The Sins of the Mother (Miller & Stevens Book 1)

by Scott Pratt

  “Okay, standing by. He’s parking now. About fifty yards out.”

  “STAY PUT.”

  “Okay, I’ll just walk around a little,” she said, and Lukas heard the stilettos again. “He’s moving again, headed this way.”

  The faint sound of a car engine emerged in the distance on the wire.

  “Hey there, sweetie.” It was Brooke’s voice. “Looking to party?”

  The tenor in her voice had changed. She was talking to the john. Lukas could see them. He saw the car door open and a man begin to climb out. He heard a voice that was indiscernible.

  “Oh, really?” Brooke said. “Well, let’s see what we can do, honey. What’d you have in mind?”

  “I’ll tell you what you can do,” the man’s voice said.

  “What’s that, sexy?”

  “As a matter of fact, I’ll show you what you’re gonna do.” The voice was forceful, and Lukas tensed.

  “Excuse me?” Brooke answered. She didn’t sound as confident as before.

  “How about you do this?”

  Lukas heard fabric rustle and hesitated. She hadn’t said the code words, and he didn’t want to blow the operation. But a moment later, he knew Brooke was in trouble.

  “Get your hands off me! Stop.”

  Lukas started the car and slammed it into drive. He could see them struggling. The man had Brooke bent over the hood of his car and was standing behind and almost on top of her. Her top had been partially torn off, and her left breast was exposed and being groped by the assailant. His right arm was across the back of her neck, and her face was being pushed into the hood of the car.

  Lukas screeched to a halt, jumped out of the car and hit the man with a flying shoulder check, knocking him off Brooke and flat on his back. The man writhed on the ground, clearly out of breath and incapacitated. Lukas turned his attention to Brooke, who’d also been knocked to the ground. She had a dazed look on her face as he helped her to her feet.

  She was a mess. She didn’t seem to realize that her breast was exposed or that a small stream of blood was running down her chest. The pink ribbon that had been used to bind her hair was hanging haphazardly at the back of her head. The look on her face suddenly changed to embarrassed fury as she noticed the condition of her sweater and bra. She covered herself as Lukas reached for a handkerchief in his pocket and handed it to Brooke to help her stop the bleeding.

  “You okay?”

  She nodded, not speaking. Lukas took his sweatshirt off and helped Brooke put it on. As the shirt cleared her face, her eyes widened. She pushed Lukas to the side.

  “Look out!”

  A flash in his peripheral vision had him throwing up his arm in reflex. But he couldn’t escape the blow. A searing pain hit his right arm at the shoulder. He spun quickly and hit the man with a left cross, knocking him out cold. The knife fell straight down, and Lukas thought he heard some teeth rattle on the pavement near his feet when the man hit the pavement for the second time.

  Almost as soon as the man was on the ground, Brooke, who had regained some of her composure, had her handcuffs out. She slapped the cuffs on the unconscious man.

  Lukas staggered and clutched at his shoulder. A burning pain radiated from the site of the wound down his arm and into his right hand. He felt as though his whole arm was on fire. His time as a pararescueman had taught him the process of tending to all manner of wounds, and he knew the first step was assessment. He found his balance and rolled up his tactical shirt. The wound was deep and bleeding badly. The first order of business was to get the bleeding stopped.

  Brooke had finished with the assailant and was now standing next to Lukas. He let her inspect it.

  “It’s pretty deep,” she said. She took the handkerchief he had given her earlier out from under her shirt and placed it directly on the wound. “There. Hold that.”

  Lukas applied pressure. Brooke gave him a gentle pat, kicked off her stiletto heels, and pointed toward the handcuffed assailant. “Watch him.”

  She ran quickly to Lukas’s car. He could hear her summoning the other officers. Two of them arrived within minutes.

  Time seemed to thicken and slow down for Lukas. The effort of applying pressure to his shoulder was wearing on him. He was losing blood quickly. Brooke helped him into the car. Lukas heard a voice ask what had happened, and Brooke told him to hold the scene and she would explain later.

