by Radclyffe
“So,” Bri remarked, watching the mooring lights of the sailboats anchored in the harbor flicker on the water as the boats rocked on the quiet tide. “Did you find out anything?”
“Not so fast, hotshot.” Ashley laughed softly. “I’ll show you mine if you agree to show me yours.”
Bri turned until she could search Ashley’s face. Up close, moonlight danced in her eyes. “I don’t think it works that way. See, I’m the law and you’re private. So I don’t have to share what I know with you. But I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to keep secrets.”
“Somehow I thought you were going to be more cooperative.” Ashley studied Bri, looking for some indication that she might be able to tease her into revealing if the local authorities had uncovered anything pertinent to their common investigation.
“Why would you think that?”
“I had a feeling you might want to get ahead—impress that formidable partner of yours.” Ashley shrugged. “Breaking a case always helps the reputation.”
“I wasn’t aware there was a case. We don’t even know if the fire was intentionally set.” Bri waited a beat. “Do we?”
“You’re pretty slick, hotshot. Nice try.” Ashley laughed again. “Are you trying to pump me?”
“Me? I’m just a rookie.”
“Uh-huh. Sure ’nuff.” Ashley rocked her leg playfully against Bri’s thigh. “Well, this won’t be the first time I’ve misread a situation. You look young, but you’re sure not naïve.”
Bri wasn’t entirely certain of that, because she was pretty much feeling her way along by instinct, but she was damn certain that if she talked about the case with a private investigator, Reese would kick her ass. She didn’t need years of experience to know that. “So, I guess that means you’re not going to be sharing, huh?”
“Well, at least not information. Not right now.” Ashley stood and dusted off the rear of her leather pants, then slid both hands into her back pockets and looked down at Bri. She tilted one hip and stretched, the thin shirt outlining her high breasts and taut nipples. “Want to take a walk on the beach?”
Bri regarded her steadily, then stood. “Sure.”
Chapter Fifteen
Reese turned over in bed, awakened by the low rumble of the motorcycle in the driveway. The bedside clock read 3:45 a.m. For a moment, she contemplated getting up.
“Go back to sleep, sweetheart,” Tory whispered as she rolled toward Reese and slipped an arm around her waist. Curling against her lover’s back, she nuzzled into the soft warmth of Reese’s neck and kissed her softly. “She’s okay.”
Reese sighed and laced her fingers through Tory’s, where they lay against her breast. “I hope so.”
*
At five minutes to seven, Reese knelt to one side of the forty- by fifty-foot room with her eyes closed, her hands resting palms up on her thighs. Tory and four students ranging in age from fourteen to twenty-five lined up on the tatami mats in a single line, barely an inch separating them. They knelt, too, facing the front of the room where the ceremonial altar stood on a small hand-carved wooden bench. The room was very still as each student mentally prepared for class.
Reese stiffened, as she had only hours before, when she heard the sound of an engine drawing near. Intent on maintaining her own focus, she did not glance over as Bri came into the room, hastily tying her belt before taking her place to Tory’s right.
At precisely seven, Reese moved to the center of the room, knelt, and bowed. Ordinarily, the class proceeded with no conversation other than when Reese announced the attack and corresponding defense to be performed. Once she called upon a student to assist her in demonstrating the techniques, the students paired off with no regard to rank and repeated the drills. Senior-level practitioners worked with beginners as well as each other. Within each pair, the students alternated offensive and defensive positions until Reese called a halt.
Bri had practiced only briefly with the class during her last visit home, and Reese watched carefully as Bri worked with the first student. It was not unusual for students who left a dojo to practice elsewhere to learn variations in the techniques and to incorporate habits that very often might be at odds with the philosophy or style of their previous school. Aware that Bri had very recently been practicing hand-to-hand combat skills with her colleagues in the academy, Reese wanted to be sure that she could temper her physicality when training with inexperienced beginners. And even more importantly, that she was careful with Tory.
