Shiela Stewart - [Darkness 07]

by Consuming the Darkness (epub)

  “Cry me another tune, jerk.”

  “This is police brutality.”

  “You want brutality? If you don’t pipe down I’m going to shove my fist down your throat.”

  Maybe not to that extent but close enough. He loved what a hard-ass she was. And speaking of her ass, he could not get rid of the picture of her butt in all that tight leather.

  Rolling the window down all the way, Nathan pulled out his bag of sunflower seeds and began munching while he waited for the leather-clad sex goddess to leave. What he wouldn’t do to get his hands on her ass. Damn, it was a mighty fine ass and those tight leather pants were a definite turn on. He wondered if she even wore anything underneath it. There were no panty lines but that didn’t mean she didn’t wear a thong and lord all mighty if he didn’t stop thinking about her ass he was going to be spouting a woodie the size of a banana pretty soon.

  When his cell phone jangled in his shirt pocket, he spit the seed in his mouth out the window and checked the caller ID. His heart sped up when he saw it was an unknown caller.

  Clearing his throat, he answered. “Detective Powers.”

  “Do you have any idea how tasty the human heart is, Detective?”

  Nathan sat a little straighter in his seat. “Can’t say I do. Why don’t you tell me about it?” He knew to keep him on the line as long as possible.

  “I could go into detail but I’m afraid your delicate nature couldn’t handle it. But I will tell you how rejuvenating they are. And succulent. Each one has its own taste—some sweet, some bitter. Your partner’s was very sweet.”

  That had him pausing for a moment, until he realized the killer was goading him and bit his tongue. “Why do you take their hearts? I mean, I know serials like to keep trophies, but why the heart?” He checked his watch noting the time. He had to at least keep him on the line for a full minute.

  “Weren’t you listening, Detective? I told you why. They’re delicious.”

  Nathan swallowed the rising acid building in his gut. “You…you eat them?” What the hell? Was this guy for real?

  “Of course I do. You should try it sometime, but then again, you wouldn’t get the charge I do from a heart.”

  “Do you cook them?” He couldn’t believe he was asking this. He saw the Lieutenant race from the building to her car and started his own up.

  “Cooking them would destroy the life in it. Did you know that if you rip a human heart from its shell fast enough, it continues to beat for several seconds? That’s when the life force is the strongest.”

  Nathan sped after the lieutenant and continued his bizarre conversation. If the guy was serious he couldn’t let it get to him right now. He had a mission. “How do you know whose heart is good? Do you watch your victims beforehand?” She came to a stop and jumped from her car. Nathan followed. They were only a matter of blocks away from the precinct.

  “Now that would be giving you too much information. Maybe another time. See you, Detective.”

  The line went dead and Nathan continued his chase. The woman had legs, that was for sure and he was having trouble keeping up with her. By the time he met up with her, several blocks ahead, he was panting up a storm. “Jesus, you’re fast.”

  “This is where he was calling from.” She slipped on a pair of sterile gloves and lifted the dangling public phone.

  Nathan glanced around but didn’t see anyone familiar. The streets weren’t overly busy, which was a good thing but unfortunately, Killer was nowhere to be found. Not only were the streets dead, but there were only a few shops open on the block. “Someone in those shops might have seen him,” he pointed out and without waiting for her, headed to the one directly across the sidewalk from the payphone. The instant he entered he noticed it was a lingerie shop and the woman inside was dressed as scantily as the products they sold.

  Flipping out his badge, he introduced himself to a pretty blonde with tits the size of watermelons.

  Had to be fake. “Detective Nathan Powers. Mind if I ask you some questions?” He heard the lieutenant come in behind him.

  “You can ask me anything, sweetheart,” the blonde purred seductively.

  “Did you see anyone using that payphone within the last five minutes?” He pointed out the large show window to the phone.

  “I really don’t pay much attention to the outside. I’m all about the inside.” She turned her attention to the lieutenant. “You like leather? We have a new line of leather bustiers and matching G-strings you might be interested in.”

  She flipped her badge and snarled. “Not here to shop. Where’s the rest of your staff?”

  “Oh, I’m it this time of day.”

  “Waste of time.”

  Sending the busty blonde a smile, Nathan followed the lieutenant to the next shop.

  “My case, remember. I’ll do the questioning.”

  “How can I forget when you remind me of it constantly? You’re an only child, aren’t you?”

  She shot him a heated glare as she pushed her way into the next shop which happened to be a comic book store. She flipped her badge as she spoke. “Lieutenant Sienna Storm. Did you see anyone using that payphone within the past few minutes?”

  The young man looked up from his comic books to stare blankly at her. “Huh?”

  She snatched the comic away and repeated the question. “Did you see anyone using that payphone outside within the past few minutes?”

  “Nah, I was reading. Been a slow day.”

  “Anyone else work here?”

  “Just me.”

  She flew out of the store as fast as she had the last. Catching up to her, Nathan kept in time with her stride. “Slow is putting it mildly. This is the deadest city I’ve ever known.”

  “Is that a pun?”

  “Is what a pun?”

