“And what have you found?”
“I’m not at liberty to discuss that. I’ll turn the results of my investigation over to the DA, and he’ll decide what charges, if any, will be filed.”
Hammer once again bit his tongue; this time so he didn’t tell Newt to have the DA go do something anatomically impossible. “Have a good evening, Detective.”
Newt nodded and walked back to his car—a plain white Dodge Charger that screamed cop. Hammer stood on this front porch and watched until Newt disappeared down the road then went back inside and slammed the door. He walked over to the bar that divided the living room and kitchen and picked up the two cards he’d toss there after the concert. He dialed Hunter’s number first, but when it went to voice mail, he hung up and tried Lily’s number.
“Hello?”
“Lily Donovan?” he asked.
“Speaking.”
“This is Hammer. What’s going on?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Mr. Grimes. What do you mean, ‘What’s going on?’”
“I was just paid a visit by a Detective Newt. You know anything about that?”
There was a long pause. “Yes,” she replied, her tone softer. “The guy you bounced Saturday night is the son of a state senator. He’s out for blood.”
“So the cops are throwing me under the bus?”
“No, not at all!”
“No? Then why was Newt here? Why didn’t he just talk to you and your partner?”
“He did. Both Officer Cullen and I were interviewed yesterday. We told him—”
“You covered your ass by giving him mine?” he interrupted.
There was another pause. “Are you finished? As I was going to say, both officer Cullen and I spoke to Newt, and I said I thought you used a minimum amount of force. I don’t know exactly what Ed told him, but I think it was more or less the same thing.”
“Then why is Newt crawling up my ass?”
“Because he’s a good cop, and that’s what good cops do, Mr. Grimes. He doesn’t take a person’s word for what happens until he can verify it. Look, from what I understand, the DA is leaning on the chief, and the chief wants to make sure this is squeaky clean. We have to do this by the book, and that means someone has to follow up. Did you lie to us about what happened?”
“No.”
“Then it’s clearly self-defense, and you don’t have anything to worry about. We told Newt exactly what happened, including how you assisted us when he tried to make a break for it.”
“Why didn’t you tell him about the knife?”
“I did. I think Hunter did too. But we couldn’t enter it into evidence because you didn’t press charges and Foster claimed it wasn’t his. It was cataloged in as a lost and found.”
Hammer was quiet for a moment, thinking. “I’m sorry I came on so strong. I thought you and your partner were trying to save your asses by giving him mine.”
“Maybe next time you’ll give us the benefit of the doubt until you have all the facts.”
Hammer’s face twisted as he mentally winced. “You’re right. I should have asked before I assumed you were fucking me over.” He glanced at the kitchen clock. “Buy you dinner and a beer as an apology?”
There was another long pause. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I know. Have you had dinner?”
“No.”
“Then let me make it up to you. Crow goes down a little easier with a beer. You pick the place.”
Lily twittered out a laugh then fell silent again, and Hammer thought she was going to turn him down flat. “Okay. How about Sally’s?”
“Is that the place on Elder, by the old Ford dealership?”
“That’s the place.”
“Okay, I know it. Meet you there around seven?”
“Sure. Thank you,” she said, though she still didn’t sound sure.
Hammer nodded. “Only one helping of crow, though, okay?”
She laughed again; he liked the sound of it—sweet, honest, and feminine, not a sound he expected to hear from a cop. “I’ll think about it.”
Hammer grinned. “Good enough.”
After he hung up, he glanced at the clock again. If he hurried, he’d have time to shower. As he made his way to the bathroom, he just couldn’t shake the sound of Lily’s honeyed voice from his ears.
For the first time, in a good while, Hammer realized he’d just asked a woman out on a date… How the hell had that happened?
Chapter Three
Sally’s was a local landmark that had been serving Amberton since the 1950’s. It was known for its burgers, fried corn, and ice-cold beer on draft. Lily stepped into the bar and grille a few minutes after seven.
“How many?” the hostess asked.
“I’m meeting someone,” Lily replied as she glanced around.
“Lily Donovan?”
“That’s me.”
“Right this way.” The woman smiled as she led Lily deeper into the restaurant. She smiled when she spotted Joe. The waitress broke off and let Lily walk the rest of the way to the table. He smiled back and slid out of his seat, playing the gentleman.
“Thank you for coming,” Hammer said as she slid into the small, two-person booth.
“Thank you for inviting me,” she replied. “You didn’t have to do this.”
He grinned at her as he sat back down. “I figure a burger and a beer is the least I can do considering I jumped in your shit for no reason.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’d be mad too if I thought someone was trying to screw me over.”
