When Luke was shaking, she paused her torment to stare up at him. “I love tasting you.”
It gave him the breather he needed. “The feeling is mutual,” he stated, pulling her up against his body. In her ear, he whispered, “Now, I’m going to enjoy what you have to offer.”
Pushing her up, he started pulling Maura’s clothes from her body. When she was completely naked, he stepped out of his pants. “It’s my turn to taste you now,” he stated.
Lying on his back, down the length of the couch, he waited for her to straddle his face. The second she did, with lips and tongue, Luke began feasting.
Maura moaned at his oral assault on her body. This man had some amazing skills when it came to pleasuring a woman. Briefly, she pictured him with other women and it pissed her off. Then, she realized what that meant. She definitely was in love with him.
Maura was pretty sure she couldn’t ever let him go.
When his hands held her in place, she fought to not grind herself down on his eager mouth.
It was so damn hard.
Already, her body was quaking in need.
Luke didn't let up. He loved tasting the sweetness of Maura. As it coated his lips and tongue, the addiction grew. As she shivered, he pushed her over the edge with a nip to her most sensitive bud.
“Oh, God!” she shouted, struggling to remain upright. Where she thought Luke would give her some reprieve, he didn't. In fact, he devoured her more as if he was a starving man.
Luke couldn’t get enough.
He plundered.
Feasted.
Enjoyed.
Maura was his happiness, and as long as they were together, he’d never let a moment to taste her pass him by. When she began writhing above him, Luke knew she was close to another release. As his tongue swirled wildly against her, he waited for it.
Finally, she shattered apart, calling his name in a desperately breathy gasp.
When the world around her shifted, Maura went with it. Slowly, as everything returned to focus, she found herself perched in his lap.
“I want to fall with you,” he whispered.
Who was she to argue with that?
Guiding him deep into her still quivering body, Maura slid him home. At his moans, she knew it wouldn’t be that long of a ride. Luke was horny as hell, and she wasn’t far behind him.
Riding up and down his erection, Maura braced her hands on his shoulders. Not once did she look away from his gaze. There was no way she could. His stare mesmerized and captivated her. Blue eyes met green, and so many emotions passed between them.
As the tempo remained steady, he began vibrating between her legs. Luke was struggling to hold on, and she wanted to feel him explode beneath her.
Maura knew what would do it.
Without hesitation, she gave him what lived in her heart. Yes, she’d said it before, but during love making meant more to her. This was their souls coming together as one.
“Maura,” he moaned, struggling to hold on. It was so hard with a beautiful woman driving him past his control.
“I love you, Lucas, and always will,” she offered.
It tore him apart, catching him off balance. Immediately, emotion filled his eyes as he ruptured apart, taking her off the edge with him. As they fell, she could hear him return the sentiment.
“You’re mine,” he promised as the colors enveloped them both. The bliss offered peace and comfort as it wrapped itself around them. There would be nothing like this in their lives.
This was one moment of full contentment.
And it always would be.
The silence fell away as the thudding of hearts filled both their ears.
“Lucas,” she whispered, her lips close to his ear. “When this is over, promise me that you’ll have faith in me, even if I screw this up.”
He could feel the tears dropping onto his neck from Maura’s cheeks.
“I have nothing but faith in you, honey. We’re on the right path. Trust in us.”
She had no choice.
Her heart was already gone, and Maura suspected that without Luke, she couldn’t face the day alone.
Deep down, Maura knew that without him, she’d rather die.
* * * C a r t e r C h r o n i c l e s * * *
After arriving, they found Callie at work behind Nate’s desk. From the look on her face, they could tell that they were just in time with the food.
“I love you both,” she said, as her husband carried lunch in for them. “I was just praying to the pregnancy Gods that someone would make Chinese food appear.”
Quinn laughed. “It’s Thai. Maybe your deities are mixed up.”
“Good enough for me. Starving mothers can’t be choosy.”
Nate motioned to her to remain seated behind his desk. Instead, he dropped down on the couch and took the carton of food from his brother-in-law.
“You didn't by any chance solve all this?” Quinn asked hopefully.
Callie only wished. “No, but I did find some interesting things,” she offered, relaying everything she had dug up regarding the dead Marines and their police records.
“Why wasn’t it in their personnel files?” Nate asked.
She informed them of her talk with the colonel’s assistant. “It’s all really suspicious to me,” she stated, eating some lunch. “How can they just bury all this?”
Quinn took a seat and shared his past experiences with them. “I’ve come across this before,” he stated. “Sometimes, the military will review the civilian report and squash it. Throw in that we have a top-secret team, and of course they’re going to bury it. No one wants to risk drawing attention to any of the members.”
“Do you think Maura knew?” Nate asked.
“Probably not. If they were sent to the colonel, he likely killed it at his desk. I’m sure my sister would have told us, had she had any inkling. Maura is pretty by the book, and us going in blind doesn’t help us solve this. It’s her life on the line, so she’d want us to have total access.”
They agreed.
“How about the phone records?” Quinn asked, sitting beside Nate.