  She stopped by her car and huffed her response. “Never mind.” She flipped her phone open and called in a crime scene unit to print the payphone. “How did you know I was here?” she asked the instant she disconnected.

  “I followed you.”

  Her eyes went a little wider. “You foll—” She threw her hands in the air then pointed a finger at him. “Don’t follow me.”

  “Then give me the laptop.”

  “We’ve been through this already.” She threw her car door open and Nathan stepped in her way before she could climb in behind the wheel.

  “Why are you being so obstinate about this? We both want the same thing.”

  “It’s my case.”

  “Fine, it’s your case, but you could at least let me help you.”

  “I work alone.”

  “That is just sad, Lieutenant, because I’ve always thought four eyes were better than two.”

  “Then get a pair of glasses.”

  He wasn’t sure what prompted him to do it now, but going with his instincts, he grabbed the back of her head and pulled her forward to press his lips to hers. He felt her restrain herself, then plant her hand on his chest before giving him a hard shove.

  He stepped back—better that then having his hands caught in her car door—as she climbed behind the wheel. Nathan watched her speed off and smiled.

  The lieutenant had some mighty fine lips.

  Chapter Eleven

  Sienna pulled into an alley several blocks away and stopped the car. She leaned her head on the steering wheel and blew out a long breath. Then she lifted her head, and began hitting it against the steering wheel while chanting, “You will not fall for another cop,” over and over again.

  She jumped, visibly, at the knock on her window, and when she turned to see who it was, felt the heat sting her cheeks. She rolled her window down and snapped at Nathan, “Stop following me.”

  “That’ll give you a nasty headache.”

  “L
eave me alone, Detective, before I decide to use you as a punching bag.”

  He rested his elbows on the edge of the door while looking through the open window. “Actually, I came after you to apologize for the way I kissed you.”

  “But not for the kiss itself.”

  “Hell no! I’m not afraid to admit you turn me on but I could have done it more smoothly, and in a better place.”

  “Or not done it at all.”

  He reached in, grabbing her chin in his hand and she should have seen it coming but there was something about him that dulled her senses. When he kissed her, this time, she didn’t push him away. She knew she should have, but damn it, his lips were so…tasty.

  When he pulled away, she actually regretted it.

  “I wouldn’t hit my head again if I were you. It might bruise that delicate skin of yours.”

  He stepped back and as he walked away Sienna watched him in her mirror. He had a damn sexy swagger, and a nice ass. When he pulled out beside her and shot her a wink, she felt her heartbeat quicken.

  Then she lowered her head and hit it on the steering wheel several more times, chanting, “I cannot fall for another cop,” over and over again.

  ***

  Sienna gazed upon the dilapidated house before her that looked as if one strong wind might topple it over. She checked the address on her sheet, and finding they matched, she shook her head and walked up the three steps to the front door. She actually worried her knock would send the house toppling. When the door creaked open an inch, Sienna saw the chain on the door and figured the person inside wasn’t the trustworthy kind.

  It was a smart move.

  “Yes?”

  Sienna flipped open her badge and held it to the crack in the door. “Lieutenant Storm. I’d like to ask you a few questions.”

  “About what? I didn’t do anything.”

  Paranoid as well. “Are you Tracy Ward?”

  “Maybe.”

  Sienna held her impatience. “I only want to ask you some questions to see if you might have noticed anyone out of the ordinary at work lately. You work at The Demon’s Lair, am I correct?”

  “Yeah, so, it’s legit.”

  “I’m sure it is. That’s not why I’m here. Could I please come in, Miss Ward?” The door closed and for a second Sienna thought it wouldn’t open again. Then it creaked open and she saw the petite brunette come into view. Miss Ward was dressed in a blue fuzzy robe, with her hair piled on the top of her head in a messy ponytail. She stepped aside to allow Sienna inside.

  The interior of the house looked better than the outside in that Sienna didn’t worry so much that it would fall over anytime soon. Miss Ward led her to the living room which was decorated in bold reds and whites. Sienna sat in a stiff-backed red leather chair while Miss Ward took the sofa.

  “I’m usually asleep at this time of day, so if you could make this fast I would appreciate it.”

  Sienna nodded and pulled out her notepad. “Like I said, I would like to know if you’ve seen anyone out of the ordinary, or maybe overheard someone bragging about killing someone recently.”

  “Hell, in my line of work everyone’s out of the ordinary and killing is the norm. And if you think I’m going to give you names, you can just turn yourself around and head back where you came from.”

  Sienna sighed inwardly and kept calm. “I don’t want you to name names. I just want to know if you’ve noticed a new customer lately, say, in the past two weeks.”

  Miss Ward scratched her messy head. “We’ve had plenty of new faces in the club lately. Word gets around that we’re a demon bar and they come running from all over.”

  She was getting nowhere fast. “I bet. Have any of them been talking about the recent murders in Jacob’s Cove?”

  “Well sure.” Miss Ward sniffed, wiped her hand across her nose, and Sienna figured a good dose of coke had gone up those nostrils in the past hour.

  “And what are they saying about it?” Sienna prompted.

