Worrying wouldn’t help. It never did. He could only live in the moment and hope she didn’t give up on them.
♡
Sauer refilled his mug with the sludge from the break room, wincing as he took a sip. Anytime Trey made the coffee, it took every ounce in him not to spit it out. They all took turns making the coffee. Whoever found it empty made some more. He really hated when Trey found it empty.
Walking out of the room with Newman next to him, he winced again.
“We should’ve just made a new pot.”
Chuckling at the truth in Newman’s words, he took another sip. “And hurt Trey’s feelings.”
Newman scoffed. “Dude, he knows he makes shitty coffee. Probably does it on purpose.”
Sauer took another sip, trying to decide whether he should say something. He wrestled with the decision another few steps before blurting, “Wanna go to the King and Queen’s Ball with us?”
Newman’s steps halted. “Who would I go with?”
“Susan…”
A frown mixed with the pleasure in his eyes. “No. You guys have fun. I don’t want to go to a ball.” His face turned to stone. “And I don’t want to go with Susan.”
Newman walked away, leaving Sauer standing there very confused—and concerned. He was always a happy guy. Fun loving, full of jokes. Since he broke up with Chrissy, he’d been nothing but cynical, sour, and full of a bad attitude.
“Don’t feel bad.”
He jerked, turning around. Susan stood there with a friendly smile on her face. “I’m…” He couldn’t say sorry. Well, he could. Because he was. But he didn’t want to say those words.
“It’s okay, Sauer.”
“He’s just…well…it’s not—”
“I’m okay. Let’s pretend I didn’t hear and that you didn’t ask him.” She shifted on her feet. “Vanessa’s boyfriend is looking for you. I saw him when I came in. He looks like a mess.”
“Thanks.” He had no idea what else to say.
Nodding, she turned around to probably head to her office a floor above.
“Susan?”
She swiveled to him, a smile still on her face. He saw behind the happiness to the pain. He always saw it in people. Perfecting a happy front his entire life since childhood, it always made it easier for him to see.
“He’s an idiot. I’d be honored to take you if…if I didn’t love Dee.”
Joy finally shined in her eyes. “Dee is so lucky. I hope she knows that.” Susan turned and walked away.
Damn. He hoped she knew that, too. He couldn’t forget the look of unease in her eyes this morning. Oh, they made love in the shower, then once more in the bedroom after breakfast. She never held back. Giving her all. When he dropped her off at work, he saw the worry, an agitation he didn’t quite understand. He just wanted to feel at ease with her, to know they were in this relationship together, wanting it to work out. He had doubts that she would stick with it and give them a fair chance.
Walking back to his desk, he tried to shove all the worry to the back of his mind. Thinking about it wouldn’t solve anything. Least of all this case. Shawn, Vanessa’s boyfriend, sat in a chair next to Newman’s desk. His hands were stuck in his hair, his head down, his shoulders shaking. Was he crying?
Sauer slid into his chair, raising a brow and shifting a glance from Newman to Shawn. Newman shrugged and then tapped Shawn on the shoulder. “Talk to us, Mr. Gross. Why are you upset?”
His head lifted slowly, tears still silently rolling down. Wiping them away with the back of his hand, he sniffled a few times. “Don’t call me that. Shawn is fine. I feel like my father when you call me Mr. Gross and he’s a real jackass. He’d probably call me a sissy for crying.” A tear rolled down. “I just loved Nessy so much. I miss her.”
He could appreciate and understand his emotions. If anything ever happened to Dee, whether brutal or not, he’d be a blubbering mess. The tears would never stop. Call him sensitive. He didn’t really care.
“We’re doing everything we can to try to find who killed her. Unfortunately, we haven’t found much yet.” Sauer hated to admit that, but he wouldn’t give him false hope. If it were him sitting in Shawn’s situation, he wouldn’t want that. Give him the truth. It might be difficult to swallow, but it was better than lying.
Shawn erased the tears once again. “Start looking at her brother. He did this. I know he did.”