Callie practically shoveled food into her mouth to silence the rumbling of her belly. When she could speak around the mouthful of noodles, she gave them what she knew, “More suspicious shit there. I have two numbers that I can’t figure out or tie to anyone we’ve come across.”
Passing them the paper, she explained. “The one was strictly on Thomas Archer’s report. There were days leading up to his death that someone called ten times a day and texted over two hundred times.”
“Wow! That’s a lot for a month.”
Callie shook her head. “No, those texts were daily, and from his records, he was returning them. That’s not an accidental message or someone who’s stalking you. He was actively participating in them.”
The men looked back and forth at each other.
“What?”
Quinn explained what they had just learned about Thomas Archer from his fiancée. “He didn't go home the week of his death until the day he was murdered. We know according to Maura’s records they weren’t out on a mission, so…”
“So, he was cheating?”
Neither man could confirm that, but if it looked like a rat and smelled like a rat, chances were… it was one.
“Did you run the number?” Nate asked.
“I did it online, and it appears to be one of those prepaid lines that doesn’t tie you to an account. Nothing popped up in any of the search databases. The only thing I found online was it is tied to this area. It’s a local.”
“Call it.”
She stared at her brother. “What?”
He pointed at his phone. “Hit the red button first and then dial out. It’s an unregistered line. We use it when we’re calling snitches or anyone we don’t want to know it’s a Fed.”
Callie did what he asked and dialed the number. She listened to it ring. It wasn’t like she was surprised no one answered. When som
eone called her phone, and she didn't recognize the number or it was blocked, she sent it right to voicemail.
It did just that.
Listening, Callie started laughing. When she hung up, both men were waiting for it.
“Well?” Quinn asked, lifting a brow.
“You won’t guess in a million years,” she stated. When neither took a shot at it, she told them, “Captain Bethany Harris’s phone.”
Both men pondered that information.
“I’m not surprised,” Quinn offered.
“Yeah, me either, but now we have another question,” Nate said. “Was she sleeping with the man, or was the man giving her details on Bravo Ghost?”
That was the big mystery.
Quinn tried to work through it. “She already had one member on her team from Bravo Ghost. In the interview, she freely admitted that she was hoping Leroy Walker could give her something. Now, she’s calling and texting this man? It’s all sketchy to me.”
“Maybe she wanted secrets and sex. It wouldn’t be the first time a woman used her wiles to get what she wants,” stated Callie.
“Yeah, well this tells us something else,” Quinn stated. “He may have been sleeping with another woman before his wedding. It’s possible he wasn’t as happy as his fiancée believed.”
“Good point. We’re going to have to re-interview Bethany,” Callie stated. “She’s moved up our list of suspects with this new detail.”
“Yeah, she has,” Quinn stated.
“What about the second number?” Nate asked. “What did you find?”
Callie pointed to the pile of papers between them on the couch. “I found that number on the cell records for Thomas Archer, Christian Bleu, Brick Brighton, and Redmond Churchill.”
“That’s odd,” Quinn said. “Could it be a burner phone that Maura used to contact them, or possibly another teammate?”
“It’s weird because the call times don’t overlap. It’s more like the caller moved from man to man, never going back to the previous one. It has me confused as hell.”
Yeah, that was weird.
Nate picked up the paper and stared at the number. “Wait, this looks familiar. Where have I seen it before?”
“I thought the same thing,” Callie admitted. “I just can’t put my finger on it.”
Quinn glanced over at the paper and started choking on his lunch. Immediately, Nate pounded him on the back.
“Are you okay?”
He took a sip of his soda. “Yeah, but holy shit! I know that number!” Pulling out his tablet, he handed it to Nate. “That’s Stephanie Simpson’s cell number. You recognize it because she just gave it to us today.”
Nate glanced up at his sister. “How often were the calls?”
She pulled out her paper and ran her finger down it. “They were at various times through the year. The calls to all the other men ended roughly six months ago. Then, they are all focused on Tommy Archer’s phone.”
“She told us that they met six months ago,” Nate said.
Quinn shook his head. “So, she was dating three other men during the first half of the year and then three of the four Marines ended up dead? Does anyone else think that’s a little odd?”
“I do,” Nate admitted.
“I’m with you there. That can’t be a coincidence,” Callie added.
“We have two women who seem to be neck and neck in the race to be a killer,” Nate said. “Maybe this isn't related to missions. It’s all about women being scorned. We all know how dangerous that can be.”
Quinn began laughing.
Callie gave him a look, but before she could comment, Nate’s phone began ringing.
“Director Nathaniel Carter,” he stated.
Then, they watched his face as he spoke to whomever was on the other line.
“When?”
He listened.
“Where?”
Nate made notes on his notepad.
“We’ll be right there,” he said, hanging up. “We need to get ready to head out. That was Detective Hollister of the local homicide department. It appears that we have another dead Marine.”
They both got up.
“Jayson Woods or Redmond Churchill?” Callie asked, assuming it would be one of the two. This killer was definitely stalking Maura’s team.
