“Did you really need to compare dick sizes?”
I turn my head and look into the sultry brown eyes I’ve tried not to think about all day. “You really passed up dinner and my dick for that piece of shit?” She laughs and I’m able to inhale deeply enough to allow a bit of my anger to fade. “Come here.” I pull her into my arms and hold her.
“He’s such an asshole and his dick is a lot smaller than yours,” she says after locking her arms around my neck and resting her head against my chest.
I smooth my palms over her back and resist running them down to her ass. Now is not the time.
“How did you know I needed you?” she asks softly.
“Daisy wasn’t happy. You need to let him inside. He’s the real savior tonight. After that, you can tell me why you named him Daisy. I think he humps my leg because he’s confused.”
She laughs exactly like I want her to. Her hands relax and she steps back when I release her. She wipes her eyes again looking embarrassed. I grab her hand and capture her gaze. “Knock or throw something against the wall and I’ll come running. Why did you put Daisy outside to begin with?”
With the tears, her eyes are like dark crystal. “Daisy hates Mark.”
I squeeze her fingers gently. “I’m in full agreement with Daisy. You need to pay more attention to your dog’s instincts.”
She turns away and walks to the back door. Daisy streaks past her and gallops full-speed toward me.
“Daisy, no,” Shelby yells.
I’m ready. Daisy jumps up and I sidestep. “No, sit,” I say in a firm voice. His butt instantly plops down. His tail wags against the carpet and his tongue hangs out. I run my hand on the side of his jaw and scratch between his ears. “Good boy,” I say and look up at Shelby. “Now that alpha leadership is established, fess up. What’s the girl name for?”
Shelby rolls her eyes with a smile. “When I was young my mother bought a purebred standard poodle and named her Daisy.” Her voice lowers. “She was the sweetest and smartest puppy on the planet. As she grew it became evident she wasn’t the perfect purebred dog my parents paid for. When they questioned the seller, he admitted his female may have come into contact with their German shepherd. My parents gave Daisy back and received a full refund. It devastated me. Two years ago, I saw an advertisement for shepadoodle puppies and decided to check them out. The only one who looked like my Daisy was this monster.” She reaches over and scratches Daisy’s head. “It was love at first sight and,” her voice becomes insistent, “he likes the name Daisy.”
Her parents are a piece of work. “No, he doesn’t,” I insist. “He needs a proud name like Duke or Rex.”
Shelby shakes her head. “He answers to Daisy and it’s too late to change his name now.”
“Wanna bet?” I back away and snap my fingers. “Duke, release.” He immediately heels to my side and I look smugly up at Shelby.
“That’s cheating,” she says with a laugh. “Have you eaten?”
“No, I feel like pizza, how about you?”
“You have a thing for Italian food, don’t you?” She asks on her way to the side table where she grabs her purse and a scarf, which she ties around her waist for no apparent reason.
“My mother’s Italian.” When she’s close enough, I place my arm over her shoulder and we head outside.
“No wonder,” she replies.
“You don’t understand. My mother can’t cook to save her life. My father does all the cooking. It’s why my brothers and I never died from foodborne illnesses.”
God, I love her laugh.
Chapter Ten
THE PIZZA’S GOOD AND the company better.
“He never hit me. If he had, I’d have ended it then and there and called the police. That shit doesn’t go over with me.” Shelby steals an olive off my slice of pizza. “Mark solves problems by yelling louder than anyone else in the room or at least tries to. I wasted a long time thinking he’d change. He called me two days ago and said he was taking anger management classes. He just wanted to talk. His idea of talking was trying to get back together. He wasn’t raising his voice, but he was being rather insistent even after I told him to leave.”
“He doesn’t come back,” I say with finality. “If he does, you call me immediately.”
She salutes me and takes a bite of her pizza. Sauce sticks to the side of her mouth and I’m not quick enough to lick it off before she grabs her napkin. “The look in your eyes is scaring me,” she breathes. My mouth is an inch from hers.
I take her hand, bring it to my lips, and bite the end of her finger. Her eyes shine and her eyelashes sweep down. I release her hand and lean back. “I need to get up early. Do you want to sleep at my house in case el jerko decides to come back?” She appears dazed. Then her expression changes and I have a feeling I won’t like her answer. Her gaze moves away and I reach over and tip her head back in my direction. “Don’t worry. I won’t yell or cause a scene. I can take it like a man.”
She nods. “I like you. I had a great time last night. But I really don’t want a steady relationship.”
It’s not what I want. I’m fairly sure I want a solid relationship with this woman. Hopefully it’s a start, though. “I’m a good booty call if you need one,” I offer.
“You’re a great booty call. Can I take you up on it another night?”
“Absolutely.”
****
I have a feeling I’ll be spending a lot of time in the shower taking care of my hard dick now that I’ve had a taste of Shelby. Fantasizing isn’t the same, though. I know exactly how she tastes, the noises she makes when she comes, and how her eyes turn almost black when she’s turned on. I want the real thing.
It’s after midnight when I finally fall asleep. My cell phone wakes me a few hours later. I peer sleepily at the clock while trying to unplug the phone from the charger and bring it to my ear.
