Love's Protector: A Maverick's Shield Novel

by Charisma Chloe

  “Yes, in the worst way.”

  Amour’s cell rang again in her purse as she placed the envelope back into her tote bag and she immediately became stiff. She quickly took it out of her purse and handed it to Jason.

  He checked the caller ID and then looked back up at her. “It’s your father.”

  She let out the breath she was holding before grabbing the phone from him and hitting the talk button. “Hello?”

  “Hey pumpkin!” her father said in scruffy voice.

  “Hey dad! What’s going on? Are you okay?”

  “No I’m not feeling too well today darling. I have a cold.”

  That instantly made her worry. Illnesses weren’t good for someone in his condition. Not even common ones. This also made her upset because she’d told the care facility to call her if her father’s condition had changed in any way. “What are they giving you for it?”

  “Not much. Since I’m on such a large regimen of meds already, they can’t give me too much other than acetaminophen for my fever. The doc says I’ll be fine though.”

  Relief came over her. “Thank god.”

  “What’s happening with you out there pumpkin? Is everything going okay?”

  “Yes daddy, everything’s fine. I’ve been coming up short out here so I’ll probably be heading home soon.” As much as she hated lying to him, this time she deemed it necessary. Being under the impression that she was giving up on this would maybe allow her father to relax and get some much need rest. He wasn’t in the condition to constantly worry about her. It would also help to ease some of the guilt she felt by not being with him right now.

  “That’s great pumpkin! I’m so glad to hear that! Maybe then we can let your mother rest and get on with our lives.”

  “Yeah…maybe.” She felt like shit for having this dishonest conversation with him, but at least he had pep in his voice. He hadn’t sounded this happy since before she’d left Nebraska. “Daddy, do you happen to know anything about a safe deposit box that mom had?”

  “Yeah, why?”

  “I found a key that looks like it belonged to one in her things.”

  “That’s probably to the one she was keeping back then.”

  “Do you know where it is? If what’s in it is important, I want to bring it home with me.”

  “I have the address because I’ve been keeping up the payments on it. I didn’t care if they auctioned off the storage items but I wasn’t sure what she’d kept in the safe deposit so I didn’t want to lose it. I could be nothing or something important. I didn’t want to take the chance.”

  “You don’t know what’s in it?”

  “No, I never looked.”

  “May I have the location of it?”

  “Sure baby.”

  By the time she’d ended her conversation with her father and he had texted the location of the safe deposit box, Shyla had returned with four large glasses of cola and Jason and Alex had gotten up and left the room. “Where are the guys?”

  “They went in my brother’s office,” Shyla replied as she sat on the couch next to her putting the glasses on the coffee table.

  Amour picked up one of the glasses and sipped. “Do you ever worry about Alex? You know…because of his line of work?”

  “Yeah but I know he can take care of himself. He’s been doing this for years and so has Jason. You don’t need to worry about him either. He’ll protect you and himself, you can rest assure of that.” Shyla’s lips curved in a slight smile that told Amour she had known the real reason behind the question.

  She sipped her cola again. “He is very good at his job.” Among other things, like using his tongue. She clamped her thighs together trying to push the memory of last night out of her mind.

  “I’m sure he is,” Shyla said with a wink. “And he’s hot too.”

  Amour took a sigh of relief when the guys walked back into the room. She really didn’t want to continue that conversation. “What’s going on?” she asked Jason.

  “I had to get a weapon from Alex. He’s going with me to the police station. I need you to stay here with Shyla until I get back alright.”

  “My father gave me the location of the safe deposit box. I think I should go with you. We can stop by there while we’re out.”

  “No, we can go when I get back. I don’t want you anywhere near that station since they already know you’ve been there. Just stay put and we’ll go when I return.”

  She was not happy with this. She hated just sitting around doing nothing. But she knew Jason was not going to change his mind. “Alright.”

  “Shyla knows where all the guns are in the house just in case,” Alex said. “You guys should be okay but if you need us, call us.”

  “You got it big bro!” Shyla said giving Alex a salute.

  After the guys had left, Amour and Shyla sat at the kitchen table in an awkward silence. She didn’t know Shyla that well…actually, she didn’t know her at all so she wasn’t sure what to say so she just sat there quietly until Shyla finally spoke.

  “So you’re from the Midwest huh?”

  “Yes, Nebraska.”

  “I hear that’s a great place to eat and get drunk.”

  Amour laughed. “Yeah, I guess so.”

  “Is it as peaceful there as I imagine it is?”

  “Oh yes, very. I love it. I’m beginning to love L.A. as well…minus the getting stalked and almost killed part that is.”

  “I can imagine.” Shyla said as she rose up from her chair and walked towards the refrigerator. “I know the feeling and it sucks!”

  “What do you mean?”

  She opened the refrigerator door, looked inside and pulled out several items. “My dad, he’s…sort of in that line of work if you know what I mean.”

  “Is he a cop?”

  Shyla looked at her and cocked an eyebrow. “No, he’s sort of on the other side of the law.”

