by Lexie Davis
“I will.” She pressed a light kiss to his hairy arm. “Goodnight, Ryder.”
“Goodnight, baby.”
Chapter 6
A week before Christmas and Ryder couldn’t deny the fact that he liked coming home to Blake. She’d practically moved in with him, claiming to want to avoid her mother and the sister that practically moved in with her. But he figured it to be more. And most of all, he didn’t mind. He wanted her here. He’d worry himself sick if she stayed at her own house during the investigation of the case. Someone bailed Seth Cameron out the day before, and he supposedly ran free as a bird in the cold city of Grand Rapids. He knew Blake wasn’t very secure in that small fact.
“Okay, I’ve been looking at this all day.” She typed away on her laptop. “I’ve made a list of suspects, potential motives, and approximate location within the party. The tapes show two potential suspects in two different locations. The waiter is shown hovering over this food.” She pointed to the digital copy of the security cameras loaded onto her computer. “I haven’t the slightest idea what he is doing or why he stays that way for five seconds of real time, but it looks fishy to me. I’m anxious to get back the toxicology reports from the M.E.”
Ryder smiled. “Good work, detective. If something’s fishy, this gives us reason to question the ex-friend more.”
“Exactly. And the fiancé is shown here. At first I missed it, but if you look closely, he’s talking to someone off camera. He looks like he’s at a vending machine buying a bag of potato chips, but there is definitely someone standing off camera, chatting him up.” She looked up at him.
“Who buys a bag of potato chips at a fancy catered dinner? That should be enough to question what the hell he’s doing.”
Blake shrugged. “I know it’s a long shot, but this particular location, according to the map of the lodge the manager gave me, is close to the valet section. Could he be plotting the murder right there before our eyes?”
Ryder pulled his cell phone out and punched in the station’s number. “Detective McKenna, please.” He waited a few minutes until the switchboard operator connected him. After his “new” partner answered, words rushed out of Ryder’s mouth. “I need you to email me the statements we collected from the main potential suspects on the Sophie Stevens’ murder case.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Because I think I may have a lead, and I want to double check the evidence.”
“What lead?”
“Just send me the damn information, and I’ll get back with you.” Ryder clicked the phone off. “Sophie Stevens got into the car around eleven-thirty that night. The video is paused at eleven-fifteen. The fiancé and the valet were the last two people to see her alive. If we can determine that other man in the video is the valet, we have reason to believe they plotted the damage, brought the wrong car out on purpose and intentionally killed Sophie Stevens.”
Blake smiled at him. “We have a lead.”
“I seriously don’t know what I’d do without you.” He wrapped his arms around her. “Those dickheads at the station don’t know their ass from a hole in the ground. I think they couldn’t care less if we solved the case or not.”
She folded her arms around his neck. “We do make a good team.”
“Can you print those statements?” He pulled away and used her computer to access his email. “We don’t have a hard copy of the information, just notes on the case but it’ll help for reference.”
“Yeah, sure.” She grabbed her computer and clicked on the widow containing his email.
“Hey,” he said, brushing his knuckles against her arm. “What’s wrong?”
She leaned toward him, kissing his lips. “Nothing.”
She stood and grabbed her computer before heading to the spare room with Ryder following her. “I want you back on the case.”
“Tell, Lou, not me.” She sat down and hooked her computer to the printer at his desk.
He watched her profile for a moment before asking, “Will you go out with me? On a date?”
She clicked “print” and looked up at him from the computer screen. “I don’t know what to do on one of those.”
“Surely you’ve watched movies with couples dating? It’s practically the same thing though usually less glamorous.” He sat on the bed. “Or we can make up our own rules if you like. What do you say?”
“I say okay.” She looked scared to death. “Uh, what did you want to do?”
He chuckled. “Honey, I don’t care as long as I’m with you.”
Ryder watched her expression change. “I’m not ready for sex, Ryder.”