Him and Newman shared a look. Interesting. And completely out of left field. Vanessa had been estranged from her family. Vince, her brother, had been indifferent to her death. She had been insignificant to him. As if she was nothing more than an acquaintance, not a sister.
“What makes you say that?” Newman asked. “Why wait so long to say something?”
Reaching into his jacket pocket, Shawn pulled out a crumpled piece of paper, tossing it onto Newman’s desk. “Because I forgot. I haven’t been to work. I barely leave the house for food. I…I just don’t care anymore. I need Nessy back.”
Newman grabbed the piece of paper, smoothing it out. A look of surprise filtered into his features. “A bank statement. Yours?”
Shawn nodded.
“This is important, why?”
Running a hand under his nose, he stood up and pointed to something on the paper. “See that transaction. Every month, for the past few months, the same amount was deposited into my account. It was always there.” He tapped his finger harder. “Every damn month.”
Rummaging in his other pocket, he produced another wrinkled piece of paper. Smoothing it out, he laid it down next to the other piece of paper. “I printed this out this morning. As you can clearly see, no deposit.”
Newman looked at both pieces of paper and then handed them across the way to him. He looked them over, eyeing Shawn’s last month bank statement. Lots of withdrawals for normal mundane things like gas and groceries. On January 5th, a deposit of five thousand dollars was made. Glancing at the statement for February, he saw one withdrawal for gas on the first, a few transactions for bills right after, and then nothing. Absolutely nothing. He didn’t lie about not venturing out after Vanessa’s death.
“What does this have to do with her brother?” Sauer asked, looking up from the papers to Shawn.
“Because she was blackmailing him.” He let that statement sink in for a beat. “She didn’t trust her family and…” He shrugged. “Asked if the money could go straight to my account. I didn’t mind.”
Newman cocked a brow. “Of course not. Five thousand dollars every month is a nice chunk of change.”
The fury imploded on Shawn’s face. “I never spent a dime of her money. She had access to my account. She spent what was hers, I spent what was mine.”
“What was she blackmailing him for? Why didn’t you say something right away?” He agreed with Newman’s statement. Five thousand dollars was a lot of money.
The fight just as quickly drained from him. “I don’t know. She would never tell me. Her brother’s an asshole.” With a shaky hand, he gestured at the papers. “I forgot about it until my statement came in an email. Then it hit me. He had a reason to kill her.”
Sauer thought back to the crime scene. The brutal crime scene. Blood everywhere. Stab wounds covering her body.
The crime scene said it was a crime of passion. It wasn’t too far off the mark that her brother killed her in a fit of rage, sick of paying her to keep silent. But on what? What would she blackmail her brother for?
“Can we keep these, Shawn?” Sauer pointed to the papers.
“Definitely. You can have access to my accounts if you want.”
“The money was going to your account. What makes you think we won’t think you were blackmailing him?” Sauer tossed out, just to see his reaction. He didn’t react much other than to shrug with indifference.
“Think what you want. Why would I bring the evidence to you if I was? Why would he suddenly stop sending payments?”
“We’ll talk to him. Thanks for coming in,” Newman said.
> Shawn stood up, looking stronger than when he first appeared. “Nail his ass. He needs to rot in prison for hurting Nessy.” An evil look crossed through his eyes. “Actually, he needs to rot six feet under for hurting her.” With that, he left.
“I want to say I’m surprised by this development, but I’m not.” Newman stood up and started to put his jacket on.
“Yeah, he was cold and unfeeling when we talked to him the first time. I missed the hatred, though.” Sauer shivered from the memories of the crime scene. “If he did kill her, he hated her with a passion.”
“Definitely.”
Sauer followed Newman out of the building. “The question is, why attack Dee?” He paused, the horror washing through him. “Why the hatred for her?”
♡
The walls were starting to suffocate her. Closing in. Making it difficult to breathe and concentrate. How could she concentrate and be the best damn secretary she could be when her thoughts always rolled to Sauer? The sweet way they made love, whether hard and fast or slow and sensual. The way he whispered tender words in her ear. The things he said that made her heart beat faster and fortified the thought they could make it work.
