Trial By Fire (Rainbow Cove Book 1)

by Jet MacLeod

  “Go it, Lieutenant.”

  Gracie continued to survey the scene. She couldn’t figure out what motivated him to do this. She was hoping that the forensics team would be able to find something. She hoped that Cormack’s team was good and that they would have more to go on besides this guy’s apparent right leg wound and approximate size and shape.

  Gracie looked out over the water. She could swear that she could see her house and Reagan’s right next to it from where she was standing. She knew that as a long shot, but she was glad that she had left Reagan with her parents. She would have hated it knowing that the perp was still out there and Reagan was at home, alone. She shook her head. She didn’t want to think about it. She didn’t want to think about how vulnerable she thought that Reagan was. She wished that she could protect Reagan from all the evils of the world, but she also knew that was impossible.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Grace looked at her watch. She couldn’t believe that she had spent that much time trying to process that scene. Grace had told French that she needed to get home as soon as she could. She wanted to get back to Reagan.

  She didn’t know what was really happening between Reagan and herself, but she knew that she didn’t want to fuck it up. She liked the way that Reagan felt in her arms on the nights that Reagan stayed over. Grace was worried about how Reagan was holding up with her parents.

  She looked at her watch, again. Shit, I didn’t realize that is was that late. I can’t believe that I left her there with them. But, I definitely didn’t want to take her home, Grace thought to herself.

  She was glad to be back on the road and driving towards her parents’ house. She felt bad for leaving Reagan there so long. She had actually hoped that they would have made it back to her house on the lake way before now. She couldn’t help it and she knew that Reagan understood that, but it didn’t make her feel any better.

  Grace floored it to the manor, speeding slightly and ever so tempted to run her lights to get there. She knew better and decided to slow down so that she could make to Reagan in one piece. Grace knew that it wouldn’t do her any good to be a stain on the pavement, especially tonight.

  Grace pulled into her parents’ drive way. She pulled into her spot, so that her father could get out in the morning. She backed the F150 into her spot so that she could leave in a hurry if she had to in the morning. It was a standard procedure for her. She did it without thinking. She laughed about it as she made her way inside the house.

  She worked her way inside as quietly as she could. Grace didn’t want to wake anyone up. She looked at the couch and was grateful that her mother put Reagan upstairs in her room. She would have raised Hell had Reagan been on the couch.

  Grace wound her way into the kitchen. She raided the refrigerator. She was as hungry as she was tired. She ate a quick sandwich and drank some milk, from the carton. She cleaned up her mess and put her dishes in the dishwasher.

  She glanced at the clock in the kitchen and shook her head. Reagan was going to think that Grace was crazy if she went upstairs and got in bed with Reagan now. She knew that processing a scene took a good amount of time, but she had taken way too much to fill out all the paperwork. She wanted to get it done before she forgot anything that she wanted to make as a note. She shook her head, one more time, and decided that she should go to bed.

  She made her way through the house and up the stairs to her bedroom. As she opened the door, a flood of memories entered her mind. She didn’t want to deal with them at the moment, so she forced them back in the dark recessed niche of her brain that they had come from. Gracie only wanted to feel Reagan next to her.

  She was warmed by the sight of Reagan sleeping in her bed. It made her happy beyond words. She wasn’t sure that she knew what she doing with Reagan, but she didn’t want to stop it either. She slowly undressed down to her skivvies. She threw her cowboy boots at the dresser and laid her jeans on the chair in the corner. She threw her shirt on top of her jeans. She left her socks on the floor.

  She crawled into the bed. Grace lay on her back for about two minutes before she couldn’t take it. She rolled over on her side and pulled Reagan’s sleeping form against her. She felt Reagan stir slightly and then settle into her completely. Grace smiled into Reagan’s hair and fell asleep holding her in the wee hours of the dawn.

  Reagan reached down and threaded her fingers through Grace’s as Grace held her in the bed. She smiled at the sweetness that Grace was giving her. Reagan absentmindedly ran her thumb across the backside of Grace’s hand. It seemed like a natural thing to her and she didn’t question it.