It’s a little after three, which means nothing good. “Detective Street,” I answer gruffly.
“Street, this is Detective Zimmer,” he barks. Zimmer works out of another precinct; he’s new to homicide and I don’t know him well. “I saw the bulletin you released yesterday. I’m at a scene and I think it’s connected to your guy.”
Rolling out of bed, I head to my closet to gear up. I wait for Zimmer to give me his location before ending the call and shoving the phone into my pocket.
****
Forty minutes later, I’m standing over the body of a woman lying against an apartment dumpster. Her throat is gaping open from a deep slash and she’s been stabbed in several places. I’m careful to avoid the blood pooled around her body as I observe the crime scene.
Detective Zimmer’s voice is hushed as he brings me current. “Patti Johnson, her roommate, called it in. Patti stayed at her boyfriend’s last night and Birdie, the deceased, didn’t show up to work her territory. Patti said she started thinking about the two other prostitutes killed and decided to head back to the apartment to check on Birdie. This was after calling her and receiving no answer. The roommate saw her feet sticking out as soon as her last john pulled his car up. The john’s in the wind by the way.”
Too fucking bad. He’ll be sorry he left. “I want the roommate going back to the station with me. Can you keep her with you until I clear here? It could be an hour.” I don’t need to tell him I’m taking this case. Chances are, from the wounds on the victim, my guy’s responsible. The police bulletin I sent to all the precincts had more info than what I gave the media. Enough info for Zimmer to link the crimes.
“Got it, Street. Catch this maniac, okay?” he says over his shoulder as he walks toward Patti, who’s standing with another cop. I made a quick call to Kurtis on my drive over. His car pulls up behind the outer crime scene tape. I wave him across the tape once a rookie with a clipboard takes his name. Anyone entering the crime scene will be required to write a written report and could be required to testify after I catch this guy. Assigning a rookie to take names tends to keep the
brass away. I give props to Zimmer for having the rookie in place before I arrived.
Kurtis squats beside the body without touching her. He examines the wound at her throat before scanning lower. She’s naked and the damage from the knife is fully visible.
“She lived in these apartments,” I tell him in the same hushed tone Zimmer used. “My other two victims weren’t attacked this close to home. Their bodies were a couple blocks away from where they lived.” I glance around worried even my low tone carries.
Kurtis stands up and I wave him after me. We both remove the latex gloves we’re wearing. The crime scene techs are waiting and I nod in their direction. They took pictures before I arrived but didn’t touch anything. They need to get to work so Kurtis can perform the autopsy at the ME’s office.
After we’re seated in my truck I give Kurtis what I have. “Her roommate’s here and I’ll interview her as soon as I’m back at the department. We have a missing john, but I’ll have him in the next few hours.” What I don’t say is that I’ll need to write a damned memo explaining why I brought my personal vehicle to a crime scene. Bullshit red tape every step of the way. There was no way I was taking the time to go by the department and switch vehicles.
Kurtis scratches his chin. He’s looking out the car window at the police lights surrounding us. “Do you ever wonder why we do this job?”
He’s tired. I’m tired. This is the effect. “Every fucking day,” I reply.
That gets a small laugh from him and he turns his gaze in my direction. “I’ll stay on right now and start the autopsy as soon as the body is delivered.”
“Thank you.” This is why I called him. We can’t wait a few days or we’ll have another body. This one is too damn close to the last.
Kurtis places his hand on the door handle. “I’ll call as soon as I’m finished unless you want to be there.”
I don’t have time. I wasn’t at the other two autopsies. As stupid as it might sound, maybe I can get a better feel for this psycho if I talk it through with Kurtis when he starts cutting. Anything is worth a try at this point. “Let me interview the roommate and I’ll meet you at your office.”
“That works.”
Chapter Eleven
I’M AT MY DESK a little after four in the afternoon when Donna, one of the records clerks, buzzes my office phone. “I’ve got a Detective Smith from Shreveport, Louisiana, on the line for you.”
“Put him through,” I tell her. I blink a few times trying to clear my vision after staring at the computer screen for the past twenty minutes while I work on the latest report. I’m not a fan of autopsies like I was in my younger days. Too much blood and violence. All I got from watching Kurtis work was a sense that this is one sick motherfucker.
The phone makes a clicking noise. “Is this Detective Street?” a gruff voice asks.
“Speaking.”
“I’ve got a look-alike hit on the info you put in UCI.” I sit up straighter and my adrenaline immediately picks up. “Five kills beginning three years ago. Twelve months from first to last and then they stopped. All prostitutes with their throats slit and multiple knife wounds to the torso.”
“I’ve got three now, one from early this morning. Did you have any witnesses?”
“No. Never discovered how he approached them.”
My fingers tighten on the phone. “When was the last kill?”
“July 10, 2014.”
“That means there was more than a year between my first one and your last.”
“You think it’s the same guy?”
I consider what I have for a moment. “Possibly, and if so, he hit another place in between. How long between the last two deaths at your end?”
“It was three days after the third one and one day before the fifth.”
