His arms went wide as he smiled. “Take a swing now, doll. You know I’d never hurt you. Or any other woman like that.” His smiled died as he let his arms drop to the side. “You can beat me up right now if it’ll make you feel better. Please. Do it.”
She wiped more tears from her cheeks, but didn’t say anything. He could see it in her eyes she was tempted, though.
“I can’t apologize for what I did. I won’t. I…Susan means a lot to me. He told me…Sauer basically said I wasn’t good enough. He deserved every last punch, and some more. I only stopped because Susan asked me to.” He shrugged. “Maybe I’m not good enough for her. Maybe I’m not even good enough to be your friend. But it’s not going to stop me from having her. Nobody is going to threaten me and get between us. Not even your husband.”
She couldn’t hide her surprise, but the understanding reflected in her determined eyes. “Sauer’s stressed. He didn’t mean it. You’re plenty good enough for Susan, and for me. Don’t ever think otherwise.”
He stepped closer, swung an arm around her, and pulled her in for a hug. A tender hug that said his apology, because no words would ever leave his mouth.
“Oh, he meant it. But whatever. I know what I want. And it’s Susan. I’ll stay away from your husband. Then I can guarantee I’ll never hit him again.”
Her arms tightened around him. “I don’t like that one bit. I want you two to be friends.”
“Yeah, I don’t think that’s ever going to happen, doll.”
She lifted her head. “But we’re friends and it’s not changing. Got it?”
It’d be easier if she left that alone. If she walked out of his shop and didn’t contact him again. He didn’t want to cause problems between her and Sauer, and he was no idiot. Staying friends would cause tons of problems. All he wanted was his best friend happy. Sauer made her happy. That’s what mattered to him. Even if that meant they couldn’t be friends.
“I said, got it?”
But the thing about Deena, she never did things the easy way. She always pushed and pulled and gutted a person right down to the core until she got her way. He loved that about her.
“Yeah, doll, I got it.”
Chapter 18
Newman leaned back in his chair, his hands clasped together tightly on the table. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could sit here and not speak. Not spill the truth. One person after another had rotated through the door. Zeke. Ben. Captain Ganderson. Sauer.
No one could get him to talk.
How could they? He was one of them. A cop. He knew all the interrogation techniques. He wasn’t about to let them use that shit on him.
Or he could man up and tell the truth. Spill his guts. It’s the least Sauer deserved.
Because out of everyone, it hurt him to the very core that he hurt his friend the way he did—was.
His eyes darted to the door as it swung open. Not a peep sounded as Sauer took a seat across from him.
Sauer looked like shit. Like he had been in a bar brawl and perhaps came out the loser. Bruises covered his face. A busted lip that looked like it hurt. His eyes, besides the bruise circling the right eye, looked worn out and tired. He ached to ask what the hell happened, but didn’t. He went this long without speaking, he could last a little bit longer.
“We executed a search warrant on your house. You know that. If we find anything, you will be charged with four murders. I don—”
“Three.”
They both looked shocked. Since the moment they dragged him into the precinct and shoved him into an interrogation room, he hadn’t said a word. When asked if he wanted a lawyer, he didn’t even say the word no, he shook his head to decline.
Sauer’s jaw clenched. “Four, actually. While you’ve been, wherever you were, another woman was murdered. I’m surprised nobody else told you that yet. Why do you think we want to know where you were?”
He cut his eyes away from Sauer’s, unable to endure the pain and torture written in the depths. Did they tell him and he chose to ignore it? He honestly couldn’t say. He couldn’t remember anyone telling him that information.
The moment he sat down, his life flashed before him and all he could think about was he’d never get it back. He’d never go back to his carefree life where everything was good and happy and something to be proud of.
What was there to be proud of now? Nothing.
“Newman…” Sauer whispered his name so harshly, yet with such emotion, he couldn’t help but turn back toward him. “I know you. I know you’d never kill anyone. I’ve believed in you from the beginning. Please…just talk to me.”
The truth was in his eyes. He meant every word. What did he do to deserve such a great friend? One that stuck by his side when everyone else thought he was guilty.
This was why Sauer would always be one step above him. A good reason why he resented him. He wanted to be a step above. He didn’t like being under anyone.
He always had to be better.
The better son.
The better student.
The better football player.
The better cop.
The better partner in a relationship.
He would never be better. From day one, he was always a step below.
“I didn’t kill those women.”
“I know.” Sauer said it with such conviction, he almost wanted to weep with joy that he still had one person believing in him.
“What happened to your face?”
Sauer flinched and glanced away. “It’s nothing.” He met his eyes once more. “Tell me where you were.”
His hands dropped to his lap. His head swung down, his eyes grazing the floor as if trying to find the meaning of life. As if the answer could be found if he stared hard enough.
“Newman? Come on. I can’t help you if you don’t help me.”
He couldn’t look up. He couldn’t confess by keeping eye contact. “Check my wallet. You’ll see a…receipt.”
The room suddenly became heavy with tension. Immediate and foreboding. Like someone had filled the room with smoke, his lungs clogging instantly, the ability to breathe nonexistent. He was suffocating and he didn’t know how to drag in a deep breath.