“No…that’s not what I—”
“I know. I’m telling you, because I don’t want any confusion between us. Truthfully, it’ll probably be a long time before I’m ready to go that far.” She grabbed the papers from the printer tray. “Here you go. Find a link and put your boys on it.”
He pulled her to him. “Friday night sound okay for our date?”
“Sounds fine.” She smiled. “If all goes well, you can accompany me to my family’s Christmas dinner. It’s Saturday.”
Ryder held back a groan. “You’ll owe me another date for that.”
She laughed and pulled away from him. “What? You don’t like your future in-laws? Mom called me today. She’s found the perfect chapel, the perfect place to get married. I tell her time and again that nobody’s getting married, but she doesn’t listen to me.” She closed her laptop. “She does like you though so that’s got to count for something.”
“What’s your father say about me?”
Blake disconnected the printer before facing him. “My dad died a couple of years ago.”
“I’m sorry, babe.” Ryder stood.
“No, it’s okay.” She smiled. “You’re stuck with three women and Lilly’s boyfriend if he’s not working. You think you can handle it?”
“It can’t be any worse than our time at the hospital when your mother thought we had sex in the hospital room.”
Blake chuckled. “You have no idea.”
* * * *
After Ryder left the house to go to the station around two-thirty, Blake settled in front of the TV with a bowl of popcorn in hand and a large glass of iced tea. He owned a vast array of action, horror, and comedy movies, so she chose the latter of the three to watch.
Her cell phone vibrated on the coffee table a few minutes into the movie, and Blake wiped her fingers before reaching after it.
“Hi, Mom.”
“You’ll never guess who I talked to a few minutes ago.”
Blake ate a couple of pieces of popcorn. “Who?”
“Levi Holmes. Willow said he planned on coming back into town for the holidays.” Lisa paused for a moment. “They asked about you. Willow said Levi wanted to see you.”
Blake sat the bowl aside as nausea came over her. “Why are you telling me this?”
“I thought it would be nice to invite them over for Christmas. Willow isn’t doing so great, health wise, and this is the first time Levi’s been home since high school. I thought instead of making her cook and clean up for Christmas, we could have her and Levi over.”
“No, Mom. I don’t want them to come over.”
“Why not?”
“Because!” She stood, pacing the living room floor. “I know Willow’s your friend, but I don’t want to be around Levi, Mom.”
“You can tolerate him for an hour or two. Besides, Ryder will be with you, right?”
“No, Mom.” Her hands shook. “I’m not coming if Levi is there.”
“What on earth has gotten into you?”
“Nothing. I’ve got to go.” Blake clicked the phone off and threw it at the couch cushions.
For seven years, she hadn’t seen him, thought about him, or even considered ever meeting him again. Within a week of telling Ryder everything, her worst fear had come to life. Not only did she admit to everything that happened, her biggest nightmare planned to walk back into her life. She wouldn’
t let him. No matter what her mother decided, she wouldn’t allow him the satisfaction of seeing her again.
Her stomach quivered, and Blake found herself kneeling over the toilet seconds later. She needed to get out of the house. Being on bed rest and “taking it easy” had done more harm than good. She needed to do something.
The police station gave her the most comfort in dealing with her situation and the memory of Levi. She couldn’t count how many rounds she shot in the firing range or how many bruises her knuckles got from punching the practice dummies in the gym. Others might prefer a more civilized way of dealing with pain, but she preferred a physical approach.
She grabbed her keys and locked up the house. Ryder gave her the SUV while he drove the car. Maybe he was right about not keeping her relationship with Levi a secret from her mother, but Levi had no right to come to her mother’s house for the holidays. Even if her mother didn’t say it in so many words, she knew that Levi invited himself. It was how he operated. He couldn’t stand his prize trophy got away from him, though he never bothered to try and find her. Maybe he knew about the academy? Maybe he knew about her jurisdiction as an officer-turned-detective?
