“Sounds good. Did you speak with Mia yet?”
“Not yet, but I’m going to see if any of the other cases indicated a man who worked in the women’s apartment buildings was found or questioned. I don’t recall that being the case with Wynona’s case. She had been taken from the apartment and no one saw a thing, plus the cameras at the time were all broken. It was a crappy apartment building.”
“So was this one from how the detectives describe it.”
“Probably not a coincidence. Let’s touch base later.”
R.J. got off the phone and immediately began to search up information on this victim from years ago called Colleen. He immediately found out her last name, Fayen, and all the information that Mosley had explained to him. He tracked down the precinct that had been overseeing the case back then and saw that it was listed as unsolved but remained open. He got the number for the detectives who were now working in the South Bronx in a similar unit doing homicide investigation.
An hour later, he was taking notes and trying to come up with another common factor besides the description of all the women being similar in build, hair color, eye color, and type. In all the cases, there had been talk about a man who worked in their apartments or who was seen on a regular basis or often enough that witnesses mentioned him at the times of the investigations. Could this man be the killer? Who was he? How did he keep evading detection, and was he the one responsible for this latest missing woman? He had to figure it out. And why had the killer left a message this time? Was it because R.J. had been the investigator on all the cases since Wynona’s abduction and murder and he was taunting him? Or was this guy getting ready to do something even more extreme? He had too many questions and not enough answers. They had to try and find this latest missing woman. They had to, and hopefully, she would have the answers to who this guy really was.
* * * *
“We don’t want you to go yet.” Mitch caressed her hair from her cheek and placed the loose strand behind Mia’s ear. He held her gaze, feeling his heart ache from the fact that she had to go home to get ready for work tomorrow morning. They had spent the weekend together, making love, enjoying conversation, and getting to know one another. She seemed to be letting her guard down more and more with him and his brothers and he couldn’t help but smile as she hugged him around the waist.
“I need to get some sleep and recoup for the week. You guys tired me out.” She smiled, a sweet gleam in her eyes.
Murdock placed his hands on her shoulders from behind and pressed up against her.
“You didn’t seem too tired thirty minutes ago.” He squeezed her hips as he kissed her neck. She closed her eyes, and Mitch kissed her lips. That kiss began to get out of hand quickly as Murdock pressed his hands under her skirt and began to undress her.
She slapped their hands gently and pulled from between them.
She looked so flushed and aroused. “Stop that or I’ll never get home.”
“Sounds like a plan to me,” Tiegen said, arms crossed, staring at her from the doorway.
She gave him a sideways glance, and Mitch chuckled. Tiegen was being the most possessive and not afraid to show it. Mia accepted it with a smile and even tried easing his worry, but Tiegen was a force to be reckoned with.
“I need to go.” She pulled her purse strap onto her shoulder. As she turned, Murdock grabbed her hand, pulled her back, then cupped her cheeks and neck and kissed her deeply. She held on to his hands, stood up on tiptoes, and kissed him back.
“Behave,” he warned after he released her lips.
“You’re the one going hunting,” she teased then headed toward the door.
Tiegen stared down at her. “Can we get together tomorrow night after work for dinner?”
“If I don’t get caught up in anything.”
He looked her over, and she stood there staring up at him. Their brother was big just like him and Murdock. Mia seemed to be able to handle his possessive, aggressive behavior though as she stepped closer and ran her hands along Tiegen’s arms and uncrossed them. She placed them around her waist, putting his hands on her ass as she lifted up on tiptoes to kiss him.
His brother stared down into her eyes, not totally allowing her control where his hands went now, a moment before he pressed his lips to hers and kissed her deeply.
Mitch watched his brother’s large hands move over Mia’s perfect ass and squeeze and massage the cheeks in the sexy skirt she wore. Their woman had a hell of a body on her, and they enjoyed exploring it thoroughly this weekend.
As he released her lips, she sighed.
“Are you sure you can’t stay?”
