by Mia Dymond
“I can’t.”
“What? There’s another corpse blocking the door?”
“That’s not funny.”
“Let me try.” Marnie twisted the key with the same result. “It’s probably bent from all the tugging. I’ve got mine.”
Dara watched her best friend jab the second key into the lock and fight a similar battle.
“If I didn’t know better,” she said while Marnie still struggled, “I’d say someone changed the lock.”
She froze at Marnie’s quick intake of breath in the still night and then felt the low, husky voice behind her before she heard it.
“Someone did.”
Very slowly, she turned in the darkness. Marnie, however, released an obnoxiously-ear piercing scream and spun around with the key still in her grasp, pointed at the stranger’s neck like a weapon.
Only, the stranger wasn’t strange.
“Dammit, Mace!” Dara lunged forward and beat both fists against his incredibly hard chest. “You scared us half to death!”
His fingers closed around her wrists as he stopped her attack. She stood silently stunned for several seconds trying to digest the reality that she beat a cop rather than a lunatic murderer. His thumbs drew circles on her skin before he moved his hands to her elbows and set her back from him, apparently unphased by her assault. Her heart beat ninety to nothing, from fear or arousal she couldn’t tell. Warmth from his strong yet gentle touch seeped under her skin to tease her nerve endings and send her blood racing.
“Okay?”
She nodded, somewhat hypnotized by his deep, calming tone.
He moved his gaze to Marnie, the dim porch light showcasing the very sexy five-o’clock shadow across his jaw. “Marnie?”
“Yes,” the other woman squeaked.
When he narrowed that sexy gaze back on her, Dara suddenly wasn’t so sure she escaped danger after all.
“Explain,” he said.
“I forgot something?”
“You tell me.”
“Yes, I did.”
“Toothpaste?”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Detective, I wouldn’t come back for toothpaste.”
“What did you forget?”
Marnie nudged her with an elbow. “Your manuscript, Dara, remember?”
Dara swallowed hard. “Yes, I left my manuscript behind.”
A grin moved his lips and he folded his arms over his chest. “The same manuscript I’m willing to bet is saved to the hard drive on your computer?”
“Good grief!” Dara dismissed him with a wave of one hand. “It doesn’t matter now. I can’t get inside anyway.”
“You’re absolutely right.” He reached behind his back and then produced a pair of shiny silver handcuffs. “Except now you’ve got more to worry about than your manuscript.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I do,” Marnie groaned. “He’s going to arrest us.”
“No, he’s not.”
He spun the cuffs on his index finger. “Yes, I am. You attempted to illegally breach a crime scene.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You’ve only got one set of restraints.”
“Marnie won’t fight.” He shrugged. “Besides, Detective Stewart is waiting in the car.”
“You’d really handcuff me?”
“Depends. How badly do you want me to?”
She stood deathly still, careful not to budge. You have absolutely no idea.
Another cocky chuckle filled the silence as he grasped her elbow and gestured to the sidewalk. “Maybe next time. Give me your cell phone.”
“Why?”
“You’re not allowed to have it in the squad car.”
She tilted her head to one side. “I need my cell phone to call Alex.”
“You’ll have one call from the jail.”
She glanced at the black and white car parked at the curb, red and blue lights flashing hello to her neighbors. Jackson waved from the passenger side.
“Are you kidding me?” Surely this was a hallucination. “Where’s your ugly green sedan?”
“At the station.” He pressed a hand to the small of her back and nudged her to walk the short distance to the car.
“How did you even know we were here?”
“Lucky guess.” He opened the back door and glanced at Marnie.
“You owe me big time, Dara,” her friend growled as she climbed into the car and slid across the seat to the opposite side. “Hey, Jackson.”
Jackson grinned. “Buckle up.”
“Okay, in,” Mace told Dara as he gestured at the open door. “Watch your head.”
“You’re seriously going to make me ride back here like one of your suspects?”
“Seriously.” He leaned one arm against the open door and glared while she sat and buckled her seatbelt. “You are a suspect.”
“Of what?”
“You have the right to remain silent.” He simply gave her an arrogant grin and closed the door.
Dara rode with her knees almost glued to her breasts on a hard, plastic bench behind a steel cage attached to both sides of the car while Mace drove in silence. Lovely. She could almost feel the germs lined up ready to attack her.
“Please don’t let anyone see me,” Marnie groaned beside her.
Dara rolled her eyes. “Like you said earlier, it’s dark.”
Jackson cleared his throat.
She leaned forward and spoke through the iron holes in the divider. “What about my car?”
“What about it?” Mace glanced at her in the rearview mirror.
“We’ll need to get home once we’re sprung.”
“What makes you think you’ll get out anytime soon?”
She gave him a taunting smirk. “Alex won’t waste time – you’re bothering her in the middle of the night. For the second time.”
Jackson mumbled and she could’ve sworn it sounded something like idiot.
“I’ll drive you home once you post bail.”
“Not in this contraption you won’t.”
He answered with another cocky chuckle and she felt like kicking the back of his seat.
Marnie scooted down low in the seat. “Jackson, please don’t let him drive down Main Street.”
