In the Name of the Father
Page 20
“Friend? I thought you said you didn’t have any friends.”
Tori shrugged. “Yes. That’s true. But Sam said I need to find someone besides Sikes to hang around with.”
Casey laughed. “I see her point. Sikes is a little girlie—for a straight guy.”
Tori bumped her shoulder lightly. “So? You okay?”
“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?” Casey laughed sarcastically. “I’m a cop and I’m covering up a handful of murders. It’s peachy.”
Tori smiled. “I meant about Marissa.”
“Marissa? Oh, you mean because she left?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh. Well, yeah. I mean, I never did decide if I even liked her or not.” She bumped Tori’s shoulder playfully. “Besides, I’m kinda looking for something like you and Sam have. She wasn’t it.”
Tori nodded. “You’ll find it.”
“Maybe.” They walked on in silence for a moment, then Casey sighed. “So, what are we going to do about Mayor Stevens?”
“Well, you know, I’ve been thinking. Maybe we should just let the media do it for us.”
“What’d you mean?”
“Melissa Carter. Channel Five.” Tori grinned. “She’s been begging for a story. How about I give her the brother angle and see what she can dig up?”
“Like the murder of a young boy years ago?”
“Exactly.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Casey rolled over, searching for her phone. She looked at the clock, wondering who would call at this hour on a Sunday night. “O’Connor,” she answered sleepily, sitting up. “It’s me.”
“Hunter? Damn, I was just in the middle of a delicious dream. This better be good.”
“I’m at a crime scene. I thought you might want to come over.” Casey stood, already reaching for her jeans. “What’s up?”
“Gerald Stevens is dead.” Casey nearly dropped the phone. “I’ll be right there.”
Casey shoved through the crowd of reporters and neighbors, dipping under the crime-scene tape after showing her badge to one of the uniformed officers. The house glowed from the outside; every light was turned on inside. The entry foyer was massive and she stood, looking for Tori in the crowded den off to the side.
Tori turned as if sensing her presence, meeting her gaze. She motioned for her to come over and Casey edged along the wall, trying to stay out of everyone’s way.
“O’Connor. This is Mac Sterner. He heads up the crime unit.”
Casey held out her hand. “Yes, we’ve met once before. Whispers outside say it was a suicide. Is that true?”
Mac shook his head. “I think it was made to appear that way. The angle’s all wrong. As I was telling Hunter here, Stevens was right-handed. If you’re going to shoot yourself in the head, do you use your left hand? Besides, there’s no imprint from the barrel on his scalp. My guess is the gun was at least a foot or two away when it was fired.” He motioned to the body. “We’ll check for GSR on his hand, but my guess is we won’t find any.”
Casey looked at the body, her gaze lingering on what was left of his face. Nearly half his head was blown away. She raised her eyes, watching Tori.
“Give me something to go on, Mac. Where’s the wife?”
“She’s wasn’t here, Hunter. Sikes is tracking her down,” he explained.
“Any possibility she did it?”
Mac stepped back, surveying the scene. “He’s standing, not sitting. He’s what? Six foot three?” He walked around the body. “I’m going to just guess on the angle until we can get him cleaned up, but I’d say your shooter was about five-seven, five-eight, tops.” He held his hands out in a shooting position. “I’d also guess your shooter was left-handed.”
“How so?” Casey asked.
Mac held his finger to Casey’s head. “The bullet wound entered from this side, at this angle. If I’m right-handed”—he turned, changing hands—”it enters like this.”
“Did we find the casing?”
“No. I’m sure the shooter took it with him.”
“Nothing was disturbed?” Casey asked. “No break-in?”
“No. Nothing looks out of place.” Tori shook her head. “We can assume Stevens knew his killer.” She raised an eyebrow. “Sound familiar?”
“Yeah, sounds familiar,” Casey murmured. She moved away, into the crowd, watching absently as Tori pulled her phone off her hip and answered it. “Jesus… Jesus Christ,” she said with a slow shake of her head. She took a deep breath, then pulled out her own phone, slipping away. She dialed quickly and was surprised when Marissa answered on the first ring. “It’s… it’s me.”