“Fuck,” I swear. “Sorry, I’m tired.”
“No worries. That’s the exact expletive I used when I saw your info.”
I thrum my fingers on the desk. “Can you send me the autopsy reports?”
“Give me an email and I’ll have them to you within the hour.”
I hang up and rest my head in my hands thinking about the wounds to my latest victim. She had a fucking sock pushed down her throat and tape over her mouth. He killed her at the dumpster and no one saw a damn thing. The roommate gave me little to go on, but she did have the license plate of the john. I have two uniforms picking him up right now. He’s most likely married and it won’t be fun having two cops knock at his door. Asshole should have stuck around.
My cell buzzes and I look down at the incoming text. Even with everything going on, my balls tighten and my dick receives a nice burst of energy.
Shelby: Cooking Navajo tacos for dinner, want to join me?
How I wish.
Me: No can do, I’ll be working late.
Shelby: I noticed your truck gone early this morning when I took Daisy for her early walk.
Me: Got called out.
Shelby: I heard about the body.
Me: Stay off the street.
Shelby: I’ll save you some tacos and bring them over when you get home.
She completely ignores my directive.
Me: I mean it Shelby.
She doesn’t reply. I hope she remembers she has court tomorrow. I’ll remind her tonight after I spank her ass for being a pain in mine. Yes, my cock jumps at that thought. I gain control of myself and go back to my report.
****
I arrive home a few minutes before ten. I delivered the autopsy reports to Kurtis and we pored over them for two hours. We concluded it’s the same guy. I left a message on Detective Smith’s phone telling him our cases are tied and requested all his reports. I know how much paperwork is involved in the request and I also know it will take me days to go through all of it. Chances are this won’t help my end of things, but I can’t take a chance that it might.
I ate a small bag of chips a few hours ago. I’m tired and hungry and I know it’s too late to take Shelby up on her offer of tacos. I open my fridge and peer at three water bottles, one gallon of spoiled milk, beer, and cheese. I open the freezer and pull out a TV dinner. Seconds before I pop it into the microwave, my doorbell rings. I grab my gun and head to the door.
Shelby stands on the front porch with a large plate in hand and Daisy at her side. I open the door and take the plate from her. Daisy sniffs my leg, whines, and heads over to the couch where he plops down in front of it. He’s acting as tired as I am.
“I could kiss you but I’m too hungry.” I close the door behind her. “I would say you shouldn’t have but the TV dinner I planned doesn’t smell anywhere near this good.” I head to the kitchen counter, lay my gun down, and remove the foil covering the plate. Heaven.
Shelby’s laughing and doesn’t seem to mind that she missed out on a kiss. I’m too hungry to worry about it. I grab a fork from the drawer and dig in without even moving the dish to the table. Shelby walks around the other side of the island and watches me eat with a smile tipping her beautiful lips. She grabs a paper towel and hands it over while I continue shoving food in my face. I know this isn’t exactly how you impress a girl but I don’t care.
“Grab yourself some water or a beer if you want,” I say after swallowing a large bite.
“You want a beer?” she asks me.
“No, water’s good if you don’t mind handing me one from the fridge.”
“Interesting collection of nothing,” she jokes when she looks inside.
I chew another bite slowing down a bit so I can savor the taste. “That’s why you’re a lifesaver. Why the hell did it take so long for you and me to hook up?”
“Hmm.” She gathers her hair and pushes it over one shoulder after handing me the water. I can’t help but stare at the uncovered skin on her opposite shoulder. She’s not wearing a scarf and it looks so fucking soft. “Maybe because you didn’t like my dog and you gave me your mean stare whenever I saw you.”
She’s right. I haven’t been the most congenial
next door neighbor. “Daisy,” I tip the water bottle in his direction, “made me grumpy.” I don’t tell her that her boyfriend kept me from pushing the dog aside and giving her the famous Street come-on.
“I took Daisy through obedience training when he was six months old. He took to it and I work with him whenever I can.” She gives me a sly look. “I could have called him off, but I enjoyed irritating you.”
I wipe my mouth. “I deduced that the night I let him out to do his business. Had to call a friend and ask how the hell to get him outside after I told him to sit.”
Her smile is full with beautiful white teeth and a very small dimple in her left cheek. “You remember you have court tomorrow morning, right?” I ask.
“Yes, Mr. Calendar. I remember I have court and since I’m getting up early, I need to be heading home.”
I swing my arm out and loop it around her waist when she walks past me. I pull her in and breathe in her scent. “Stay,” I say in a husky voice. “I’m no longer tired.”
She turns slightly in my arms and looks down at the watch on her wrist. “I need to be up too early and I need some sleep. So do you. Tomorrow is Friday. Why don’t we go out to dinner and have a sleepover at my house afterward.”
She’s right, but I have an ache in my chest at the thought of her leaving me tonight. I want her to stay. Instead of saying how I feel and sounding pathetic, I kiss her cheek and release her. “Thank you for bringing dinner over so late. Get some sleep.”
She looks away and walks to the front door. She turns and gives me a little wave as she and Daisy walk out.
Chapter Twelve
Street Justice Page 5