“What will I find?”
His head snapped up. “The truth about me.” A maniacal laugh came out. “I cheated on Chrissy. I loved her and I cheated anyway. I turned into a liar. I turned into an asshole with my co-workers. I turned into someone I hated. I can’t seem to turn that asshole part of me off. I needed to release some of the turmoil going on.” He looked down again. “I was at a motel with a…hooker. It’s the only way I know how to cope.” His head whipped up as he slammed his hands down hard on the table. “And no, I don’t know how to find the woman I slept with. All I have is the damn receipt for the motel.”
Sauer swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple moving as if in slow motion. “Were things that bad with Chrissy?”
“Haven’t you talked to Chrissy?”
Sauer nodded.
“Then you know what kind of asshole I was. I can’t change anything I did. But I didn’t kill anyone.”
“You knew the first victim. You had an affair with her.”
Sauer didn’t phrase it as a question, but he nodded to confirm.
“Why’d you lie? Why wouldn’t you tell me?”
“Gee, I don’t know, Sauer. Maybe so you wouldn’t look at me the way you are now.” He slammed his hands down hard again, the sting from the hit radiated up through his hands and to the top of his shoulders. “I’m ashamed of myself. I hate seeing it from you.”
Sauer’s jaw clenched, a muscle ticking in his bruised cheek. “Did you know the other victims?” He pulled a folder from the side of the desk and flipped it open. After digging through the contents, he produced a picture of a woman, probably in her mid-thirties, smiling and happy, her arms around two kids. “Did you know the fourth victim, Carrie-Ann Jenkins?”
“I’ve never seen or heard of or spoken to any of the victims bu
t Tonya. I did not kill them. I am a lot of things,” he stared at him intensely, “but I am not a killer.”
♡
Susan stood in the background behind the two-way mirror on the other side of the interrogation room listening as Sauer talked to Newman. She had no idea the problems he’d been hiding. Clearly, by the expressions from Zeke, Ben, and Captain Ganderson, none of them had any idea either.
She felt uncomfortable being in the room. This wasn’t normal protocol for her, and she still wasn’t sure why Captain Ganderson asked her to listen and watch. Instead of asking questions, she stood in the corner of the room, behind everyone else, and listened.
She found it difficult to keep her focus, especially when some of it was so heartbreaking, she almost wanted to walk into the room and give Newman a hug. Yeah, he had been quite the jackass with her. But he looked devastated and hurt and…lonely. He looked like he needed a hug.
“Zeke, I need you to start verifying his alibis that he’s giving Sauer for each murder,” Captain Ganderson said quietly, yet the soft words rang in the small confines of the room.
“Sure thing, Cap.”
Captain Ganderson then turned to Ben. “Why don’t you and Susan head to the motel he claims he was at and find out if you can verify that alibi.” His eyes zoomed to hers. “Is that okay with you?”
“Yes.” Short and simple. She honestly had no idea what else to say. She glanced at Ben. “I’ll go get my gear and meet you in the lobby of the building.” She smiled gently, and then left the room.
She didn’t want to be in there any more. It felt claustrophobic, intense, and something she wasn’t used to. She had no idea how those guys did that day in and day out. Although, she figured people probably said that about her job as well.
She took her time grabbing her evidence kit, and fifteen minutes later, she was off with Ben to a seedy motel on the edge of town. She felt dirty thinking about it.
“You ok—sorry.” Ben cleared his throat.
She smiled sheepishly. “I’m sorry, too. I should’ve never been so harsh. It’s been a long week. I have no excuse. I’m sorry, Ben.”
“It’s all good. It has been crazy. I just can’t picture the Newman sitting in the room with the Newman I know.”
“Yeah, me, too.”
The drive remained silent after that. What more could they say?
By the time they arrived to the motel, exhaustion coated her body. She knew her day was far from over. She followed Ben silently to the main office of the motel where he questioned the guy behind the counter. He had a slightly creepy looking vibe, like one you’d see in a B flick movie. Dirty, greasy hair. Unkempt clothes. Teeth that probably hadn’t seen a brush in months. He kept turning his eyes her way, smiling, or at least, he thought he was offering a smile, when all she saw was a creepy leer. She was glad to have Ben by her side.
The guy confirmed Newman checked in the day before around four in the afternoon. He didn’t check out until one the next morning. The guy never gave any indication that was odd behavior of someone.
Then he shocked them both.
“Dude’s a regular. He’s been coming in every few weeks for the past two months or so.”
Ben sighed. “Do you have any surveillance video of him checking in and out?”
“Yeah, sure.”
Susan didn’t want to be a part of that process, or in the presence of the weird guy, so she asked for permission to look at and collect any evidence from the room Newman used and decided to leave the video evidence to Ben while she processed the room. She needed to work, especially if this motel was used for that sort of activity quite a bit.
Ben met her thirty minutes later with confirmation of Newman signing in and out, but no video of the woman he was with.
“So, creepster says the woman never came into the lobby, which apparently they never do.” Ben raised his brows in a gesture that said it didn’t surprise him. Susan couldn’t help but chuckle at the name he gave the guy. Creepster worked very well.