“As badly as I want to, I need the rest and to be on my game. I’ll call you guys tomorrow.”
She went to move, and he gripped her hips.
“You’ll call tonight,” he said, and she nodded.
“Yes, sir.” She saluted.
He gave her ass a spank.
“Tiegen.”
“Watch it, Miss Mallory, or that sexy ass of yours will get a spanking you’ll never forget.” She blushed as she rubbed her hands down her skirt, and then Mitch opened the door.
“Text me when you get home.”
She nodded and headed out the door.
Murdock walked toward the window, watching her leave.
Mitch felt the loss of Mia’s presence in their home immediately. He liked her a lot. Hell, he could love her so easily if she would just let down her guard completely. But that would take time.
“What do you think?” Murdock asked his brothers as he took a seat in the living room. They followed.
“I think she’s perfect for us,” Mitch said to him.
“It was a hell of a weekend,” Tiegen stated as he walked over toward the custom bar and took out three glasses then poured some brandy in each of them. Mitch took one of the glasses, and Tiegen brought one over to Murdock, and then he took his and joined his brothers.
“To a hell of a weekend.” Mitch raised his glass.
“To many more with Mia,” Murdock added, and they clinked the glasses and downed the brandy.
They were all silent, and Mitch spoke first. “Damn, it feels empty without her here.”
“It’s crazy, isn’t it?” Murdock added.
“It sure is. Things have changed literally overnight. But this is new, and Mia has a lot of emotions to work out,” Tiegen said.
“I know you’re worried. Hell, you’re still jealous about this R.J. guy, aren’t you?”
“And you aren’t, Mitch?” Tiegen asked.
“Listen, we’ve had lovers. We’re a lot older than Mia and more experienced, and we don’t want her feeling jealous about any of that. We should focus on the four of us and the relationship we’ve started. Nothing else matters,” Murdock said to them.
“But she’s going to see this guy. He could try to rekindle a romance, hell, get her in bed, kiss her, or make her confused about taking this chance with us. We know how complicated and special a ménage relationship is, and she could get cold feet,” Tiegen said.
“But we have to trust her like we asked her to trust us. If we overwhelm her and don’t give her space, it could turn her off. She feels the same attraction and desire, and she didn’t want to leave. We need to take this time to process it all and figure out what’s next,” Mitch said.
“Her moving in with us so she’s in our bed with one of us deep inside of her every night ensuring she’s ours forever,” Tiegen said, and Mitch and Murdock chuckled.
“Jeesh, Tiegen, I’ve never seen you like this,” Murdock said to him, smiling.
“I’ve never felt like this. My gut is clenching right now with worry because she’s not here where I can ensure she’s safe and never gets hurt or feels pain again. What she went through, the lack of love and being abandoned like that, never mind finding her best friend’s dead body, just kills me inside. I want her to feel important and cared for. She deserves it.”
“She sure does, and we’ll have our
chance because of the results we had this weekend. It wasn’t a fuck fest, Tiegen. We made love to her. We saw that love reciprocated in her eyes. This is real,” Mitch added.
“Real enough that I’m thinking some serious changes are in order,” Murdock told them.
“Changes?” Tiegen asked. He stood up, walked over to the bar to grab the bottle of brandy, then brought it over to fill their glasses.
“I’ve been thinking things through for a while, and whether this works out with Mia or not, I’m going to hand in my papers and retire from Special Forces.”
“Seriously?” Mitch asked.
Murdock held his gaze. “The last several missions were bad. People don’t have one another’s backs anymore, and leaving a man behind is a sacrifice that has become too real of a possibility lately. I can’t do that to you guys and certainly not to Mia. You two will be happy to know that I spoke with Chief Riley, as well as Damien and his brothers. I have some options for work lined up, and it makes my decision to leave the Corps easier.”
They stared at Murdock, and Mitch couldn’t help but feel relieved and happy.
He raised his glass. “To whatever decision you make, we have your back.”
