by Jory Strong
The hand and forearm belonged to Danny all right. But from the looks of him, he wasn’t going to need them—at least not in this lifetime.
Chapter Eight
“He’s dead,” Cady said, grimacing at the squeak in her voice. It wasn’t like she hadn’t seen plenty of dead bodies in her lifetime—but they’d always been where she expected to see them—not like this one.
Danny was sitting in a chair, but his upper body was lying on the kitchen table. His arms were spread out on either side. As far as she could tell, there was no obvious wound, no bullet hole, no blood splattered across the kitchen floor.
“Shit! Gunshot wound?” Lyric asked.
“There’s no blood.”
“Get down, let me see.”
Cady was more than happy to relinquish her position on top of the trash can. Lyric scrambled up. “Shit, no wonder these flies are streaming through the window.” She climbed off the can. “Okay, two choices, Cady. You can stay here while I go check the back door and see if it’s open, and it will be, or you can come with me. But we’ve got to make our move now. As soon as we’re inside, one of us has got to call the police. If some neighbor sees us go in, we don’t want the cops asking why it took us five minutes to dial 911.”
Cady closed her eyes briefly, not sure she wanted to see her sister in action, yet at the same time, she’d never been one to dodge the truth. On a sigh, she said, “Let’s go,” and Lyric’s grin made her think of a kid who’d just been given free rein in the toy store.
They stopped in front of the back door. Lyric said, “Okay, once you’re inside, pay attention to what you touch. If it’s something that makes sense—like the phone, then handle it since it’d be suspicious if it was wiped clean. If it’s something that wouldn’t make sense, then be sure not to leave fingerprints.”
Cady nodded. The thought of searching Danny’s house while flies were swarming around his body made her feel a little queasy. True, he was dead and it didn’t matter to him, while getting her reputation and career back did matter to Adrienne, but still…
Lyric pulled out a ring of keys, then bent over and studied the lockset before selecting a key and slipping it in. With a twist of her hand, the door unlocked. She straightened and grinned when she saw the expression on Cady’s face. “Master keys. Braden took them off a poker player in Vegas last week. The guy’s other line of work is burglary.” She started to open the door, then paused, “When the police ask, the door was unlocked. Right?”
Cady gave a heartfelt sigh. “Right.”
Lyric swung the door open and they both gagged, quickly covering their noses and mouths with their arms. If the smell near the side window was bad, the stench in the kitchen was a hundred times worse.
With the door open, Cady could see something she hadn’t seen before—a syringe and a small plastic baggie with white powder in it just inches away from Danny’s face. “You see that, Lyric? Looks like you were right.”
They both moved over to the table. “Yeah, it looks like cocaine,” Lyric said. “The cops may buy this as an overdose, but I don’t.”
Cady nodded slowly. “I’ll ask Kix how often he’s heard of someone shooting up with cocaine. And you can run it by Kieran.” She looked up and spotted a phone hanging next to the kitchen door. “I’d better call 911.”
“I’ll start searching.”
Cady made the call then searched the kitchen before moving to the living room. It was small, cluttered with books on animal rights and vegetarian cooking, and didn’t hold any hint of a connection between Danny, Valdez, and the cocaine. The second bedroom had been converted to a weight and exercise room. Cady paused at the doorway just long enough to determine there was nothing of interest before joining Lyric in Danny’s bedroom.
“Winner takes the pot with a Straight Flush,” Lyric said and Cady moved to where her sister stood over an open dresser drawer. Inside were five little boxes identical to the one Erin’s photograph had captured Danny handing off to Angel Valdez.
Her heart thundering in her throat, Cady carefully opened them one by one.
The first box had a small bag of the white powder. The next three were empty. The fifth contained a wad of bills.
“Looks like he was dealing.” Cady carefully closed the boxes and pushed the dresser drawer in.
Lyric’s eyebrows drew together. “Sure looks that way. I haven’t found any syringes, what about you?”
