Born Wild

by Julie Ann Walker

  “You can find the thugs who shot up my bar and killed Buzzard,” Delilah said, her usually breathy, sex-star voice sounded hoarse, belying the fact that she’d been crying, freakin’ crying her pretty green eyes out, while she’d been giving her statement.

  Right. And he’d been thinking about her boobs. He really was a degenerate. Worse than that. A shit-heel. A bona fide, grade-A shit-heel…

  “We’re doing everything we can,” Washington assured her. “We’ve got alerts in to all the local hospitals and clinics. If a man comes in with shot pellets in his leg, we’ll be the first to know. And we’ve sent a sample of his blood for DNA testing. If he’s in the system, we’ll have his identity in seven to ten days.”

  Okay, and shit-heel or not, Mac knew seven to ten days was probably optimistic. Because, unlike Bill, he was well-schooled on how slowly things worked outside the high-tech realm of top-tier government intelligence. So, despite the police chief’s assurance, if the CPD had the results of the DNA test by the end of two weeks, Mac would be shocked.

  “And my father and ex-husband?” Eve asked, staring up at Washington with those wide blue eyes of hers. They were bruised and, at the same time, so innocent looking. Eyes like that, women like that, were the reasons men went to war. And, yessiree. No two ways about it. Wild Bill was toast. Just cover him in butter and jelly and slap him on a plate. “What are you going to do with them?” she asked.

  “We’re going to question them and figure out which one of them is behind the attacks,” Washington assured her. “It appears they both have a motive to—”

  “Wait,” Eve interrupted, shaking her head and looking as if the only thing holding her up was the fact that Bill had his arm around her. She lifted her hand to start gnawing on the side of her thumb. “What motive does Blake have again?”

  Washington opened his mouth, but Mac beat him to the punch. “If what he said was true,” he explained, “then it’s possible your father could use your life insurance and inheritance to save their bad business deal, thereby savin’ Parish’s ass in the process.”

  “But then why would he come out and admit the business deal was a bust?” Her brows formed a perfect V. “Why wouldn’t he try to keep his motive a secret?”

  “Maybe to throw us off the scent,” Washington said. “Maybe he thought if he pointed the finger at your father, we wouldn’t look as closely at him.”

  “I hate to add more fuel to the fire,” Delilah murmured as she released Mac’s hand and took a small step away. No shit, the muscle in the back of his arm actually twitched with displeasure, and his deserted fingers instinctively curled into a fist. And that was why he’d always gone out of his way to avoid touching Delilah. Because the feel of her, the feel of all that pale skin was like crack. And one hit was enough to have him hooked for life. “But isn’t it possible they’re actually working together? By each of them saying it’s the other, it muddies the waters all around. And this business deal, whatever it is, could—”

  “Keystone Property Development,” Washington interrupted.

  “Which is what?” Eve asked, not batting a lash at the idea that her father and ex-husband might have teamed up to have her murdered. Either she’d already considered the possibility herself, or nothing more could surprise her today. If Mac was the betting kind, he’d lay ten-to-one odds that it was probably both. “I’m sorry, Chief Washington, but I didn’t know Blake and my father were doing business together, so I’m at a loss here. Would you mind filling me in on what you know?”

  “Well, right now I don’t know much,” Washington admitted. “Between the time Bill initially called me with suspicions about your father and the time he and your ex-husband turned themselves in, I had one of the detectives on the corporate investigations task force pull some quick public records. The most he was able to discover was that a few years ago, after Blake took over Parish Properties following his father’s death, he and your father teamed up on a joint venture. Parish Properties and Edens Enterprises are now one large corporation operating under the name Keystone Property Development. Apparently, they went gangbusters for a while, buying up vacant lots and old buildings all over the city. I think they were riding the wave of the building boom. Then the housing bubble burst, and they were left with squat. Contracts dried up. Demand for new construction fell through the floor. And they’ve been hemorrhaging money ever since.”