“He won’t.” Jackson gave his partner a hard stare. “And he’ll take the alley to the unloading dock.”
Dara took one look at her best friend, now almost curled into a ball, and almost laughed out loud. “Marnie, the windows are tinted so no one can see inside. That’s why they don’t load prisoners until the officer can sit inside with them.”
“Research?” Mace’s deep, taunting tone made her want to stuff his handcuffs in a very strategic place.
“As a matter of fact, yes. Your captain was full of information.”
“You know Captain Bradley?” Jackson cut his eyes at Mace as he steered into the covered garage that housed the booking area.
“Personally.” She glanced at Marnie. “You can sit up now, we’re here.”
“Nice, Turner,” Jackson mumbled.
An hour later, Dara dialed the lone telephone just outside the jail cell. “Alex, it’s Dara.”
“Are you drunk? It’s two o’clock a.m.”
“Not exactly. We’re in jail.”
“We?”
“Marnie’s with me.”
“Are you together?”
“Yes. We’re sharing a lovely steel box with several thousand germs at the moment.”
“Are you okay?”
“Of course.” She gave a half smile to a woman in the corner whose tank top worked overtime to restrain her ample breasts. “In fact, I’m doing some extensive research on the night life in Primrose.” She winced at the tortured groan that left Marnie’s throat.
“What was that noise?”
“Marnie.”
“I’ll be right there. Do me a favor and keep your research on the downlow.”
Dara disconnected the call, hung up the receiver, and then grinned at Mace. “Alex is on her wa
y.”
She bit her lip as Jackson’s face turned a pale shade of green. It was almost unfair for him to suffer Alex’s wrath as well, but it served him right for following alongside Mace.
Mace opened the cell and gestured her and Marnie inside. “I’ll let you know when she gets here.”
She and Marnie took a seat on an empty bench on the opposite side of the cell from the others.
“Not much business tonight,” Marnie mumbled.
“Can you believe he actually arrested us?”
“Yes.” Marnie answered so quickly that Dara got the impression she waited for the opportunity. “He didn’t have a choice.”
“Huh? Of course he had a choice! We weren’t even inside the house. The front porch wasn’t part of the crime scene.”
“Don’t you see?” Her friend actually giggled. “There’s a major power struggle between you two. He had to do something to gain control.”
She grinned, impressed by Marnie’s response. “You’d make a pretty good head doctor.”
“I learned from the best.”
“Thanks, Marnie.”
“I meant Bri, but you’re not so bad yourself.”
Dara shook her head at Marnie’s teasing, relieved the other woman wasn’t still panicked about being arrested. And really, she wasn’t either. If arresting her gave Detective Turner a false sense of security, more power to him – locking her up wouldn’t stop her from picking up the case right where she left off.
Minutes felt like hours while she waited for Hurricane Alex to blow in the jail, but Dara practiced patience. She knew from experience Alex would be the one in control – Detective Turner would have no choice in the matter. She glanced at the clock on the wall and frowned. Alex would have to get to the jail first.
Just about the time she was ready to admit Alex had chosen sleep over her friends, Mace approached and opened the cell door
“Your attorney’s in the interrogation room.” He gestured for her and Marnie to exit and then re-locked the door. They followed him a short distance down the hallway and then he opened another door and gestured with one hand for them to enter. Jackson was already inside, pressed into the corner as if he wanted to hide.
Once Dara saw Alex propped on one hip against a metal table, she fought the urge to give her friend a high-five. Alex was here, armor in place. Let the games begin.
“Okay, why did you arrest them?”
“Obstruction of justice.”
Dara lifted an eyebrow. “For attempting to break into my own house?”
Mace nodded. “It’s still a crime scene.”
“Why did you break in?” Alex frowned. “You and Marnie both have a key.”
“Someone changed the locks.”
“For your own protection.” Mace crossed his arms across his now wrinkled pale blue dress shirt, open at the collar, unbuttoned to the third button. She licked her lips at the sight of the smooth, tan skin beneath.
“Yoo-hoo, Dara!” Alex waved a hand in front of her face. “Why didn’t you just call Griffin?”
“It was late.” She swallowed hard. “I had no idea I couldn’t get inside.”
Alex gave her a you-need-severe-help stare before turning to address the detectives. “Did you charge them?”
Jackson cleared his throat and Mace grinned. “No.”
Dara’s eyes cramped from her wide stare. “What? You left me in that cell for two hours and I’m not even under arrest?”
“Oh, I arrested you.” Mace shifted his weight to his opposite hip. “I just didn’t book you.”
“I’m so billing you double, Dara,” Alex mumbled.
“Let’s just go home,” Marnie pleaded. “To my apartment.”
Mace stepped forward and moved a wayward curl back from her forehead. “No more, Sherlock Holmes.”
“Fine,” she mumbled.
“Promise.”
“Oh, for Pete’s sake!” Alex shrieked. “She swears on her first born child, Detective Turner!”
Obviously stunned by the outburst, both men stood silent and still, as if one false move would render them one testicle short of a pair.
Jackson moved slowly next to Alex and grasped her elbow. “C’mon, Counselor. I know exactly what you need.”