“Meaning we can’t really verify Newman was here with someone.”
A slow smile erupted on his face. “Not exactly true. Mr. Creepster is a chatty Cathy. Plus, a real douche, as said as well as I can in Dee’s voice.” Ben laughed with her. “He likes to look when men sign in. And I don’t mean look at the men.”
She rolled her eyes. “I get your meaning.”
Ben cleared his throat and shoved his hand in her direction with a bunch of photos. “He also doesn’t just look. He likes to take pictures of the women coming and going. He graciously handed it all over to me.”
Susan couldn’t hold back her laugh. “Graciously, huh?”
Ben grinned. “Well, I might have encouraged him to do so.” His grin grew. “What can I say? I have a way with words. Anyway, now we have to put a name to a face. I’m sure this woman has been arrested before, sad to say, but true. Talk to her, get an alibi, and he’s free and clear on murder number four.”
“Which is a good thing.”
A heavy sigh broke free. “It really is.”
They drove back to the precinct, this time with conversation. They steered away from talking about Newman, more so talking about Rina and how her pregnancy was going. They even steered away from talking about Stitch, although she could see it in Ben’s eyes he wanted to know. She appreciated his strength to hold back and leave the subject alone.
They went separate ways once they hit the precinct. He went to find the hooker Newman slept with, and she headed for the lab to process all the swabs she had taken. It looked like a daunting task ahead of her. But she needed to be prepared for the off chance another dead woman popped up. Maybe the same woman Newman took to that motel and slept with.
She couldn’t hold back a groan when she walked into the lab and saw Rachel also working. Rachel pierced her with a haughty smirk, but said nothing. She was honestly grateful for that. Getting into a verbal spat with her wasn’t high on her list. She was done getting into arguments with people. At least, that’s what she kept telling herself. Stopping it would be a lot more difficult. Especially with Stitch.
A few hours later, running sample after sample, she decided it was time for a break. She thought it might even be time to go home. It was getting late. She skipped breakfast and lunch, and her stomach was telling her it was time to eat.
She’d been making that a bad habit. No more. She had to start taking better care of herself before she got sick.
She ran into Ben on her way to her office.
“Any luck?”
He looked exhausted, probably as tired as she felt. “My eyes feel ready to fall out. I think I found her. But the arrest photo I have looks a bit different from the one Mr. Creepster took yesterday. I’m headed out right now to track her down and question her.”
“Good luck. I hope you can find her before she…you know…finds a friend tonight.”
Ben chuckled. “Me, too. I’ll see you later.” He started to walk away.
“Hey, Ben?”
“Yeah?” He turned slightly, a friendly grin on his face.
“How’s Sauer?”
The grin slipped. “Hanging in there. It’s been a long day. For all of us.”
She nodded and waved as he turned back around and walked away.
She didn’t want any hard feelings between her and Sauer. All day it ran through her mind what happened this morning with him and Stitch. She was upset. He was. Stitch was. A lot of high emotions circled around them. Things were said and done and she was ready to move on. Get back to the way things were. Easy and friendly and carefree.
Unlocking her office door, she walked in with her head down, her heart aching, and a tumble of emotions out of whack even as hard as she tried to keep them contained, and closed her door.
“Hey, shorty.”
Jumping, she hit the back of the door as she stared into the eyes of Stitch, who looked entirely too comfortable in her chair.
“How did you get in here? My door was locke
d.”
That sleek, sexy grin of his emerged. She missed that grin all day. “I have many talents. Picking locks happens to be one of them. We need to talk.”
Those dreaded words she was starting to hate hearing from him.
Well, maybe she didn’t want to talk.
Maybe she wanted to forget everything. Forget the day. Forget the issues. Just forget.
Move on.
Chapter 19
Stitch watched as she moved away from the door, but didn’t say anything. Maybe he already screwed up too much. She wasn’t looking too receptive to an apology. Not that he wanted to apologize. He didn’t regret hitting Sauer. He only regretted hurting Susan in the process.
Would she understand that explanation?
“That’s my chair.”
He loved this sassy side of her. Did it matter that he was sitting in her chair? Probably not, but she obviously needed to feel like she had some kind of control.
As soon as he stood up and walked around her desk, he figured he was kidding himself. She had all the control. His life, the way it could turn, either for the good or for worse, was in her hands. He couldn’t stop a damn thing if it didn’t go the way he wanted.
She chose to walk around the desk on the opposite side, which prevented him from pulling her into his arms. It was crazy. Illogical how much he needed to wrap her in his arms and show her his apology. He was much better at show rather than tell. Even in school when he had to bring in his favorite toy in his kindergarten class. He could remember standing in front of the class with a truck he loved playing with. He didn’t say why it was his favorite, that it was the only toy his dad ever bought him, that it was the last toy he ever received from him. He just stood there silently with a smile on his face until the teacher called the next student to come up.
“What are you doing here? What…do you want to talk about?”
There. Right there. He hated how she hesitated. How she didn’t sound sure of herself. What did she think he wanted to talk about? He honestly wanted to avoid the conversation about what happened with Sauer, but he knew he couldn’t.
One Taste of Sin (A One Taste Novel Book 4) Page 18