After their last visit with Wendy, Reese had gently suggested that Tory suspend her workouts until after the baby was born, but Tory had merely smiled and said that the physical exercise was good for her. Reese was always careful not to choose techniques that involved shoulder lifts or throws, but still, every defense in jujitsu finished with a takedown to the floor. And every time a student took her lover to the mat, no matter how gently, Reese’s heart lurched. The first time Tory bowed to Bri in invitation to practice, Reese quickly crossed the mat to them. Before Bri and Tory could begin, Reese extended a hand to Bri, indicating that Bri should perform the technique with her.
If Bri kept on schedule, she would be ready to test for black belt before the end of the year. It was time for her to be challenged. When Bri launched the first punch toward Reese’s midsection, Reese pivoted, grasped the punching wrist, then turned tightly counterclockwise and threw Bri to the mat. Following her student down, she quickly immobilized Bri with a wrist lock. When they practiced the technique with positions reversed, Bri executed smoothly and with controlled force.
Reese was pleased. She bowed, dismissing Bri, and moved to Tory to repeat the same technique. Although Tory was a black belt in hapkido, that style was more akin to tae kwon do than jujitsu. And though not equal in rank, Tory and Bri were of nearly equal experience in this class.
When Tory threw her punch, Reese repeated the defense and smoothly guided Tory to the floor. As she cradled Tory’s elbow between her knees and applied force on her wrist, effectively pinning her, she leaned forward slightly over Tory’s supine form and murmured, “Everything okay?”
“Yes, sensei.”
“Be careful with Bri. She’s very strong.”
“I will be.” For the briefest instant, she smiled directly into Reese’s eyes and murmured faintly, “I’m fine, sweetheart.”
Reese nodded briefly, her gaze a caress, and moved away.
At the end of class, Reese approached Bri, who was carefully folding her gi jacket and brown obi. “It’s good to have you back.”
“It’s great to be here.” Almost shyly, Bri looked quickly at Reese, then away. “Can I talk to you later?”
“Sure.” Reese glanced at the clock. “It’s about breakfast time. I was going to take Tory to Café Heaven. Want to come along?”
“That’s okay. I don’t want to…get in the way.”
Reese laughed. “It’s just breakfast, Bri.”
“Well…”
“Come on, Bri,” Tory said as she joined them. “I heard that. You’re coming, and that’s all there is to it. You can leave your motorcycle here, and we’ll bring you back after breakfast to pick it up.”
*
The tiny restaurant was situated just up the street from where Bri had met Ashley the night before. It had only a dozen or so tables and was always crowded, but luckily it took only a few moments for them to be seated. Even more fortunately, the waitress recognized them as regulars, so it took only another minute to place their orders.
“So how is the new guy working out?” Bri asked Tory after finishing a large glass of orange juice in three big gulps. “What’s his name?”
“Dan Riley.” Tory’s response was precisely neutral. “He’s only been here one day.”
“Is he just here for the summer?” Bri reached for the basket of bread. She didn’t notice that her conversational inquiries made both Reese and Tory look uncomfortable.
“That was the plan. I can’t imagine that we would need two doctors ful
l-time during the off-season.”
“Yeah, but I guess you’ll be pretty busy with the baby, huh?”
“Fortunately,” Reese interjected, “Jean and my mother have already offered to baby-sit while Tory’s at work. As soon as she and the baby are ready, Tory will be able to get back to her regular schedule at the clinic.”
Under the table, Tory slid her hand around Reese’s knee where it rested against her leg and squeezed gently. “We still have a few of the logistical details to work out. Like who is going to run the breast milk back and forth.”
Bri colored and looked quickly out the front window. “Oh. Right. That.”
“So,” Reese said casually as she peppered her omelet, “how was your night?”
“Uh…it was…fine.”
“Much activity in town?”
“It was crowded right around closing time, but after that, it emptied out pretty quickly.”
