She met him halfway across the room, their arms locking around each other simultaneously, chest meshing against breast, lips locking, taking, giving.
Minutes passed, then they pulled back at the same time, Hartley’s hands on her face, hers on his shoulder over the bandages.
‘How are you?’
‘You should still be in hospital.’
Their words tumbled over each other and then they just stopped, gazes colliding, searching, breaths mingling,
‘I thought I’d lost you.’
‘I was so scared for you.’
Their words overlapped again.
They both laughed. ‘You first,’ Hartley said.
Erika nodded, breathing in deeply, the warm, alive scent of him filling her. Citrusy with a warm undertone to cut the sharpness. Fresh. Clean. She wanted to breathe it in and cover herself with it. ‘I love the way you smell.’
A laugh burst from his lips.
‘What?’
His lips curled into that smile she loved. ‘You always surprise me.’
‘How?’
‘I expected almost hysterical worry about my shoulder and you simply say you love the way I smell.’ He ducked his head and sniffed her neck. ‘I love the way you smell too.’
He kissed her lightly, a promise of passion, but she pulled away from it. ‘Your shoulder. I was worried. I am worried. You need to be careful.’
‘It’s fine. The doctor said it would be a lot worse if not for you.’
‘I did nothing. Just cleaned it up and bandaged it.’
‘You looked after me. You saved my life.’
‘Hardly that.’
‘Yes, that.’ The smile fell from his face. ‘But I’m still worried about you.’
‘Why?’
‘You shot a man. And then you did CPR on him and kept him alive after taking care of my wound.’
She nodded slowly. ‘You’re worried how that would affect me.’
‘Of course.’ He looked down, his fingers stroking across her cheeks before his gaze met hers again. ‘Especially after what happened to your parents. I know you tried to keep your father alive in the same way.’
She stroked her hand over the furrows on his brow. ‘It isn’t the same. Besides, I’m stronger now.’
‘Yes, you are.’ There was pride in his voice, alongside sheer joy. ‘You’re the strongest woman I’ve ever known.’
She blushed. His fingers lingered over her cheek, firing the heat of the blush into insatiable flame. She reached up for him and their lips met again, this time soft, longing. ‘I love you.’
He leaned back, eyes bright, like the sun coming out over a crystal lake. For a split second, she could see the teasing ‘I know,’ in his eyes, but of course, because he knew her best, he said the words she needed most to hear.
‘I love you too.’
Lips met again, and for a while she was able to forget her worry about Peter and sink into the rightness of his mouth on hers, his hard body pressed against her, the silk of his short brown hair against her fingers. Their kissing slowed, stopped, and he pulled her against him so she could hear the steady beat of his heart. Their arms wrapped around each other and they just held. It was good. It was necessary. It was everything she ever wanted. Well, maybe not everything. A bed and him inside her would complete the moment. And knowledge that her brother was alive and safe.
That thought had her pulling away, asking the questions that needed to be asked, even as she wished she could stay in his arms, hearing his heart beat strongly in his chest for the rest of her life and not think about anything else. ‘What happened? Did you get to interview them?’
‘Yes I got to interview Willie G. Frank’s being kept in an induced coma for a few days while he recovers from his injuries.’
‘Did he say anything more about Peter?’
‘No, I’m sorry, he didn’t.’
She sucked in a shaky breath. ‘Do you think he’s dead?’
He ran his hand through his hair. ‘I don’t know. I hope not, although, given what Frank said, it’s not looking good.’
She nodded, swiping away a tear. ‘I know, but until we find a body …’
He cupped her face in his hands, held her gaze. ‘We’re not giving up hope, okay?’
She nodded again, let herself be pulled into his arms, to be comforted for a moment, before she pulled away again. ‘Did he tell you where they hid the bodies?’