  “And my life-insurance policy and inheritance would be enough to cover their losses?” Eve asked, her brow furrowed.

  “We’ll find out more once we dig a little deeper,” Washington assured her. “And we will dig deeper this time. I promise you that.”

  Yeah, and Mac knew these types of cases could drag on for months, sometimes years. Apparently Washington knew it too, because he added, “And who knows. Maybe the guy Miss Fairchild shot will be in the system, and we’ll be able to cut him a deal if he agrees to tell us who hired him.” Which would be the better and certainly quicker solution all around. “But in the meantime, I’m gonna assign you around-the-clock surveillance.”

  Eve’s eyes widened, her jaw falling open like it was attached to her head by loose hinges. “Surveillance? Do you really think that’s necessary?”

  “Whoever tried to shoot you is still out there. They might make another attempt on your life, or maybe whoever hired them will task someone else with the job. It’s time we, the CPD, were vigilant about your safety. Jesus knows we dropped the ball the first three times.” Washington’s lips turned down.

  “But Billy would—”

  “We have no idea how long this will drag on,” the chief interrupted. “And Reichert has other responsibilities. You can’t expect him to drop everything to be your bullet catcher for—”

  “But I will,” Bill cut in. “I’ll stick to her like honey on—”

  “No, Billy,” Eve touched his arm. “Chief Washington is right. It’s just that after everything that’s happened today, I was sort of hoping to get away from the city for a while. Just…” She shook her head, and her expression was so bleak that Mac could almost feel her pain and frustration and weariness—and guilt. That was definitely in there, too. But, really, how could it not be? She’d just spent over an hour going through the details of a man’s death…a man’s death that was meant to be her own. She’d likely suffer from the guilt of that for the rest of her life. Which was so goddamned sad he almost felt like crying himself.

  What a goatscrew.

  “Just disappear for a while,” she finished slowly.

  Washington cocked his head. “And where would you disappear to, may I ask?”

  “I—” She shrugged, gnawing on her lower lip and gazing out the tall windows on the western wall. The city was a mass of darkness and twinkling lights beyond. “I don’t really know. I suppose I could go down to my vacation house in Costa Rica and—”

  “Out of the question,” Washington interrupted. “We need you to stay in the states. Close by, if possible, in case something comes up or in case we need to question you further.”

  “Yes.” Eve bit her lip, nodding. “I kind of figured that. So maybe…I don’t know. Maybe…do you think it’s possible I could go out on my sailboat? Just drift away for a couple of days? Perhaps head over to Michigan? I could lose myself in a little coastal town there. Go where no one knows me, where no one’s trying to kill me.”

  Bill frowned. “Perhaps it would be better for her to get out of Chicago for a while. In case you’re right about someone trying to make another attempt on her life.”

  “Mmph,” Washington grunted, scowling at the floor with his lower lip thrust out. “I suppose.” He glanced up at Bill. “But I wouldn’t want her going alone. I could put a couple of my men—”

  “No need.” Bill lifted his hand, shaking his head. “I’ve got it covered.”

  Yeah, Mac thought. I’m sure you do.

  “I’ve got a cabin ov
er on the west side of Michigan, up near Ludington,” Bill continued, looking at Eve to see if she was okay with the plan so far. If the hero worship…no, not hero worship…superhero worship shining in her eyes was anything to go by, she wasn’t just on board with the plan, she’d packed her bags, waved her good-byes, and was already sitting on the deck drinking a Mai Tai. “I think we could hole up there for a while. It’d give Eve the chance to get away but keep her close enough so she could drive back to the city in three or four hours if she needed to.”

  Washington’s eyes narrowed as he opened his mouth. But before he could agree or disagree with Bill’s plan, the double doors leading to the exterior elevator bank burst open and Jeremy Buchanan strolled into the room.

  “Jeremy!” Eve sobbed, ducking out from under Bill’s arm to run to the man. Buchanan caught her up in a hug that lifted her feet from the station’s tiled floor.