  “Did I wake you?” Grace asked her.

  “No,” Reagan answered.

  “Are you sure?” Grace questioned.

  “Yes, Gracie. Just get some sleep. I am not going to get up for a while. Don’t worry about me,” Reagan commanded her.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Grace replied, sarcastically.

  Reagan rolled over in Grace’s arms to look at her face. What she saw there didn’t frighten her, it made her sad. She saw how much Grace hated what she had seen. She could feel how bad Grace wanted to catch the monster that was causing so much pain to the residents of Rainbow Cove. Reagan wanted to ask her so many questions about the investigation but, she knew that Grace couldn’t answer them all without breaking police confidentiality.

  She wanted to soothe Grace. She wanted to make Grace understand that she knew that Grace was doing all that Grace could do to solve the rapes. She wanted Grace to calm down. She wanted her to know that she didn’t care about the case and the reality of how close it hit to home. She wanted Grace to be Grace and not the closed up police woman that Grace was fond of becoming when the cases were too much for Grace to take.

  Reagan reached up and stroked Grace’s face. She searched Grace’s face for something, anything that would let her know what Grace was thinking. She wanted Grace to be as comfortable with her as she was with Grace. It was a simple thing.

  “Are you okay?” Reagan asked her.

  “I’m good. How about you? You’re sure that you are okay with this,” Grace stated.

  “Yes,” Reagan said.

  “Reagan, I am sorry that it took me so long to get home. I wanted to be here with you, but I had to finish up what I was doing. I am sorry that I dumped you here. I am sure that my parents were lovely,” Grace muttered.

  “They were fine. They were worried about you and me, as well. You father is a good man. They took care of me and I swear that your mother checked on me every hour until she went to bed,” Reagan stated.

  “Sorry about that. My mother likes to worry, can’t help it being Irish Catholic,” Grace said.

  “It was nothing. Stop worrying about it. I can only hope that you found enough to nail the bastard,” Reagan replied.

  “I do, too. I am tired of this and him. I want to nail his balls to the wall and let all the victims beat him senseless. I know that isn’t very professional, but it is how I feel,” Gracie answered.

  “I understand that. I wish you all the luck I can and that you catch him soon. I know I won’t feel comfortable in my own house until you do,” Reagan stated.

  “About that,” Grace started.

  “About that, what?” Reagan questioned.

  “Why don’t you just stay with me until this passes?” Grace inquired.

  “I am not sure that I understand what you mean,” Reagan answered.

  “Yes, you do,” Grace replied.

  “You want me to move in with you?” Reagan asked.

  “I don’t see what the problem is, but yes, I would like you to come and stay with me.”

  “Gracie, you don’t know anything about me. You don’t know my past. I have issues that I haven’t told you about. I am not so sure that this is a good idea,” Reagan stated.

  “Your past doesn’t bother me. I don’t care about it. I just don’t feel like you are safe in that big house alone. I would feel better if you stayed with me. I care about you
, Reagan. I don’t want anything to happen to you,” Gracie said, sleepily.

  “We’ll talk about this later. Get some sleep, Gracie,” Reagan told her.

  “No, we should discuss this now, while it is on my mind,” Grace answered.

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” Reagan said.

  “Did I say something? What’s wrong?” Grace asked, “I said something wrong, didn’t I?”

  “It isn’t you, Gracie. It’s me. I have to think about this,” Reagan stated.

  “I am not sure that I understand that, but I’ll give you room if that is what you need,” Grace told her.

  “That isn’t it. I would love to live with you but, there are other things that I need to take care of first, things that you don’t know about, things I am not ready to share with you, yet,’ Reagan told her.

  “Well, take care of it and then let me know. Mmm…I don’t care, Reagan. High school is over. We are both different. Mmm…I can’t keep my eyes open,” Grace said.

  “Go to sleep, Grace.”

  Reagan laid there in the bed with her, watching Grace sleep. Reagan waited until she had heard and seen the gentle rise and fall of Grace’s chest that let Reagan know that she was asleep. Reagan quietly and carefully got out of the bed. She stood in front of the window and gazed out to the world outside.