Mouth pressed in a tight line, he gestured to the chair. She sat and he pulled the other chair around the table to be right near her so their knees were touching. He leaned forward and tangled his fingers with hers. ‘He said nothing at first, but when I told him I’d let drop in Silverwater prison that they told us what they did last night, that they fingered their boss for drugs and kidnapping and murder, he said he’d tell us for a deal.’
‘And?’
‘He said they dropped them in the old CJ & Co. mine, although it was dark and he can’t remember which shaft they went down.’
She stood up. ‘We need to get those bodies. There could be evidence that leads us to Peter.’
‘Mac and Ben are already putting a team together, so there’s nothing you can do until they’ve gone in and found something.’
‘I can help in the search.’
‘Your time is better spent here doing the post-mortem on Tom Johnson. There’s undoubtedly evidence on him that could help us tie this case together.’
‘I care less about this case than I do about finding Peter.’
‘I know. And as soon as we’ve had something to eat and you’ve rested a little, we’ll get onto doing exactly that.’
‘I don’t want to rest.’
‘Erika, we both need to rest. You can’t tell me you’re thinking as clearly as usual right now. And you won’t be any good to Peter or anyone else if you drive yourself into exhaustion.’
Damn it, he was right. She loved and hated that he knew her so well. She folded her arms, afraid perhaps she was pouting a little. ‘Fine. A few hours and some food then I can do the post-mortem.’
‘Deal.’ He didn’t shake her hand, simply kissed her again, chasing some of the cold and worry away simply with his touch. After a moment, he leaned back. ‘You’ll find him. I know you will.’ His eyes glowed with his trust in her, helping to warm some of the chill of worry over her brother. But then that glow dimmed a little, shadowed by a worry he wasn’t sharing with her.
‘What is it? There’s something you haven’t said.’
‘I don’t want to take your attention from finding Peter.’
God, she loved him for that alone, but if she was going to stay, if she was going to be with him, she needed to make him understand she was here for him too. ‘It’s important to you. Tell me.’
He scrubbed his hand over his face. ‘I’m worried about what Frank said, about their syndicate. Drugs being run through our town is one thing, but murder and cover ups…’ He shook his head. ‘It feels like someone is escalating. Like they are planning to do more here, especially given Tom took Peter to try to coerce him to make drugs for whoever is behind all this.’
‘We’ll work the case together. We’ll find Peter and then we’ll find whoever is behind all this. They’re not going to ruin our town any more than they already have.’
His fingers gripped hers more tightly, his eyes so full of emotion, it almost hurt to keep looking in them. ‘Our town? Does that mean…’
The hope in his eyes, the love there, made her want to be closer, so she stood then sat on his lap, careful of his injured shoulder, before saying what she needed to say, what he needed to hear. ‘I can’t go back to Melbourne, not while Peter is still missing. But even if he was here with us and fine, I wouldn’t go back. I’m going to stay. Hopefully with you. I’m going to go for the job of forensic pathologist and local coroner here.’
‘What?’ He moved, almost spilling her off his lap as he pulled her to face him more squarely. ‘You can’t do that.’
‘Don’t you think I’ll get it?’
‘No. Of course you’ll get it.’
‘Don’t you want me to get it?’
‘It’s not that. I just… I don’t want you to give up your career for me. And I know how much you hate Echo Springs.’
‘I don’t hate it anymore. I’ve come to realise in the last few days just how much I don’t hate it. It was Mabel I hated, and everything she took from me. Everything else followed from there. But I don’t even hate her anymore. I don’t like her.’ She shrugged. ‘But I don’t hate her.’
Hartley’s brows rose. ‘Huh.’ His brows fell again into a slight frown. ‘But will the job here be enough for you?’
She considered that for a moment, lips twisting. ‘Probably not. I’m not foolish enough to think I’ll get the kinds of interesting cases here that I’d get in a big city. This last week has been an anomaly. But you know, that’s kind of okay. And it will give me time to delve into some of the research I want to do on cell degradation and bone pathology. I thought I might do a PhD in forensic science to back up my PhD in forensic anthropology. And there are more papers I want to write, not to mention I have ideas for a book.’