Dara raised both eyebrows and glanced at Marnie, who released an obnoxious giggle. Although she was relieved her friend wasn’t totally traumatized, Dara couldn’t stop the thought that Alex might just change her mind about bail. Thank God they hadn’t really been charged.
“There’s a twenty-four hour coffee house around the corner.” Jackson guided an amazingly silent Alex to the door. “Detective Turner will see you two home.”
Dara only nodded as the door closed behind them.
“I’ll bet you twenty bucks they don’t go for coffee,” Marnie said beside her.
Mace reached into his pants pocket and handed Marnie a twenty dollar bill. “I know they won’t.”
Dara rolled her eyes. “And you accuse me of sex on the brain.”
She knew the moment those words left her mouth she invited trouble. No way would her best friend let that opportunity pass.
“You do.” The smile that creased Marnie’s lips could have been archived in the sneaky villain’s hall of fame. “Now if you’d put all those naughty thoughts in motion, you’d have awesome research opportunity.”
Dara glanced at Mace, expecting some sort of snappy come-back. Instead, he raised one eyebrow and tilted his head to one side, almost daring her to say the words lined up on the tip of her tongue.
“Maybe I will.” Her gaze never left his as she answered and she caught the sparkle in the depths of his deep, dark eyes.
“No doubt in my mind,” Marnie grumbled. “Can we go now?”
Mace pushed off the wall with one hip and moved to open the door. “After you, ladies.”
***
Parked outside of the Primrose Police Department, he plastered himself against the car seat, hoping to make himself invisible to the naked eye while he waited to see what would happen next. Turner enjoyed using his badge as intimidation. It was bad enough he tossed Dara out of her own home, but his sources revealed that the dumb ass cop had arrested her and locked her in a filthy jail cell. She hated germs. He would be punished for that.
He’d waited going on two hours and his patience wore thin. If he didn’t see her soon, he would go in after her. His spine tingled in anticipation when she and Marnie finally exited the station, Detective Turner behind. Now she was free – free to be his. His anticipation became excitement until all three of them climbed into Turner’s truck. Dara scooted to the middle, pressed against Turner.
He clenched the steering wheel until his knuckles hurt and his hands shook. Cocky bastard.
As soon as Turner pulled out of the parking lot and onto the street, he started the car, shifted into gear, and followed at a safe distance. He had to be extra careful, tailing a cop. Turner was trained to notice things like that. He soon recognized Marnie’s neighborhood and fell back, drove around the block, and then parked. He had to do something to make her notice him. But what? He scooted down in the seat and pulled the brim of his baseball cap over his eyes. This would take some thought.
CHAPTER FIVE
Huddled around a squad room table, Mace raised an eyebrow at Jake and Ryker when Jackson entered, just over an hour late. “You look like hell.”
Jackson answered with a scowl.
He glanced at his partner and cautiously continued. “Long night?”
“Not long enough.”
Jake snickered. “You get lucky?”
“No comment,” Jackson growled. “Did you ask Mace? He took two ladies home.”
“Really?” Ryker leaned forward, obviously impressed by the numbers.
He chuckled, purposely ignoring Ryker’s inquiry, then leaned back in his chair and braided his fingers behind his head. “Screw you.”
“Yeah. So, anything new?” Jackson grabbed an empty chair, turned it aroun
d backwards, and then sat.
“No, damn it. What are we missing?”
“Evidence,” Jake said around a long sigh. “Too many suspects with motive and not enough evidence to point to any one of them.”
Mace totally agreed with the other detective’s analysis. “At least we’ve ruled out Dara and her DRAMA friends.”
Jackson stared without saying a word.
“What?”
His partner shook his head. “Nothing. Have you told her she can go home yet?”
“No.”
“Any particular reason why?” Jackson flipped through the pile of reports in front of him.
“I don’t feel comfortable with her being there alone. End of discussion.” He stood and paced. Although he knew he couldn’t disguise his feelings for Dara from any man seated at the table, he wouldn’t confirm anything either. The case was too important; he didn’t trust anyone else to protect her.
Jackson tapped the top page of the stack. “The reports on all the tenants.”
Mace raised both eyebrows. “Anything?”
“A couple of speeding tickets and a DUI.”
“Another dead end.” He ran a hand down his jaw. “We’ve only eliminated thirteen reviewed authors, a couple of whom more have interesting backgrounds.” He split the stack into thirds and distributed one to each detective. “See what you guys think.”
As Ryker, Jake and Jackson thumbed through the pages, Mace drummed both thumbs against the edge of the metal table, desperate to hear one of them say he’d missed something, hell, anything. The whole scenario was still just one big question mark. Did the perp leave the corpse to frame Dara? Or did he have some other sick sense of reasoning behind his action? More importantly, how in the hell did he enter the house? And that million dollar question stopped him in mid-thought and caused a chill to travel his spine. She really needed information he had. He gave the table one last forceful tap and then pulled his cell phone from his pocket.
“Take her somewhere nice.”
Jackson’s suggestion forced him to glance up to see three mischievous grins directed right at him. “I’m not a total idiot.”
He ignored the silent jab, dialed, and listened until Dara answered.
“Hello?”