“Neither. He said the ID was pulled, and it’s none other than Sergeant Leroy Walker.”
They stopped moving.
“You’re kidding, right?” Quinn asked.
Nate shook his head.
“It makes sense,” Callie offered, clipping the gun Elizabeth had forced her to take to her hip. “The killer is picking off Bravo Ghost. The man was once part of that.”
“We need to lock down why, and fast,” Nate said. They were running out of Marines.
Yeah, only it was easier said than done.
Chapter Nineteen
National Park Hiking Trails
Late Friday Afternoon.
W hen they finally arrived at the park, the three investigators were met by a surprise welcoming committee. Getting out of their vehicles, Private Lewis, the MP, and Sergeant Hartford, the thorn in their sides, were standing there out of uniform.
Nate had to ask, “What are you both doing here?” It was odd to see the men when it was after hours and they were both likely off duty.
Private Lewis spoke first, “I run here. I was out just getting my exercise in, and I found the body. I didn't know what to do, so I called the sergeant.”
Before anyone could comment, Sergeant Joe Hartford angrily made his opinion known to everyone. “You three are supposed to be finding the killer so more Marines don’t have to die. I’m beginning to believe that we’d be better off handling this ourselves. We have another dead soldier, and you’re no closer to solving this.”
Quinn moved toward the man. “Here’s a thought, Sarge. We were brought in months after the first man was killed. Maybe you Marines should have been a little more concerned when the first soldier was killed. Then we wouldn’t be playing catch up with a killer.”
It pissed the Marine off. He moved toe to toe with the detective. “Are you saying we don’t have our brothers’ backs?”
While most people would back down from the big man, Quinn wasn’t scared. He’d faced down scarier thugs in the hoods of Atlanta. “I’m saying that it took my sister to figure this out after someone went after her. Before that, no one noticed these men were murdered in cold blood. So back off! We’re trying to sort through months of military red tape.”
Private Lewis squeezed his smaller frame between the bigger men. “Come on,” he urged. “We have a big enough issue going on here. We don’t need to fight about it.”
It seemed to calm both sides down.
Nate really wished his brother-in-law would have punched the man in the face. From day one, the sergeant was nothing but a pain in all of their asses.
“Take us to the body,” Callie stated. As they began walking away, she gently patted her husband on the back. It seemed to offer him some calm.
“Sorry,” he muttered. “I’m just worried about my sister.” How could he not be? The list of dead marines was growing, and Quinn was worried that his baby sister would eventually end up on it.
It was twisting his gut into vicious knots.
Nate understood how he felt. It wasn’t that long ago that he’d felt the same way about his sister. Now all he could do was work hard to make sure Quinn’s sibling came home safe. “No worries, my friend. We’ll get through this as a family.”
Together they traveled the trail about a mile to get to the scene of the crime. Already, the ME was there bent over the body. When he looked up, he rolled his eyes at his assistant.
“Hello, Doctor Lavelle,” Callie said, crouching down beside him. “Thank you for securing the scene, but we have an FBI transport en route to pick up our victim.”
There was no mistake what the FBI was doing. They were staking their claim and laying down the law.
“I don’t think I like that at all,” he stated.
Shrugging, Callie didn't really care. No one wanted to risk the man making any mistakes, allowing the killer to get away.
“I’m so glad I could help,” he offered sarcastically. “I mean, I was just sitting around in my office wondering what to do with all my spare time.”
Callie let it go. She knew from working past scenes that the locals didn't always appreciate the FBI stepping in. Now, it wasn’t about her, Nate, or Quinn. It was about the dead man on the ground.
Glancing down, she could tell that the killer was at the breaking point. The violence alone spoke volumes. Leroy Walker’s face had been viciously beat to a pulp.
“How did you know he was a Marine?” she asked, noticing he was wearing nondescript clothing.
The man pulled up the one sleeve and showed her the Marine emblem tattooed on his arm. “Plus, I checked his back pocket. His wallet was left behind. I had my team bag it for you,” he offered.
The tech handed Quinn the evidence bag.
“Can you walk us through what you have?” Callie asked, as her brother made notes.
“I can, Doctor.” Pulling out his phone, he checked something. “One hour ago, I received a call of a body found in the state park. It was called in by Private Lewis.”
They all faced the man who was trying not to look at the victim and all the gore.
Quinn pointed at him. “How exactly did you find him? I know you said you were running, but was he lying in the middle of the trail?”
The man shook his head. “I run here a lot. The Marines on base like the trails at this park because they’re challenging. I was coming around the corner over there,” he said, indicating his general path. “When I hit this spot, I could smell something. There was the distinct scent of copper pennies, and I knew that meant blood.”
They were with him so far.
“I stopped and looked around. When I walked over to that ledge, I looked down into the bramble and spotted a pair of legs. At first, I thought someone fell off the trail and needed help. I called to him, but he didn't answer. That’s when I decided to climb down the hill. It wasn’t easy, but I have some rock climbing experience.”
Sinner Realized Page 28