‘You want to become an author.’
She sat up straight. ‘I have authored some very well-received papers and have magazine articles to my name.’
‘Impressive.’
‘Yes. And a journalist once said to me that I should write a book using some of the things I’ve learned from cases, and I have been playing with the idea more seriously over the last year. Other forensic pathologists have done the same to great acclaim, so it’s not something new, but that doesn’t matter.’
‘No. The public always has an insatiable desire to work out a murder.’
‘Yes. I never had time to follow up the idea in Melbourne, but here, I would. And if I need more mental stimulation than that, get my fingers back into a good case, I can always consult. But of course, all that can wait until after we find Peter. I can’t give anything else my attention until I know what happened to him—good or bad.’
He hugged her closer and she took the comfort, safe in the knowledge that regardless of what else happened, Hartley would always love her, just as she would always love him.
He kissed her temple and then pulled back enough to look in her eyes. ‘But what about Mabel? She’s here too. Can you live in the same town as her?’
She tipped her head to the side. ‘Yes. It’s not like I have to have anything to do with her.’ She waved her hand in a little flicking motion. ‘Besides, I called the nursing home while I was waiting and told them I’d pay for her operation. They had all the paperwork from Peter and just needed payment details to get it organised, so they’re doing that now. She’ll be away for a good six months while I settle in here.’
He almost spilled her off his lap again as he jerked upright in shock. ‘You what? Why would you do that?’
‘Because, it’s the right thing to do,’ she said on a big breath of air. ‘Peter loved her. He never had the relationship with her I did.’
‘He knew what she did to you though.’
‘I think that’s maybe why he never told me about Mabel and why he came back here. I think he always felt a little like he’d betrayed me or something because he loved her despite how horrible she was to me. I never expected him to hate her though. She loved him.’ She looked down at her hands. ‘Life would have been so different if she’d loved me too.’
‘Do you wish she had?’
Her head snapped up, her gaze colliding with his. ‘No. Despite the painful memories, if she’d loved me, I would have stayed here. I probably wouldn’t have bonded with you like I did. I most certainly wouldn’t have run away and gone to Jenny in Melbourne. I never would have got into medicine and become a forensic pathologist. So, in many ways, I almost have to thank Mabel. I wouldn’t be the me I am now without the horrid bitch.’
Hartley shook his head slowly, a smile in his eyes. ‘Fair enough. Still, paying for her surgery—it’s a lot of money and not guaranteed to help her.’
‘I know. But Peter wanted to do it and I need to see it through for him. I have the money my parents left me, which given I invested it in stocks at Jenny’s insistence over twelve years ago, has grown to more than enough. Besides, I need to know I am a bigger person than Mabel ever was. Also, I want Peter to know that I didn’t leave him saddled with everything. That I am here for him. I’ll put up with her to let him know that.’
His stroked her cheek. ‘Won’t she refuse it if it’s your money paying for it?’
‘Possibly. More likely she’d think it was my duty to pay. That I owe it to her.’
‘Doesn’t that bother you?’
‘Not as much as it would have even last week. What she will have a problem with is me going with her if Peter is not back by the time she’s ready to go.’
‘Are you sure you want to do that?’ His thumb stroked over her hand. ‘She’s horrible to you.’
‘I know. But I can’t send her off by herself. It’s not right and Peter wouldn’t like it.’
‘If you have to go, I’ll come with you.’
‘You will?’
‘Of course I will. But we have to hope he’ll be found alive and well and you won’t have to deal with your horrid grandmother at all.’