Would it work? Would he never get sick of her? She was abrasive. Loud. Outspoken. Why did he love her? Sweet, shy Sauer. Well, not so shy anymore. He was comfortable with her. Open and easy to talk to. She missed his shyness. It still peeked out at moments, and she treasured those moments like the rarity they were. His shyness is what drew her to him. He’d probably never lose it altogether. And she was glad. She wouldn’t change a thing about him.
Just like he didn’t want to change a thing about her.
Was he too good to be true? He was nothing like the men her mother dated growing up. Nothing even close to those douches. Hell, her mother didn’t always pick single men. As long as they bestowed attention on her, she was on them like bees on honey.
Well, at least she wasn’t completely like her mother. She never slept with a married man before. She had some decent morals.
She just didn’t know what to do about Sauer. Giving into his love should be easy. Giving into his charm even easier. Except it wasn’t. The more he showed her what they could have, the more it scared her. It always fell apart. Always.
Damn her insecurities. She shouldn’t be waiting for the other shoe to drop. They could make a go of this relationship if she just gave it a real chance.
Let go.
All she had to do was let go of her fear.
“You look like you could use a break.”
Dee gazed into Rina’s eyes. The questions were there, yet she didn’t ask. So typical of Rina.
“I could. Wanna grab a cup of coffee at the café down the street?”
“I’d love to.” Then she frowned. “Maybe we shouldn’t leave, though.”
“It’ll be fine.”
Dee grabbed her jacket from the coat rack in the corner near Mr. Young’s office door and followed Rina to her desk where she grabbed her own jacket. They headed outside to the back parking lot. They always cut across the parking lot to the café that made the best coffee on the block. In the summers, because the weather was obviously nicer, they’d walk around the long way. The coffee was so good it was worth the walk, rain or shine, hot or cold.
“Are you okay, Rina? You seem a little distracted yourself.”
Pulling her scarf tighter around her neck to dispel the cold wind, she smiled. “I’m fine. Ben and I had a nice night after we got home from the bar.” She blushed. Dee knew it wasn’t from the wind. “He always manages to lift my spirits.”
Dee figured she was talking about the lack of getting pregnant. If anyone deserved to have a baby, it was Rina. She was the sweetest, nicest person in her life. Even sweeter than Zoe.
“It’ll happen. Just keep on having that fun monkey sex.”
Rina burst out laughing. “You say the funniest things.” Nudging her shoulder, her smile beamed from ear to ear. “Thanks for making me feel better.”
They were about halfway through the parking lot, the cold wind almost making her regret their impromptu break.
“Anytime.” She pumped her hair a little, wishing she had a hat. “About fun monkey sex…last night I wanted to—”
Rina cried out in pain and crumbled to the ground. Dee turned around, having no time to react before the tire iron hit her in the head.
Instant blackness descended.
Chapter 17
Mrs. Colton pursed her lips in disapproval. “He’s not here.”
“Where can we find him?” Newman asked with a silky smile, unaffected by her distaste at their appearance on her doorstep.
“Work.” Her brow arched in that refined way people with money who thought they were better than you did. It irked Sauer. A lot.
“That’s why we’re here. He’s not at work.” He enjoyed the way her expression went from disdain to panic. Then, just as quickly, she masked her emotions.
“He’s at work.” Haughtiness back in place. “He probably just doesn’t want to be harassed as you’re doing to me.”
“Why was his sister blackmailing him?” Sauer asked. He didn’t like this family. Her eyes displayed the horror at that statement, yet displayed no other emotion. She knew about it.
“He would never allow that woman to do that to him.”
“What do you have against Vanessa?”
She pinned a sharp look at Newman. “She was nothing but a nuisance. The only time she came around was to ask for money. He might have slipped her some change here and there, but he’d never let her blackmail him.”
“Change?” Sauer asked, slightly confused by that.
“A few hundred, give or take.”
