.”
Grace appeared unconvinced.
Linc took hold of his water. The condensation the ice had left behind made it slippery under his fingers as he rolled it in slow circles on top of the table. “Even if I pass this class, I still won’t get the promotion if I can’t close The Chopper.”
“You’ll close it,” Grace said, with the kind of certainty only a mother could have.
And just like a child who hung on her every word, Linc believed her promise, even if he knew it was far fetched. He couldn’t help the small smile that crossed his face.
Grace continued. “But when you do nail her, try not to be disappointed if the streamers and balloons don’t fly. Do you know there are websites popping up, dedicated to her? Cheering her on? She’s got a legit fan base up in here.”
Linc looked at Veda and the smile that had been teasing his face vanished. He licked his lips, eyes and voice both lowering. “Would you have done the same thing?” He paused for another beat before slowly lifting his eyes to hers. “The same thing The Chopper’s doing? If you knew you’d never get caught?”
“What?” Grace chortled. “Take a hacksaw to the sack of the piece of shit that raped me?”
Linc paused. “Yeah.”
She smiled softly. “Not only would I do it… I’m damn pissed I didn’t think of it first.”
Linc drank in her laughter before slowly moving his eyes back to Veda. She was now leaning on the bar whispering to Jake, her eyes still filled with anger, fear, and a gleam he couldn’t quite determine from his vantage point.
“Did you ever wonder…” Linc looked back to Grace, shifting in his chair, releasing his glass and playing his fingers together on top of his chemistry book, eyes watching them as he did. “Did you ever wonder if you could love me?”
Grace’s face fell.
He snuck a look at her but lowered his eyes the moment he saw the look in hers.
She took a deep breath. “Truth?”
He gave a half nod, peeking up at her. “Yeah.”
She clasped her hands on the table and leaned forward. “Before you were born, yeah. Sometimes I wondered.” The pain of saying those words out loud showed in her eyes, but the calm, even tone of her voice showed that this was a conversation she knew she’d one day have to have with him. “But then you were born. And Linc? From the moment I looked in your eyes… From the moment those beautiful green eyes smiled at me, I knew I loved you. You’re the only person I know who can smile without his lips. Most moms have to wait months to see their baby’s first smile. But I saw yours the first day you were born, and I’ve been madly in love ever since. I think you knew, even then, just seconds after entering this fucked up world, how much I needed that smile. So you gave it to me in the only way you could.”
Linc licked his top teeth when he felt his cheeks heat up.
“You’re the love of my fucking life,” she said.
He finally found the will to meet her eyes, exhaling sharply when she covered his hands with hers on top of the table, squeezing.
Then, his eyes moved back to the bar.
Grace noticed. “Just tell her, baby.”
He snapped his gaze back to her, surprised. He didn’t need to ask her to elaborate.
Grace squeezed his hands harder. “That smile you gave me on the first day you were born? After Lisa, it disappeared. It stayed gone. For a while, I was worried it would never come back. Then, one day… there it was.” She looked over her shoulder, toward the bar as well, kept her eyes there for a moment, and then faced him once more with a shake of her head. “Just tell her, Linc.”
Linc’s chest swelled, and even as he opened his mouth, fully intending to play dumb, nothing came. Just the soft clench of his fingers as he squeezed his mother’s hand back.
And his eyes traveled to the bar once more.
24
Across the bar, still shaken by the breaking news story of Liam O’Dair being found not guilty and released, Veda’s hands still wobbled as she re-filled Jake’s vodka martini.
“You’re shaking like a leaf, woman, pull yourself together when you’re pouring my drink,” Jake teased, his blue eyes lighting up as she filled his glass to the brim. “I know Liam O’Dair’s release has got you all shook up, but you’d better not spill a single drop. I thought you wanted him to get off anyway.”
“I did, and Daddy O’Dair didn’t let me down. The amount of money he must’ve thrown at this problem to clear his precious son’s name is unfathomable.”
“So why the hell are you still shaking and still spilling my drink? You got what you wanted, right?”
Veda set the martini shaker down on the bar before plopping a stick of three olives into Jake’s glass, her voice wobbling just as badly as her hands. “It’s not just Liam that’s got me shaking, but Linc. Every time I wake up in his apartment, every time my phone rings, hell, every time he even looks at me funny, I’m convinced he’s found out about the DNA results.” She kicked the edge of the bar, making the owner, Dante, who was crunching numbers at the other end of the bar, give her a look. She gave him an apologetic smile before looking back at Jake. “I still can’t believe we went through all the trouble of swabbing Hope’s cheek only to find out the forensics tech had already removed the samples from the hospital. I’m officially fucked.”
/>
“You’re not fucked.”
“I’m fucked. They’ve probably already run the tests. Linc could know right now. The way he looks at me… I don’t know. Something’s changed. It’s different.” Veda peeked over Jake’s shoulder and across the bar. “He’s doing it right now. He’s giving me that look.”
Seizing any opportunity to look at Linc, Jake peered over his shoulder for a moment, drank in the sight of Linc and his mom talking at their table and turned back to Veda. “You’re imagining things. You know that he’s on the verge of catching you red-handed and it’s making you see things that aren’t there.”
Veda sighed, kicking the bar again, softer this time.
Jake shrugged, taking a sip of his martini. “You have no choice but to find a way into the precinct’s forensics lab. Switch out the samples.”
“It was a bad idea when Hope brought it up yesterday, and it’s still a bad idea today.”
Jake smirked, thinking back to the three-way phone call they’d all had the day before. “She said she’d gotten inside information on where the DNA’s stored, right? Bitch even scammed a blueprint of the building so you’d know exactly where to go. She’s literally laid the solution to this problem dead in your lap. And if it hasn’t already been made easy enough for you, on top of everything else, you’re living with a damn cop who has the keycard you need to access the building. It’s amazing how easy it would be for you to sneak out in the middle of the night and switch the samples.”
“Jake, I’m not double ‘o’ fucking seven,” Veda cried. “It’s too risky. Plus, like I told you before, Linc keeps his police work close to the chest. He sleeps with his keys right next to him.”
“Does he sleep hard?”
“Like a rock.”
“So you wait until he hits his REM cycle—until he’s in a sleep so deep, he’s damn near paralyzed, and swipe the keycard.”
She groaned.
Pulse (Revenge Book 5) Page 21