‘Yes. Hope.’ She felt the tickle of tears at the back of her throat, but didn’t try to swallow them down, just let them show in her eyes and in the huskiness of her voice. ‘But I also have to be realistic. I know there’s a possibility that he won’t come back.’ She faltered, panic rising as the emotions threatened to overwhelm her, but when Hartley hugged her tighter, his hands stroking up and down her back, she realised she no longer had to be afraid of that, that there was strength in emotion, in feeling the good and the bad and fighting on anyway. It was made so much easier when you loved someone and was loved equally in return for exactly who you were, faults and all. She wasn’t fixed, she knew that, but she was stronger than she’d ever been and she was going to keep getting stronger for herself, for Hartley, for Peter. She let the emotion wash over her, but not take her away, allowing it to sink in, to become a part of her strength, of who she was. Voice trembling, she finished what she wanted to say. ‘I just want to do what he would do.’
‘We’ll find him, no matter what. And I’ll be with you every step of the way.’
‘I know. We’re Miss Chief and Cooperman.’
‘Damn right we are. I love you, Miss Chief.’
She looked up into his eyes, leaned forward and kissed him. ‘I love you too, Cooperman.’
He smiled against her lips. ‘Always.’
‘Forever.’
They kissed again in the interview room where they’d come back together after sixteen years of being apart, arms wrapped around each other, holding on to the moment, to each other, to the undeniable reality of the fact that they were meant for each other and always had been. It seemed horrific that twice now, they’d almost lost the opportunity to have this. To share this. There was so much sadness in their past, still possibly more in their future. Life could be so fleeting, taken in an instant—her job taught her that every day. But right now, she just wanted to be in this moment, to savour the joy she felt with Hartley, knowing she could share everything with him and he would always be her forever. Knowing that every day, she intended to make sure he knew she was his forever.
They might not be the superheroes they’d dreamed of being when they were younger, but Erika knew that together, if anyone could wrestle a happy ever after out of all of this, it was Miss Chief and Cooperman.
Right now, in his arms, she was pretty certain they could fly.
Thank you for reading Dangerous Echoes. I hope you enjoyed it.
If you’d like to know more about me, my books, or to connect with me online, you can visit my webpage leislleighton.com, follow me on @LeislLeighton, or like my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Leisl-Leighton-Author-367381
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You can also follow me through my publisher’s page here www.escapepublishing.com.au
Reviews can help readers find books, and I am grateful for all honest reviews. Thank you for taking the time to let others know what you’ve read, and what you thought.
You’ve just read a book in the Echo Springs series. The books in this series are:
Dangerous Echoes — Leisl Leighton
Embers and Echoes — Daniel de Lorne
Echoes of the Past — TJ Hamilton
Hope Echoes —Shannon Curtis
If you like your suspense mixed with the paranormal, then watch out for my Pack Bound four-book series: Pack Bound, Moon Bound, Shifter Bound and Wolf Bound, available now.
This book was published by Escape Publishing. If you’d like to sample some more great books from my fellow Escape Artists, please turn the page.
Bestselling Titles by Escape Publishing...
Embers and Echoes
Daniel de Lorne
Blue lights in the red dust...
Echo Springs on the edge of the outback – a town where everyone knows your name, and your business. But the wholesome country living and welcoming community aren’t what they used to be. Echo Springs has a dark underbelly, and it is seeping ever outward.
A suspicious fire on the edge of town sets Constable Ben Fields on a collision course with firefighter and one–time friend Toby Grimshaw. When the investigation takes a troubling turn that calls the two professionals’ integrity into question, the heat gets turned up on Ben and Toby’s unresolved history. Ben’s got something to prove, but his love for Toby could cost him – and Echo Springs – everything. Meanwhile, will Toby overcome the horrors of his past and find a new future with Ben – or will it all go up in flames?
Echo Springs, book 2
Echoes of the Past
TJ Hamilton
Blue lights in the red dust...
Echo Springs on the edge of the outback – a town where everyone knows your name, and your business. But the wholesome country living and welcoming community aren’t what they used to be. Echo Springs has a dark underbelly, and it is seeping ever outward.
Dangerous Echoes Page 17