She picked up her menu to give herself something to do. Lily had noticed that Hammer was a big guy when she and Hunter had responded to the call, but seeing him now she realized that not only was he tall, at least six-one, but his jacket also couldn’t hide the fact that he was built as well.
He had a strong chin with just a hint of shadow, dark, intense eyes, and jet-black hair worn in a messy yet sexy style. He had a slightly dangerous look to him until he smiled, then his grin lit up his entire face. He was wearing a pair of faded blue jeans, heavy, well-worn, motorcycle boots, and a black sweater shirt unzipped just low enough to make her wonder what he looked like under there.
“What can I get you to drink?” their waitress asked as she coasted to a stop at their table. Lily glanced up and smiled as the girl ogled Hammer.
Hammer motioned to Lily. “Give me a draft of Octoberfest Lager, please,” she said.
“I’ll have the Red Ale.” The waitress gave him a brilliant smile then moved off. “Know what you’re having?”
“My usual, the grilled chicken salad.”
He grunted. “My food eats your food.”
“Yeah, well, I could have a burger, but then I would have to drink water, and I’d rather have the beer.”
He snickered, but before he could answer, his phone began to buzz in his pocket. He pulled it out and looked at the screen. “Excuse me a moment,” he said, not recognizing the number. “Souls Security.”
“This is Hunter Cullen. You called?”
Hammer grinned at Lily and nodded. “Sorry to bother you, Officer Cullen. A bit of a misunderstanding.”
“Over what?”
“I was paid a visit by Detective Newt today, and I was trying to find out why. I got in touch with your partner, and she straightened me out. Sorry to bother you.”
“Is this Hammer?”
“Yes.”
“It’s just procedure. The guy’s complaint isn’t going anywhere. Don’t worry about it.”
“That’s what Officer…” he paused when he realized he couldn’t remember Lily’s last name.
“Donovan.”
“That’s right. That’s what Officer Donovan told me.”
“Anything else?” Ed asked.
“No. Thank you for calling me back.”
“No problem,” Ed said and then hung up.
Hammer tucked his phone away. “That was your partner,”
“I gathered. You called him too?”
“I called him first, but when he didn’t answer, I called you.”
“Here you go. Ready to place your order?” Their waitress had returned with their beers.
“I’ll have the grilled chicken salad with ranch on the side,” Lily said, handing over her menu.
“You have crow?” Hammer asked, playing to Lily and their earlier conversation.
“Crow?” the waitress asked.
He grinned at her confused look. “You know, caw, caw? No? Okay, I’ll have the next best thing. Give me the bacon wrapped chicken sandwich with fries.”
“She thinks you’re an idiot,” Lily said with a grin after the waitress had moved on to another table.
“Not the first time a woman’s thought that.”
Lily sat back, intrigued by her companion. Hammer wasn’t anything like she expected him to be. As the head of a motorcycle club that was suspected of murder, she didn’t expect him to be so charming or funny. With his quick smile and self-deprecating humor, he obviously didn’t take himself too seriously, despite the fact she knew he could take care of himself.
“So, you’re the leader of the Immortal Souls? Tell me what that is like. I’ve never met a gang leader before.”
“And you still haven’t. We’re not a gang—we’re a club. We don’t ride around town smashing windows, stealing candy from babies, and scaring little old ladies. We’re just a bunch of regular guys who like to ride motorcycles.”
“Okay, you’re a club. What do you do when you’re not riding motorcycles? You answered the phone ‘Soul Security.’”
“That’s right. We handle private security for fairs, concerts, whatever. The rest of the time, we work, just like you do.”
“What do you do?”
“Me? I run the security business. I talk to customers, do consulting, handle store security, do traffic control at events, that sort of thing. The same sort of things your brothers in blue do in their off hours.”
“Store security?”
“Yeah. If a store is having a lot of problems with theft, sometimes they’ll hire me to come in and try to catch them. When I do, the store turns them over to the cops. See, I’m not constrained by some of the rules you are. Employees don’t expect some guy off the street to be watching, and because I’m not a cop, they can’t scream I was profiling if some thug walks in with his pants hanging around his knees and I follow him around the store.”
She nodded. She desperately wanted to ask about the other business Hunter mentioned, but she knew he would deny it, so she didn’t bother. “You certainly proved you can handle yourself the other night.”
He shrugged. “That was nothing. Some doofus with too much to drink and not enough brains.”
“You were armed that night, weren’t you?” She worded it as a question, but her tone made it a statement.