  “I came as soon as my shift ended,” he said, slowly lowering her to the ground so he could pull back and look at her. “How did it go?”

  “It was awful,” Eve admitted. “But now it’s done.”

  “Did you…” His expression and tone illustrated both his reluctance and his curiosity. “Did you find out anything when you met with your father?”

  She shook her head. “Not really.”

  “Damn,” he cursed, his jaw sawing back and forth. “Well, it doesn’t matter. Because I swear to you, we’re going to find out who did this.”

  “You mean Detective Normandy is gonna find out who did this. Right, Lieutenant?” Washington said. “From what I hear, you’ve got your hands full over in vice.”

  “Sure. I’ll let the murder boys handle it.” Jeremy laced his fingers with Eve’s, and Mac was pretty sure that grinding noise he was hearing was Bill’s back teeth again. Too bad they weren’t sitting down at a conference table somewhere so he could kick the man in the shins. “Now that you guys actually believe what I’ve been saying to you for the last three months,” he added as he joined the group.

  “Don’t push it, Lieutenant,” Washington harrumphed. “No one likes to hear I told you so.”

  “Not gloating,” Jeremy was quick to explain. “Just happy to know something’s finally being done.”

  “Mmph.” Washington waved him off, turning back to Bill. “Now about this little sailing trip up to Ludington. I don’t suppose it’d be a problem as long as—”

  The gray door at the back of the room swung open, and Edens, Parish, and their lawyers stood on the threshold. Mac fleetingly wondered how much they’d heard of the conversation. Then he figured, not much. That was a steel door leading to the hall where Chicago’s finest interrogated Chicago’s scum. And speaking of Chicago’s finest, Detective Normandy appeared behind the group. If Mac wasn’t mistaken, there was a new coffee stain on the man’s shirt that hadn’t been there before.

  Holy crow, I hope he’s better at catching crooks than he is at personal hygiene. Damn.

  “Normandy?” the chief asked. “What’s going on?”

  “These assho—” Normandy stopped, scratched his balding head, and rephrased. “Their lawyers have requested they be allowed to consult with their clients in a room other than an interrogation room. You know, the cameras, the two-way glass…So, I’m taking them to conference room number two. And after they’ve had a little consult,” he sneered the word, “we’ll continue the questioning. In an interrogation room.”

  “Fine,” Washington said, his expression that of a man who’d just stepped in something sticky and smelly.

  Normandy nodded, ushering the group toward an adjacent hallway. Then his gaze snagged on Eve’s cousin. “Oh, and I’m glad you’re here, Lieutenant Buchanan. I’ve got a couple of questions to ask you about your uncle and Blake Parish.”

  “Sure thing.” Buchanan nodded, though his expression betrayed his distaste. Mac wondered how close the guy was to his uncle, and what his take on Edens was. The FBI investigator in Mac would love to poke around inside Buchanan’s brain for a minute or two. “I’ll be there in a sec,” Buchanan added, then turned back to Eve. “I think it’s good you’re getting out of town,” he told her.

  Eve’s lips trembled as she glanced up at her cousin. “You don’t think I’m running away? You don’t think I’m being a coward?”

  “Hell no.” Buchanan pulled her in for another hug. Mac lifted a brow when Bill’s jaw started to twitch. “I absolutely do not think either of those things. I think you’re strong and tough and—”

  “Lieutenant,” Normandy cut in after re-entering the bullpen. “Let’s get going on those questions, huh? I’m working on a short clock here.”

  “Yeah, sure.” Buchanan gestured him on before releasing Eve. Mac fought not to roll his eyes when Bill immediately snagged her by the shoulder and dragged her back, tucking her under his arm. “You better take care of her, Reichert,” Buchanan warned. “Or you’ll have me to answer to.”

  “I’ll protect her with my life,” Bill vowed, lifting his chin.