“That’s for shit sure.” Tiegen raised his glass.
Murdock placed his glass against theirs. “To Mia.”
“To Mia,” they all said, clinking their glasses together and downing the brandy.
Mitch smiled wide. They were finally going to have the family they always wanted and the woman of their dreams that completed them. His brother Murdock was here to stay, and the fears and worries of him returning in a body bag would be distant memories, in the past, and one less fear to live with day after day. All because of Mia.
* * * *
An hour later, as Mia sat by her desk in the office, her cheeks still felt heated. She had been bombarded with questions from Amy and Alyssa the moment she arrived to work that morning. By the looks she got from Reed, it was pretty obvious that everyone knew she hadn’t made it into Crossroads Friday night and had been gone for the weekend.
Apparently it was Amy who told Murdock and Mitch that she’d been being mauled by their brother in the parking lot and that they might need to intervene. The girls got a chuckle out of that one, but ultimately, they were happy for her.
She couldn’t stop thinking about Mitch, Tiegen, and Murdock or how it felt to make love to them together and separately. There was still a fear of screwing things up and not being sure that things would work out between them, but she felt it was a natural response in any new relationship. After all, it had been years since she’d been involved with R.J., and she’d been young, inexperienced, and in a state of turmoil at the time. But she hadn’t regretted it. She just regretted hurting R.J.
She looked at her cell phone and wondered why he hadn’t called her back and what he needed from her in regards to a case they were working on. But then, her phone buzzed, and she heard others go off around the office. A homicide. It was time to go to work.
* * * *
R.J. pulled onto the scene along with Mosley. They had traveled the twenty-five minutes to get to the crime scene, knowing that this was probably their latest victim. The serial killer had struck again, and R.J. already had calls into friends of his in the FBI. They were on their way, too, and they knew of the other cases, as well as Wynona’s.
As they got out of their car and approached the crime scene, R.J. noticed Mia right away. She wore a snug-fitting pair of black dress pants and a warm sweater that couldn’t hide her voluptuous breasts. He felt that mix of emotions, the love he had for her a long time ago and the connection they would always have since he had been her first lover.
“R.J.?” Mosley said to him.
“Is that her?” he added. R.J. nodded, and Mosley whistled low. “Wow.”
R.J. felt that little hint of jealousy knowing how attractive Mia was and how instantly her body gained men’s attention.
As she finished up, and he and Mosley walked closer, introducing themselves to the detectives on the scene, she caught his eye. But then she looked away from him and at two detectives there. Mosley introduced them to the two men, who looked as though they could be related.
“We’re Detectives Mosley Lane and R.J. Duncan,” Mosley said as he stuck out his hand to shake theirs.
They hesitated a moment, looked at Mia, and then back at them.
“Investigator Tiegen McKay and Detective Mitch McKay.”
“Brothers?” Mosley asked, and then men nodded.
They went over the case so far and about the woman found murdered, her body left by a ravine and tunnel outside a wooded area nearby. They walked over to go over the scene, but R.J. kept glancing at Mia as she took more pictures and then packed up and spoke with the medical examiner from the CI unit she worked with.
As they went over some other information and Mosley filled them in, R.J. took the moment to walk over to Mia as she placed her things into the truck.
“Mia.”
She turned to look up at him. She looked stunning, happy, and he felt as if he’d been punched in the gut. He didn’t want her to look unhappy or even miserable. He had just wanted her to feel something for him still, despite the nearly two years that had passed since they were lovers.
“R.J.”
He stepped closer, pulled her into an embrace, and hugged her tightly. As he looked past her shoulder, he saw the detectives watching, and both looked pissed. He had an uneasy feeling inside as he pulled back but focused on Mia.
“You look beautiful as always,” he told her as he released her.
She smiled. “Thanks. It’s terrible to meet you again under these circumstances, but I guess considering our professions it was liable to happen.” She sounded so sophisticated, older and more confident. He just stared at her, and her cheeks reddened, and she started fixing her things. He chuckled and leaned his hand on his gun and holster.