She pulled into the station and parked in the back, next to the gym. She didn’t bother speaking to anyone that gave her a polite “hello” when she entered, heading straight to the women’s locker room.
After changing, she went to the mats, snagged a dummy, and made it light up. Levi wouldn’t get the best of her. And if she ever saw him again, Ryder would be dragging her away in handcuffs while the coroner zipped up Levi’s body in a black body bag.
* * * *
“What’s the deal with Warren, man? I hadn’t seen her for a couple of days, and now she’s in the gym beating the shit out of our practice dummies,” Detective Bratman said.
Ryder glanced at his clock. He’d been working for two hours straight and lost track of time. “She’s here?”
“Yep. No one dares to go near here either. Did you piss her off?”
Ryder rubbed his eyes. “Not that I know of. I’ll be right back.”
He made his way through the building toward the back and pushed the double doors open that led to the gym. Sure enough Blake stood in the corner punching and kicking the practice dummy. Sweat poured from her body, and Ryder knew she barely noticed. He retrieved a bottle of water from the nearby cooler and crossed the room.
“I think you’ve beat the shit out of him, Blake. Maybe you should take a break.” Ryder held the bottle out, brushing her arm with the coolness of it.
Before he could defend himself, she turned on him, knocking him up against the wall. “Don’t touch me. Don’t lay a finger on me, or I’ll break it off.”
“Okay. Okay.” Ryder swallowed hard as he stared into her eyes. “What happened?”
She turned her back to him and continued punching the dummy. “My mother invited Levi Holmes to our Christmas dinner. She invited him and his mother to eat dinner with us like he’s part of my family. And he had the balls to tell her he wanted to see me.”
“Who’s Levi Holmes?”
“My ex.” She kicked the dummy’s crotch. “I don’t want to see him. I never want to see him again.”
Ryder grabbed her, wrapping his arms around her body from behind. She kicked and flailed, struggling to get out of his grip. He wouldn’t let her. “Stop it, Blake. Stop fighting me.”
“Let me go!”
“Blake, you’re with me. Ryder. Not Levi.” She stopped struggling and sagged in his arms. “You’re okay, baby. No one is going to hurt you.” He turned her to face him. “Do you believe me when I tell you that?”
She didn’t respond, and he let it slide. He took her to a nearby bench and left for a moment to retrieve the first aid kit. When he came back, he knelt in front of her. Her knuckles were red and would be bruised in the morning. Some bled a bit from the punches she threw.
“I told you, it’s not your responsibility to take care of me.”
Ryder huffed. “Really? Is that how you see it? Maybe I’m making it my responsibility.” He wrapped her knuckles in a few bandages and cleaned up his mess. “Look at me, Blake. I don’t give a shit if you can take care of yourself or not. I don’t care if you want me here or not. I’m here for you, and I’m not going anywhere. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
She stared at her hands for a long time. “He wants to see me. Why does he want to see me?”
Ryder pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Honey, don’t think about it. It doesn’t matter. You don’t want to see him so you won't.”
“Hey, Warren, some guy is out front asking for you.” Detective Bratman jerked his thumb over his shoulder.
“I don’t have my gun.” She met Ryder’s eyes. “Give me yours.”
“No. If someone needs to be shot, I’ll shoot him.” He helped her stand. “Go get dressed.”
Chapter 7
The man that wanted to speak with Blake turned out to be Sophie Stevens’ fiancé, Rick Romano. She relaxed a bit when she saw his face and ushered him into a vacant interrogation room.
“I want to talk with you about Sophie’s case. I think I know who murdered her.” Rick sat in the seat closest to the far wall.
Blake glanced over at Ryder who crossed his arms over his chest, cop face in place. “Who, Mr. Romano?”