  She got behind the wheel and started weaving through traffic at break-neck speed, and time suddenly revved right back up for Lukas.

  “Keep pressure on that wound,” Brooke said.

  They zigged and zagged between cars with the lights flashing and the siren and horn blaring. The woman could drive, Lukas had to admit. Five minutes later, they pulled up to the emergency entrance at Kingsport Memorial Hospital.

  Lukas tried to open the car door, but a rush of dizziness overwhelmed him. He knew the loss of blood was taking its toll. Brooke helped him to the entrance and announced in a loud voice that she had a wounded officer. The effect was immediate. Several nurses assisted Lukas to a stretcher and rolled him into a trauma room. The world was starting to swirl. Lukas opened his eyes wide attempting to maintain consciousness.

  The last thing he saw was Brooke standing in the corner of the room biting her fingernails nervously.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Lukas awoke to bright lights and a leathery-faced doctor who looked and smelled like he didn’t follow the American Medical Association’s advice about smoking cigarettes.

  “How are you feeling, detective?” the doctor said.

  “I’ve felt better. How bad is it?”

  “We stitched it up and got some blood in you. No arteries or bones were damaged, just muscle. You’ll be out of service for a few days, and it’ll hurt like hell.” He checked something on the chart and looked up. “You’ll be sore, too, and you’ll need to keep the wound clean and change the dressing often. But, all in all, I’d say you were lucky. It could have been a lot worse.”

  “How’s the other detective who came in with me?”

  “She’s fine. A small cut on her chest, some bruises and abrasions, but otherwise fine. You’ll both be discharged as soon as the paperwork is done.”

  He dropped the clipboard into the bin at the foot of the bed and left.

  Lukas laid his head back on the pillow. He’d barely closed his eyes before the scraping metal sound of someone sliding the curtained petition brought him to attention. He looked over and saw Brooke standing there watching him. She was wearing blue scrubs and slippers.

  “How are you feeling, cowboy?”

  “Oh, you know. Just another day on the range.”

  “They said 18 stitches.”

  “Did you watch?”

  “No, they were working on me.” The conversation was interrupted by the sound of Captain Hunter arguing with a nurse outside the curtained room. He won the disagreement and stormed into the room.

  “Well, aren’t you two a sight?” His gaze encompassed them both, and he narrowed his eyes. “What the hell happened out there?”

  “The guy got a little out of hand, and we dealt with it,” Lukas said.

  “A little?”

  Lukas didn’t attempt to answer. The question was rhetorical. The captain was working up to a scolding.

  “We have one officer battered and bruised,” he said, pointing at Brooke, “and one with a severe stab wound. And the perp has a broken jaw and four missing teeth. You call that getting a little out of hand?”

  “The guy got off easy. What’s his story?”

  “We’ve had him in the box since he woke up. He’s not our killer.”

  “Are we sure?” Brooke broke in.

  “Relatively. He gave us permission to search his residence, which turned out to be a hotel room. He’s here on business. He’s only been here sinc
e this morning. We double-checked with his employer.”

  “Maybe our killer is a traveling salesman,” Lukas said.

  “No criminal record,” the captain said. “Wife and two kids in South Bend, Indiana.”

  “He went after Brooke hard and he stabbed me. He may not have a record, but he’s definitely violent.”

  “We’ll take a close look at him, but I don’t think he’s our man,” Captain Hunter said.

  Brooke’s shoulders slumped.

  The captain took a few steps forward and rested his hand on the edge of Lukas’s bed. His tone softened.

  “But he’s facing charges of sexual assault, attempted murder, and two counts of aggravated assault on a police officer. So at least you took a violent sexual predator off the street. He might not be a serial killer, but you both did a good job. Lukas, take a few days, but get back as soon as you can. Brooke, your chief will be down soon to check on you.”

  He nodded at each of them and left. The room was much quieter in his wake. Brooke smiled.

  “I thought he’d be more upset. Feel like taking a walk?”