Cady shook her head. “Nothing in the kitchen, living room, or weight room. I didn’t hit the bathroom. Did you?”
“No.” She used her thumb to point to the other side of Danny’s bed. “I’ve checked everything else in here but the nightstand. I’ll take a look in the bathroom, then head outside. Better hurry, a cop car could be rolling in any minute now.”
Cady hustled over the nightstand. She tried the single drawer first—condoms. Beneath, in the cabinet section, porn mags in neat stacks. There were some anti-fur pamphlets scattered on the top of the nightstand. The corner of a thin notebook caught her eye as she started to turn away. She sifted through the pamphlets and found an appointment book.
Cady opened it and wanted to do a little victory dance. Saturdays and Sundays for the last several weeks had BD protest scribbled on them. BD, Bay Downs. There was a brief notation, “anti-fur demo, SF” on the day Erin had seen Danny arrested for spraying paint on the fur coat. Cady slipped the appointment book into her pocket and rushed out of the house.
“Anything?” Lyric asked.
“An appointment book.”
Lyric gave two thumbs up. “Please tell me you have it on you.”
Cady nodded. “Any syringes in the bathroom?”
“Nope. And I’ll bet there weren’t any in the nightstand.”
“Porn mags, condoms, and anti-fur pamphlets, plus the appointment book.”
A police car showed up and a burly cop with an I-don’t-take-shit-from-no-one attitude got out. He walked toward them with his hand on the butt of his gun and Cady had a bad feeling that she looked guilty as hell. It didn’t help that Danny’s appointment book felt like it was burning a hole through her pocket.
The cop zeroed in on her. “You call 911?”
Cady nodded.
“Where’s the victim?”
“In the kitchen.”
The cop grunted. “Let’s see.”
They led him around to the back. “Jesus,” he said as soon as he got a whiff of the smell and saw the body generating it. “This guy a friend of yours?”
“No.” Cady buried her hands in her pockets, which only exacerbated her awareness of the appointment book. She figured the less said, the better.
“Jesus,” the cop muttered again before speaking into the radio attached to his collar. He moved into the kitchen and looked down at the table. “I’ll be goddamned. Thirty years on the force, this is the first time I’ve seen somebody whack themselves this way.”
Cady and Lyric exchanged glances. Cady feigned ignorance. “What’s in the baggie?”
“Coke.” The cop shook his head. “Don’t see many users do it this way. Most are happy enough to run it through their nose or stupid enough to go for crack. Hell, since ecstasy hit the streets and heroin made a comeback, we don’t see much of this stuff in this neighborhood anymore.”
Another cop stomped around the side of the house, cursing and covering his nose and mouth as he rounded the corner. He paused when he saw Cady and Lyric in the doorway. “You in there, Minelli?”
“Yeah. Looks like an OD. Go ahead and call it in. Tell ’em he’s been here for awhile and he’s pretty ripe.”
Minelli turned back toward Cady and Lyric. “Let’s go around to my car.”
Cady’s heart did a racing circuit down to her stomach and up through her ears as they followed him around front. Okay, take a deep breath here. There are absolutely no grounds for him to do a search and find the appointment book.
Minelli pulled a clipboard from his patrol car. “So how did you ladies come to fin
d the body?”
Cady decided to stick close to the truth. “We wanted to ask him some questions about a case we’re working on.”
Minelli squinted. “Let’s see some ID.” They produced it. Minelli grunted. “You related to Bulldog Montgomery?”
“His granddaughters,” Cady said.
Minelli’s eyes narrowed. “Didn’t know Bulldog handled cases involving drugs.”
The silence hung heavily between them. Cady knew he wanted her to fill it with information, she bit her lip to keep from saying anything. He grunted again. “The body has been in there for awhile, you see anything suspicious?”
“No,” Cady said.
Minelli turned to Lyric. “You?”
“No—except for the smell and the flies. That’s what made us look through the side window and check the back door.”
Minelli tapped his pen on the clipboard, then came to some kind of silent decision. “Okay, you’re free to go. We need you for anything, we know where to find you.”