  “Maybe, I can find a way to explain everything to you, Grace. I know that high school is over and we are both very different from who we were back then. I can only wonder what you will think of me when I tell you of the trials that I have been through to get where I am. I know you have had sadness but can you deal with mine? Can you understand mine?” Reagan asked the sleeping form.

  “I am not sure that you can,” Reagan told her, “I am not sure that I can deal with your reaction. At least, not yet, I am sorry. I do care about you, probably more than I should, but I am not ready for you to break my heart, again.”

  Grace woke up in her childhood room. She stared at the windows and the light that was pouring in them for a few seconds before she remembered why she was there. She flung an arm through the bed looking for Reagan only to find emptiness. This caused her to sit straight up in the bed and look around the room. She found it just like she had left it when left years ago.

  She grabbed her pants and decided to go downstairs to see what her mother had Reagan doing. Gracie took the stairs two at time, her limber six-foot frame, easily maneuvering down them. She came around the landing to find her mother and Reagan sitting at the table in the breakfast nook looking out into the expanse of the back yard and drinking hot tea. Grace looked at her watch. It was tea time. She smirked at her mother’s rigid tea time ritual that occurred everyday at four o’clock in the afternoon.

  “Good morning,” Reagan said, noticing Gracie in the doorway.

  “Mornin’,” Grace said.

  “Well, it is about time you woke. Would you like some tea?” Brianna asked.

  “No, Mum, I am good,” Grace said, walking into the kitchen.

  “What are you looking for, dear?” her mother asked her.

  “Nothing,” she called back from the kitchen.

  She opened the refrigerator door and shut it after she had grabbed a Coke to drink. Grace made her way around to the pantry and found a package of soft-baked chocolate chips cookies. She made her way back to the table and the breakfast nook with her stash. She sat down next to Reagan, in what was her chair when they had family meals at that table. Grace looked up at her mom and suddenly felt like a kid again.

  “Cookies and Coke?” Reagan asked, looking over Grace’s choice in “breakfast.”

  “Breakfast of champions,” Gracie said.

  “Grace, if you want breakfast, I can make you something,” her mother, Brianna said.

  “No, Mum, I am fine, really,” Grace said.

  “Well, if you can eat that and not gain weight, then go ahead,” her mother said.

  “I will. Thank you,” Gracie said, taking a big bite out of a cookie.

  “Don’t encourage her,” Brianna said to Reagan, who was laughing at the scene.

  “It is just that she reminds me of Catherine with the cookies,” Reagan said.

  “Catherine? Who’s Catherine?” Gracie questioned Reagan.

  “She is my--" Reagan started.

  “Now, Grace, you know that it isn’t polite to pry,” Brianna said, cutting in.

  “I wasn’t prying,” Grace said, wondering what suddenly had her mother in a tiff.

  “It’s alright, Brianna,” Reagan said, “She’ll find out soon enough.”

  “Well, it was still rude,” Brianna said.

  “What? All I did was ask a question. What was so rude?” Gracie asked, perplexed.

  “Don’t worry about it. I’ll tell you later,” Reagan said.

  “Umm…okay,” Grace said, “You ready to go.”

  “Yeah, I need to get home and call the office. I have to call the bar, too. I need to talk to Leigh and see how things went last night, well, more like this week. I haven’t been in there in a while. I really should get ready and go in tonight,” Reagan said.

  “I’ll drive,” Grace said, standing and walking back into the kitchen.

  “Tell her when you are ready, Reagan, don’t let her bully you in to it,” Brianna said.

  “I will, Brianna, but she does have a right to know, if we are going to have a relationship,” Reagan said, “I owe her that much for what she has done for me. I don’t like lying. But, not telling her is just as bad.”

  “You’ll find the right time to tell her, lassie, you will,” Brianna said, as Grace reappeared at the table.

  “All the time in the world,” Grace said.

  “For what?” Reagan asked.