  “Not really, but why not? Where to?”

  “Follow me.” She led him out of the trauma rooms and turned left down the hall to the rear exit of the emergency rooms. They walked out of the building into a small courtyard and over to a wooden picnic table. Brooke sat down while Lukas stood for a minute and took in the cool night air. Looking back at Brooke, he noticed she was in the process of lighting a cigarette. Her gaze caught his.

  “If you tell anyone about this, I’ll kill you.”

  “What? That you’re a closet smoker?”

  “Exactly. If you value your life, you’ll keep it to yourself.”

  She took a long drag, exhaled, and held up the cigarette. “It’s not something I do often, but after the night we’ve had, I need one. There are only a handful of people who know about my dirty little secret. So, if it gets out, it’ll be your ass.”

  “Your dirty little secret is safe with me. Don’t worry.” Lukas sat down beside Brooke, breathed deeply, and immediately regretted it. The doctor was right. He was going to be sore.

  Brooke absentmindedly flicked ashes from the cigarette.

  “Thank you, Lukas. You saved me from a serious situation tonight. Maybe saved my life. I let him get too close to me. I didn’t think he’d… I messed up. If –”

  “Hey, don’t say another word. That’s what partners do, right? We have each other’s backs.”

  She smiled and took another drag. “Yes. Yes, we do.”

  “Speaking of thanks, you saved my ass, too,” Lukas said. “If you hadn’t pushed me, that knife would have caught me at the base of the neck.”

  “Don’t say another word,” she said. “That’s what partners do, right? We have each other’s backs.”

  He slid closer to her, put his good arm around her, and pulled her closer.

  She didn’t resist.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Midway through the following afternoon, Brooke sat at her desk and concentrated on the reports from the previous night. She finished the suspect resistance report and moved on to entering the case notes. She checked the case files looking for any mention of the initials R.O. but found nothing of interest. She turned her attention to the red vehicle lead. She pulled the video from the convenience store where her first victim was found and cued it back to the approximate time the body would have been dumped, but she didn’t find anything.

  Leaning back in her chair, she stretched, feeling her stiff, sore muscles resist. The movement pulled at her chest, and a sharp pain made her catch her breath. She knew she was lucky. Aside from the cut on her chest and her bruised head, she felt fine. The soreness would dissipate. Her mental state, however, was a bit shakier.

  She felt responsible for the whole mess. She should have realized the danger and used the code words that she and Lukas had agreed upon. But it all happened so fast. What could she have done differently? She could have recognized the danger more quickly. Had she done so, nobody would have been injured, except for maybe the perp. At least she’d recovered enough to help Lukas. She’d saved him from a more serious injury. She was sure of that.

  She thought of sitting at the picnic table outside the emergency room. Lukas was badly injured, yet he was the one offering comfort. He didn’t patronize her. He didn’t blame her for anything. He was just there for her, and that was what she’d needed more than anything at that moment.

  She turned her attention back to the report, which would require the records from last night. She had to go back to the hospital. She sighed, grabbed her coat, keys, and purse, and headed for the exit.

  The drive to Kingsport Memorial was a short one. She waited in the lobby of the records department while a middle-aged clerk who looked like she would rather be anywhere but there made copies of the medical records and incident reports. She sent a quick one-line text to Lukas: Checking on you.

  Getting the records took less time than she had thought, and she found herself back at the station within the hour. Brooke made her way through the squad room. For a Saturday, it was busy. A couple of uniforms were wandering around, as was her longtime friend and partner, Sam Browning.

  Sam was near the end of his career, and it had been a productive one. He’d been good to Brooke. When the others made fun of her or doubted her, Sam stood by her. He’d taught her a lot about being a detective, and she was grateful. She’d miss him when he retired, but that didn’t seem imminent. Nobody, including Sam, knew when he would hang it up.

  Brooke tapped his shoulder. “Hey, Sam, did you get a call out?”