  Buchanan must’ve heard the crystal clear ring of truth in that statement—hard not to—because a look of relief…or maybe contentment was the better word, passed over his face. He jerked his head in a quick nod, then turned to zigzag his way through the desks and over to Normandy.

  “Protect her with your life, huh?” Washington muttered, his dark brow furrowed. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

  And for no reason Mac could explain, the phrase famous last words skittered through his mind like rancid, diseased leaves on a hot breeze. He shuddered…

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chicago Police Station, District 2, Second Floor, Interrogation Room #6

  11:42 p.m…

  They don’t know. I played my cards just right. They may have their suspicions, but they don’t know. I was able to keep up the act around them, around her…

  Her…the damned woman who was turning out to be impossible to kill. The damned woman who seemed to have nine lives. Who would’ve ever thought it? Certainly not him.

  As he sat on the cold metal chair, staring at his reflection in the two-way glass on the opposite wall, he was careful to keep his expression shuttered. Careful to keep his face completely impassive as he mentally cursed those useless, moronic gangbangers straight to hell for botching what should’ve been an easy job.

  And okay, fine. He realized he’d botched the first three attempts on her life, but that’s only because his heart hadn’t really been in it. He still loved her, damnit! Which made his failures understandable, perhaps even reasonable. But Christ! How hard was it for a couple of dickheads who—for shits and giggles—spent their weekends doing drive-bys to walk into a bar full of slow, fat bikers and put a bullet in the brain of one unarmed woman? Really? How hard was that?

  Apparently too hard. And now not only did he have to deal with the fact that he was still at square one when it came to getting his hands on the money he needed, but there was also physical evidence left behind at the scene in the form of a blood sample—a blood sample that, when he stopped for a moment to think about it, was probably teeming with all manner of STDs; he knew the guy in question liked his crack as much as he liked his whores—that could eventually lead back to him…

  No, no, no. I’ve been too smart. There’s no way this will come back to bite me. I used a burner. I have alibis. And, besides, Devon Price won’t let his man talk…

  Devon Price. Just thinking the name of the leader of Chicago’s biggest Southside gang, known as the Black Apostles, was enough to have the scotch he’d sipped earlier turning to bitter, burning acid in his stomach. And when he quietly and slowly blew out a breath, he could smell the anxiety and…fear—let’s just call it what it was—coming up from deep inside him, from the pit of his somersaulting stomach.

  He owed the man so much money. Too much money. Then again, the nice thing about being indebted to that snake-
mean sonofabitch was that Devon needed him alive and out of jail in order to be able to cash in on the fat check he hoped to receive upon Eve’s death. Which meant Devon would do what needed to be done to make sure the police didn’t get anything on him.

  For instance, he knew there’d be no hospital report of a man with buckshot in the leg, because the man with buckshot in his leg wouldn’t be going to any hospital. In fact, the man with buckshot in his leg was currently being tended to by a veterinarian who made his bank by sewing up the bodies of Devon’s gangland crew.

  Bleh. He shivered just thinking of lying on a cold, metal slab where a whole slew of filthy, furry critters had lain before him, having his open wounds poked and prodded at with instruments that were likely seeing their second, third, or fourth use. But whatever. The bumbling idiot’s medical care, or lack thereof, wasn’t his problem. His problem was whether or not the gangbanger’s DNA profile was in the system.

  But if it is, it won’t matter. It’s not like Devon will let the man cut a deal even if he’s inclined to, which, considering where the guy comes from, he’s probably not.

  One of the nice things about dealing with society’s bottom-feeders was that, though they tended to have very few scruples, the one tenet they clung to more stubbornly than a cocklebur in a wool sock was the fact that they didn’t rat. They didn’t squeal. They kept their goddamned mouths shut at any and all costs, no matter what they were accused of or what sort of sentence was coming down on their heads. Because they knew that to do otherwise would compromise the integrity of the gang and ensure one thing and one thing only for themselves: a good ol’ fashioned shanking in the shower after being ass-raped and beaten.