  “To tell me about whatever business venture you have going with my father. And, don’t tell me that he hasn’t suckered you into something. I know the way he thinks. I know him better than you think I do. He has you right where he wants you and soon. Bam, he’s got you and there isn’t anything that you can do about it,” Grace said.

  “That has nothing to do with it,” Brianna said.

  “Let’s go,” Reagan said, laughing, “You sure do know how to treat a girl to a night out.”

  “Hey, that’s not fair. It wasn’t my fault,” Grace said, in mock pout.

  “I know, but I do need to get home and if you don’t hurry up and get me there, I will be forced to call a cab and I am sure that you don’t’ want that on your conscience,” Reagan said.

  “You’re right, we do need to go.”

  They were quiet on the ride back to Rainbow Cove. Reagan was unsure how to approach the subject of her moving in. She was flattered and happy about it, but she was reserved about it as well. She wasn’t sure that she would be doing it for the reasons that she wanted to do it. That bothered her. She had to admit that she liked Grace, but she wasn’t sure how Grace felt about her.

  “Something wrong?” Grace finally asked, breaking the silence.

  “No, just thinking,” Reagan said.

  “About?”

  “Your proposal from earlier,” Reagan said.

  “And?”

  “I’m not sure that I can. I like my independence and I don’t want to be a burden.”

  “You wouldn’t be a burden, Reagan and you know that,” Grace said.

  “Do I?”

  “You should. I care for you. That is why I asked,” Gracie said.

  “I know that, but it is just weird to me, that’s all.”

  “How so?” Grace asked.

  “I would just feel weird living at your place when mine is like a yard away. Doesn’t that seem odd of you? I mean, doesn’t that seem weird?” Reagan asked.

  “Not really. I would think that wouldn’t matter when it came to your safety. Twenty yards either way is twenty yards out in the open for the nutcase to get to you. I don’t want that. I don’t want anything to happen to you,” Gracie said.

  “I understand that, but it just seems od
d.”

  They pulled into Grace’s drive way. Grace parked the truck after she spun it around to face the street for an easier departure. She shut the truck off but didn’t make a move to get out. Reagan turned to look at her, trying to gauge what was going on in Grace’s head. Grace undid her seat belt and turned on the bench seat.

  “Look, I don’t want it to be odd for you. I was just thinking that until this was over you could stay with me. If you don’t want to, I understand. I am sorry if it seemed like I was pushing you,” Grace said lying.

  “Listen, Gracie, I appreciate that gesture, really I do, but I need to think about it. You just can’t spring that on someone and expect them to whole-heartedly agree right then and there. Give me some time,” Reagan said.

  “I can do that. I am just worried about you over there by yourself in that big ole house, especially with everything that is going on,” Grace said.

  “I am a big girl and I can handle myself, Gracie Lynn,” Reagan said looking at her watch and then continued, “Look, I have to go. I have things that I need to get done tonight and you look like someone ran over you in a patrol car. Do me a favor, give me some time and go get some sleep. I’ll be back over later to make dinner, okay?”

  “Sounds good to me if I don’t have to cook,” Grace said, “See ya, then.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Reagan walked into Grace’s bedroom. She was unsure of what she would find, but she had already checked the rest of the house looking for Gracie already. She opened the door slowly. She saw Grace sprawled across her bed. The sheets were loosely wrapped around her waist and butt.

  Gracie was sleeping semi-nude under what little bit of sheet covered her lush ass. Reagan stared at the sight, her mouth watering. Reagan was looking at the detail of the Celtic knot tattoo that was splayed across her back. She watched the lines swirl and swerve, cross and connect to create a never ending line in a knot. Reagan could only compare the knot work to the jumble of the sheets that Grace was wrapped up in.

  It was a beautiful tattoo. It was a large piece that covered Grace’s entire back. Reagan walked toward the bed. She wanted to trace the knots of the huge Celtic cross. Reagan sat down, gingerly on the bed next to Grace, trying not to disturb her slumbering form. Reagan reached out to trace the lines, but drew her hand back when Gracie began to stir beside her.