  It didn’t take long for Amour to figure out what Shyla was referring to. Although she hated to perpetuate the stereotype, their last name was DeMarco so it wasn’t hard to put two and two together. Should she be telling her this? “Oh…”

  “Are you hungry? I can make a mean pizza,” Shyla said placing the ingredients on the counter.

  She hadn’t eaten all day and her stomach was growling. “I’m starved actually.” Shyla gave her a quick grin and then focused on preparing the food again. “I sure hope the guys are okay.”

  “They’re fine. They’re used to this sort of thing. You don’t have to worry.”

  Amour nodded in agreement. She didn’t want to asked Shyla the next question that came to mind because she knew it was none of her business, but she couldn’t help being curious. “What’s going on between you and Mack? Are you guys together?”

  Shyla began flattening the pizza dough she’d removed from the refrigerator. “No. Well not yet at least, but we will be.”

  This girl was completely delusional. “You do know he’s with Chandra right?”

  “No he’s not. I know he sleeps with her, but he’s not at all serious about her.”

  Well Amour knew that much. Jason had told her. But why on earth would she want to be with Mack when he clearly treated women like shit? “If you don’t mind me asking, are you sleeping with him too?”

  Shyla began slicing a pepperoni stick. “No.”

  “So why do you think the two of you are going to be together then?”

  Shyla obviously noticed the look on Amour’s face and instantly knew she thought she was insane. “Look, I’m not crazy Amour. I know Mack doesn’t have feelings for me now, well at least not those kinds of feelings, but he will eventually. If he doesn’t, then I’ll back off. I won’t try to force a relationship on him. I’m not that hard up.”

  With her exotic looks, Amour didn’t imagine she would be which is why she found this whole thing rather peculiar. “But you think he’ll come around?”

  “Yeah, I know he will. He’s known me every since I was thirteen so right n
ow he just thinks of me as Alex’s little sister but that will all change soon when he realizes that I’m twenty-five now and how good I’ll be for him.”

  “I take it you’ve been in love with him every since then.”

  “Yep.”

  “What about Chandra? According to Jason, he’s been involved with her for quite some time now.”

  Shyla spread tomato sauce, cheese, pepperoni and peppers on the pizza dough before popping it in the oven. “Yeah. Once upon a time he was serious about her until he realized how much of a skank she was.”

  “What do you mean?”

  She sat back down at the table next to Amour. “She cheated on him about a year ago.”

  That would explain Mack’s nonchalant attitude about he and Chandra’s relationship and also why Chandra went out of her way to impress him, even if it meant risking her job to do so. “He must’ve been pissed.”

  “He was. He dumped her afterwards and she begged him to give her another chance. He told her that all he could give her was sex and nothing more but she didn’t care. She’s a very desperate woman. It’s pathetic really.”

  And lusting after a man that’s not interested in you for twelve years isn’t pathetic? Amour wanted so badly to ask her that very question, but she kept it to herself. Even though she’d felt that way, she did find her crush rather cute.

  Shyla had taken a phone call and several minutes had passed by before she’d gotten off. Amour inhaled deeply. “That pizza sure smells good!”

  Shyla got up and walked towards the oven. “It’s almost done.”

  Amour was starting to get fidgety. “I hate sitting around doing nothing. This is driving me crazy.”

  Shyla opened the oven door to check the pizza. “We don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

  “What do you mean?”

  She slid the pizza out of the oven and sat it on the stove. “Didn’t you say you had a safe deposit box or something?”

  “Yeah, my mom’s why?”

  “Well we can go check it out and be back before the guys get back here.”

  As much as she wanted to do just that, Jason had told her to stay put and she didn’t want to anger him. She needed his help and didn’t want to jeopardize that. “I don’t think so Shyla. Jason wants me to stay here and I highly doubt Alex would want you involved in this either.”

  “Oh come on! We’re just going to a bank. How dangerous could it be? We’ll walk in, get the stuff out of the box, walk out and leave. That’s it. It won’t take that long Amour.”

  She knew this probably was a stupid idea but she really hated doing nothing. She guessed it would be okay. It is just a bank. It’s a public place…with cameras. No one would be stupid enough to go after her in such a place right? But then again, they did come to her hotel. But this time she would have protection. Alex said there were guns in the house. They could take one with them and use it if need be. This would kill two birds with one stone and Jason wouldn’t have to worry about taking her. She would be careful. “Okay, let’s do it!”

  CHAPTER 18

  “Hey!” Chandra said as she greeted Jason and Alex with a huge smile at the police station. “What brings you two here?”

  “You’re working on Saturday?” Alex asked.

  “Yeah, it sucks but I’ll manage. What’s up?”

  “Is Westfield here today?” Jason asked.

  “No, he’s off on Saturdays. What do you need with him?”

  “He lied to Amour when she questioned him about the case.”

  Chandra frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “We spoke to the witness on the police report.”

  Chandra placed her elbows on the desk and leaned in closer to them. “Let’s go outside and talk about this,” She whispered. “I’m due for a break anyway and there are way too many prying ears and eyes in here.”

  “Fine,” Jason said.

  Chandra turned to face the officer sitting at a desk to the right of her. “Vargas can you cover for me? I’m going on break.” The officer nodded and Chandra then walked from behind the desk to join them.