He leaned forward with tears in his eyes. “I found something in Amanda’s things. She left it at my house when she stayed over a couple nights ago.” He pulled out a vial of white powder and tossed it on the table. “I asked her what it was, and she refused to tell me, saying it wasn’t what I thought, and I needed to give it to her so she could throw it away. We argued, and I threw her out of my house. I don’t know what it is, but this note sat beside it. Someone wrote about how much the mystery person knew Amanda hated Sophie, that she should give her this if she wanted her to die.” He pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Blake. “I know it may not seem like it because of my actions, but I loved Sophie very much. I’ll admit I never treated her like I should have, but I did love her. I wanted to call everything off with Amanda after Christmas. Sophie gave me an ultimatum, and I chose her. Amanda knew I’d choose Sophie over her every time.”
Blake opened the folded paper and read the simple script of what Rick had said. No sign of from the author. “Excuse me for being blunt, but how do I know you didn’t collaborate with Amanda? Even if her prints were on the vial proving it was in her possession, yours are there too. If we find traces of that substance, whatever it is, in Sophie’s toxicology report, you could be held responsible along with Amanda.”
“I didn’t kill Sophie.” Rick had a frantic look in his eyes. “You think I killed Sophie?”
“We’re looking at all angles. We have video of you right before Sophie left the building, in your car, I might add.” Blake pulled out a seat and met him, eye to eye. “Care to explain to me again what happened between the two of you that night?”
“I stayed in the ballroom. The party carried on in full swing. Sophie had a glass of wine and got into an argument with Amanda in the back hallway. I diffused the situation, and Sophie wanted to leave. I called for the car, they brought mine by mistake, and Sophie climbed in and took off. I tried to stop her a couple times, but she ignored me. That’s all that happened.”
“So you called the valet for the car?” Ryder asked, still leaning against the closed door.
“Yes. On my cell phone.” He pulled it out of his pocket and punched the buttons. “Right here is the valet number. The call was at eleven twenty-seven, lasting twenty seconds.”
He handed the phone to her. Blake looked at the screen. “Who did you talk to, the name of the valet?”
“Perez, maybe? I don’t remember his first name.”
Ryder opened the door and snagged another detective’s attention.
“I only want to help find Sophie’s killer,” Rick continued. “I didn’t do anything wrong no matter what you may
think.”
“My question for you, Mr. Romano, is why didn’t you bring this in when you found it? You said you found it a few days ago and threw Amanda out of your house. Why didn’t you call us then and let us test the vial?”
Rick pressed his fingers together in front of him. “Because I think someone is trying to kill me too.”
Blake glanced over at Ryder who stood stone-faced with his eyes narrowed as he stared at Rick. “Who do you suspect?”
“Robert Stevens.”
* * * *
Ryder crossed the room and stopped when he stood in front of Rick. “What gave you this idea?”
“A week before the party, Robert specifically asked me to drive my Jag to the event. He said he wanted to show his buddies the new model. I didn’t think anything of it until he asked Sophie to run an errand for him. She drove her car to the party, leaving me to drive myself. He never asked Sophie to do anything for him before. I see now that Robert planned this, planned our separation to kill me and Sophie accidentally died instead.”
Ryder pulled out a seat and sat down as Rick continued.
“When I got there, Robert ignored me the entire time. I knew he wanted to give Sophie the money for the down payment on our first house together. He’s never liked me. He kept whispering to his men all night long. It gave me an uneasy feeling. I can’t help…I don’t want to think that I caused Sophie’s death because the car was mine and I called the valet causing the mix-up. Robert’s not a terribly malicious man but he does have people in high places and those willing to cover up his tactics should he need to. If Robert tampered with my car and caused Sophie to wreck, I—”
He broke down in tears. Ryder met Blake’s eyes and knew immediately what she thought. Ryder was ninety-nine percent certain sweet Sophie Stevens found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time. Unfortunately, when she realized it, it was too late.
“Detective Warren, someone is here to see you.” Detective McKenna poked his head inside the interrogation room.