“Uh-huh. Not much going on after one-thirty or so.” Reese raised an eyebrow and regarded Bri steadily.
“Well…” Bri’d wanted to discuss the encounter with Reese, because it still bothered her, and she couldn’t quite work out why. That is, she wanted to tell Reese about most of it, anyhow. “I met Ashley Walker, and we talked about the case for a while.”
Reese stiffened almost imperceptibly. “You talked about the case?”
“Not about the case, exactly. Well, I mean, she wanted to talk about the case.”
“I’ll bet she did,” Reese muttered.
“Who, by the way, is Ashley Walker?” Tory looked from one to the other and tried to figure out what, precisely, was going on. Reese was acting as if Bri had done something wrong. Her lover sounded very much like an attending about to come down hard on a new intern who had made a moronic mistake and hadn’t yet figured it out. Her first instinct was to rush to Bri’s defense, whatever her transgression might have been, because she knew that Bri worshiped Reese. She couldn’t bear the thought of anyone else whom Bri loved hurting her, even unintentionally.
It took all Tory’s willpower not to say anything. Bri had chosen Reese to be her training instructor, and Tory knew how great that responsibility was. For the first time, she wondered if perhaps it had been a mistake for Reese to accept the position. Bri needed a good training instructor, but what she needed even more right now was a friend.
Aware that they were in a public place, Bri lowered her voice and leaned across the small table close to Tory. “She’s a private detective who’s working for an insurance company.”
“I see. This is about the fire, I take it?”
“Yeah.”
“What did the two of you discuss?” Reese’s eyes were steady on Bri’s face, her voice flat.
“We didn’t discuss anything,” Bri said with a faint hint of disgust. “She was fishing for information about our investigation. I was hoping she’d tell me something. So we both came away with no satisfaction.”
“Does that tell you anything?” Reese speared a strawberry with her fork and waited. You’re good at this, kiddo. Let’s see what your instincts are like.
“I’ve been thinking about that.” Bri took her time, her eggs and linguica forgotten. “If she was trying to find out what we knew, then there must be something to know. More than just a fire. It’s only been a couple of days, and no one would expect us to have much on it yet. She was trying to see if we had information on something else.”
“Uh-huh.” Reese moved on to the bananas. “Like what?”
“Like…” Bri hitched her shoulders, worried about looking dumb. “Like another fire?”
“Mmm. Could be.”
Tory relaxed and leaned back in her chair, enjoying the Socratic exchange. She’d seen Reese work dozens of time. But she’d never seen her quite like this. Usually, when Reese was in the field, she was in command mode. She issued orders, then expected them to be followed without question. She rarely explained, because she saw no need to do so. She had been bred and raised in a military family, where the power was clearly delineated and the authority unquestioningly accepted. However, watching her lead Bri through this algorithm of deductive reasoning showed Tory a fascinating side of her partner that she had never before observed.
Suddenly, she had an image of Reese with their child, patiently teaching him or her how to think about the world. To her absolute chagrin, she felt her eyes fill with tears. Oh my God, this pregnancy is doing the strangest things to me.
“Tor?” Reese glanced with concern at Tory, feeling her lover grow tight against her side. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, sweetheart.” Tory shook her head and smiled wanly.
Reese kissed her cheek softly, then looked back to Bri. “So, what’s your plan?”
By the time Tory composed herself, she caught only the tail end of the conversation.
“I agree,” Reese said as she finished her cottage cheese. “After we finish our first tour through town this afternoon, I want you to start looking for similars.”
“I can make some calls, too,” Bri said eagerly.
Reese nodded thoughtfully. “Might not be a bad idea to check personally. Sometimes we don’t get all the reports, and if they’re late with the data entries in the other divisions, we might not pull it up on the computer yet.”