“Detective O’Connor, I didn’t think I’d hear from you so soon.”
“Yeah, well, I was just checking on you. You catch your flight okay?”
“Actually, no. It looked like it was going to be a long wait, so I decided to rent a car.”
“You’re going to drive all the way to Boston?”
She heard Marissa sigh, heard the subtle clearing of her throat, and she waited.
“I decided there wasn’t really anything in Boston, you know. So I decided to go home. I’m heading west.”
“I see.” Casey went down a quiet hallway, letting the voices from the crime scene fade into the background. “Well, I wanted to pass on the latest.” She paused. “Gerald Stevens is dead. Shot to death.”
There was nothing but silence on the other end of the phone.
Casey tilted her head back, staring at the ceiling. “Did you hear me?”
“Yes, O’Connor. I heard. Should I say I’m sorry?”
“Why? Are you?”
“No. Are you?”
Casey shook her head. “No.” She cleared her throat. “There doesn’t appear to be much evidence. Hunter’s got the case.”
“The way I hear it, Hunter never rests until a case is solved. I’m sure she’ll find the killer.”
Casey sighed. “We’ll see. I’m not sure her heart’s really in this one.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
After a cool start, the day had warmed up nicely. Both Tori and Casey stood in short sleeves, tossing their lines into the lake.
“Great day for fishing,” Casey said, glad to be out and about in the middle of the week. “Nice of Lieutenant Malone to let you have the day off.”
Tori laughed. “Yeah. And nice of you to finagle one yourself. You keep hanging around, they’re going to think you want to get transferred to Homicide.”
“Are you kidding? You think people are just dying to work Homicide?”
“Funny, O’Connor.”
“Yeah. Funny.” She reeled her line in, then tossed it out again. “Shame about the mayor, isn’t it,” she said quietly.
“Yeah. Shame.”
“But I guess you’re glad CIU is taking over the investigation, huh?”
“For sure.” Tori bent over and reached into the cooler beside her. “Want another beer?”
“Yeah.” Casey leaned her rod and reel against the edge, then took the cold bottle and sat down on the deck chair Tori had pulled out. “So CIU is just going to come in and do their own thing, right?”
“Yeah.”
“They don’t even use your notes or anything?”
Tori opened her own beer and took a swallow. “Not like we had a lot, O’Connor. But no, they start their investigation from scratch. They’ll make it look like we were incompetent and not capable of handling such a high-profile case such as this.” She shrugged. “Could be true.”
“Any idea what angle they’ll take?”
“Rumor has it that Stevens was mixed up in drug trafficking. I mean, you saw his house. He had money from somewhere.”
“Thought his wife was a socialite.”
“Don’t know.”
“And don’t care?”
“Pretty much.”
They were both quiet, Tori still leaning over the side, casually watching her line float along the surface. Casey stretched her legs out,
turning her face into the warm sun.
Tori tilted her head, glancing at Casey. “Marissa is left-handed, isn’t she?”
Casey rolled her head lazily to the side, watching Tori. “Yeah, I believe she is.”
Tori nodded, then looked back over the water. “Shame about the mayor,” she said again.
Casey smiled. “So, you ever catch anything here docked at the pier?”
“No. Never.”
Sam stood on the pier, shielding her eyes from the sun, watching as Tori laughed at something the other woman said. Casey O’Connor, she guessed. Smiling, she walked the few feet to the boat, pausing before going aboard.
“Hi there,” she called. “May I board?”
Tori whipped around, her eyes wide. She dropped her line, nearly running across the deck. “What the hell?”
“What kind of greeting is that?”
“Sam, my God, why didn’t you let me know?” Tori murmured as she pulled her close. “I can’t believe you’re here.”
Sam closed her eyes, letting her body reacquaint itself with Tori’s, letting her hands roam freely across Tori’s back. “Beautiful sunny day. I took a chance you’d be out here.”
Tori laughed. “You called Malone, didn’t you?”
“I did.” She pulled away slightly, looking into Tori’s eyes. “God, I missed you,” she whispered, finding Tori’s mouth. She pulled away again, breathless. “I missed you so much, Tori.” She slid her hand up Tori’s waist, squeezing lightly at her side.