  “How bizarre it is. That the guy’s fooling the cops,” she snickered, then cleared her throat when Sienna just stared at her. “If you’re asking me if any of them’s been boasting about doing it, then I have to say no.”

  This had been a waste of her time. Even if the coke-sniffing woman knew anything she certainly wasn’t going to tell her. But she had to try everything possible. “If I leave you my card, will you contact me if you hear anyone boasting about it?” She slipped her card from her ID pouch and held it out to Miss Ward.

  She took it, sniffed again, then shoved it into the pocket of her robe. “Sure, whatever.”

  “Thanks.” Sienna left with a deep sigh. It was beyond her why a person wanted to shove things up their nose, or into their veins for a thrill. When she spotted Nathan leaning against his car parked directly behind hers, she sighed a little deeper. Her life would be so much easier if he left town. “I thought I told you to quit following me.”

  “It’s a free country. I can drive where I please. Get anything out of her?”

  “That’s classified.”

  “That’s fine, you can keep it to yourself. I’ll just go up and see what I can get from her.”

  She stopped him as he moved past her. “It’s not your case anymore, Detective.”

  “Not officially, no, but that’s not going to stop me. I want this guy taken down, Lieutenant, and I’m not giving up until he is.”

  “Making it personal will only cloud your judgment.” His eyes darkened and she knew she was hitting a sore spot. “What he did to your partner is rough—”

  “Rough,” he snorted. “Seeing my partner with a hole in his chest is a little more than rough.”

  “And all the more reason why you should stay out of this. Your vision is clouded by the death of your partner.”

  “I was this close to nabbing him, Lieutenant, this close.” He held his fingers up an inch apart. “He was standing right over me but because my partner was in my arms, dead, I let my guard down. I won’t do that again.”

  “You’ve seen him?”

  “Yes.”

  She threw her hands in the air and was ready to scream when she decided calm was better. “Why didn’t you mention this sooner?”

  “Well, let’s see, Lieutenant, might it have something to do with you not wanting me involved in the case?”

  Her teeth made a hard grinding noise as she clamped her jaw down tight. “You need to see the sketch artist.”

  “Are you telling me you don’t have a picture of him already?”

  “Follow me.” She refused to answer his question.

  He grabbed her arm, stopping her, and her pulse sped up. When she glared at him, she showed him she was not impressed. “You didn’t contact my department, did you?”

  “Release my arm, Detective.”

  He didn’t. “Did you even do a search to see if he’d killed anywhere else before coming here?”

  “Back off, Powers.”

  “Sweet fuck, woman, what the hell kind of cop are you?”

  She slapped his hand away and rounded on him. “I’m a damn good cop and, yes, I did a search on the killer but I didn’t receive any data other than his previous victims. If there was a composite of him, it wasn’t given to me.”

  “It figures. It fucking figures they wouldn’t release the composite I gave them. I’ll get it for you.” He released her arm and stepped back.

  “Thank you. Look, I know this is hard on you, what with the death of your partner and all and I don’t mean to sound cold, but if this guy is going to be stopped, we have to put our emotions on the back burner.”

  “I won’t put my emotions on the back burner, Lieutenant, because then Leo’s death was for nothing. My emotions are driving me to bring this fucker down and if you don’t like it, t
hen well…I’m sorry.”

  “I get that, I really do but running around half cocked won’t help anyone. Now, go get this composite so we can send it out on the airwaves.” She climbed in behind the wheel of her car and waited for him to pull away. She’d read all about what had happened to him and his partner and her heart went out to him. Though she couldn’t understand why nothing had been mentioned about him seeing the killer. Something wasn’t right.

  As he drove past her, she told herself to just stay calm. Getting involved with him was not a good idea.

  ***

  The instant Sienna entered her apartment Daisy was there to greet her…with one of Sienna’s shoes in her mouth. “Oh, Daisy.” Bending down, she took the shoe from the dog and tried not to give in to the happy-eyed tail wagging response from her companion. “What am I going to do with you?”

  Carrying the chewed-on sneaker back to her bedroom, Sienna decided she needed to keep them in her closet and the door securely shut tight. She tossed the bitten-up shoe with the others and headed back to the kitchen. She was going to have to do some serious shopping soon.

  “You hungry, girl?” She didn’t know about the dog, but she was starved. The lack of food she’d been consuming as of late was starting to wear on her and she knew if she didn’t eat more regularly she was going to end up dropping. It would be so much easier if the cop shop had something in their vending machines other than stale chips. Maybe she should talk to the Chief about that.

  Checking through her cupboards Sienna realized she not only had to shop for clothes and shoes but food as well. She just needed to carve out an hour or two in her day to do so.

  Yeah…right, like that was going to happen any time soon.

  With nothing in the cupboards, Sienna headed for the phone to order take-out.

  And there was Daisy, sitting on the living room floor, devouring yet another one of Sienna’s shoes. “Damn it, Daisy! What is with you and eating my shoes?” Scooping it up, Daisy sent her another sappy puppy look and once again, Sienna ignored it as she tossed the shoe in her room. “Stop eating my shoes.”

  The puppy whimpered, tail between her legs and slunk off.