“It’s a holiday weekend,” Tory pointed out, suddenly feeling much more herself. “I imagine you’ll have a hard time tracking people down, if it’s anything like it is around here. You hardly have anyone in the office, and the ones who are there don’t seem to know a lot about what’s going on.”
Grinning, Reese ran her fingers lightly down Tory’s forearm and squeezed her hand. “Well, our guy Lewis knows a lot more about it now than he did last night. The next time you call, I’ve got a feeling you’ll get priority treatment.”
“Good.” Tory bumped her shoulder softly into Reese’s. “And rightly so, too.”
The three of them laughed and finished breakfast, speaking no more of medicine or law enforcement.
*
On Wednesday morning as Reese and Tory were both preparing for work, Tory asked casually, “So, did Bri find anything out from her computer searches about the fire in town?”
Reese was halfway through tying a precision knot in her tie and finished before answering. “Not yet. I think today will probably be more productive. You were right. We had a hard time connecting with anyone the last couple of days, especially with all the traffic leaving the Cape after the holiday. Everyone was in the field.”
“So, what’s this investigator like?”
“I can’t say for sure. She seemed confident, and the fact that she picked Bri to question also suggests that she’s clever.”
“Because Bri is a beginner, and she thought Bri was a likely source of information?”
Reese nodded. “I’m sure she knew she wouldn’t get anything from me.”
“It could be she was just using it as an excuse to see Bri socially, you know. Did she look like the type who might be interested?”
“I didn’t really notice.”
Tory smiled fondly. “How lucky for me. Describe her for me.”
“I thought that didn’t work,” Reese protested. “Besides, wouldn’t you have to see her to get…you know, some kind of vibe or something?”
“Talk about old wives’ tales.” Tory laughed out loud. “Just tell me about the way she looked and what she said when the three of you first met.”
Reese complied as Tory listened intently. When she finished, Tory shook her head knowingly. “Just what Bri needs is another woman interested in her. She sounds cute, too.”
“I don’t know.” Reese shrugged and clipped her badge to her left breast pocket. “I guess so.”
“Do you think there’s an arsonist at work?”
Surprised by the sudden change in topic, Reese turned from the mirror and regarded her lover. “I don’t have any evidence to suggest that.”
“But you’re worried about it, aren’t you?”
>
“I do think it’s odd that a private investigator has been assigned to cover what is usually a straightforward insurance claim. The fact that she was trying to get information from Bri makes me suspicious that there’s more going on than we realize.” Reese threaded her belt through her trousers and clipped her holster above her right hip. She met Tory’s eyes and blew out a breath. “Yes, I think that this fire is going to turn out to be arson.”
Tory sat on the edge of the bed and patted the place next to her. “Sit down for a minute.”
Immediately, Reese moved to her side and took her hand. “What is it?”
“We haven’t talked about this very much.” Tory began carefully, holding Reese’s left hand in hers. Absently, she turned the wedding band on her lover’s ring finger. “You know I wouldn’t change anything about you, don’t you?”
“Tor,” Reese breathed. She turned her head and kissed the tip of Tory’s shoulder, which at the moment was exposed where the nightshirt she still wore had fallen down her arm. “What is it, love?”
“I’m not sure what it is exactly. I don’t know if it’s my pregnancy making me a little sensitive or the fact that…” She swallowed and waited a beat to make sure her voice was steady. “Or the fact that you almost died less than three months ago.”
“Ah, love, it’s over now.” Reese turned fully and drew Tory into her arms, cradling her as she rested her chin against the top of her head. “I don’t want you to worry.”
“That’s just it. I do worry. I’ve always worried a little about you getting hurt—I don’t think anyone whose lover does what you do for a living doesn’t. If you’ll recall, sweetheart, it was a gunshot wound that finally brought us together.”
Reese tilted Tory’s chin up with two fingers beneath her jaw and kissed her, a long, slow possessive kiss. When she drew back, she murmured, “I remember everything about it. But that was three years ago, and nothing serious has happened since.”