“Right.” Sauer tried not to shake his head at the ridiculous notion a few hundred was change. To him, some quarters and nickels in his pocket was change. A couple hundred, not so much.
“Look, I have nothing more to say to you. Contact our lawyer for any further questions.”
She started to close the door when Sauer asked, “Does your husband have a tattoo? A recent injury to the thigh?”
Her eyes glazed with panic again. “I said to contact our lawyer for any further questions.” This time the door closed on them. She didn’t slam it, but he still jerked back as if she had.
“Well, that reaction said a lot. I think he’s our guy. We could try the secretary again,” Newman commented as they walked back to the car. “She said he left for a lunch meeting, but her eyes said she was lying.”
“Well, if he is at a lunch meeting, we can make her tell us where. I’m okay interrupting it.” Newman was right. Her reaction said a lot. The panic in her eyes. He had to be their perp.
“Me, too.” Newman chuckled as he backed out of the driveway and headed back to Vince’s office.
“I think she knew about the blackmail. What do you think Vanessa knew?”
“Could be something as simple as him cheating on his wife with his secretary.” Newman’s hands tightened on the steering wheel. “She blushed anytime we said his name. If he isn’t sleeping with his secretary, she at least wants to. Something like that, he wouldn’t want people to know. Image is everything to people like that.”
“It’s plausible. Enough to kill his sister to keep her quiet?” Sauer couldn’t help the flashbacks that pelted him. “She died so brutally.”
“As soon as we find him, we’ll ask.” Newman laughed. “I’ll let you interview him. If he’s the one who hurt Dee, I’m sure you’ll enjoy that.”
Yeah, he’d be sorely tempted to beat the living shit out of him. Maybe Newman should interview him.
“All units, be advised…”
The rest trailed off as a loud roaring sound coated his ears. The world shifted, the scenery passing by, nothing but a blur as he lost all focus. His breathing became heavy, his chest constricted. Air suddenly became difficult to take in.
He jerked forward, slamming his hands to the dashboard. Jolted out of his sudden panic att
ack, he looked at Newman.
“Keep it together, Sauer. Breathe!”
The vehicle started moving again. At a high speed.
“I misheard, right?” Sauer fisted his hands as he tried to control the panic. “Tell me I misheard.”
Silence.
“You didn’t mishear. Dispatch said Dee’s workplace address.”
“And the part…”
A heavy sigh. “Yeah, man. A request for an ambulance.”
Sauer stared out the window the rest of the way, unable to speak. He had nothing to say. Rewinding the last few minutes was about the only thing he wanted to do. Someone was attacked outside Dee’s work. No reports of how bad the injury, except an ambulance was requested. He was too afraid to grab the radio and ask. Didn’t want to hear how bad it was.
Could it be Dee?
She knew better than to leave the office.
Of course, that didn’t mean she wouldn’t leave. She had a mind of her own. If she felt like leaving, she would. No matter how many times he asked her to be careful, not to do anything that would put her in danger, she always just cocked her brow in that sexy annoying way and smirked. Every single time he wanted to wipe that smirk off with a kiss.
Ten minutes later, Newman pulled to a screeching stop in the parking lot full of patrol cars and one ambulance. Sauer raced out of the car to the ambulance and halted. Rina sat on the edge, a cloth to her head, crying in Ben’s arms.
A comforting hand landed on his shoulder, pushing him forward. Guided by Newman, they met Zeke by the ambulance. The grimace on Zeke’s face made him sick to his stomach, bile rising to the back of his throat.
“What happened?” It came out in a croak. He wasn’t even sure how he managed to speak.
Ben turned his head, Rina still in his arms. The pain of his wife hurt wasn’t what punched Sauer in the gut, making his nerves tingle with dread. It was the look of sorrow mixed in.
“Dee…” He cleared his throat, steeling his spine, pushing all dreadful thoughts out as best as he could. “Where’s Dee?”
Rina started to cry harder. Ben turned away, comforting her more than he was before. Zeke stepped closer to him, blocking his view of the two.
One Taste of Crazy (A One Taste Novel Book 3) Page 18