  Once outside, Jason suggested that they get into his car to talk so they did so. He lowered his window slightly and said, “I think your captain is dirty.”

  A confused look came over Chandra’s face as she sat in the back seat. “I don’t understand.”

  Jason turned towards her. “He told Amour he didn’t work the case but he did.”

  “His name wasn’t on the police report.”

  “I know but we talked to Mrs. Pruitt and she said that she distinctly remembers him being one of the officers on the scene the day Carly died. She even called him by his first name.”

  She chuckled. “Mrs. Pruitt may not be telling the truth. As soon as I saw her name on the report I knew she was a long shot. She’s kind of old and senile.”

  “No she’s not. She’s actually quite alert. She remembered other details about that day that also weren’t included in the police report along with Westfield’s involvement.”

  “What details?” Chandra asked.

  “Details like what the redheaded woman was wearing that day, hearing her arguing with Carly and the woman running out of the door.”

  “Ok…well maybe she didn’t tell them that.”

  “She said she did. She also said that she’d told them this woman camped out in front of Carly’s house on a regular basis.”

  Chandra stayed silent for several seconds and then spoke. “That’s quite a bit of info to leave out of a police report.”

  “Yes it is and you would think with that tidbit of information along with someone suspecting murder they would’ve taken her death a little more seriously. I also find it awfully strange that Westfield would want to be kept out of the report of a death that wasn’t even ruled a homicide.”

  Alex snorted. “Yeah, that is rather strange.”

  Chandra looked up at Jason. “What did Daniel Riley have to say?”

  “Not much. He spoke about a partner but he didn’t give us a name. But he did say something weird though.”

  “What was that?”

  “He said that after Amour’s father had come to him with his accusations, that’s when his partner had spoken to Mrs. Pruitt. He said he wasn’t involved in the questioning.”

  “That normally doesn’t happen.”

  “I know. He’d said they questioned a few people in the neighborhood afterwards and searched a little for the mysterious redhead but they couldn’t find anyone matched her facial descriptions.”

  Chandra’s eyes lowered. “That wasn’t in the report either. Mrs. Pruitt said she didn’t see her face.”

  Jason raised an eyebrow. “Exactly.”

  “Maybe it was a slip of the tongue,” Alex said.

  “That’s what I think,” Jason said.

  “Is Amour okay?” Chandra asked. “I heard about what happened. Our precinct didn’t handle the case but we’d been told to be on the lookout for someone in a black ski mask.”

  “She’s fine, just a little shaken up.” Jason reached under his seat and pulled out the large white envelope containing the photos of him and Amour. He’d taken it out of her tote bag before he’d left her. “Can you do me a favor Chandra?”

  “Sure.”

  “This is going to be risky.”

  “Hey, I’ve already stolen evidence for you. I might as well go the distance. I’m just a desk cop; no one ever notices what I do anyway. I was able to sneak that evidence bag back easily without being noticed. What do you need?”

  He handed her the envelope. “I need you to have these and the envelope tested for prints and find out everything you can about Carly’s case.”

  She opened the flap and slid out the contents. “Where did you get these?”

  “They were on the maid’s body in Amour’s suite. I took them before the cops got there so I need this kept quiet.”

  “Sure, no problem,” Chandra said sliding the photos back in the envelope. “This is
creepy. You have no idea who took these?”

  “No.”

  “You should’ve given these to the cops. They would’ve done the prints. I’m sure they’re looking for this person already. If they find out you have these…”

  “I know Chandra,” he interrupted. “That’s why I told you to keep it quiet. I’m pretty sure they are looking but the guy had on a ski mask and was long gone before they’d arrived. He didn’t leave any fingerprints in the suite since he had on gloves. I’m sure he didn’t leave any on those either but he may not have been the one who took them. They’ll never identify him you know that.”

  “Maybe they will Jason. Don’t just assume they won’t do all they can to catch that woman’s killer.”

  Jason snorted and then spoke in a sarcastic tone. “I’m sure they will Chandra but I really don’t want them involved too much because as you know, whoever these people are have been threatening Amour. I’ve come across people like this many times before. If they know the cops are involved, the will find her and they will do everything in their power to get rid of her.”

  “But you’ll make sure that doesn’t happen right?”

  “I’m gonna try my hardest.”

  Chandra glanced down at the envelope in her lap. “I hear you.”

  “Besides, the Ocean View most likely doesn’t want any more attention paid to this incident because of their solid reputation and high powered clients. Since someone died as a result of what happened, I’m pretty sure they’ll just sweep it under the rug anyway.”

  Alex chuckled. “Yeah, they also wouldn’t want to bring attention to the high class hookers the work out of there either.”

  Chandra rolled her eyes at Alex and then stared at Jason. “Are you sure about that?”

  Jason could tell she’d asked the question because it was obvious to her that he didn’t trust cops and rendered them useless. Being one of them, she must’ve been offended. He supposed she had every right to be because if those were her thoughts, she was absolutely right. “Yes. Now can you do that for me?”

  “Yeah…ok. I have a cousin that’s a forensic specialist. He does a lot of work for us. I can have the results for you in a couple of days.”