“How have you been? You look incredible. I’ve heard such great things about your abilities and photographic talent.”
“Really? Well, that’s good to know. I’ve been well, R.J. And you? Is this homicide connected to something you’re working on?”
“Actually, we need to talk. Mosley, my partner, and I have been pulling some information together, and there seems to be some links with our other cases.”
“And you think this one is, too?” she asked, stepping to the side and crossing her arms in front of her chest. She seemed so professional. He was impressed.
“Well, we’ll know after your team gathers some evidence. Is there someplace we can meet up to talk later and go over some things?”
She hesitated and looked past him. He followed her line of sight and saw the one investigator, Tiegen, keeping an eye on things. Perhaps she was seeing him.
“If your boyfriend doesn’t mind,” he said to her, and she opened her mouth to speak, and then she smirked.
“Okay, Detective Duncan. You have my cell number. Let me know what works for you. I’ll also get you copies of the pictures if it helps at all.”
“That would be great.” But he didn’t ask her any questions or indicate that this case and his others may have a connection to Wynona’s murder. He still wasn’t sure, and he knew the killer had left a message for him on purpose. He stopped her from walking away by placing his hand over her arm. She stopped and swallowed hard. He released her arm.
“Listen, it’s important that we meet and talk.”
“What’s going on R.J.?” she asked as Mosley, Tiegen, and Mitch joined them. Mitch and Tiegen took positions on either side of Mia, and R.J. had an instant funny sensation.
“You guys met right?” she asked.
“Yes we did,” R.J said.
“So you were saying something about a connection in the cases,” Mia said, and R.J. began to explain what they had thus far and also about the person who worked in the building that no one seemed to be able to identify. They were still working on getting an image of the g
uy.
“Mia, there may be a connection to Wynona’s case.”
She tightened up. Immediately, Tiegen placed his arm around her waist.
“What do you mean?” Mitch asked. It was obvious that these two men knew about Wynona so they must be important to Mia. Which one was she seeing? he wondered.
“We’re not a hundred percent sure yet, but aside from these women looking so much alike and similar evidence left behind, there’s been another common factor. A man witnesses say was working in the buildings the women lived in. It was someone who wasn’t on the books but helped out. We can’t track him down from any cases. Do you remember anyone from your building, Mia? Anyone that the two of you would see from time to time helping out and that maybe Wynona spoke with?”
Mia looked as though she was thinking about that a moment.
“I don’t recall anyone. But then again, it was originally Wynona’s place, and I was always at the college either at class or working until late. I barely spoke to any of the neighbors. Do you really think the same man who took her and killed her could be the one involved in these other murders?”
“We’re leaning toward that because, as we backtracked in every case, witnesses described a man who worked as a custodian or helper around the apartments. In every case, there was no other information and no pictures of the guy, only some descriptions,” Mosley said.
“Damn, if someone could get their hands on a picture, it could help us track the guy down,” Mitch said.
“We’re working on it,” R.J. said.
“Well, I need to get back to the office and run these pictures.” She held R.J.’s gaze.
“I’ll call you in a little while. We’ll talk.”
She nodded.
“Anything you need, we’ll be here to assist you. If it is the same person that killed Mia’s roommate, we want to help out,” Tiegen told them.
“Thank you. We’ll be in touch once the coroner comes up with his findings and we have Mia’s people do their thing,” R.J. said to him.
R.J. and Mosley walked back toward the crime scene area and to Jethro to discuss any possible evidence left behind. A quick glance over his shoulder and he saw Tiegen slide his hand from her waist to her ass before he walked away. He also saw Mitch say something to her, and she nodded. But then Mia looked toward him and the crime scene. He hoped she would be okay and that this wouldn’t bring back the nightmares she used to have.
Crossroads 4: Shot Through the Heart (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 10