“I can’t even begin to tell you, Sam. It’s just so damn empty without you, you know.”
“Yes, I know.” She stepped back. “Now, are you going to introduce me or what?”
“Damn.” Tori turned around. “Forgot you were here, O’Connor.”
“Thanks a lot.” Casey came over, hand outstretched. “Casey O’Connor. And since you had a lip-lock on the old girl here, I’ll assume you’re Sam. Nice to meet you.”
Sam laughed. “Samantha Kennedy, yes. Nice to meet you, Casey.”
Casey elbowed Tori playfully. “You dog. She’s even prettier than her pictures.”
Tori blushed and bumped Casey’s shoulder in turn. “Try to behave, O’Connor.”
“Not possible.” But she grinned. “I’ll get out of your hair, though. I know you two want some time together.”
Sam held up her hand. “No, no, please stay.”
“No, I should go.”
“Really, please stay. I’ve had a long flight. I just want to relax and sit in the sun for a while.” Sam looked at Tori and smiled. “You don’t mind, do you?”
“No, no. I haven’t seen you in what feels like months. What are a few more hours?”
“Great. Then I’ll have a beer with you guys.” Sam hooked her arm with Casey’s, leading her back into the sunshine. “And I’m dying to meet the person Tori Hunter has let into her life,” she said in a low whisper. “It doesn’t happen often,” she added.
“She’s just a big old teddy bear,” Casey said with a laugh. “Of course, I think she takes offense at my use of the old word.”
Tori watched them, feeling an odd sense of familiarity at the sight of them laughing together. She walked over, handing each of them a beer. “Are you telling stories about me already, O’Connor?”
“Oh, lighten up. As if we’re talking about you. Not everybody talks about you, Hunter.”
Curious, Tori let her glance slide to Sam. “So? What are you doing back?”
“The mayor, what else? I didn’t have a chance to call you. They had us packed and on a plane as soon as we got back from the field. I guess you know by now CIU’s taking over the investigation.”
Tori nodded. “Yeah. That’s how I got a day off.”
“They want Travis to head it up.”
Tori looked briefly at Casey. “So does that mean you’ll be on the team too?”
Sam nodded. “Yeah. I get pulled from Homicide in the middle of our case only to be assigned back on the team. How weird is that?”
“Yeah. Ironic,” Casey said. “And I guess you heard all about the monsignor and all.”
“Just briefly from Tori. I haven’t had a chance to read the file or anything.”
Tori leaned over the edge of the boat. “You going to tell her about Marissa or what?”
“What do you mean?” she asked, hesitation in her voice.
Tori smiled, glancing back at her. “You know, your little afternoon get-together there at the hotel.”
Casey ducked her head. “Do we have to?”
Sam laughed. “You slept with her?”
Casey shrugged. “I liked her. I mean, I know everyone thought she was a hard-ass and didn’t care about the case, but I think deep down, she really cared.”
Tori and Casey exchanged glances, both nodding.
“Yeah, she did care,” Casey said again. “She cared a lot.”
Casey looked at Tori, their eyes holding. She raised an eyebrow questioningly and Tori knew what she was asking. With just a slight shake of her head, Tori hoped she conveyed all Casey needed to know.
It was one secret Tori would keep from Sam.
About the Author
Gerri Hill has ten published works, including 2007 GCLS winners Behind the Pine Curtain and The Killing Room, as well as GCLS finalist Hunter’s Way. She began writing lesbian romance as a way to amuse herself while snowed in one winter in the mountains of Colorado, and hasn’t looked back. Her first published work came in 2000 with One Summer Night. Hill’s love of nature and of being outdoors usually makes its way into her stories as her characters often find themselves in beautiful natural settings. When she isn’t writing, Hill and her longtime partner, Diane, can be found at their home in East Texas, where their vegetable garden, orchard, and five acres of woods keep them busy. They share their lives with Max and new puppy Casey, and an assortment of furry felines. For more, see her Web site: www.gerrihill.com.
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