“I’m armed right now. Is that a problem?”
“No, but most people, cops included, would have drawn on the guy when he flashed the knife. You didn’t.”
“No reason too. We were still in the pavilion, and somebody could have gotten hurt. Well, somebody other than him.”
“You said you were in the army?” Lily asked. “Is that where you learned how to disarm a knife-welding man?”
“Not really. I’ve been taking Jujitsu since I was nine or ten. It’s good exercise, and it comes in handy sometimes. The army taught me some stuff, but it was mostly about how to kill a guy, not just disarm them. What about you? How long have you been a cop?”
She noticed he changed the conversation back to her and that made her wonder what he didn’t want to talk about. She looked down, embarrassed he’d seen her get knocked on her ass.
“Two weeks and three days. The night you saw me get knocked down I’d been working the streets less than a week.”
“A noob,” he teased with a grin.
“Yeah. Not my most illustrious start. How long were you in the army? It couldn’t have been long. What are you, thirty?” Two could play his game.
“Twenty-nine. I did one tour. Joined right out of high-school.”
“Didn’t like it?”
He paused, and she could tell he was formulating an answer. “I guess you could say that. I thought that was what I wanted to do, but, well, things change.”
She thought the way he worded his reply was interesting. There was obviously more to the story than he was telling, but she decided to drop it.
“You from around here?” she asked.
“Born and raised here. Came back after my hitch in the army was up. You?”
“Same. Dad lives over in Cammack Village.”
“What made you want to become a cop?”
Lily grinned as he kept the conversation on her. Hammer would have made a good cop. He was personable, easy to talk to, and was getting all her little details… and she didn’t mind telling him. “My dad and grandfather. They were both cops here in Amberton.”
“You’re following in their footsteps?”
“I guess you could say that. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. I’m the youngest of four—all girls. I was a little… ‘surprise package’,” she said, making tick marks in the air. “Dad was forty-five and Mom was forty-three when I was born. I’m twelve years younger than the next youngest.”
Hammer did some quick mental math. “You’re dad still on the force?”
“No, he retired five years ago. Probably a good thing. He has some big shoes to fill. I’m not Lily Donovan, I’m Carl Donovan’ little girl.”
“Why did you join the Amberton PD then?”
She shrugged. “This is my home. Dad, he’s not too keen on me being an officer. He worries but I think he’s proud of me just the same. Of course, that may change after he finds out I got knocked on my ass my first time out.”
Hammer paused as their meals were delivered then nodded his thanks.
“Hey, I told you then, don’t worry about it. It happens. I’ve been doing Jujitsu for twenty years, and after four years in the army and seven more working security, I still get knocked down sometimes. You stood your ground. That’s all you can do. If a football player runs into me, he’s probably going to knock me down, no matter how prepared I am for it.”
She grinned at him. “Thanks. I’m not sure it makes me feel any better, but at least you’re not rubbing it in.”
“Nah. You got right back in the fight. Getting knocked down doesn’t matter nearly as much as the getting back up.”
She grinned at him. “Thanks.”
He touched his forehead with two fingers in a comical salute.
As they ate, they continued to get to know each other. Every time she tried to turn the subject to him, he would answer but then turn the subject right back to her. His answers weren’t evasive, and she got no sense he was lying, but the mystery of him was like catnip, and she couldn’t seem to let it go.
“Your parents still living here?” she asked, trying a different tact.
“Yeah. They live in a trailer park outside of town on Highway 328. I haven’t seen them in years.”
“Why’s that?”
“No reason. Just drifted apart. What about your mom?”
She paused. “She died about six years ago, about a year before Dad retired. She had a stroke.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” he said, wishing he hadn’t asked the question.
She etched a sad smile. “I’m over it, mostly.”
“What did she think of you wanting to be a cop?”
“She wasn’t thrilled. She worried about Dad being a cop.” Lily smiled in memory. “She said having to worry about both of us would put her in her grave.”
He didn’t know how to respond to that, so he changed the subject to something less personal. He found Lily fascinating. Not only was she cock-stiffening sexy but she also had a vibrancy and zeal he liked.
They continued to feel each other out over their meal, Lily picking away at Hammer’s edge
s, talking more than she listened, but it was refreshing to be with a man who wasn’t trying to impress her.
“Your real name is Joe, right? How did you get the name Hammer?”
He grinned. “My brothers gave it to me.”
“You have brothers? From the way you talked, I thought you were an only child.”
PREGNANT AT THE ALTAR Page 3