Cady and Lyric started to turn. He said, “Tell me something. Most women come across a scene like that one and they’re in hysterics. Didn’t seem to bother you two any. How come?”
Cady relaxed. “Our other grandfather embalmed people for a living. When Bulldog wasn’t around to baby-sit, we ended up hanging out at the funeral home with Grandpa Maguire. We’ve spent a lot of time playing hide-and-seek and wandering into rooms we shouldn’t have.”
Minelli grunted and nodded. Lyric and Cady returned to their cars.
“You heading home?” Cady asked.
“No. I’m going to Erin’s house. What about you?”
Cady grinned, thinking about her new dog. She could hardly wait for her sisters to see Ranger. “I’ve got a stop to make first, then I’ll be home.”
Lyric’s eyebrows went up. “From the look on your face, does your stop involve a ‘quickie’ with Kix?”
Cady laughed and opened her truck door. “Nope. But you’ll find out about it in a little while.”
* * * * *
Lyric almost kept driving when she saw her husband’s Harley parked in front of Erin’s house. Damn! She should have known Minelli would call Kieran as soon as she and Cady drove away from Danny Meyers’ house. That was so like cops, to stick together. And it didn’t help that Kieran was a vice cop and Danny’s vice was coke. Shit! She dug around in her pocket and retrieved the set of master keys, then tossed them under her car seat. She could not let Kieran find those! He’d be compelled to confiscate them and then she’d never hear the end of it from Braden. Already her cousin got a huge kick out of joking about how Kieran had tamed her. Oh yeah, she could hardly wait for the day when Braden met his match. He’d find out that it could be a hell of a lot more fun to push the limits at home where the difference between punishment and reward could be deliciously blurred, than it was to always test the rules on the outside.
Lyric’s cunt tightened and sent a rush of liquid to her panties just thinking about Kieran’s various punishments. Oh yeah, bring ’em on.
She parked in front of her sister’s house and groaned when Kix’s gleaming 4x4 pulled up behind the Jeep. Damn. Uniformed cop to vice cop to sheriff—didn’t interesting news travel fast.
She should have waited until Cady got here before telling Erin anything. Instead she’d brought Erin up to date on the case and told her what they’d found at Danny’s house when she called to tell her sister she was on her way over. Not a good move. No doubt Erin had felt duty-bound to fill Kieran in when he called.
Lyric checked her cell phone, no messages. Tricky. Her husband knew Erin would tell him anything he wanted to know and give him the ammunition he needed. She shook her head. Even though Erin had only stayed on the police force for a year, she was still pretty much devoted to law and order. Their cousin Cole was the same way. It probably had something to do with being the oldest kid in each of their families. Lyric sighed. It was a major bummer sometimes.
Bulldog wasn’t territorial about sharing information with the law as long as it served Crime Tells’ and the client’s interests. Still…Lyric hoped that Erin had drawn the line when it came to disclosing the little tidbit of information about Danny’s appointment book ending up in Cady’s back pocket.
Kieran stepped out of Erin’s house and Lyric’s heart went triple-time at the sight of his dark expression and his equally fierce hard-on. Oh yeah, bring it on. She’d bet her own Harley that she wasn’t going to be here when Cady got home.
* * * * *
Kix stood in masculine glory on Cady’s front steps, hands on his hips, scowl on his face, erection pressed against the front of his faded jeans, and Cady’s heart started tap-dancing in her chest. No wonder Lyric always anticipated getting home when Kieran was hot and bothered and waiting for her! Wow!
“Darlin’, I’ve already heard an abbreviated version of what you and Lyric were up to and you can bet that pretty little ass of yours that we’re going to have a talk about it,” he said as she climbed out of her truck.
“We can talk, but I have to get Ranger settled in first.” She stepped to the side and let the dog jump out.
Kix’s expression went from scowl to bemusement. “You got a dog?”
“They were going to put him to sleep.”