  “Hey there, kid. No, I’m just going over some training material for a class I’m teaching next week. I heard you had quite a night last night. Are you okay?”

  “A little sore and stiff, but I’m fine.”

  “You did good, young lady. Don’t doubt it.”

  “I don’t know. I feel like I should have done something different.”

  “That’s normal. Every time we do something that doesn’t end exactly like we think it should, we second guess ourselves. If you go home at the end of the shift to your little girl, that’s a win. If you collar a bad guy in the process, that’s a bonus, and that’s what you did. You also may have saved that Miller guy’s ass from what I heard.”

  “Well, he saved mine first.”

  “How’s he doing?”

  “Fine, I think. I’ve tried to call, but he isn’t answering.”

  “He’s probably sleeping. Can’t blame him. I’ll bet he’ll be hungry when he wakes up.”

  Brooke looked at Sam. He was grinning mischievously.

  “Don’t go there, Sam. He’s got a girlfriend.”

  “I didn’t say you should ask him to marry you.”

  “I don’t want to cause trouble.”

  “Does the girlfriend work? I’m just saying he may need a friend. He’s your temporary partner until I get you back full-time. You should at least check on him.”

  “Maybe so. But I’ve got to pick Sierra up from my parents. I haven’t seen much of her lately. I miss her.”

  “Okay, girl. I’ve got to run. Do you need anything?”

  “I’m good. Thanks, Sam.”

  Brooke put the records in the case file book and looked over the reports from the other officers from the previous night. Overall, the operation was a bust as far as the murders were concerned. Sure, they got a predator off the streets, but the goal had been to get a lead on the murders, and that hadn’t happened.

  She looked at her phone again. No word from Lukas. She thought over what Sam had said.

  What the hell. An hour later she pulled into the driveway of Lukas’s house. It was a little after 6:00 p.m. She checked her makeup and hair in the mirror before walking the short distance to the door with a steaming hot
pizza in one hand and a six pack of beer in the other. What cop could resist that? Lukas answered the door shirtless, wearing only a pair of blue sweat pants with a “U.S. Air Force” logo in white down the right leg.

  “Oh, hey, Brooke.” His face registered surprise.

  “Hi, I thought you might be hungry. Can I come in? This pizza is burning my hand.” She pushed through the door to find a surface for the hot pizza.

  “Uh, sure.”

  Brooke set the pizza down and shook her singed hand. She wiped it on her jeans and turned to see a woman dressed in purple scrubs walk out of the kitchen. The woman was holding a fresh gauze bandage. They locked gazes, and the woman’s dark brown eyes flashed. She swept her long, dark hair over her shoulder and stared at Lukas.

  At first Brooke thought the voluptuous woman was a home nurse ordered by the department to assist Lukas with the wound dressing. But the temperature change in the room indicated otherwise. Brooke stood there with a six pack of beer in her right hand and looked back and forth between Lukas and the woman. Shit. How do I get out of this gracefully?

  “Lukas?” The woman shifted her stance. “Who’s this?”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. Gabriele, this is Brooke. Brooke, Gabriele.” Brooke realized she was still holding the beer. She set it down on the cluttered coffee table and walked over to shake Gabriele’s hand.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m sorry to intrude. I didn’t mean to… I mean, I didn’t know… I just thought I’d swing by and make sure he was still alive. Again, I’m sorry.”

  Brooke turned and started toward the door. “I’ll talk to you later, Lukas.”

  “Nonsense.” Gabriele flashed a smile that Brooke knew was fake. “I was just about to change his dressing, but I’m running late and since you’re here, maybe you can do it?”

  “Sure,” Brooke said.

  “I need to get back to the ER. Besides, I’m sure you two have a lot to discuss.” She walked up to Lukas and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. “Call me later.”

  “Okay,” he replied, his face betraying his discomfort. When the door closed behind Gabriele, there was a moment of silence. Brooke felt like she wanted to become one with the paint on the wall. She couldn’t believe she was standing in Lukas’s living room, having just chased his girlfriend off. And him shirtless no less.