“You got a dog.” This time there was amusement in his voice.
“Yes, I did.”
The lazy grin spread across his face and she knew she was in trouble when he did his loose-hipped cowboy saunter down the walkway.
“Little darlin’, did you set out to get a dog this morning?”
“I’m going to take the Fifth,” she muttered.
“Hmmm, now there’s a challenge.” His smile widened and Cady thought he was going to lean forward and kiss her. Instead he held his hand out for Ranger to sniff. The dog’s tail gave an almost imperceptible wag.
“He likes you,” Cady said.
“Dogs and women both find me irresistible.”
Cady rolled her eyes. “Maybe you could make yourself useful and carry in the dog bed and his food.”
Kix chuckled before moving closer and pulling her up against his body, giving her the kiss she’d been expecting. When it ended, he rubbed his nose along hers before resting his forehead on Cady’s. “Don’t think we’re not going to have a little chat about you haring off on your own to confront a suspect.”
“I was hardly on my own. Lyric was with me.”
“Well, judging from the things Kieran had to say, that might be even worse than going alone. I have a sneaking suspicion you wouldn’t have ventured into Danny’s house if your sister wasn’t along.”
“You talked to Kieran?”
“Oh yeah, darlin’, we had a nice long talk about the Montgomery streak of independence and way of doing things. You want to know what we do with pretty little law breakers in my county?” Despite the teasing edge to his words, his body told a different story.
She snorted. “I’m not a law breaker.”
“Breaking and entering, trespass…” When she tensed, he pulled back and studied her face.
Cady cursed herself for thinking about the appointment book in her back pocket and stiffening. To cover, she said, “It was hardly breaking, entering, and trespassing. The door was unlocked when Lyric tried it. And then seeing Danny like that… I think that’s called probable cause to enter.”
He laughed. “Oh, Kieran was pretty sure that the door would be unlocked. Funny thing, the doors are always unlocked when Lyric’s on the scene. Your sister is in for a very thorough body search.”
Cady snickered. “Oh yeah, and Lyric’ll enjoy every second of it.” She just hoped that Lyric had time to hide the keys. She’d feel guilty if Lyric lost her new toys because she helped out today.
Ranger nudged Cady’s hand. “I’ve got to take him inside and get him settled.”
Kix pressed a hard kiss against her lips. “We’re not finished with this discussion. There’s a tingling at the back of my neck that I’v
e learned to listen to. And the funny thing is, darlin’, it started when Erin quit talking right on the verge of telling Kieran and me just what you and Lyric found while you were being such good citizens and waiting for the police to show up.”
Chapter Nine
The truce lasted long enough for Cady to feed Ranger and let him investigate the backyard before checking out the rest of the house and finally laying down on the dog bed she put in front of the TV. The moment he was settled, Kix moved into Cady’s personal space and said, “Now, am I going to have to frisk you, then handcuff you, or are you planning to cooperate?”
Cady nibbled on her bottom lip.
“Darlin’, I’m just barely under control here.”
“That’s not my problem.”
“Well now, Cady, I think you’re wrong about it not being your problem.” Kix pulled her back tight against the front of his body and teased her with the feel of his lips along her neck.
She shivered but didn’t back down from what had been on her mind. “You haven’t exactly been keeping me up-to-date on what you’re doing.”
His chuckle had Cady closing her eyes and thinking about the way smooth, warm chocolate could slide down and heat you from the inside out.
Kix slid his hands up and started unbuttoning her shirt. “I’m willing to show you mine if you’re willing to show me yours.”
She gave in for a second, enjoying his touch, his teasing, but then regret forced its way in. Cady stiffened and tried to pull away from him. She wasn’t immune to him, but that didn’t mean that she was going to keep letting him use her… No she wasn’t going to go there, that was unfair to both of them… She wasn’t going to let him use his charm to sidestep the fact that so far the sharing of case information seemed to only go one way.
When he didn’t release her, she stopped struggling and said, “Please let me go, Kix.”
